In the eyes of hopeful design-minded students everywhere, architecture is a frozen composition emanating muted melodies and pulsating rhythms layered with visceral poetry. To practitioners of the profession, they look at the discipline with cynical eyes and exhausted optimism. During the first month of work the naïve intern will run out to get coffee, roll drawings, staple spec sheets, all with an inspirational glee. Shortly after though, that enthusiasm fades and the reality of professional practice sinks in. I thought my bosses would be young, hip people with a true vision for what tomorrow will bring, but my experiences proved otherwise.

On to my fifth summer of interning as a soon to be senior, I have realized that there is a compromise. I've had bosses that teach little and expect a lot; on the other hand, I have also had bosses that take the risk of giving challenging assignments while taking the time to explain the underlying reason behind every move in the office. Given the smallest amount of responsibility, a respectable student will exploit his/her own talents and ambitions and truly revive life back in the office. Students have the untamed and endless passion and creativity to conceive untraditional and impossible solutions to common problems. They can offer an often overlooked insight into the "why" of architecture.

Although I make far less than I am worth to the office, learning the mechanics behind architecture is priceless. And although I may not do everything right, I am aware of what "the intern" means to the office. Above everything else, the student will remind everyone why they got into the profession in the first place. And that is what architectural internship should be. It should be the gradual exposing of how what we learned in school can be used in the work-world. Our bosses need to be our mentors and need to teach us how to mold our love for the art of architecture into something tangible.

It should be a cradle of learning where both parties share ideas, experience, and curiosity. Employers will be exposed to the new, eclectic developments in architecture via the academic world, and students will begin to understand the truth behind how architecture works in the real world. Professionals should take the time to sit with a student and show him what it means to be an architect - the student should shadow his/her boss on all levels. Likewise, the professional should allow student-driven work to spill into the office environment.

It is crucial that we learn now that architecture isn't impossible designs, take out Chinese, Camel Lights, instant coffee and a room full of friends. Its rush-hour traffic, short lunch breaks, kicking the office plotter, and nodding fallaciously at pompous clients, all while living and loving the discipline for what it is. The sooner we as students learn that and learn how to cope and learn how to love the good and the bad, the better we can prepare ourselves to still be designers at heart.