Anyone who has known me over the last year (and probably most college juniors or seniors) knows just how much the idea of an internship stressed me out. I spend hours every day, for weeks upon weeks, and months upon months, just trying to find something that would give me some work experience and something to add to my resume.

I sent my resume to at least 100 different companies and went to more interviews than I can count. Many of which did, in fact, work out! The company liked me, they thought I would be a good fit, they insisted their internship program would help me immensely in my future career. But all of these companies had one thing in common, I didn't like them back.

Some were small firms looking to send me on coffee runs all day, some of them wanted me to knock door to door and try to sell things with no pay, and one even turned out to be involved in a sketchy pyramid scheme. Over time I had slowly started to lose all hope that I would find an internship where I truly felt I would belong and would get the knowledge and growth that I needed. I was tired of getting my hopes up and having something go wrong yet again.

Thankfully, I have a lot of people around me who told me to never give up and kept reminding, that with all the determination that I knew I had inside of me, I would find the perfect fit for me. In time I did, and let me tell you if was without a doubt worth the wait.

I had had months of sleepless nights at this point, completely restless and wondering when I could catch a break. I had even started carrying my resume in my purse, just in case an opportunity arose at any random time. Which is exactly what happened. I never thought I would say it, but thank god for college waitress jobs! I was introduced to some business people, on a regular weekday during the lunchtime shift, who informed me about this amazing internship opportunity at a very well known company!

I thought to myself "there's no way this could be real, I've had so many bad experiences with the whole internship thing thus far, how could a company like this even consider me?" But roll on a couple of months later, the interview process and the long wait for the final phone call was all over, and it was my first day. I was excited and nervous and terrified and relieved all at once.

Walking into the office on that Monday morning made every single bump in the road up to this point 100% worth it. If all of those other jobs had worked out, or if I had settled for something less than what I truly wanted, I never would have been standing in that doorway that morning. I realized at that moment that hard work and determination will never fail you.

I kept that mindset throughout my entire summer with that company, and in the end they asked me to continue working into the fall! I was so proud of my myself for never giving up through all of those sleepless nights and through all of those opportunities that led to nowhere. I am continuing to work for this awesome company, I'm gaining experience in a field that I truly love, and I have learned to always carry your resume, never stop being on the lookout for opportunities and leads, and to never give up because if you work your ass off and don't stop trying, things will turn out your way eventually.