Being an intern at VBAT
The End
By Melanie Edwards
Was Creative Intern at VBAT
Last summer, VBAT took part in the D&AD New Blood Festival with a workshop and was mentoring agency at the D&AD New Blood Academy. During the portfolio viewings, our Creative Director Graham Sturt met Melanie Edwards. Graham was impressed by Mel’s work, and VBAT decided to offer Mel an intern position. A few weeks later, Mel arrived to Amsterdam and settled down at Hotel Jansen, just around the corner of the office. That’s when her adventure at VBAT started. Here’s a short flashback about her time at the agency:
“Last Wednesday I left VBAT and a week ago today, I was flying back to England. I thought it would be strange to return home after so long but already it feels as though I never went away. As I expected, Wigan is the same as always but although the place pales in comparison to Amsterdam, I really did miss the people so I’ve been doing a lot of catching up since I got back!
Now though, the excitement of retuning has settled which has given me time to reflect on my experience — and what an experience it was!
Whilst I was away, there were lots of things which I missed about home but now that I’m back I’ve noticed that there are many things I miss about being away! So, for my final blog post I’ve decided to discuss the things I will miss about working at VBAT.
Living in Amsterdam
Amsterdam is such a lovely place and I really enjoyed living there. Whether it was visiting galleries with friends, cycling through Vondelpark on a Sunday morning or strolling around the 9 streets, there was always something to do and I will definitely return for a visit at some point!
Lunch at VBAT
Each day at 11:59 Marcos (one of the creatives) would pass through the office saying ‘It’s lunchtime guys’ to everyone he passed. Following the prompt reminder from Marcos, everyone would shuffle to the canteen to select lunch from the buffet. With bread buttered, toasties toasted and drinks poured everyone would then migrate to the seating area. Talk at the table usually started as chit chat but somehow always ended on a crazy topic.
Now sat at home with a tin of tomato soup watching daytime TV seems quite dull in comparison — I do miss lunch at VBAT.
The People at VBAT
In my six months at VBAT I got to know many people.
I became especially fond of the people that I worked most closely with — so I will really miss them a lot!
On my last day I was given a lovely card and some really nice books about paper cut illustration, which is something that I am very passionate about!
Before I left I had to give a little speech, which was difficult because I don’t like being or talking in front of crowds.
Even though I only spoke for about 30 seconds, the whole thing was a blur and afterwards I was worried that I didn’t say what I wanted to.
So just in case, I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for letting me intern for VBAT and to say how grateful I am for the whole experience — it was absolutely fab!”
Dear Mel, it was great having you. You will be missed! We wish you all the luck for your career! And to all possible future interns out there: We’ll be joining D&AD New Blood Academy and Festival again this summer. So watch out for us. Maybe you will be the next to stay at Hotel Jansen and serve your internship with us.
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written by Melanie Edwards
was Creative Intern at VBAT
edited by Connie Fluhme
PR at VBAT
