my life as an intern

Before I write about my day, I just want to say that the amazing above picture was not taken by me nor do I own it.  I googled 'homeless youth' and this was one of the first images to come up.  Ironically, it's from Portland.  Photographer Jan Sonnenmair took it for the Do 1 Thing project.  More info about this project can be found at do1thing.org.

I officially don't start my internship until late September but they wanted me to go to orientation today so I could be ready to go in September.  I am so impressed with how this place balances professionalism with casualness.  They are dead serious about protecting the privacy and information of the homeless youth that visit the program but they don't dress in ties.  They would be unapproachable that way.

I was cautioned by other students before starting here because some people heard that they don't work with interns well.  However, I am nothing but in awe of the work that they do and eager to start.  One of the other people in orientation asked if this is a career choice for me.  Really, I asked to work with homeless youth to get experience with a different population and I have a little bit of experience being around this population.  However, I really never considered it a career choice.  Maybe I will have changed my mind by the time I'm done interning.