This week I began my internship at the Aukland Public Trust. I started off the week by moving into my new apartment building and waking up for an orientation with GAV and the rest of the interns. We walked through downtown Aukland, learned where some nice restaurants, necessary stores, and public transport was located, and visited the GAV Aukland office. We finished the orientation off with a group lunch at a restaurant called Coop’s where I got a Nashville hot chicken sandwich. The rest of the day was free for us to explore, so I went and got a gym membership and some groceries. I also took a walk to the Public Trust office at the SAP tower to make sure I knew how to get there in the morning. Thankfully, it is only a 10 minute walk from my apartment building and my gym is right down the street.
The first week of interning has gone well. It is a pretty laid-back work environment. All of the employees are very friendly and happy to help out with anything. I became more familiar with the finance team in the office throughout this week, got my laptop and company accounts set up, and learned about the main functions of the trust, as well as its history and why it exists. I’ve sat in on a few meetings regarding the tax situation and budgeting for 2024. I was also assigned my first task of reviewing applications for the trust’s “fee protect” program that they offer for students attending private universities.
In terms of exploration, I found a nice food court/ shopping center with a huge number of options that I think I’ll be visiting frequently. I also found a couple smaller bars and ate at a really good Korean restaurant later in the week. Over the weekend, my roommates and I went to a super rugby match at Eden Park. It was a rivalry game between Aukland’s team (the Blues) and the Christchurch’s team (the Crusaders). The Crusaders have won every year for the last 8 years, so I felt honored to watch Aukland’s team bring home the win for the first time in a while.
So far, I really like Aukland. I find it to be less busy than Sydney was and a bit cleaner. The weather is starting to cool down as the area is moving into their autumn season, so I want to do as many outdoor activities as I can while it’s still warm. With next week being Easter weekend, I have Friday and the following Monday off, so I think my roommates and I are going to plan a little road trip through the southern parts of the north island. I am excited to see what we manage to plan as well as what my internship will have to offer next week.