Tuesday, May 31, 2011: Day 1 as an Intern

So today was my first day at CEG. Overall it went really well. I didn’t realize how small the office was going to be (literally it’s just a big room, on the 8^th floor of 505 8^th Avenue), and that there were only going to be a handful of people working (I knew it was going to be small, but I didn’t expect it to be that small). I thought there was going to be another intern, but she wasn’t there today (maybe I was wrong about that). The first hour or two, I just went through the sites that CEG runs to get acclimated with what the company does as a whole and familiarize myself with some of the bands we work with (a little bit of what I had done before I got there). I got to sit in on the weekly meeting and was able to get a better feel for the dynamic within the office.  I’ve never had a job before where I worked at a computer, so doing office work is a little bit new for me. And while I mastered the subway in getting to my internship, it was a completely different story when I was asked to go run a few errands. Google maps in hand, I somehow managed to navigate my way downtown, then uptown, and finally back to my internship location with only one complete internal freak-out and several bouts of second guessing myself. The plus side to this little expedition was that I figured out a more efficient way to get back to NYU (and am completely comfortable transferring trains). I’m not 100% sure how I feel about my internship yet. So far I like it and everyone in the office is really nice, but I’m still not completely comfortable yet (though I’m sure I’ll be fine within a week or so). I don’t know if it’s hopeful thinking, but I think this internship is going to turn into something that I will love…but only time will tell.

What I didn’t already mention was that I decided to wear long pants today. Which might have been fine if I hadn’t been running around (not that I’m complaining about that, I greatly enjoyed being trusted enough to run errands), but by the time I made it back to my suite (or apartment as I keep calling it because we do have a kitchen) I was dying to get out of my work clothes. Unfortunately this meant we didn’t get to the dining hall until about 7ish, and the line was ridiculous! I’m hoping this changes really soon, especially since the Gramercy Park group arrives on Sunday (meaning an additional 200 or so people will be dining there as well).

Anyway, at 7:30 there was an ice cream social. Not many people went, but it was still a ton of fun. We partook in a few icebreakers (I don’t know if it’s because I’ve gotten so used to them over the last few years through START, but I actually really like ice breakers), and they turned more into conversations then completing the tasks (we did the toilet paper game (where you have to give a bit of information about yourself for each square) and human bingo). I got to talk to a lot of really great people. I’m having a hard time keeping track of the names of people I only come in contact with for a few minutes, but I’m getting better (and I remember the conversations and faces of each person, so I feel like that kind of makes up for the fact I’m having issues with keeping the names straight). After the social was over, a group of us checked out the gym. Let’s just say, calling it amazing is an understatement. There are like 50 million treadmills, the pool is beautiful, there is a completely separate aerobic section, there’s a rock climbing wall. After tomorrow (hey, I’m still getting use to city life), I’m going to be taking full advantage of it before work (maybe after too, but that would be more for the social aspect).

Well hopefully my life in the city isn’t boring everyone too much. I apologize if these are very journal-ly and bland, but as interesting things happen, I’ll be sure to write about them. But until then, you’re just going to get “the day and the life of little Kristen Rose in the Big Apple”

Monday, May 30, 2011: In the City?

It hasn’t completely hit me yet that I’m going to be living in the City for the next 8 weeks of my summer. Saturday night, I wasn’t at all nervous about moving into University Hall at NYU the next morning; and while I’ve undoubtedly been looking forward to this since December, there wasn’t really built up anxiousness or excitement. The only thing I was somewhat concerned about was the number of bags I was bringing with me. In a way I guess this is was good thing, since I wasn’t stressed at all about being thrown into a big city and into a dorm that could easily house the entire Assumption College Class of 2012. I was the first of my room/suitemates to arrive in 604, and it definitely made things easier to get situated. After unpacking 90% of my things, my parents and I walked to Katz’s Delicatessen for lunch. Since we had never been there before it was a tad overwhelming, but in the end the food was good.

After they went home, I ended up hanging out with my suitemate, Kate, and we went on a tour of the building. Nothing too exciting, but we did meet a few people. We walked around aimlessly for a while to get familiar with the area, and by the time we got back to our room Nadia and Steph were both there. Usually I’m a lot more nervous when it comes to meeting new people, but so far I’ve had no anxiety over it. The four of us are getting along well so far (*knock on wood*). At the Welcome Reception, we ended up meeting a bunch of people who live on our floor (all of whom seem very nice), and like any other event where you’re first meeting a slew of new people, there were ice breakers. I’ve been told there are a lot of people in the program from CT; however, I have yet to meet one.

Since we didn’t start work today and our orientation wasn’t until 10am, Steph and I met up with Chandler (who has the same b-day as me) and Tyler and the four of us went to Time Square. The 3 of us girls had never navigated the Subway system before so we were putting all our trust in Tyler (and we got to Time Square without any problems). It was so pretty and magnificent there at night. We walked by a wedding party getting pictures taken, and there was a sand sculpture (yes in the middle of Time Square) in honor of Fleet Week. For the most part we just walked around a bit, and ended up going down to Rockefeller Center. By the time we got back to U-Hall we crashed (and I learned that my bed squeaks…a lot).

Orientation this morning was more or less like any other orientation. We were told the rules and guidelines, Cody went over some challenges we may face with our internships and tips on how to deal with them. Though I’m going to be 21 next week, NYU does not embody the same house rule as Assumption does in regards to alcohol; therefore since none of my room/suitemates are going to be 21, I can’t have any alcohol in the room…oh well, I’ll live. After lunch (at one of the 2 places that accepts our meal plan and isn’t exactly convenient to get to if you just want to eat), we went on practice runs to our internship site. Mine is fairly easy to get to: just hope on Subway N, Q, or R, get off at 34^th street stop, walk over to 8^th Ave and then up a few blocks. After the 4 of us got back from our practice runs, we ended up getting on the Subway and going to where Nadia’s internship is since it’s near Central Park and where a lot of the high end fashion stores are (we ended up checking out the Trump Tower).

Once our little expedition was done (I’ve been doing a significant amount of walking over the last 2 days), we went to the Palladium (the other dining place which is only a half block away from U-Hall) for dinner. The plan for the rest of the night is to just hang out and chill. I’ll probably end up going down to the lounge downstairs and see if anyone else comes to socialize. I don’t have to be at my internship until 11:30am tomorrow, which is kind of nice. I can sleep in a little (well at least I plan to for the first day). I found out that there is one other girl who is interning at CEG, but I haven’t met her yet.  The only thing I’m really nervous about is how I’m going to fit in at the company and whether or not I’m going to do well at what they want me to do. But I’m glad to know that if I really do have any significant problems I can just ask one of the staff members at Dream Careers for help (all of them have been beyond great so far).