With the workload that was ahead of me, I thought senior year of college would have been everything BUT what everyone said it would be. I was promised new and exciting adventures, reassurance that I was headed in the right direction, a stress-free final semester and confidence that the field I was diving into was the right one. However, this was not the case. I was far from a carefree year.

(Photo Courtesy of quickmeme.com)

Just to name a few of my responsibilities, I’ve had college courses, a team of five students to lead for a pro bono client with school, online courses and private tutoring for my GRE preparation, applications for graduate school, my senior portfolio, apartment hunting (as I will be moving to another city after graduation) and to top it all off, if I wanted to see my boyfriend for two days, I had to drive three hours each way to do so. Needless to say, I have been beyond stressed and busier than I thought I would ever be. I didn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel, I saw no pay off for all of my efforts and I was exhausted. Whine. Whine. Whine. I know.

Then, my academic advisor told me that I needed to get an internship. What?!

(Photo courtesy of The Office)

I swear, I thought he was trying to break me. That aside, I did as he said and applied and applied and applied to anywhere and everywhere I could think of.

Nothing.

Weeks went by…still nothing.

I felt like the world’s biggest loser, until all of a sudden, the offers came pouring in. *Cue heavenly lights shining down on me. * In the interim, I had gone to one of my Ad Club meetings where three representatives from an Austin ad agency came and spoke to us. It was Trevlyn, Catie & Markel from Marketing Matters. They talked of their projects, office culture and relationship they have with their clients. That’s when I realized that I had nothing to be afraid of and that the “grown-up world” was full of down-to-earth people like them to work with. Coincidentally, I had applied to Marketing Matters before the meeting. The very next day, after they presented to Ad Club, I received a call from the office asking for an interview. I was ecstatic!

In May, I became the Account Services intern for MM. I knew when I walked into the office and spotted tequila on top of the refrigerator that this was going to be a fun work environment. Although my workload had grown, I hadn’t noticed. I was so excited to go to work every day that I hadn’t considered it as another taxing responsibility. Every day was something new and fun. If ever I had a question or concern, I didn’t hesitate to run back to an Account Exec’s office and ask. They never made me feel silly for asking questions and they were always willing to pause what they were doing to explain something to me. I was even able to bring my husky to work with me! It was like no other job I’d ever had. Peers would ask me if it was worth it since the position was unpaid. I guess you could say it was since I was more than happy to stay for another semester when they offered me an extension.

When you wake up before your alarm because you’re excited to continue working on a client’s campaign, it’s a proud moment. And when your client’s successes are just as exciting to you as they are to them, it’s a good feeling. That was confidence that I needed in order to know that I was in the perfect industry and my achievements at MM reassured me that I was headed in the right direction. I could not have asked for a better first internship. This opportunity has opened up so many doors for me, which will lead to the new and exciting adventures that I was promised at the start of my senior year. Granted, it was still a pretty stressful semester with all that I had on my plate, but being a part of the MM team made it all much more bearable.

I mean… I get to play with puppies while I work!

As I prepare for my final week in undergraduate school and my future in the advertising world, I thank the advertising gods for having me stumble into that Ad Club meeting. The last seven months have been so fun, here, at MM! I have discovered so much more than I thought I would in this short time and all of the skills that I’ve learned here are invaluable. I will be forever grateful for this experience. I’m really going to miss working with such a collaborative group of easy-going and creative people. With all of the chaos that’s been going on in my life and as my chapter as an undergraduate student comes to a close, MM has been my relief from it all. Although we may be a small agency, the next organization that I join has some big shoes to fill.

And there better be puppies.

(Photo courtesy of uproxx.com)

Carmel was a Marketing Matters Account Services intern for Summer and Fall Semester 2014. She is graduating from Texas State University with a Bachelor of Science in Advertising this December 2014. In her free time, she enjoys hiking with her husky, trying new paleo recipes and learning all that there is to know about the advertising industry at large.