Summer used to be a time of relaxation and ice cream trucks. Now as college students, we are expected to get a career-furthering, resume-building, life-changing internship to occupy our sun filled days. Finding a summer internship can be stressful and competitive. Most of them won't pay you and even if they do pay you, you get a laughable hourly wage for the amount of work and time you will end up putting into it. But, it's all for the experience right? Well, experience is great, but so is having a relaxing summer and getting adequately compensated for your work. A girl can dream, can't she? Here are the 7 phases of trying to get a summer internship.

1. What do I want to do?

This is a rare and early on thought in the hunt for a summer internship. Initially, you are bright eyed and bushy tailed, thinking you can get what you want and have a truly fulfilling experience. Not to say that you can't, it's just a little harder than you thought at the beginning.

2. If I email *important awesome company/person* they will totally respond, right?

3. Thinking you have all the time in the world.

Laziness kicks in while you still live in the fantasy land of number 2. Little do you know you definitely should have been getting your shit together promptly, because those ~always on top of it~ people have already set up 19 interviews and you're just doing nothing.

4. Panic kicks in, applications are sent out.

The bliss that was number three quickly turns into sheer panic as you begin to apply to every single internship known to mankind. Social media intern at a start-up organic candle company? You are studying film? It's fine, applying can't hurt, right?

5. Actually getting responses for interviews at places you have absolutely no real interest in working at.

Interviews are the worst, especially when you don't actually want the job, you just know you can't give up the ~opportunity~. This phase is largely characterized by a desperate attempt to seem like you are qualified for something that has no relation to anything you've ever done.

6. Trying to work the connections.

Ah nepotism, you gotta love it. There's no time like the present to hit up your second cousin's boyfriend's old babysitter about possibly working for their company this summer! Everyone does it so it's okay, right?

7. Waiting.