I wasn't too too nervous because I had been hearing that these interviews were more like meetings than an interview, but nonetheless, I was still a tad nervioso. I took my route that I had practiced last week from my tube station to Temple. From there, I walked along the Thames for a few blocks to the overland train station at Blackfriars that takes me three stops to the company. Only thing was that there was some sort of malfunction on my train so it was delayed by 50 minutes. Long story short, I ended up waiting about 15 minutes, hopped on another train and basically found my way there with 25 minutes to spare. I took my notes on the company, did a last minute review of what I wanted to talk about, made sure I got my site supervisor's name right, got a cup of coffee and walked in.
To give you a sense of where I am interning, I'll try my best to describe the building. From the street you walk underneath a second story bridge that were offices above my head. It was a large courtyard with doors on all three sides, huge windows all up on the second level and brick walls. It looks like what the company did was take over the space of an old train station or something. It was really cool. From the bottom floor, I could hear hammering, drilling, sawing, men talking, etc. (I later learned that the store visuals that the company produces are actually all produced on site and this entire ground floor was their workshop.) There was a room that housed all the woods and metals, a spray-painting room, a fabric room, and a room for completed campaigns where I noticed logos for Adidas, Virgin, Louis Vuitton, and Topshop. The security guard at the entrance to the courtyard told me to take the stairs to get up to the second level where all the offices where. The stairs were all metal, very industrial looking. The only thing I was worried about was the suit I wore to the interview. So far I had basically only seen the workshop where paint splatters were the norm. Once I got to the door of the office, it was a whole different vibe. A very current, sexy office space with exposed brick and unfinished floors juxtaposed against perfectly groomed people and beautiful computer equipment and high-end technology. I was greeted by a secretary asking if I was interested in a drink. I declined and sat on probably the most expensive sofa I've ever sat on in the waiting area. In front of me, there was a huge ornate frame hanging on the wall, but no picture or mirror in the middle, just a frame. Taking a better look at this huge gold piece of art, I realized that the entire thing was made of high heels that were placed accordingly, paper mached, and then painted this brilliant shade of gold. I wish I could have taken a picture, it was so interesting. Before I got too comfortable on this Aston Martin of a couch, I was approached by a man named Richard Elmer, my interviewer and new boss. Very nice man and had an Australian accent, not a British one. We sat down in a conference room and talked over my experiences with the retail industry, marketing, and visual communication and design. After he realized that I was the perfect fit for the company (i kid, i kid), he let me know that I would be getting £50 a week plus lunch money. I had no clue that this was happening to begin with so I was stunned that I was even getting paid! Nice surprise to end the interview. I have to say, I was a bit intimidated. It sounds like I am going to have a lot of responsibility. He talked about me making coffee to doing a bunch of travel around the city to oversee client visits. I know I'm only there for a month and a half, but it's still crazy nerve-wracking!
After the interview was over, I went back to the train station and took it back into the city. I got back to Metrogate with an hour and a half before my class at 5pm so I just changed out of my suit and relaxed a bit and that was that.
Tonight we are going to see a show at the National Theater called Mother Courage for class. We found out it is 3.5 hours long so I will probably end up leaving at intermission because I cannot sit through a play for that long. We shall see!
Cheers for now.
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