By Natasha Sareen | Thu., July 28, 12:20 PM
Having spent just over 2 weeks doing work experience at Thomson Reuters Foundation, the task of summing up my experience is not easy. How can I begin to explain how much I have learnt and how much I have loved it? From the moment I first stepped into the big marble reception of Thomson Reuters I was intimidated, yet excited. Although I had often walked past sleek London offices such as this, this was my first official work experience, and I really didn’t know quite what to expect.
I was immediately bustled from the reception to office, a flurry of unfamiliar faces I would soon get to know a lot better, and straight into a meeting about one of the Foundation team’s new projects. Although I had completely familiarized myself with the TrustMedia website, I found myself sitting in the meeting and desperately trying to take in as much information as possible. It was my first hour at the office and I was already learning so much. I was fascinated by the way people were able to work jointly as a team to solve a problem. I couldn’t wait to get started and do my bit!
I found myself doing research on different organisations for TrustMedia to form partnerships with in order to give the website a variety of content. I was able to gain so much more insight into what the Foundation actually did and how it combined journalism and media with information on worth-while humanitarian causes. Typing away at my desk I learnt a lot about the day-to-day runnings of the company, from contacting media organisations in Africa to organising courses for student journalists from all over the world to everyday, mundane tasks like expenses. I felt I was in a London office but also in a buzzing international environment, which was only accentuated by the snippets of conversations in different languages about the latest news headlines.
I was also struck by the variety of the projects the Foundation team ran. One of the most interesting days was when I was given the opportunity to accompany some young Egyptian girls to Greenwich, where they would film their own news reports for their Reuters journalism course. I loved being able to come in contact with some of the people the Foundation actually worked with. I was so impressed by their passion and determination to put together a high-standard news report in the face of some rather predatory stall-keepers. Not only was I able to pick up some Arabic, but I was also fascinated by the chance to see the company’s work from an entirely different perspective, that of the students.
Suffice to say, I learnt a lot in such a short space of time and equally important I enjoyed myself immensely!!! Not only was I able to learn more about how the Thomson Reuters Foundation works but I learnt that every problem offers an opportunity to find a new and maybe unique solution.
I am very lucky to have been at Reuters, I would like to thank the entire Foundation team for teaching me so much and making it such a memorable experience. I hope one day I will be back, but preferably for longer than two weeks….
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