HONOLULU, Hawaii - I've already done the typical journalism internship stint in Philadelphia. My "been-there-done-that" feeling of where most of my college peers have interned pushed me to take my last internship credit and make good use of it in every aspect. I didn’t want to do another one where probably a third of the journalism students interned before. Don’t get me wrong--I loved my jobs interning in some of Philadelphia’s most notable media industries, but I wanted to do something out of the ordinary. Before applying to just any old summer internship, I wanted to make sure it to included travel, fun, and some beach time. So, what did I do to make all that possible? I went to Hawaii.
After finding my final decision through the Institute of Cultural Ecology, I was able to intern in the public relations department for the Manoa Valley Theatre in Honolulu. I roomed with two other girls who were doing different internships through this I.C.E. which is created by a University of Hawaii professor. For the
entire summer, I lived in a high-rise in downtown Honolulu on the island of Oahu. Oahu is about a third the size of the big island, and has over about 80% of Hawaii's population. A country, city and suburb setting all in one is found only on Oahu.
The past summer living and working in Hawaii was something I thought could only happen in my dreams. As beautiful as Hawaii was in my mind, I started to have feelings of regret on my connecting flight going there. What if the internship turned out to be not worth all the money I put out? What if my roommates were horrible? What if I got homesick? It also didn’t help ease my mind that I would be living halfway across the world from home.
By the time I landed and got to my place to meet my new roommates, all those thoughts from the hour before seemed to wash away like sand on the beach. When I started work, I would take the bus, which would go through different scenic routes and eventually stopped in the middle of Honolulu’s suburbs--far away from all the Waikiki tourists. The Manoa Valley Theatre was set in the middle of an old Hawaiian graveyard and drew customers from the surrounding suburbs.
There I would be, a few evenings a week, attending rehearsals and taking pictures to blog on their Facebook site and theatre web page. Since the Public Relations Director for the theatre worked from her home, this meant that I could do work from anywhere I wished on my laptop when I wasn’t at the theatre. So, how's writing an article while sitting on a balcony overlooking mountains ahead and a volcano to the right sound to you?
I did interviews with the music and theatre director, cast and even dipped my feet into doing some public service announcements and press releases. I attended a brunch event off of a pier with the cast, where they performed a number from their upcoming play,“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee“, for the well-known Perry & Price radio personalities. The cast and people I worked with were extremely nice and enjoyable to be around. The atmosphere of working and being in the theatre was very laid back and it went well with the feeling of the summer.
So what was a typical day like forme? It might be a little opposite of what most students do during the summer. I would wake up around 6:30 a.m. to have breakfast with a little sunrise on the side; a 10-minute bus ride to the beach for a few hours; back to the condo to do some intern work that was e-mailed to me; out for a little sight-seeing; down to the theatre to watch rehearsals with the night ending out in Waikiki with a couple mai tai's with the roommates.
Not a typical 21-year-old’s day in the summer, I'd say. Don't forget climbing Diamond Head Volcano, hiking to secret waterfall in the rain forest, and seeing a polo match besides the beach among other things during free time. My summer was exactly what I wanted and Hawaii was exactly where I wanted to be for two months. Now looking back, I’d say there were two sides to my trip: my internship and my personal experience outside of work. I loved the fact that I could say I worked and lived in Hawaii instead of just saying I was a tourist. That kind of thinking made me feel like I was more of a resident, which helped me blend into the setting better. One week into our stay, my roommates and I met people in the Navy, whom we ended up spending a good amount of time with and building some close friendships. It helped that we were able to meet people who lived there since we were could go out with them, travel around and find out little discreet things that some tourists might not know about the island.
I am very fortunate I was able to have this opportunity and was lucky enough to have some money set aside for the trip. I put out around $2,700 for housing--which is a steal for Downtown Honolulu. I got more out of it than I expected and the cost I put out for it was well worth the experience. Some people have asked me why I worked in a theatre doing public relations instead of a newsroom since I am a journalism major. I simply tell them that I wanted to expand my experience in the communications field and not narrow my options down to one specifically. Some of the work I did was journalism-related and will give me more working options when I graduate college. I was glad I got to do something a little outside the box in a place that I fell in love with--and hope to go back to in the near future.
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