What's it like as a first year ER Associate?

There's a lot of threads of ER in general but some seem dated so I'd like to ask, for those who have graduated with a BA or Masters etc and gone into equity research (any sector):

1. What was it like your first few months to a year on the job? Was the day to day mostly number crunching and sitting at excel or reading reports all day? Did you interact with any other parts of the investment bank or clients?
2. What was it like working within a small team? It seems like most ER teams are 2-3 ppl
3. Do you think your experience would have been different if you worked at a a boutique or BB investment bank (vice versa)?

Thanks