With exam dates penciled into planners and one football game already finished, it’s easy to forget about the summer days us collegiettes were enjoying just a few weeks ago. But three Her Campus Mizzou staff members had unforgettable summers that they’ll remember for their rest of their lives. Here are their stories:
Studying Abroad in Prague
Katie Lally
This past summer, I was fortunate enough to get to experience Europe through the business school’s study abroad program in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. It was an incredible month and a great way to see a lot of Europe while earning a few hours of college credit.
While in Prague, we lived and studied at the Czech University of Life Sciences. Each morning we had a few hours of classes, and then had the rest of the day to spend as we pleased throughout the city. Meeting the Czech students and having them in our classes was my favorite “academic” part of this trip. The program also took us on several excursions to other parts of the Czech Republic. The excursions were always fun and incredibly interesting. We toured a castle built in the 1200s, a Budweiser brewery, one of the world’s premier glass blowing factories, a church made out of bones leftover from the Black Plague, a healing spring, the Skoda car factory and a touching memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. All the while, we made incredible friendships, tried a lot of beer and truly soaked up the culture of Central Europe.
On the weekends, we were encouraged to travel as much as possible. I traveled to Paris, London, and Barcelona with several other students from the program. Although all the traveling in four short weeks was exhausting, it was totally worth it. We cruised down the Seine while sipping champagne, soaked up some rays on the shore of the Mediterranean, and took in the spectacular view from the London Eye.
Although I know living in Europe for a month gave me memories (and photos!) that I’ll hopefully have for a lifetime, it also gave me friends that I know will always have special places in my life. There’s something about trying to navigating the subways of Paris while drenched in rain and carrying umbrellas and ponchos, or splitting a pitcher of sangria while overlooking the Barcelona harbor, or talking your way out of a traffic ticket from an absolutely frightening Czech police officer, or watching the sun rise over the ancient Charles Bridge after an unforgettable night out on the town that will really bind you to people.
I would recommend this program to anyone. It’s a unique way to visit Europe and a great way to spend the first four weeks of the summer!
“Patching” Up the Summer
Jenny Modlisz
This summer, I had the fabulous opportunity to be a Patch intern in the Northwest Chicago suburbs. Patch is an online newspaper that focuses on community-based reporting all around the U.S. There are more than 800 Patch sites, and that number is growing larger and larger with every passing day.
For me, Patch was the perfect fit.
Every day at Patch I was presented with something new. I would write stories on a daily basis for one of the many sites in the Northwest Chicago Suburbs, specifically Algonquin-Lake in the Hills and Huntley. I did all of the work for my own stories, down to writing the headline and photo captions, which taught me everything that goes into creating a final story for the web. I enjoyed writing for communities, because I often feel that it is community news that never gets told, especially when towns don’t have their own local newspaper. My favorite articles to write were always features, because there are so many interesting people out there with stories that deserve to be told.
Several times during the week, I would be out in the community covering events. Sometimes the events were lighter and amusing, such as dog massage classes. Others were more difficult and solemn, such as covering the funeral of one of the victims of the Colorado movie theatre shooting. Either way, the experience was always very valuable because I learned how to properly approach sources when on the scene of these different events. I also had the chance to make connections with members of other news teams. But more importantly, I made connections with people in the community in which I was serving.
Another plus to working at Patch was that I was considered a “work from home intern.” Many days of the week I wouldn’t even leave my house to get all of my work done! My cell phone definitely became my best friend. On days when meetings were held, we would gather in a coffee shop located in a place that was convenient for all of us.
Being a Patch intern, I did have a lot of responsibilities on my shoulder. It wasn’t your typical internship by any means, but that is why I enjoyed it so much. I had the freedom to experiment with multimedia techniques, headline writing, story telling and photography. My editors were fully supportive of the work that I wanted to do, and the skills that I wanted to expand on. The people I worked with were so kind, and they were always available to help me out when I needed it (even at 2 a.m., which did happen)! I couldn’t rave enough about the Patch team.
The Glamorous Life of an Intern
Jamie Hergenrader
I love fashion and women’s magazines. Seventeen, Glamour, Teen Vogue and Cosmopolitan are just a few of the subscriptions that I’ve had since I was 15-years-old, and they continue to clutter my desk today. I flip through them page by page to absorb the latest beauty trends, the newest health studies and the season’s wardrobe essentials. When I interned for Glamour this summer, I was beyond thrilled because, not only was I living my dream of working in the greatest city on earth (a.k.a. New York City), but I was working for my absolute favorite magazine.
I was the Online Editorial Intern for Glamour, so I specifically worked with content for the website, glamour.com. As with many internships, I started out with the basics like transcribing interviews and working with social media, and then moved onto bigger and better tasks, like pitching and writing my own stories for the website. My first assignment was to review Magic Mike (like I said, I was living the dream). Throughout the summer, I wrote more stories for the entertainment, health and fitness, and weddings sections, but I worked with all sections of the website.
I learned plenty of invaluable skills during my internship like how to work with syndication partnerships, how to do photo research, and how to package inbook content for the web using SEO optimization. My internship encouraged me to develop the skills that I learned in my journalism classes and also to learn new skills to take with me for my next fabulous internship (fingers crossed!) and on to my career.
I worked very closely with all of my editors (two of them are Mizzou grads!), and I became good friends with the other Glamour interns working in other departments of the magazine. This summer gave me an opportunity to see what working in the magazine industry is really like, and of course living in Manhattan was fantastic. I can’t wait to see where my journalism path continues to lead me! Check out my glamour.com profile here.