Internship-A journey from naivety to maturity

The day I entered the Strategic Initiatives and External Relations (SIER) Room no. C3-04, I was hell scared. I saw Shelly and Jess sitting at the table. They were busy doing something. The moment they saw me, they stood up and welcomed me with there real smiles which made me comfortable. Then came, Charlene, followed by Carolyn (my supervisor). Carolyn and Charlene heartily greeted me, and they walked me through the work. The first day included meetings with Carolyn, Charlene, and Shelly.

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Within a week I got adjusted in this environment as it was friendly, energetic and full of life. The morning started with greetings, followed by meetings, discussions and brainstorming sections. Apart from these, I got a chance to meet Manjeet, Tas, Andrew, and Samantha. Mondays used to start with a discussion about the weekend, health tips n tricks and then with the work.

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We used to have traffic meetings bi-weekly and every other Thursday we had salad lunches. This post will be incomplete without introducing you guys my mentors who added another level of confidence in me and made me a stronger person.

Meet the Director of SIER Department: Andrew Petrou 

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I met Andrew during my third week of Internship as he was away with his family for vacation. When I met him, I never felt like I was meeting him for the first time. His smile and the never-ending energy to handle back to back meetings inspired me all the time. He has always appreciated my presence and made me feel like home. Andrew loves Davids Tea and making coffee for everyone. He takes health seriously, and because of him, I could learn some of the stretches.

Meet my Supervisor: Carolyn Ritchie 

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If Andrew is energetic, then Carolyn is the vibe behind that energy. She is a perfect epitome of ‘Beauty with Brains.’ She has given her heart and soul to this office, and I have been lucky to have her as my mentor. She helped me achieve my learning plan objectives. She made me feel comfortable and taught me how I can channelize my energy and excitement. She is a staunch follower of diet, and she never compromises with that, even though the Naan tempts her nerves out. She has exceptional presentation skills, and she can handle meetings the whole day. I admire her hairstyles the most.

Meet my Savior: Charlene D’ Costa

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Charlene is a ‘Salad Queen,’ ‘Yoga Enthusiast’ and my savior. She is an alumnus of PR course, and she walked me through everything, be it Hootsuite, scheduling of posts, editing them or guiding me for my personal growth, social media plans or the Brandbook. She always listened and respected my thoughts. She made learn how can I put forward my thoughts. I learned to be organized from her and honestly speaking, her diary and bag make me admire her. She loves to give cards, and she gave me a fantastic card on birthday which brought a big smile on my face. Charlene became my confidante in this 8-week journey.

Meet the voice of SIER: Shelly Gupta

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Shelly is the mouthpiece of Solv. service where we act as a catalyst between the industry and the college to bring the best out of them. She handles the internal as well as external relations. Since she is the mouthpiece, henceforth, she is always busy over the phone. I learned how to sell yourself in front of the internal and external team. She walked me through the entire partnership process. She gave me feedback on my social media plan as she was the one who could tell about the partners which I recommended to work with.

Meet the SIER Nightingale: Jessica Vella

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Jess seems to be an inspirational figure who makes the office environment musical and exciting with her humming, and her hunger pangs can make anyone laugh. She is the first person who comes to the office. She is cute, sweet and adorable. She loved my pasta salad, and for the first time, I felt proud of cooking. She is excellent with multi-tasking, be it admin work, writing minutes during meetings or handling excel sheet during traffic meetings. You say, and she will do it. She is a go-getter, and I will surely miss her Indian food stories. I had never seen anyone so proud of the fact that she looks like an Indian. I feel super pumped up around her.

Meet our Heartthrob: Manjeet Kang

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If you ever need to know Funding Opportunities, then you should go to Manjeet. She is just like that matchmaker who will make you meet your soulmate. But in technical words, she finds the funding opportunity for your firm and suggests you apply for it. While I was working on the Brandbook, she was the one who came to my rescue. She gave me a brief tutorial about her work and the way she explained, she nailed it. She is meant to a career coach, guide. She gave me so many pieces of advice which have been carved in my heart, and I have started implementing them already. She adds lots of Indian touch with her food, and I love the way she makes you feel loved by her Shahi Paneer. You say you miss home, she will bring food for you and pamper you like a kid.

Meet our SIER mom: Samantha Corway

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I guess most of the people these days know her because of her super adorable daughter, Delia, who is a star. She is classy, cute and has all the British features one could ever ask for. I met her during my last 2 weeks of internship. I never felt that I was meeting her for the first time. She has that aura in her which makes you intrigued to know her. Our mornings used to start asking about Delia, her picture on the camera. She is a fancy person who brings her super awesome bowls, cutlery and I have been inspired by her teal water bottle. She has given me mesmerizing gifts on my farewell.

