Yesterday was officially my last day at AH (although it was supposed to be today), and I must admit. It was a lot harder to say goodbye than I thought it would be.
These people I'd only worked with for almost 3 months somehow took a toll on my being. First off, working there took me out of my comfort zone at my last job. It was exhilarating to be thrown into an already well-functioning organization and grab the internship by the horns. And that's just what I did. I blended very well with the culture of our office, and everyone took to each other. I blame this on the fact that many of the 3 of the people who worked there were related, so that made the atmosphere a lot more relaxed than usual.
Since it wasn't planned for my last day to be yesterday, I wasn't able to say goodbye to some people. Most of which I'd worked the closest with. Them being the 2 head accountants and intern fax-boy (who I'm going to miss dearly). My supervisor even hit me with an unexpected exit interview, at which he asked me for recommendations for improvement. I had none; I felt that my stay at AH was well worth it and I gained a lot of practical experience that I may not have gained on my own. Guess what?!?! I can now add to my resume that I am very familiar with property management software like BostonPost and MRI. That's always a plus. I can also add that I've reported utility costs for the past 6 months in order to cut utility costs at our property sites. The list goes on and on.
But most importantly, I can say that I enjoyed my stay. No, I didn't leave with a bang like I expected. And no, on my last day I wasn't able to choose what we had for lunch. If I did, we'd definitely have Leo's Coney Island. However, Hogan's was nice. I even got a salad this time, YUM!
I will miss my coworkers, free lunch, random trips to our partner site for trainings that have nothing to do with me, stuffing/sealing/adding postage to 500+ checks every week, facebooking the other intern while he sits behind me, walking up 3 flights of stairs each day in order to say that I 'exercised', listening to the accountants bad mouth each other when one wasn't around, everyone's cell phones ringing extra loud with the many variations of ring tones (house music, Taylor Swift, the ice cream truck!), my supervisor walking around with his shoes untied, the CEO and Executive Director yelling through the office at their Administrative Assistant, the random emails about people having unauthorized programs on their computers, the grunt work, the work that made me smile, the CEO's story of when he sold Hoover vacuums door-to-door in order to provide for his family only for his wife to leave him (you had to hear his sales pitch, HILARIOUS! He even remembered it after 45+ years!)... I could go on forever, OH I can't forget the unlimited cola and water!
With each experience that you have, you take a little bit with you. I know that my experience at AH was invaluable. It hasn't hit me yet that I'll probably never walk foot into that office again. Maybe it'll hit me when I step foot into my new office on Monday.
