The holiday party ended up being a great time. It was an exciting opportunity to develop stronger relationships with my supervisor and others from my team—I even got to speak to a few of the executives! After seeing everyone with a drink in hand, and since I am 21, I concluded that a drink would be acceptable in this situation, but of course, I limited myself to only one drink.  Now that all the holiday fun was over, it was back to work again. I am putting the finishing touches on my presentation and I am pleased with another job well done on my project. But then, I glance over at the time. ONLY noon?! What am I going to do for the rest of the day? I desperately check my inbox to see if my boss has sent over any new tasks. No new messages. I awkwardly fidget around in my seat trying to look busy. I open a new tab in my browser to see if there’s anything interesting on Facebook. I post up a new status, “It’s going to be another loooong day at work again L” All this week, I have been finishing my projects very early and spending the rest of the day trying hard to look busy. Usually I’m too busy, who would have thought I’d complain about not having enough to do? The hours seem endless—I’ve been taking longer lunch breaks and counting the minutes until I have to leave. My boss has been busier than usual, on business trips, and out of the office working on closing a huge deal. He left me with a few projects, but nothing substantial. Since I know this is such a hectic time for him, I don’t want to bother him by asking for work and pestering him with emails. Unless…should I?

I overhear Stephanie and Mary from the other team within our department talking about all the extra work they have. They seem to have their hands full, especially since they just let someone go. I don’t have any projects to do right now and I’m itching to do some work. Should I let them know I’m available to help? Am I even allowed to do that? They’re not my direct supervisors. What would my boss think? I’m not their intern, and maybe I’d be overstepping my boundaries? Or maybe they’ll think it’s weird that I overheard them. I know I can help them, and I’d love a chance to prove myself and learn more about what their team does.

I can’t possibly sit here another day just fiddling my thumbs and pointlessly wasting time on the internet. I took this internship to get valuable work experience. I want to be as beneficial to this company and the department as possible and show how hardworking I can be. But I’m not using my time efficiently by sitting here. It’s time to get proactive;  how can I make the most out of my internship?