When I received the email that I had gotten an internship as the weddings editorial intern at Pittsburgh Magazine, I can honestly say I was terrified. Considering that the extent of my wedding knowledge came from binge watching “Four Weddings” on TLC with my mom every Saturday, I didn’t feel very confident in my ability to write a bunch of stories about people’s weddings.
Not only was I nervous about not knowing enough, I was also nervous that I wouldn’t be writing as much as I had wanted to because the Weddings issue only comes out in the fall, as opposed to the regular monthly magazine.
Let me tell you, boy, was I wrong about all of that.
On my first day, I showed up to the office on what I, lovingly, call a random island in Pittsburgh to three other interns already working away, which freaked me out. How was I supposed to know these three started before me? What if they were already in good with the editors and they would get all of the good stories and I’d have to write about how to choose the right boutonniere (maybe that’s a riveting topic, who knows)?
However, after an introduction of everyone in the office, with names and faces that would take me weeks to remember, I was already given my first story, which in the end didn’t work out because it was a new wedding package, so new that no one had ever used it. Still, this gave me hope for the summer that I would get to write, and, man, did I write … a lot.
I wrote about an array of topics, from weddings to food to flower trucks to transportation to birds (and it can all be found on my Portfolio section of this website :) a shameless plug). I wrote a lot, I wrote things that aren’t even being published until September, I wrote things that spent weeks on the “Trending Now” section, I wrote things that pushed me out of my comfort zone, I even wrote a story that caused someone to send me an email saying they didn’t like my word choice (yikes, my first journalism horror story).
On top of all of the writing, I got to do some amazingly cool things. I went to both of Pittsburgh Magazine’s summer events, Best Restaurants and Best of the ’Burgh, which were super fun and had a lot of free food. I went to the National Aviary for the opening of a new bird exhibit and (the coolest of all) I went to Kennywood, a Pittsburgh amusement park for those non-yinzers, for the media opening of the brand new Steelers-themed roller coaster, The Steel Curtain, and rode it before the public (twice!).
And, of course, I can’t talk about my summer without mentioning the girl who was with me along the way, my internship bestie, Madison Greer (check her out at themadisongreer.com because she’s pretty cool). Madison goes to West Virginia University in Morgantown (my home away from home) and she was the other weddings intern this summer. By the end of the summer we were literally inseparable, people in the office kept asking if we were sure we didn’t know each other before the internship started. She’s going to go on to do great things and I can’t wait to see them, but I’m not sure how I’m going to survive not working together anymore, maybe fate will bring us back together one day.
Working for a local magazine has taught me a lot, but most importantly, it showed me that magazine journalism is truly my passion and I am so excited to continue with it for the rest of my life. This summer and this experience has been one of the best of my life, I literally sat in my car and cried on my last day because I was so disappointed to have to leave such a wonderful place to work. While I am excited to move onto the next chapter, senior year (!!!), I am also very reflective and thankful for the experience that I had at Pittsburgh Magazine.
If I could go back in time and tell my past self something, I’d tell her that this internship is not going to be anything like you expect and it will be worth every second, so cherish it because I already miss it.