I hope everyone has enjoyed the first Lunch Series post. After the first week of training in Dallas, all the interns flew back to their respective home offices and began the first official week of work. PwC gave all the interns the opportunity to rotate between two groups during the ten-week internship, and I was fortunate enough to be paired with my top two choices: Federal and International Tax Services (ITS).

I started my internship at the Houston office with the Federal group. The first week was filled with online training on independence, ethics, Circular 230, firm values etc. and mini projects from various managers. However, my official project started on the following week, and I moved down to a conference room (auditor-style!) with my teammates. Some of the other interns asked me if I liked being in such proximity with my teammates five days a week, and I really liked it. For me, it was easy access to ask seniors questions, to learn about my coworkers, and to interact with them almost effortlessly because we were all in a room together.

I’ve also learned a lot about partnership returns (to which I have not had the academic exposure) and depletion schedules (which is more specific to oil and gas accounting). Even though I am usually the type who likes to figure things out for herself, I have learned that the most efficient and effective way to learn is to ask questions. The unique aspect about my first engagement at PwC is that quite a few of the past interns have stayed on the engagement as full-time hires, so they truly understand the confusion an intern could have. I am fortunate in many ways to start my internship with a close-knit group who is very welcoming to interns (even deeply confused ones like me!), which encourages me to enter into my rotation at ITS starting this Monday.

Below is a picture from our intern event on the opening day of the Houston Rodeo. The concert headliner was Rascal Flatts!!