Tessa during her internship in NYC

Hi everyone! I’m Tessa Schweckhorst, and I’m in my 4th year of the IDE program at Nimeto in Utrecht. I’m doing an internship in New York City at an interior design consultancy.

Today is September 15, 2017. By now, I’ve been in New York City for almost a month. How time flies when you’re having a good time! On my first day of the internship in this big city, I saw more than I did in 10 weeks at my previous internship in the Netherlands. When I stopped by the office for an introduction on Friday (August 25, 2017), I immediately got a note with an address, time, and phone number. I was expected Monday at 9:00 AM at a luxury newly built apartment on the Upper West Side.

Full of enthusiasm, I went there. After a few things went wrong and I feared I would be late, I sprinted a few times and arrived exactly at 9:00 AM on location. When I got there, no one was there yet. With all the hustle and the crowded subways in New York, it’s no surprise people are often late. So this happens almost always. Lucky me!

When my colleague arrived, we took the elevator up to the 4th floor, where a huge and incredibly luxurious eight-room apartment is located. Lisa did part of the styling for this house. She is the project leader. I, wide-eyed, was allowed to babysit the apartment. Yes! Babysit. People were coming to install the curtains (which are controlled by my internship company), and the owner didn’t want to leave them alone. He was enjoying a day at the beach.

I sat at the big table with my laptop and homework, overlooking the other apartments on the Upper West Side. Meanwhile, I went to get coffee at Starbucks, and when I came back, I called the owner of the house. He wanted to know how things were going and asked me to tell the men not to leave any dust behind. Feeling a bit awkward having to say it, I asked the painter to please remember to clean up the dust when he was done. As kind as he is, he nodded yes. When the men finished, I took some photos for Lisa, and after getting her approval, I went back to the office by subway and on foot.

There is another intern here named Sandra. She’s from France. I sat with her in Madison Square Park with a view of the Flatiron Building. After our lunch break, we went straight to a large department store on the Upper East Side called the Decoration & Design Building to pick up some fabric samples.

As usual, I was amazed here again. There are 17 floors with the most famous and expensive brands selling fabrics. The visitors who come here, mostly men, are millionaires, and the women have all had plastic surgery and stand there in their Chanel suits. A very strange but wonderful world. After we collected the samples, we took the subway back to Broadway in the Upper West Side where the company is located. I never get bored here because of the beautiful view of the Flatiron Building.

I am often sent out to pick up or deliver things. It’s a strange thought that I haven’t been here very long, yet I already have so much to tell. Because I go from location to location so much, I see a lot of the city, and the most important thing is that I meet face to face with clients, suppliers, and vendors. This helps me learn to communicate better and learn more about business.

Sometimes I’m lucky enough to go along with the designers. During my first experience, I went to the Upper East Side. What I saw there I had never seen before—a banker who bought the entire floor of an apartment. His wife is an art collector, so the whole apartment is covered with amazing paintings. This apartment is being repainted, and we came to check on the progress. Well, I could do that every day!

Other tasks of mine include calling and emailing suppliers to ask about the price and availability of samples that are here. Once I have the answers, I write them on a note and stick the note to the back of the sample. We do this so that we can immediately inform clients if they have any questions about them. This isn’t my favorite task, but hey, I’m in New York. Who cares?

In the evenings, I come home every night to The Webster Apartments. Here are all my girlfriends. We eat together and talk about our day. Some nights we go out, and other nights we work out or sit in the TV room and watch TV. On beautiful days, we sit on the rooftop terrace with a view of The Empire State Building.

The days fly by, and if I were in the Netherlands, I wouldn’t say this—but I wish time would go a little slower!

I hope I have even more fun stories to tell you next time!