Week 2: Day 1

My second week working in the BEA was quite eventful. On Monday, my teammates and I received a surprise message that there was a second intern orientation. Initially, we were all hesitant to go to a meeting that we deemed unnecessary. We decided to attend the meeting together as a show of solidarity. We walked into the room and greeted our colleagues with politeness. We were surprised again when they barely responded, quietly laughing to ourselves about their shyness.
Several minutes later, the intern coordinator, who also happens to be another graduate student, walked into the room. She pressured the other interns to introduce themselves, assuring them that we would have a lot of time to get to know each other. We did not know what she meant until she passed out a calendar with several dates circled. Apparently, we were going to be meeting as a group twice per month. After receiving this news, the interns began to relax. The remainder of our meeting was largely productive, giving me a good sense of each intern’s personality. My teammates and I then returned to our office to find a list of the ten processes that we needed to map before the end of the summer. I was excited to have the opportunity to begin my work.