Meet the SIER magical cook: Tasnuva Hasan

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Tas is known for her khus khus and super fantastic Chicken. She loves to cook and can make any dish out of the given ingredients. I love the way she handles her work and life. When she is around, you always feel elated.

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The last day of my internship reminded me of all the sweet memories that we guys shared, be it laughing at jokes, getting sad at my sickness, cheering me up on birthday, appreciating me for juggling internship and security job, making teas, birthday lunch, or potluck. I cannot forget the time I had spent with them, and I am going to miss them a lot.

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Love you SIER family (my second home)

Yours,

Surbhi Sareen 

(Social Media Intern at SIER)

 

 

 

Inspirational Diaries: She is a roller coaster ride

Hello lovelies! I am back to my Inspirational Diaries. Today I would tell you about this cute catty Punjaban. Her name is Gurpreet Kaur.

Gurpreet Kaur( Nainpreet Kaur)

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Haye Ni.. Punjabi Mutiyaar!!

I met her exactly three years and she was the second person whom I met in the college. She looked sweet with coloured blue top, white jagging, her hair tied up in a pony tail and her hazel eyes was an icing on the cake. She looked amazing. She was a blabbermouth to be honest. I was not used to such people but when I came across her I started liking her. Her daring and casual could be noticed on the very first day as she bunked the most important class, without knowing about it actually. When she came to know she promised that she won’t miss the class. But slowly and steadily or very quickly she became regular in bunking the class. The result was that she became almost out of touch with us and we were just like that there was a girl named Gurpreet who never attended the lectures. We didn’t get the chance to come close. Was it the end of this story of friendship? Umhhh.. this was just one side of her and we were yet to see the other side.

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Phoolon ke saath

In second year fourth semester, she came back to class. Her new side could be seen. She started spending time with us and we became her friends. Yes, it was a new start of friendship again. I came across her the first as she needed notes and even she used to drop me home. I realised she was a nice person who was true to me. She was genuine and an amazing soul. Her zeal to look at life and enjoy the life to the fullest inpired me the most. I did all those things which I hated the most. I can’t forget that I went out for a movie that too three people on one activa. I ate those unhealthy gol gappas for her. I ate that spicy food. I just can’t forget how she used to listen my blabbers, tragic stories about my fights with my psycho scentifc friend during her drives. I had experienced nature with her, yes remember when we used to drop Mannu at the highway. In all these how could I forget your Malai sabji that you made for us in the first semester, the very next day of our first day, those sandwiches and the way you used to bring MADDi or Naddi( God Knows whom :p) samosas. Anyway, all were delicious and just can’t get over them. To add more, when you brought tikkis for me in that scorching heat, I love you for that Preet.

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best photo

Preet, I love the way you smile, wink and make others laugh. I always admire your bindass attitude and your love for parties, hangouts. I have seen so much on that activa of yours almost the entire Jalandhar. Yami and I will never forget those movies dates with you, those hangouts, those pajama movie attitude of yours, that taking of tiffin in theatres and not to forget our last movie, Angry Birds and after that you came to my place, the way we laughed, made funny faces and clicked loads of pictures. I just can’t forget how many memories you have given me and all those good and best ones.

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Last day

There are two things which I hate the most. One is when you forget to return me notes 😛 and the other is your super crazy number changing attitude. I don’t get why the hell you change your number just like changing clothes. You are complete Jhalli. Hehe..

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Masti..

 

And now I am going to miss you alot. I can’t forget that you were the one with me when I had to visit some places like DAV college and many more. I am going to cherish all those fun moments in my life.

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Memories..:D

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Prem Bhav..:P

This is Surbhi signing off… I will be back with more such people. Till then, stay blessed and keep rocking..:)

Inspirational Diaries: She is poetic

“Kabhi bin kahe sab kuch keh jana

kabhi sunke bhi dil ki awaaz ko unsuna kar jana”

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aswesome..:)

Well, this short shayari says alot about you. Today  I would introduce my poetic friend, Mannu.

Manpreet KAur Uppal( Mannu)

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Freshers vali photo..:D

POetry or shayari, she is too amazing with it. I am die hard fan of her writeups. I met this introvert soul exactly three years ago. She entered the class, little nervous, little shy and a lot of questions in her heart. She expressed less but eyes said it all. She wanted true friends and slowly and steadily, she became an important part of my life. The first year went studying, being serious and the next year came with lots of happiness.

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Famous Three

We became more close to each other. Those small hangouts, Pizza parties, Chole Bhature times were worth nurturing. Your stunning remark: AAAHOOO always cheered me up. There is alot store in you which took me these years to take out; be it clicking selfies, be it pouting, be it those craziest vibrant poses, be it your enjoyment at HArdys World, be it your first time watching the movie, FARAR. I am glad that I could give you those memories and those experiences which you never had.

