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I really enjoyed my internship at BP. The work I was given was real work that genuinely contributed to my team and the business. It was part of a larger piece of work being conducted by experienced colleagues, and so I really felt valued knowing the work I was doing was the same work an experienced employee would be doing. It was challenging and kept me mentally stimulated throughout, whilst also feeling attainable. I have learned so much, met a lot of great people, and had a great time. I would definitely recommend this internship.

As I mentioned, the work I was doing was an important part of a larger piece of work that was being conducted by my colleagues. Because of that, everyone was interested in the work I was doing and the conclusions I came to, which made me feel like my work was genuinely of value to the company. I was also able to make recommendations at the end of my internship about what future work should be done in the area.

The support I was given was great. It wasn't just from my supervisor and line manager, although they were fantastic, it was from everybody around me. The work I was doing was very technical, and required knowledge I didn't fully have coming into the internship. But that was not an issue at all, whenever I needed to learn something there was always someone around who had an in-depth knowledge of the subject, and everyone would always spend as much time with me as was needed for me to learn the necessary things. Because of that, I never felt like I didn't know what I was doing, and I have learned so much.

How busy I was would vary from week to week. Some weeks I would be busy with my work and meeting from the minute I walked in to the minute I went home. Other weeks were slower with time to perform more administrative tasks. Overall I never found myself with nothing to do, and I felt like everyday I accomplished something useful, which was great. My busiest time was in weeks 6 to 10 (out of 11) when I was in the depths of my work, and also had a lot of extra activities with the internship programme.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my internship. My work was 'real work' that a more experienced colleague would perform if I wasn't there, and was an important part of the work being undertaken by the team. At times when I had to gain some knowledge in order to complete my work, it was up to me to find the appropriate person to help me and arrange meetings with them. I was treated like I was a genuine employee and not 'just an intern', which I really enjoyed. I was also part of a committee given responsibility over a video project the interns take part in.

I have learned so much more than I thought I would or could on this internship. I have learned so much about petroleum geophysics, and feel an extra confidence going into my next year of study because of the experienced gained at BP this summer. I have also learned a lot about the general workplace, how to network, how to work with others, presentation skills, and many other 'soft skills' that will help me in all aspects of my professional career.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere in the office. I expected it to be very quiet, with everyone just getting on with their own work, but I found contrary to that. The office is always lively with people sharing ideas and work with each other. This makes for a really great environment in which to learn and to work. The environment is also suitable for those times when you do just want to concentrate and get on with your own work. It also helped me feel confident in approaching others, which has lead to me learning much more.

The internship was very well organised. On my first day I was introduced to my supervisor who explained exactly what my work would be and what the end goals were. This enabled me to have a work plan by the end of the first week, so I knew what I had to do at every stage of the internship to meet my objectives. I never felt like I had nothing to do, which was great. The organisation of the internship programme as a whole was also very professional and well structured.

Almost all of the training and development I received was informal. This was mainly colleagues explaining how to use software, or explaining things I needed to learn. This worked well for me, but it would have been nice to have some kind of formal training on the software in particular. But, all the interns did receive formal training on presentation skills, which was very helpful

I would really enjoy working for BP, and sincerely hope they offer me a graduate position. BP are a great employer, and one I hope to work for. That said, the low oil price is really affecting the oil and gas industry, with companies taking on less graduates and cutting perks and training. This has made me more open to looking around at different opportunities in the industry, and even in other industries.

Because I study in London, I stayed in the same accommodation I was living in during term time. This was far away from the other interns, which meant I could not socialise as much as I would have liked to. I was able to attend the social events organised as part of the internship programme, which were fun, although I wish there would have been more of them. My experience is a little unusual though, and most of the interns lived with or near each other and there was a great social scene amongst them.

London is a very expensive place to live unfortunately, and any internship in the London area will have higher living and socialising costs. I found my cost of living wasn't much more compared with term time in London, although commuting from central London to the Sunbury site was very expensive. BP does give increased wages to interns working in the Sunbury site though, which does help.

I wouldn't know as my living situation restricted my socialising

There were lots of opportunities outside of my internship work. This included a charity day, shadow an intern programme, a poster competition, demonstrations of interesting equipment or technology on site, organised social events, and organising the intern video competition. There were also a lot of sports or social clubs to take part in.