A little heartbroken over here these days.  Our beloved #Sabrintern packed up her downtown abode and headed back to Ohio for her senior year of college. It physically pained me to write that, how absolutely amazing does that sound?  One more senior year for me would be a dream come true.  I went all “it goes by so fast” and “cherish every moment” and “seriously, never leave” on her at our last meeting, maybe sounding a little desperate after a 17 day stint with no days off and 14 hour work days.  It’s all good Sabrina, just like you.  As my last demand (nope just kidding, she’s still finishing a few things for me before school starts next week) I asked her to write a blog post on being our first ever intern.

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The one question every single 21 year-old college senior dreads to hear is, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  As always my response is, “I’m actually not sure yet.”  Which usually is conveniently followed by, “Well what do you truly enjoy doing?”  No matter who you are or what profession you are currently in, you have had the same conversation at least once in your lifetime.

Before this summer in Chicago I’d always jokingly told people, “I want to find a profession that involves attending parties and being surrounded by enormous groups of people I’ve never met.”  This “joke response” actually became a reality when I was given the opportunity to intern at a wonderful event planning company known as, Anticipation Events.  [Editor’s note: it was an unpaid internship, I didn’t pay her to say that.]  I know what you are thinking, how glamorous it must be to be an event planner!  Event planning definitely does have its glamorous moments, but those usually come after hard work and very long days.

One month in and five events down, I already knew I had found something I truly enjoyed doing.  Yes, I did have to put beautifully packaged chocolates in front of each place setting (I mean someone’s got to do it), but I was also able to see how to interact with a client, and ultimately how to produce a smooth run of show.

After the first few weeks, I was able to not only observe every aspect of event coordination, but also participate in it.  Every single day as an intern consisted of something new.  I was given the major task of reconstructing and organizing the company website, as well as updating social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.  Within the fast-paced world of the event planning industry, I’ve learned how to manage multiple projects at once, which has taught me to always be raring and ready to go!  Being able to gallivant throughout the wonderful city of Chicago to various venues has definitely been the most rewarding part.  It’s very rare to see how all of your hard work pays off in the end, and attending events is the most fulfilling feeling.  Above all, I was able to grasp the wide range of skills you have to possess in order to succeed in this industry.

As you sit and read this post, maybe you’re wondering why I took the time to write this?  I wrote all of this to say one simple thing: If you live in Chicago (or actually, even if you don’t…I’m from Michigan) and you want an incredible internship experience working under people who, not only hold their company’s integrity as a high priority, but are deeply interested in your own success, then Anticipation Events is THE place to go!

-Sabrina (AKA Sabrintern)

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COME BACK!  We miss you already!  And we realized we can’t live without a #sabrintern.  If you’re looking for a fall event planning internship, give us a shout.  We can’t replace her and there are some big shoes to fill, but we’re looking for another perfect match. Send your resume, favorite candy and a little about yourself to elizabeth (at) anticipationevents (dot) com. We pay in Nutella coffee from Ipsento, lots of real life event experience and hugs.