Week 1
So far everyone else has started their internships and I have another week yet. So to start off my experience I decided to tour the city everyday. I swear I walked miles a day and saw a bunch of neat things. My favorite times were when I went off my anticipated path and discovered something new. One of my favorite finds was the Oscar Mayer Hotdog Mobile. I was walking to the bus stop to go to an event that was a half our out. Once I got to the stop though I just had the urge to skip and walk around so I went a couple blocks out of the way to get back home and the Oscar Mayer Mobile was parked on a random side street and they were handing out coupons. I stood in the short line and was actually invited to sit inside the vehicle.
Week 3
This first week has been a crazy one. I started this internship during one of the most hectic times any of my three team members had been though. To start, review week was coming up, so David and Jenna needed to get all of their information for each of their 10+ accounts together to present to Sales Directors and magazine publishers from New York City. It was a very stressful time for them both becasue they are expected to have everything done with no mistakes or they would essential pay the price. Andrea and I were in charge of putting all of the information they needed into binders and save them on the companies hard drive. Information I was in charge of receiving was pull media runs, print out creative sheets, and pull contact information for each business David or Jenna was involved with. Secondly, Bon Appetit was in the midst of hosting their annual Chicago Gourmet event that actually fell the day beforea very important meeding with the editors of Bon Appetit.Week 5
This week was a busy one. That weekend my younger sister came for a visit. It was nice especially since I knew I wouldn't be going home anytime soon. At this point I have missed my family so much. When I was in Dubuque, I had the luxury of being able to go home on a whim, while I am here, I would have to sit down and plan a trip home.On the work end of things, there was still a high stress level, which then stressed me out coming from a design field to work in sales and advertising, but I have already learned so much at this point. Andrea and I are planning the meeting with the New York partners and clientbase. Before this meeting I thought a meeting was just a table with people sitting around it talking about their plans. This meeting put all other ideas of a meeting to shame. After all of the planning the meeting room had two dispensers of gourmet coffee, cinnemon rolls from Trenchermen's that had been featured in the magazine (for the meeting and a box for everyone to take home), silverware, table runners, and platters. I had no idea how much work went into a 45 minute meeting. David explained to me that the people from New York expect a lot and they expect everything to be perfect so that is why they always go above and beyond when meeting with them. It was a great experience to be able to sit in on a meeting with such important people. I was able to meet with a few people that represented Kraft Foods.
Despite the level of stess and choas that day brought, it was one of the funnest days at work I had at this internship so far. We had so much stuff to take to the meeting across town that it filled Jenna's SUV. David, Jenna, and Andrea all three were crammed in the front seat and I squeezed into what little room there was left in the back. We shared a lot of laughs that day and I will always remember that.
The next day we all had tickets to go to Chicago Gourmet, which I am still thrilled about the fact that I was able to go, and taste food and wine from different restaurants and catering companies from all over the city. My aunt went with me and we had a blast! We all got free wine glasses to take around the grounds (Millenium Park) with us. While we were there we met a few chefs that competed on the Bravo TV series Top Chef.
Week 7
(Part One)
This weekend Faye came for midterm evaluations. I was a bit nervous expecially since my mentor, Andrea, and I never really talk about my performance. When it was all said and done I was really appreciative about what Andrea had to say. It really made me feel like I had been learning something and it made me feel good about being able to leave here knowing that I did a good job.
As Faye requested, I am putting on a picture of my office and the view.
(Part Two)
Homecoming weekend: something we have been waiting for all summer. For me this would be my second time coming home and I was really excited to see my friends and family. That Friday I spent the day with my parents before I had to leave for the meeting with Prof. Mauss. I was able to ride in the tractor with my dad to keep him company. All of us kids were right around the same age so we all left around the same time so my parents had an empty nest quick. My sister Kayla and I were always really close with our parents so it was easy to tell that they have been missing us as well. After that I went and took my mom lunch at work to catch up with her.
My next stop was Loras College! Man how I missed my roommate, and my own room! This would be my first Loras Homecoming ever so I didn't want to miss it. I caught up with a lot of alumni friends and even got to hang out with my cousin and my older brother who graduated from Loras a few years ago.
It was hard leaving home and Dubuque to come back to Chicago. I didn't really notice how much I missed it back in NE Iowa until I had the chance to go back and experience it again.
Week 9
I got back from a weekend of fun with friends and family so I was already in a good mood and ready to get back to work. Towards the end of the day I was actually given a surprising task; to put together the Halloween party for David and his clients from Kraft. I was so excited! This was exactly the kind of task I needed to break free from the daily computer work. I went to work right away, looking up decoration, food, and drink ideas for the party and put them into a spreadsheet that I would later use to pitch in front of David and Ivona.
Week 11
I gave David and Ivona the spreadsheet to look over last Thursday, and from what I could tell they really liked it. I had so much fun reasearching and organizing all of the information they would want. In the spreadsheet I gave them 2 different decoration options. They both chose option 2, which was a black and purple theme with girly accents.
I didn't have to help put the decorations together so David and Ivona decorated her place the day before the party. David showed me pictures and it looked great! It was by far one of the most exciting things I have done during this internship so far.
Week 12
It was pretty slow this week with Halloween activities dying down and the November issue has been finalized and printed. The ad space for the December issue has already been sent in. This has been a great time for Andrea and I to kind of hang out and really get to know each other. I am honestly going to miss her; she is so funny and nice and we have always really got a long well. I would like to think that her and I have become close enough to hang out when I visit the city.
