[This summer a dream internship with Lucky magazine moved me from Austin, Texas, where I’ve spent all 21 years of my life, to New York City for the summer. Come along for the ride and follow me through this column as I take on all that the city has in store for me. I’ll share tips I’ve picked up along the way about everything from how to pack (stop, drop and roll people!) to dating to fitting in (or standing out) and so much more.]

My summer in the city had officially come to an end and by the time you’re reading this, I will be back in my hometown, probably eating a home-cooked meal and driving my car with reckless abandon on the highway. (God, I missed driving.) Though I’m excited to be home, I couldn’t help but feel a rush of sadness as my cab led me out of the city, toward LaGuardia airport and toward life after New York.

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Photo credit: Chris Tse

While many university students spent their summers in minimum wage jobs or fetching coffee, I spent mine interning in Ghana.

In case you need a little geography and history lesson, Ghana is located in west Africa, and shares borders with Cote D’Ivoire, Togo and Burkina Faso. It’s also one of Africa’s leading examples for democracy; it was the first sub-saharan country to gain independence from its colonial power, and since the 1992 constitution was approved there have been five relatively democratic elections.

I traveled to Ghana with the Canadian ngo, Journalists for Human Rights, as one of five university interns. My internship was spent in the newsroom of an English radio station, Kapital Radio, in the country’s second largest city, Kumasi. Four days a week I would head to the station to work on daily news bulletins, go out to cover stories with local journalists, then head back to the station to edit sound clips and write scripts. Every Saturday I would help produce Ghana’s only exclusive human rights talk show, Know Your Rights, hosted by my supervisor, Muftaw Mohammed. Each week we would tackle one of the country’s human rights issues, from the highly controversial homosexuality to land rights under traditional rule.

Though I only worked at the station four days a week, I didn’t exactly get a long weekend. On top of the work I did at Kapital Radio, I had a series of deliverables to be completed for jhr, including weekly video and written blogs and research on Maternal Health. So I got to see a lot of adorable Ghanaian babies.

My summer wasn’t all work though. During our week long vacation, one of my Canadian colleagues and I traveled through six regions –  from Accra to Bawku – in eight days, with many stops along the way. All on buses and tro-tros, which are kind of like a large van. Throughout my 14 weeks in Ghana I went on a walking safari at Mole National Park, trekked through the forest at the Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, watched the national soccer team play and hung out at a popular beach spot at night.

My experience wasn’t your typical going to Africa to do development work and think you’re saving the world experience. I learned more from my time in the country than I’m sure anyone learned from me. I stumbled my way through Twi, the local dialect in Kumasi; learned how to properly eat fufu (a local dish) with my hands and learned about the history of the Ashanti people. The beautiful landscapes and welcoming people are just a few of the reasons I would recommend spending some time in Ghana.

Check out some of my amazing photos from Ghana below:

initiating the gallery...

[This summer a dream internship with Lucky magazine moved me from Austin, Texas, where I’ve spent all 21 years of my life, to New York City for the summer. Come along for the ride and follow me through this column as I take on all that the city has in store for me. I’ll share tips I’ve picked up along the way about everything from how to pack (stop, drop and roll people!) to dating to fitting in (or standing out) and so much more.]

When you walk up and down Wall Street, it’s easy to believe that men clad in Thomas Pink attached to their Blackberries run this city. But take a note from Beyoncé and paint the town red (or pink) because girls? Yeah, we run the world and the town.

Tip #33 – Ladies’ Night really does exist. And it’s fabulous.

I was surprised to find out that a good number or bars and restaurants in the city still have ladies’ night drink specials. Sure, the feminist in me felt a little offended but the college girl on a budget (and unpaid internship) couldn’t help but be ecstatic. Ladies’ night isn’t exactly the best place to meet guys seeing as how there really aren’t many around so embrace it and grab your best girls to gossip or vent about work, your boyfriends, your mothers. A simple search on Yelp for “ladies’ night” will yield enough options to try out or check out the guide on Murphguide.com for specials listed by day. Just remember, just because the drinks are cheap doesn’t mean you need to attempt to drink all the liquor they have. Keep it classy ladies…well not too classy! Read More »

[This summer a dream internship with Lucky magazine moved me from Austin, Texas, where I’ve spent all 21 years of my life, to New York City for the summer. Come along for the ride and follow me through this column as I take on all that the city has in store for me. I’ll share tips I’ve picked up along the way about everything from how to pack (stop, drop and roll people!) to dating to fitting in (or standing out) and so much more.]

