Mind the gap.

Doing your internship in a field you are familiar with is both a blessing and a curse. You can dive right in, only to find yourself knee-high in research before you even know the name of the co-worker in the cube next to yours. You are relieved to know you are high on the learning curve, but you question whether it would not have been better for you to experience something completely new. You are confident you know the material, the industry, the products and the market, but you doubt your ability to bring completely fresh insights to the table. You can rush to catch the fastest train to Deliverable Street station, but you constantly have to mind the gap: what might I be missing that the executives already know, or that another fresh, bright MBA intern would not miss?

Because a summer internship is a little like the metro system at rush hour: you scurry your way through a crowd of people that you should really stop to talk to for a bit rather than hurry to the next stop, and you do not want to surface before it is truly time. Some people seem to get tempted to work so hard on achieving strong deliverables, that it almost beats the purpose.

Everyone will tell you to enjoy this experience. Everyone will also tell you to make the best of it. Everyone is right and no one is able to tell you how to do those things. It is up to you to figure it out.

I love unwinding in Austin. This town has a great mix of indoors and outdoors fun. It is already close to 100 F. in mid-day, but I am able to enjoy it nonetheless so far. At least for this summer, I can think of no other place where I'd rather be.