Internship Week 1 Wrap-Up

Photo credit to dwell.com

My first week at gsn+p architecture studio was not something I had expected after all. As an intern, I thought I’d only be making cups of coffee or buying lunch for the office staff just like the stereotypical figures you see on television or even happens in real life but I was wrong; completely wrong because what I did was truly more than that.

Throughout the week, I’ve experienced cleaning the storage room, answering the phone at the reception desk, operating the Xerox machine, sending a document through fax, filing hundreds of working drawings of the firm’s previous developments, encoding the tags we would later stuck up on scrolls of tracing papers for easy access and convenience in the future, sorting out brochures of various building products and calling over the phone suppliers of door hardware and accessories for a quotation. 

Putting it simply, the first week of my internship has been centred upon nothing but pure office activity goodness which may sound menial at first but I never thought I’d truly enjoy a lot. In fact, I see it almost as my very initiation in the office life and as well as a call to be a witness and a player to the real-world process and goings-about of an architectural office. I’d be more than grateful and happy to be a part of this industry or even just lend a helping hand to a firm who has just settled in on a new working environment. 

Going back to initiation, I think familiarization and getting used to this newly introduced environment is one of the highlight of my first week as well. Part of that process is about knowing the ‘who’s who’ inside the office and the role each member of the staff correspondingly take part in, and the wits-and-what’s-about of the organization. As much as I wanted to go on about asking all sorts of questions to almost everybody in the office, I have to be sensitive enough to make out whether I’m already causing disturbance in their line of work. So I opted instead on simple observing and the occasional mumblings you’d typically hear from a curious little intern.

Hopefully on the next weeks to come, I’ll be able to conquer that inhibition to open my mouth and bug them without shyness when a query suddenly pop after taking the trip on the storage room brimming with swatches and sample materials or the next time I come over something I don’t know while reading details of working drawings from previous projects.

I am truly looking forward to being exposed more on works regarding assisting my mentor whether it be on the creative side or the administrative aspect of the process. Whatever it is, I’ll take it all in as an opportunity to learn.