A little over a month in the city and just when I feel like slowly but surely the things on my mental to-do-in-New-York list are being crossed off, I think of yet another “must-see” city sight.

Tip #19 – Make a list of the things you want to do before you leave the city. No, actually write it down.

Some of the things topping my list right now are visiting the top of the Empire State building, scoring tickets to Shakespeare In The Park and tracking down the famous Carrie Bradshaw walk-up apartment steps. Writing down my New York wish list (in pink gel pen) as cheesy as it feels really is the best way to ensure you experience everything you hoped to. I tucked my list in my wallet and when I had a few hours to kill a few days ago, I pulled it out and luckily a gelato place recommended by a friend was just a quick subway ride away. The last thing I want is head back home at the end of the summer and kick myself for not having done something so quintessentially New York as going to the Statue of Liberty. Sidebar: Most of the things of your list also make great first dates with a new guy you meet. Read More »

[This summer a dream internship with Lucky magazine moved me from Austin, Texas, where I’ve spent all 21 years of my life, to New York City for the summer. Come along for the ride and follow me through this column as I take on all that the city has in store for me. I’ll share tips I’ve picked up along the way about everything from how to pack (stop, drop and roll people!) to dating to fitting in (or standing out) and so much more.]

In the shuffle of moving and getting settled in the city this summer, I lost the balance of the healthy lifestyle I led through the school year. With my gym back home not having any branches near my place in New York and full workdays that left me exhausted at the end of the day, I was getting restless.

Tip #15 – Take a day trip to cure your fitness itch.

If you’re anything like me, you need to switch up your fitness routine with things that don’t actually feel like fitness. If you’re sick of walking the streets of New York and need a respite from hot air up your skirt courtesy of subway grates, take a day trip outside of the city. Long Island is the perfect day trip if the city has you forgetting what a sunset looks like and it’s only an hour train ride away. A $21 ticket will score you a round trip ticket to the beach as well as an all-day beach pass. Get active on the beach by running, playing a few rounds of beach volleyball and even if sunbathing is more your style, exploring the town for adorable boutiques by foot will be a workout in itself. Bonus – you can bring a cooler to the beach stocked with guilt-free snacks. Read More »

In my accumulated two years as an unpaid intern at a variety of different magazines and websites, I have learned a LOT about the art of interning. I’ve worked with super nice people, but have also had horribly scary bosses who think they’re better than you — and I have spent countless hours trying to impress and suck up to those same people. And, well, I kind of rocked those internships. I worked hard, stayed organized, and tried my hardest to stand out in the crowd. At each different job, I had at least one or two people who told me constantly that there was no way they could get anything done without me.

Everyone knows the whole purpose of working long hours FOR FREE is to make some amazing contacts, get some great references, and most important of all: potentially get hired full-time. Yes, internships can be a total pain in the ass for a practically poor college graduate or student, but if you play your cards right, they can also be MAJORLY beneficial. I got my current full-time job (finally, YAY!) thanks to a former editor I interned for who gave me an amazing recommendation to a friend at the company I now work for. So here are my tips on how to easily be the life-saving intern who makes an impression.

Dress the part. For some internships, there’s a pretty standard dress code that’s easy to follow. For others, not so much. I know journalism jobs can be super casual – employees wear anything from suits and dresses to jeans and Uggs. Go by your office standards, but always make sure you look nice no matter what. You might not have to wear heels, but get a nice pair of flats or cute sandals, and try not to wear flip flops. How you dress is an indication of how seriously you’re taking your job. Walking in wearing the top you wore to the bar the other night or your fave Juicy hoodie is inappropriate and will only make you look inexperienced and young.