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The most adventurous one was of Devi Talab’s room visit when we were not allowed to enter there and we faked as researchers. The way we confidently talked to them, could have fooled anyone. There is no doubt in accepting that you visited library more times then me..:P

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Exam se pehli vali photo

I still remember the time when I was going through my bad moods and you cheered me up by clicking bundles of selfies. I will always cherish that moment in my life and will love you forever for that. Coming to your smile, you are cute and the way you explain things( padhayi vali :P) is worth appreciable.

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girls gang

In all this, how can I forget those tolerable times when I used to experiment my hairstyling talent on you. You have been so generous to me at that time. Remember the time when I got super angry at you that you got your hair cut short. I still forget that face of yours 😉

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pagalpanti ..:)

Manu I adore you alot and your charismatic way of accepting the things is impeccable. I will never forget you and your craziness. Just a small message to you that :

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Your hairstyle by me:P

“Life is too short to keep things to themselves; open up a little; laugh a little; dance a little; pamper yourself a little..why? The answer is because you deserve all that and you are beautiful. Fall in love with yourself and start loving life.”

More pictures:

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pout 😛

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chashme baddoor

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This is Surbhi… signing off.. will be back with more such updates ..:D

Inspirational Diaries: She is simply awesome

I am extremely sorry for the delay as I was really busy but I am back to my Inspirational Diaries. Today I will talk about a simply awesome person who is so good at everything and is the melody of my life.

Yamini Kukreja aka YAmi

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You look Stunning..<3

Yami is an ambivert who is a bibliophile and I am in love with her bibliophilism. I got connected with her through notes. We used to interact each other because of notes. I was mesmerised by her thoughts and the way she used to converse in English made me spell bound. The very second day she impressed me with her critical appreciation of a poem. SHe had done a lot of research and work on that. I really wanted to know more about her. After an year, we got the chance to come close to each other. We shared our thoughts, we faught, we saw movies, hangouts, parties and the way she flaunts her newly learnt Punjabi is simply wow. She has always taught me new things be it about life or about looking at people. SHe has a clear cut funda:

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Last day fun!!

 

If someone treats you good, be with that person and if not, then keep yourself away from that person.

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Our never ending birthday parties 😀

I really love the way she smiles and the other reason for loving her is that she readily surrenders herself to me when I have to do her hair styling, remember the makeover session at my place? eh! We have such good memories, be it at my place, be it in the park, be it at hooting and taunting Raj :P. be it at mocking Deep’s funniest acts, be it staying strong for Shiv, be it guiding our friends. You have become an integral part of my life and yesterday’s meeting was the last where we wished good luck to each other in our hearts. I promise to meet you soon. I will cherish all these memories. My parents and dadima will miss you and so do I . Just wish you good luck and stay blessed.

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Girls Squad..;)

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look what I found 😛

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Cute vali photo..;)

 

This is Surbhi, signing off and will be back with more writeups about gems like her. Stay tuned 🙂

Inspirational Diaries- She Made me Live life

This is the next post about a person who inspired me to live life the fullest without any boundations.

Gurdeep Kaur( Foodie)

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Meet my Jalandhar Vali ..:)

 

Well, she is mostly known as Deep who is a typical Punjaban at heart. She was the first person whom I met exactly 3 years ago at the door of English Department. SHe was wearing a suit that had black embroidery in it with hair tied tightly in a pony tail. SHe was waiting for the teacher as the department was locked and it was clear that she was the first person who was waiting. The first impression was that she was a sincere and a punctual girl. ( I know you will laugh your heart out at this remark.) She was scared and even I was double scared since it was the first day of our college.  She said a weak hi to me and then we were lost in admiring the sky. Slowly, the formalities barrier broke out and we soon befriended each other. We were not that attached before but as the years proceeded we became close. SHe actually underwent a series of changes, the start wasn’t that good but gradually she changed herself and realised the worth of classmates, friends. I don’t know what forced me to confront her. We had a good amount of talk about her future and she realised she need to focus on it. If I stepped one step towards her, she stepped two towards me. When I started being with her I realised she was a ‘chota packet double dhamaka.’

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photo session exams vala

Deep trust me, I saw some spark in you and as we came close I learnt how talented you were, the way you used to dance, the way you used to take tuitions at home,the way you used to make those cards just made me respect you more and more. I felt I was meeting an independent woman. Then came a phase when we came more close. The phase where the world was against our thoughts and we both were handling our battles, be it money issues, be it those big fights, we overcame all that together. Being with you, I feel so lively and refreshed.

