From the moment we, the interns, stepped into the illustrious Campbell Mithun space, we were welcomed like true members of the team instead of mere temporary low-on-the-totem-pole peasants.  We received the full-agency tour, shook hundreds of hands, and logged onto email to find approximately 84 messages waiting.

Now, maybe those of you reading this are, by now, so used to working life that you can scarcely recall those first few weeks when you began your careers, so let me put it in perspective. For all six of us, this was a golden opportunity — one we reached for with trembling but eager hands, mere Bambis in a Tim Burton-esque universe. We were dying — dying — to start working with clients, rolling out creative, planning media flights, and mapping the digital landscape.

And almost immediately, that’s what happened. Before we had figured out how to find our cubes on our own, we found ourselves inundated with projects and client work. Kevin and Dan, our creative interns, had concepts due by the third day; Stephanie, in digital strategy, was analyzing SEO keywords and conducting social media audits; Caroline barely breathed between her account management client meetings; and Grace and I were throwing around media-speak lingo and acronyms like we’d written the dictionary. We were breathless with projects and new knowledge, like Ariel experiencing a whole new world, or Jasmine on a magic carpet ride, or Nemo on a death-defying journey back home.  (Yeah, we’re up to some pretty epic stuff.)

In between all that real-world advertising work, and all the intern meetings, and the question-asking, and the not sleeping, and the coffee-slamming, and the panic attacks, we’ve actually found time to contribute in other ways too. Like the Intern Golf Day we hosted last week to benefit United Way. Our theme was “Around the World in 6 Holes,” and for two afternoon hours, we offered some much-needed agency-wide playtime. 

Check out the video.

All lightheartedness aside, our experience here has been incredible. In our post-work happy hours, amongst ourselves, there’s a palpable sense of “Are they really letting us do this? Do people really get paid to do this? This is the sweetest gig EVER.”

As fresh-faced rookies in the industry, we’ve had our ears and eyes wide open for gathering sage advice and learning the ropes. We’ve been standing at the bottom of the mountain staring dreamily up, seeing the possibilities. The “Lucky 13” has never seemed more appropriate name, and as we face our three remaining weeks, I feel us taking a collective breath — poised and ready for the climb.

-- Natalie Gallagher, Lucky 13 media intern, data-tracker wonder girl