#2 VIA Agency & Maine
Who would have thought I would get accepted to an advertising agency in Portland, Maine?
Definitely not me.
I actually never heard of Portland, Maine before until VIA Agency accepted me as their integrated production intern. I never heard much about Maine in general. Only that they border Canada, they are next to the ocean, and that they have beautiful tall trees. So obviously, I did a lot of researching beforehand to get a gist of what Maine was like. They were known for their lighthouses, blueberries, and their delicious lobster rolls.
I was super excited and happy that an advertising agency accepted me in the first place, as I had low expectations. It felt like doors were opening for me during an uncertain time alongside graduating in a COVID world.
I was glad I wasn’t alone at this agency as I have my new friend and fellow MAIP intern, Quyen, alongside me. I was happy to have someone to share this experience with. Especially with Quyen pushing the both of us to venture to Maine and visit the agency. Quyen was the one to spark up with our intern leads and H&R about visiting Maine. We didn’t think it was going to happen until after a whole week later. We both get an email telling us about our flights and booking! We were going to Maine!
We were going to spend a week in Maine (July 11th-July 16th). I remember feeling anxious about visiting. I remember loving VIA the first day of the internship as everyone was just so warm and welcoming. They wanted us to soak up and do as much as we can during this internship. But I couldn’t help with my overthinking thoughts of how different it could be in-person. What if I make an idiotic mistake while on the job? Will I like my internship cohort? Will THEY like me? A lot of thoughts, and a lot of waiting until I was there in person to experience it.
Good thing I was wrong.
Maine was FANTASTIC! It was honestly so amazing to be there in-person at VIA working and collaborating with my internship cohort.
Doing work virtually vs. actually being there, was like night and day.
I was overthinking a lot beforehand because almost everyone at VIA lived in Maine and our internship cohort (the other 9 interns) have been going to the office since it opened the first week of July. It felt a bit isolating anytime we jumped in a zoom call as they were all cool and familiar with each other. It was just different.
So, actually being there at meetings and running around with my VIA mentor as she assigned me things to do or go oversee studio recordings/edit bays with her was AMAZING! This was what gets me going! Being there in person for production work! Alongside that, was working with my internship cohort as we tackled the client we got assigned to at the start of our internship.
Outside of the internship, Quyen and I got to hang out with our fellow interns on doing Maine activities! We visited a lighthouse, we tried lobster rolls for the first time (A MUST!), we saw the beach during blue hour, we tried REAL maple syrup on waffles, visited our client and so many more things. We did as much as we could with only a week that was given to us. I only wished we had more time with VIA and our internship cohort.
It was bittersweet on the last day at the office when we had to say goodbye to everyone. The only thing that was going through my head that whole day was how Quyen and I were supposed to be there all summer, but because of COVID, we can’t. I am still beyond grateful for the opportunity that VIA gave us the ability to come to visit and have all our expenses paid for. Without MAIP, I don’t think I would have known about Portland, Maine, VIA, and our amazing internship cohort. We miss our internship cohort especially, but Quyen and I plan to hopefully visit Maine once again in the future.
Meanwhile…. check out @VIAnterns we developed for VIA this summer to use for future VIA summer internship classes.
