Over this last Summer I interned at Arup, which is a multidisciplinary engineering firm that does work in the built environment. My specific position was a Building Information Modeling intern. Basically, my team was in charge of gathering the 2D plans from mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, architects, structural engineers, and countless more and putting these drawings together in a 3D model that can be used by each team. This allowed an analysis of equipment and structure that was able to identify where there were clashes between location or systems.
That was the technical stuff I did on the clock. In between all the work I became friends with the 24 other interns in the Los Angeles office and let me tell you, it was a blast. The internship was in downtown LA in the Wilshire Grand skyscraper. If you know the LA skyline then you will know the building with the Korea Air symbol. Every lunch, the interns would take the elevator down from the 18th floor and eat lunch in the outside plaza. The Arup office was 3 stories occupying floors 18-20. And these floors were swanky, equipped with ping pong, a full kitchen, espresso machines on every floor, and a fantastic view.
Besides daily lunches together, me and the other interns would do happy hours in the downtown area, exploring which restaurants were our favorite. I definitely felt like a full fledged adult at this point. On weekends we even did beach trips and hung out at random parks.
An internship does a great job at exposing you to work you may want to be doing in the future, but it also invites you into a community of potential industry connections later in life. Oh and friends, they are friends too! Anyway, interning in LA is fun.