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After class MAsti

I learnt alot from you. I always keep on thinking how can someone be so happy with the food. ANd thats why you earned the tag ‘Foodie’. I love your funda about food

“Paisa ho ya na ho, khushi ho ya ghum ho, asli khushi khane se milti hai”

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Kissi vali photo ..:P

 

I will miss those crazy fundas, those stupidest hangouts to Krishna Dhabha, Pizzeria and above all, our all time favourite Icecream cake. I am going to badly miss your all those crazy photo sessions that we had, you made a photoholic and you yourself are food n photo addict. I will miss your pagalon vali Punjabi, totally nonsense talks about Food, Food and Food. Okay, a secret revealed, I will miss your MA- Behan vali gaaliyan too..:p  In all this, how can I forget your fanatastic singing..

“Ho na Ho eh pyaar tere da asar hai ki neend raat nu aave na”

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My Book Promotion

I am bad with lyrics so bare with me, but just love with this song. I just love your LUddi too. You are the cutest and most adorable person I have ever met. What enjoyment is, I learnt from you and still I am going to wonder how could anyone be happy with Food. I will pray that you marry a foodie person ..:P

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Last day of College ..:(

Randoms :

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Fruit Beer love ..:)

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The best Eyes Pose..:D

This is Surbhi, your all time kitabon mei doobi saheli, signing off.. will be back with more interesting facts about my friends.

Inspirational Diaries: She Enlightened Me

Graduation is over and still there is alot to be done and so much to be said. Yesterday was my last day and this goodbye was the most dreading part that we all were avoiding.  Nobody wanted to go but destiny had some other plans. As promised to my lovely people, I will be continuing my chain of Inspirational diaries and I will be writing about the people who inspired me in my journey of three years. And the first person is :

SHIVANI BHARDWAJ(Miss MOtivator)

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The Best Picture of My Life

I have named you Miss MOtivator and you, always wonder why I did that. To be honest, Shiv I never came to know when you entered that closed door of my soul. I cannot tell you exactly  why I adore you so much and love you amongst all( secret revealed :p) When I met you I was mesmerised by your simplicity and those not so big dreams. You just wanted a simple life and your all the time enlightened talks about spirituality were completely different from me. You know what, a person like Surbhi Sareen who is nowhere around this segment actually wanted to be round your life. Life seemed to be changed around you.  You used to tell me to find myself through meditation. Meditation and SUrbhi Sareen? Are you kidding me girl? Are you insane? I mean what made you think that I will do that ever! You won! Bingo! You actually made me do that and after three long years, I am confessing this to you.  Yes Shiv, I secretly do the meditation everyday and will do that forever because I feel connected to you.

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kuch yaad aaya? Akhbar mei aayi thi humari photo 😛

This connection grew so strong that I want to laugh at those jokes with you, I want to smile admiring your peaceful smile, I want to dance with you at those bhangra beats,  I want to make those crafty cards with you, I want to cry with you at your sorrows, I want to make your life a bed of roses. I know that is not true and will never happen because roses do have thorns. Happiness and Sadness are part of life which we have to accept. SHiv, trust me I actually listen to your words and keep your advises in my heart.  I know I always behave that I am going to ignore that stupid advise but secretly I follow it. When we had our first ever fight, you told me to shut my stupid mouth and now I am practising it hard as you know I can go on blabbering my whole life. I still remember when you used to talk to me alone and preach me, how I need to accept the facts and move on with life, how I need to concentrate on my career, how I can become an independent woman, how I can improve myself. I know you genuinely care for me and will always do. And yesterday also, when you advised me how I should concentrate on my life,I actually brushed away your ideas because I was getting senti at that time, because now I wont be getting those bundle of advises, those taunts, those angry orders,

” Zindagi mei aage badhna hai to chup reh, sabki sun or fir react kar”

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This is your peaceful Smile 🙂

I need to tell you something very important( now don’t get serious, its not too serious, just a fact I found out.) I feel your peaceful smile is lost. I never got the chance to say that because I guess I am not that strong to confront you face to face. Your dad’s demise not only affected you, it affected me too. Why? Because when you lost your lifeline, I lost my lifeline too, your peaceful smile that always take me to a world of peace and trance. I know when someone dies, its hard to live without them but we can’t stop living. I know you are handling the things alone and there is alot on your plate to handle which I might not be knowing because you don’t want to trouble me.  I respect you what you are doing. But one thing can come back, it might take time but try to find it: Your peaceful smile and trust me, I can sacrifice anything to get that back. I will always be there to listen to you. I am just a call away. ANd I am super vala sorry if I ever made you cry or hurt you. You know na, I am completely gone person. SO forgive me. I really love you my jaan. You gave me a new perspective of life and I will always keep it safe in my heart.

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Hum teeno ki ek saath pehli picture.. Cheers to memories 🙂

This is your pagal si saheli signing off.. will be back with more such interesting posts..stay happy..stay strong and remember that, I love dher sara..<3