Introducing two new members of the Radiant Veracity team: Stephanie Perrett and Beth Farrar (from left to right) are currently working with Stephanie Lloyd as two of three communications interns. One of their weekly intern assignments is to chronicle their experiences as a regular blog series on Radiant Veracity. As recent college graduates and active job seekers, topics will range from how they met (they’ve been friends for two years) to their weekly assignments, victories and struggles.
* Series Logo Coming Soon*
Without sounding too much like a Harlequin romance novel, our story is quite serendipitous. Both 20-year-old journalism students at the University of Georgia, it took a nine-hour flight across the Atlantic Ocean, followed by a two-hour bus ride from hell through the English countryside (a story for another time) for us to meet.
As rising juniors at UGA, we both found ourselves in a period of transition. For different reasons, we were each motivated to spend the summer of 2007 studying at the University of Oxford, thousands of miles away from Athens, Ga.
Eager to meet new people, Beth was among the first to apply for the Oxford study abroad program. The year had gotten off to a rough start, and the idea of expanding her comfort zone seemed the perfect antidote. With no inhibitions, Beth immediately began packing her 72-pound suitcase for the six-week sojourn.
Much more hesitant about the prospect of spending the summer somewhere so foreign – both literally and figuratively – Stephanie was one of the last students to apply for the trip. A mere four months before summer classes at Oxford began, she took an e-mail stating there had been last-minute openings in the program as a sign to throw all anxieties to the wind and leap into the unknown.
Upon our arrival at Oxford, we found ourselves decompressing from the long journey in a huddled common room, making small talk with a group of strangers who couldn’t have been more different from each other. The eight people in the room that night forged an unlikely bond that would continue throughout their college years and beyond. If we hadn’t been willing to take a leap of faith in to this unfamiliar territory, it is unlikely that we would have become friends at all, we would not be working at Radiant Veracity together and this romance would have never been written.
Moral of the Story: Take advantage of every opportunity. Consider studying abroad (trust us – it’s the experience of a lifetime!). Expand your horizons. Venture outside your comfort zone. Embrace new people (even if they appear to be very different from you). Stay in touch with old friends because you never know – they could be become your co-worker one day.
[Stephanie Lloyd here] Stay tuned to learn more about Stephanie and Beth’s internship adventures! Future installments include:
- “Find an Intern (or Three) in Less Than 10 Minutes” – finding out about the internship
- Our phone interviews with Stephanie Lloyd
- “Three Stephanies, Beth and a Pizza Place” – the meeting at Pizzeria Venti
- “Join the Circus” – getting to work, juggling other commitments
{ 1 trackback }
Comments on this entry are closed.