THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
Trees are getting green, days are getting longer, weather is getting better… or at least we all hope so! The best time of the year is coming, but some IMEM students are looking forward to it with a special tickly feeling in their bellies… It is graduation time! Written by Lachezar Kamenov
The long-expected summer is on its way… finally. It is about time we took out the short pants, dusted off the flip flops, and put on the sunglasses for a real reason besides being “cool”. Of course having a few exams still left to be passed is not a detail to underestimate, but let’s say that the closer we get to freedom, the more motivated we get to be done with school at once. Every year there is a bunch of IMEM fellows, though, who have mixed feelings about this time of the year. For them the summer vacation seems to be like staring at the light of the end of the “tunnel” of college. Ladies and gentlemen, to you attention: the graduates!
After having spent four years at NHTV, some of the graduates-to-be definitely have collected interesting stories and impressions that must be shared with the coming generations. That is why we are sneaking a peek now in the lives of two IMEM girls doing their placement in Berlin. Let me introduce you: Maya and Megan.
Maya is doing her second placement at a booking agency for concerts and festivals called KKT. Having on her mind plans to become a booking agent or a band manager herself, she is for sure happy with where she is and what she is doing right now… and hopes this will be pretty much her future, too. Megan, also placed in Berlin now, is doing her graduation internship for the Internet stores AG, which is one of the leading e-commerce businesses in Germany specializing in bicycles, outdoor, fitness and living. She is in the SEO (search engine optimisation) department working on the company’s Dutch websites. Megan shares with us that SEO is an interesting, dynamic field that provides a lot of international job opportunities but still- she would like this to be her back up plan. She sees herself writing for fashion magazines and proudly admits her guilt: “Yes, I am that kind of girl.”
When I asked about the differences between their first internship in the third year and the current one, I get pretty much similar answers. Maya states that the level of professionalism now is much higher. Also KKT is way more successful than the company she worked before. According to Megan, her previous placement was “interns’ paradise” so undoubtedly now she feels more connected to the company, being surrounded with “normal” employees. Moreover, the bigger responsibilities also play an important role. They both underline the possibilities for future job they have now and, not to mention, the thesis still to be written. The light is getting closer and closer but not there yet!
Speaking of thesis writing, I am curious to know what are these two scheming for their last academic effort. Maya hopes it will all end this June but before that she needs to make sure that her paper covers meticulously a not-so-easy topic. The subject she has chosen is “concert mediation and how the concert experience can be transmitted onto digital material”. Fancy! Megan, on the other hand, is heading towards a more marketing-related subject. She says she wants to explore “whether investments in Facebook marketing for fan pages of e-commerce businesses generate profit rather than only a higher page rank on Google”. Megan makes a side note here and tells that this is a topic of present interest for SEOs and finding a good answer to it will give her thesis and graduation an extra boost before the laidback summer holiday comes.
Now immediately comes up the question: what about life after graduation? Here we have some contradiction. Maya hopes to start working right away in the company she is doing her internship in now, KKT. She believes that the future of the music industry is all about concerts and live performances and there are hidden the great opportunities of tomorrow. Pretty ambitious I would say; not bad, not bad at all! Megan is more on the opposite side. Her near future consists of travelling, writing, and “making enough money to pay the rent and not having to cook (Amen for ordering food)”. She honestly puts behind the plans for career and family, and would rather check out places, meet people, and enjoy life to the fullest before being stuck with an ordinary life. Industry in the future- as long as people buy magazines and newspapers, it will all be fine!
The moment of truth has come! I ask the girls to give a short and straight-to-the-point summary of the NHTV years. Maya calls it “a wild ride”, where they learned a lot. She wouldn’t praise the level of communication but that also taught her lessons, especially how to make her way through the chaos.
Megan’s overview sounds more carefree- she will remember the “helium balloons and the chocolate fountain at the propaedeutic party”. She regrets not having enough useful classes on writing, though, but also has to admit that the people around her made the four of IMEM “a very enjoyable journey”.
After the chitchat with Maya and Megan I am left with quite the optimistic view of what is yet to come. Sure, there are going to be obstacles on the way; there are going to be “wild ride” experiences, good or bad; hopefully, there are going to be even more helium balloons and chocolate fountains, both literally and metaphorically. What should keep every IMEM student positive about this whole “thing” called education is the big picture where everything goes to its place and it was all worth it. But before that, let’s take small steps. First step: Summer 2012, hold on, here we come! And to our dear fourth-year-fellows:
Good luck and farewell!
Special thanks to Maya Sontheimer and Megan de Graaf
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