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No one would ever walk up to a friend on financial aid and accuse her parents of being lazy, good-for-nothing, bad parents for not making enough money to send her to college. Yet people feel completely comfortable going up to a friend with an unpaid internship and accusing her of being a spoiled brat because she’s fortunate enough to be able to afford spending a summer making no money.

Don’t think that’s true? Just read the comments on almost any internship post on this site (like this one or this one).

I had two unpaid internships in NYC and I can’t even count the number of times people told me “it’s ridiculous that your parents are just letting you live in the city and make no money.” But was it ridiculous? In today’s world you’re expected to graduate with internship experience and if my parents decided to spend their hard-earned money paying for me to live in NYC and reach my dreams, was it wrong for me to take that opportunity? Should I have spent my summer waitressing instead? I don’t want to come off like a whiny bitch, but I want some answers on why I should feel bad that my family can afford this. Isn’t complaining about unpaid internships the same as complaining to a friend when her family goes on a week long resort vacation?

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[This summer a dream internship with Lucky magazine moved me from Austin, Texas, where I’ve spent all 21 years of my life, to New York City for the summer. Come along for the ride and follow me through this column as I take on all that the city has in store for me. I’ll share tips I’ve picked up along the way about everything from how to pack (stop, drop and roll people!) to dating to fitting in (or standing out) and so much more.]

Tip #6 – Starbucks runs a great refill program so save your cup!

If you’re anything like me, your coffee addiction can be especially financially crippling as you dish out $4 after $4. So it came to my surprise when someone in the city told me how he was scoring his coffee without dishing any green. After moving to one of the most expensive cities in the world, I’m always on the look out for deals and steals and I’m willing to bet my mother couldn’t be prouder of me right now.

Order a regular coffee or iced coffee and bring back your cup that same day for a 54 cent refill regardless of the size. And if you’re feeling particularly shameless, save your cup and rinse it out at home and bring it back the next day for even more 54 cent fun. You call it cheap but I call it clever and not to mention a great technique when it comes to saving up for that new Marc Jacobs bag.

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[Life after college is hard. Like really hard. But it's not so hard that you should curl up in a ball and watch E! marathons all day long. Not only are we covering the experience from a first-hand perspective, but we're now covering it from a how-to-survive-it perspective. Every week, we're going to bringing the best advice to getting through your first post-grad year. Because sometimes, your grandmother's "just go to law school" advice just doesn't cut it.]

If I were to say “post-grad internship,” would you shudder in disgust or tackle me with five different copies of your resume and a cover letter proofread by Katie Couric?

Much like cilantro, the notion of working for a small stipend (or…gasp!…for free) tends to separate people into two groups. You’ve got those who wholeheartedly support it, and those who can’t run away fast enough. And, unlike happy hour at Dos Margaritas, there’s rarely tequila around the office to help you chase away the taste of shame that comes with being a post-grad intern.

Despite how it may sound, I actually do in fact think internships are a worthwhile endeavor, even after graduation. But you’ve got to be smart about where you accept a spot, if you can financially afford to do so, and all that jazz. So before you tell me I’m crazy for suggesting you throw away your first summer out of college working for peanuts…or before you jump into an internship that might not be right for you…see how things measure up for you in my handy dandy pro-con list: Read More »

As the curtain closes on another school year, we embrace the heat of summer. However, for many of us, summer may be short-lived, as we prepare to take on our roles as summer interns. The hard part is over (cover letters and resumes, buhh byee!), and now its time to have some fun and put together a kick-ass internship wardrobe.

Putting together a wardrobe can be intimidating. After all–you are a college student on a college budget. But don’t worry–stores like JCPenney, and Boscov’s offer dress-clothing brands in the Junior’s Department (such as Star City and A. Byer) that are totally affordable! And while building the perfect summer internship wardrobe depends on where you are interning and what the company dress code permits, there are some essentials that every girl should own.

Remember, when it comes to interning, you want to be both professional and practical. Avoid going overboard on the accessories; do you know how annoying it is to type all day with an arm full of bangles? Don’t wear anything that’s gonna keep you pulling and yanking and grabbing all day. And while you want to look good, a full-time internship is not the time to choose fashion over function. Heel blisters are no joke!

Now, get out there and rock the office, girl!