5 Ways to Banish First-Day Anxiety!

When I was in high school, I planned out my outfits for the first day of school meticulously, color-coded my notebooks for my classes, and read all of the books on the summer reading list —and then some. (I know what you're thinking, and yes, I was a total nerd). I'm the kind of person who believes in the power of the first impression, and I want to start everything — be it AP Biology or my first day at work — off on the right foot. 

Since I've arrived home from Italy, my entire life has revolved around preparing for my first day of my internship. When I'm not reuniting with every family member, doctor, and hair dresser I know, I'm spending my time obsessing over my first day back at Teen Mag. Here are five things I've learned about calming nerves on your first day:

3 Things Every Web Intern Needs to Know

Hey Edsters!

It’s hard to believe that in just five short days I’ll be home in New York! I’m sneaking in every gelato I can before I leave. I’ve been spending my last few days in Italy thinking about how much I’ve learned during my time at the mag last summer, and how I want to be an even better intern this summer. Here are the three biggest things I’ve learned:

1) When in doubt, yes is the answer. This summer, you are Jim Carrey in Yes Man. Does your editor need someone to box prize packs for contest winners? Transcribe the millionth interview of the day?  Make an intricate timeline of Miley/Liam’s relationship? You’re going to do it, and you’re going to do it with gusto. The simple truth of the intern world is that, sometimes, you’re going to need to do things that aren’t as fun as interviewing celebs or going to press events. I know one of the reasons I definitely stood out in my intern class was because I took on jobs the other interns in my department were reluctant to, and I was just as enthusiastic about those tasks as I was about getting bylines. Your editor will probably return the favor when she knows there’s a project you’d be super excited about.

Introducing the Web Intern Who’s Blogging About All Things Beiber

Hey Edsters!

I’ve been obsessed with the Internet ever since my parents would let me near a mouse. AIM? I was SmarterChild’s favorite buddy. MySpace? Ed would’ve been in my Top 8. When I wasn’t harassing SmarterChild or social networking, I was reading teen magazines obsessively and stalking my postman until the next month’s issue came. Though I’ve since graduated to Facebook, Tumblr, Wordpress, and Twitter, I couldn’t imagine a better way to merge my passion for magazines with my love of the Internet than pursuing a career as a web editor!

I scored my dream web internship last summer at my favorite teen magazine, where I blogged about all things boys, blush, and Bieber. I never thought I’d be interviewing talent and getting bylines—but I did! Sometime between writing posts, testing products, and stalking celebs, I feel head-over-heels with the magazine industry. I’m now serious about pursuing a career as a web editor—so you can only imagine how excited I was when my editor invited me back this year! In the world of web, like fashion, what’s in one day is out the next. My internship taught me that I want to write content that people will read across the world—and I’m so ready for the challenge!

5 Common Intern Mistakes You Should Avoid

Hey Edsters!

This has been a very weird—yet fulfilling—week for me. We’re between issues at the magazine, so the other interns and I have been working on smaller tasks than usual.

Normally, we’re actually doing the damn thing—much more than I was expecting before coming to the city. We build Web articles, we build Web slideshows, we code text with HTML and we research photos and contact companies to purchase them. We’re basically doing the preliminary Web builds of everything, and then the edits to them once they go through the editors.

This week, though, we’ve just about built it all. New stories for the next issue haven’t made it through to us, yet, so we’ve been cleaning our little room and deleting spam from the website and tweaking little things here and there that got lost in the shuffle of a couple busy, busy weeks.

What that DOES mean, though, is we’ve gotten the chance to really talk to our boss. We’ve been able to talk about what magazine’s look for in their interns (or at least what our boss does!), what’s fun to do in the city and how to volunteer for some extra responsibilities at the magazine. Here’s what I’ve picked up:

3 Success Secrets Every Web Intern Should Know

Hey Edsters!

So I’ve been at my internship four a couple weeks now, and I have yet to get yelled at, get coffee or get lost. What I did get, though, was a smile and a 50-page manual on my first day. That was my intern training.

There was no sitting down for an orientation of new Web programs. There really wasn’t even a conversation. My bosses seemed more apt to iChat instead of talk…while they sat right beside one another. I knew I wasn’t going to get anywhere like that, so I took my boss up on her “don’t be afraid to ask questions” policy. Thank goodness I did.

How To Kick Ass in Your First Week

I have been working for the past couple of weeks, and I’m here to provide you with an extremely detailed recap of all aspects of my internship.

Co-Workers: There are two other online interns, about six editorial interns, around a dozen fashion interns, and a couple of more in other departments. I assure you, in my five-previous-internships history I have never, ever seen so many interns at one publication. I don’t really deal with anyone but my fellow online girls. Well, I’ll be totally honest… the competition is on. The journalism world is a cutthroat, fend-for-yourself, don’t-trust-too-many-people one, and, especially as interns, you not only want to make sure to be the best, but you want those around you to know that you are the best. So I don’t really like to mingle with the other girls, which doesn’t mean we’re rude to each other, but we all keep our guards up. As for my superiors, I like them. Everyone is pretty young in the office, so, in some way, I feel like we all have the same perspective on the business.

Lesson 1: Always be aware of what is going on around you. Make sure you know what your co-interns are working on, and try to do it better than them next time. However, be nice to all. You definitely don’t want to be known as the rude intern that always steals people’s thunder, but, rather, as the smart intern that always knows how to do everything better than anyone else.