RAI Corporation Internship Program

 Ciao, sono Alessia..an italo-canadese film school graduate that has been lucky enough to be able to spend 3 months in the Big Apple working on the 25th floor of a landmark AT&T building for Italy?s official television network.

The chance to work at RAI and be in New York means the world to me especially since to my understanding, I am the first Canadian to do an internship here (and not the last I hope!)

So what has my New York experience been like so far? Well it all had to start with finding a home base, which turned out to be a darling studio apartment on the Upper East Side. The Upper East Side runs alongside Central Park and the East River and Mayor Bloomberg resides here.

I have a 4 floor walkup and a 15 minute walk to the subway each day (so that is my exercise!) I remember how great a feeling it was to wake up the first morning and realize that after months of hoping for it, I really was in New York about to start the internship.

So far at Raicorp I've worked in production on different stories for TG2 and TG3, finding footage for editing the stories, doing research for the journalists, getting in touch with different organizations, businesses and people on behalf of the producers. The summer season here started off slow, but we really got a taste of how things operate when a big story hits. The tragic helicopter accident that took the lives of 5 Italian tourists 2 weeks ago on the Hudson Rivers was a huge breaking story to cover. We helped out and watched as the 2 journalists Giovanna Botteri and Dino Cerri did live standups from the terrace with the Hudson in the background, we scrambled to find out new information.

This kind of story really allows an intern to see what the work of a journalist really is and the demands they face during a story this big that literally happened in Raicorp's backyard. I've also gone to the circus, helped on an interview with people from Woodstock and met Zucchero.

Aside from the office, we are all enjoying the city and trying out new locales, restaurants andattractions. We even played a company soccer game!

Living in New York is an amazing thing, an experience I believe is invaluable for a young person. I've met so many interesting people, seen so many new things and have been exposed to new ideas and cultures..

And the food is incredible!!! You can get any type of food you want... the stagisti from Italy are enjoying the "cibo americano". I am more interested in the dolci that New York has to offer. I am obsessed with cupcakes, there are several amazing bakeries here and there is a place called Max Brenner's that specializes in all things chocolate... I've had the chocolate pizza which is incredible. The gastronomia in New York is definitely my favorite part.

Alla prossima!

Alessia Sara