In other news, I got to hangout with my aunt and uncle this weekend. I have even reached spare key status! I have been helping them with their house reno by picking up supplies on my way there. There is only a week or two left before they are complete. It is going to be exciting to have been able to see the entire process from start to finish. I know they have both been stressing because there have been a lot of problems along the way. As payment, I get their old coffee table that I absolutely love!
Week 14
It has been a strange few weeks at work. I have been getting off early almost everyday! It has been nice since I have a lot of other things to take care of, but strange non the less. Especially when I look back at my first month here when I was staying late and coming in extra days to help out. I didn't even have to come in to work on Thursday since David and Jenna were out of town.
Early this week I found out that my boss Jenna is pregnant! I was so excited she is adorable and is going to make a great mother! I asked Andrea for more details on her pregnancy, and she said that she knew about it since August. She has done a great job keeping it a secret, and she isn't really showing at all!
As I notice how little time I have left with the Bon Appetit team, I have started to think about whether or not I want to get them each a little gift as a thank you. I might just get them all a treat. I can't believe how fast this experience has gone!
Week 15
Bears Bears Bears. I got word late Saturday night that friends of my aunts were unable to use their tickets and asked Erin if she knew anyone that would want to use them. Luckily my aunt asked me, and of course I said yes. There were two tickets, one for me and one for a friend, it was hard for me to pick the perfect person to go. I asked a few people, then realized I should ask my cousin Levi who lives in the city.
Background story: Levi is my cousin from my moms side that lives in SW Kansas so we didn't see much of him growing up. Long story short, I haven't seen Levi in probably 13 years. I added him on facebook and he denied me because he honestly had no idea who I was. I already knew that I wanted to meet him before I left, but I didn't know if this would be too grand of a gesture. I ended up asking him and he said yes. Man was I nervous!
I had no idea what to expect, I really didn't know if we were going to get a long or not so it was an experience. We had brunch together then headed to the game. I was pretty funny which eased my worry. We got to the game and took our seats and we were front row of the second section so we were pretty close. Levi still couldn't believe that I asked him to go, he was so thankful. About 15 minutes into the game we were given a sever storm warning and needed to take shelter. What bad luck, the day we meet and the day of our first Bears game ever, it is delayed. The weather got pretty intense that at one point I thought for sure they were going to call it. Two hours later we were finally able to go back to our seats and finish the game.
Week 16
Home for the Holidays! I couldn't belienve how long of a break I could have, I went home on the 22nd and didn't come back to Chicago until December 1st. I had a blast at home. I wrote in my other journal that my family brought home two new puppies.
Week 17
Being back from break is strange, but it is a good thing. My aunt and uncle's condo reno is finished up for the most part. They even hired me to go in and clean for some extra cash. I went over Monday after class to clean, and when my uncle got home you could see the relieve in his face. His line of work is really stressful, so to come home to a disaster everyday for 5 months has been hard on him. After all they have done for me I didn't mind helping out. I even offered to do it for free.As for the work end of things, one day this week I spent the whole day packing up, labling, sending notes, and sending out comp copies for clients. I sent out over 150 copies, one company actually asked us for 47 comp copies. That is the reason why it took so long. There were no delivery bags that were large enough to put all of the copies in one shippment. What I ended up doing was placing as many copies as I could in three delivery bags and then put those bags in a flat box. This was the most efficient and cost effect way to send out that many copies with the supplies that we had.
My Last Week!
In the words of Olive from Easy A, "Not with a Fizzle, but with a Bang." This completely describes how this week is turning out and it started with working at our last Sunday Night Supper. This weeks dinner was by far my favorite! There was so much stress because the event in the dining room before SNS was running late so we had to help them pack up. Abby then noticed that there was no possible way we could move them out in time and made the decision to use a different, much smaller dining space. Sam and I went with Abby while Abbey and Anna helped the other group. We pretty much know what is going on at this point so Sam and I were able to get most of the work done without Abby telling us what to do.The next stressful event of the night would be that the church that was donating the food was running late in traffic so we had to wait for them. They were also bringing scarves for each person at dinner that night which was amazing! Once they finally arrived we had to go out and help unload the cars. At this point in the night it was freezing and blowing snow. Of course all of our coats were downstairs so we had to bare the cold. Now this is what made the whole experience the best. It was so windy that bags and scarves were flying about, but not with Sam there! Man he has some quick feet, he would just extend a foot and stomp on whatever was blowing way, then hop to the next one. Only one thing got past him. And the whole time this was happening we were all just laughing without control.
The second amazing thing to happen this week is that I got Bears tickets again from a friend that couldn't use them. I offered the other ticket to Sam since he is a big football fan. He was almost not going to go because of how cold it was, but how could he pass up the opportunity? Little did I know, but this was a special game because at half time Mike Ditka was going to take the field and have his jersey retired. It was really cool because his old football photo was on the ticket stub that I kept. The game was so much fun, but it was also misrible! I pretty much almost froze to death! I have wind burn on my face, I could barely feel my feet, but it was an experience I wouldn't have missed.
I moved in with my aunt and uncle so I could spend my last two nights with them. That Friday my aunt and I went to Beyonce! It was crazy how great this week was turning out, it was packed full of fun activities. I can honestly say that was the most fun I have had in a long time. I am so blessed that I have had my aunt an uncle by my side this whole time. I am going to miss the two of them more than anything else in the city.
No comments:
Post a Comment