Your hands are shaking. Your heart is racing. You feel a single drop of sweat slowly slide down your spine and join the pool resting at your lower back, saturating your shirt. You walk up to the entrance of the building and stop. You take a breath. You are here. You are about to cross through a precipice into an adult world, and you do not feel prepared. Do not worry! You are not alone.

Summer internships are the perfect way to gain experience in the professional world and in the field in which you hope to work after graduation. They present an opportunity to make sure you love what you will potentially be doing with your life. They allow you to network and make important connections with people who can help you find permanent jobs or provide you with recommendations for jobs in the future. They acquaint you with the reality of an "adult" job, and give you a sense of what your future could be like. If you are lucky, they can even provide you with a nice amount of money, which you will probably immediately spend on tuition for the next semester of college. But they are also absolutely terrifying--especially the first week.

This past week was my first foray into the world of internships. I have had jobs in the past, but most of them were as a camp counselor. As a camp counselor, I was not only encouraged but expected to roll around in mud, dance like a maniac, and sing at the top of my lungs. I learned quickly that that does not fly in the corporate world. Before my first day, I received information regarding the dress code and where/when I needed to arrive for orientation. Not only had I never driven anywhere near the location of my internship in the past, but I also did not have any clothes which fit the dress code.

Who owns business formal attire anyway? What even is business formal attire?

My first day was challenging. I was introduced to hundreds of employees, including the CEO of the company. Throughout the day, I put on my charm and tried my best to be amiable with all the people I met. I did not want anyone to get a bad first impression of me, as I know how important first impressions are. However, my supervisor requested I act more composed and serious then I had been throughout the day before meeting the CEO. I was incredibly confused.

Was I being unprofessional? Is being friendly too casual for the workplace?

As it turns out, the CEO was more casual in his attitude than anyone else I had met throughout the day. He was overtly friendly and obviously wanted to make me feel comfortable. I realized that being professional takes balance. It is knowing when to joke around with people and when to be serious. It is knowing when it is okay to goof off and when you need to buckle down and get things done.

Another struggle I had in the first week was trying to live up to my supervisor and co-worker's expectations of me. They told me they expected a lot from me, that they had heard I was a "smarty-pants willing to be challenged and capable of rising above normal standards," and that they had an entire project they wanted me to pilot. This terrified me. They expected so much, and I felt I had so little to offer them.

But I realized that their expectations are not that high. I learned that I need to have more faith in myself. I received the internship for a reason. If they believed I could pilot a program for the company, then certainly I should believe I can do so as well.

The first week of an internship is scary--beyond scary. But nothing says it has to remain scary.

You take a deep breath... in... out. You tell yourself "I belong here. I am here for a reason." You take a step forward, open the door, and... everything is fine.