lunch break

 

Today I went to a cute coffee/sandwich place for lunch. I was planning to bring my lunch back to the break room to eat, but the place was adorable, air conditioned & completely empty.





I stayed & had lunch with this little guy in the window. ->>>  In the office, I spent most of the day taking notes on raw interview footage. That's one of the more interesting things i've done this week.

I got an email from one of the other interns in my program today! I wonder what/how the others are doing.

hump day

Big news: I wore glasses to work today. I really hate wearing glasses, but I gave it a shot for a few hours.

I made it to 2003 in my data entry project! I'm just flying through as fast as I can to finish long before my internship ends in case I have to rework anything. Microsoft Access & I are like bff now. 8 years of data down, 130 to go!

In other news, I think I'm getting a tiny bit better at press writing! I get really great opportunities everyday to write something succinct, clear, & catchy that people will read. I've learned so many ways to say:

"Come to our event. It will be exciting."

It's great.  

and then there was data entry

I had the whole morning off today, but I went into the office anyway. Just in case there was something important and interny that needed to done. Of course there wasn't and I ended up waiting around until the time I was supposed to be there anyway. Brownie points earned = 0.

Today I started my big data entry project. No lie, a long afternoon of data entry is no fun, but I'm still pretty excited about it. If I can get this done really fast and really well, I'll be an undeniably successful intern. Yep. That's the goal.

I sat down for about two or three hours. Lots of questions. I finished two years worth of data (2011 and 2010). I'm working backwards to 1873. It's a big job, but I'm totally game.

& sunday.

scary things at the market.

flowers from a friend.

gift for the little ones.

all in a day.

wah wah

=this weekend.

anyway,

big show tonight. excited!

@urban outfitters

 

I really wanted to buy one for myself, but they were $18 each! Bah!

(first weekend) "it's what you make of it"

Sleeping in today (saturday) was lovely!

Yesterday (Friday) was another beautiful day to be an intern. I didn't have much to do in the office, but my new long-term assignment is very, very cool. I'm working with one of the web interns to do some housekeeping around the organization's website. Adding pictures here & there. Editing "copy". (That's a term I learned this week. "Copy". Like art & copy. Not copy & paste.)  

In the afternoon, I went back to ArtsWave for a small welcome reception for my internship program. Just the three other girls in my program and a few representatives (mostly community engagement directors) from their host organizations. The other interns are younger, but they seem very nice and equally interny. :)

It wasn't intentional, but the meeting turned into a long conversation between the administrators about what it means to have a passion for the arts and the community. Some told their stories about how they arrived in their current positions. Others talked about how unusual it is for a city to have so many historic organizations that all work together to serve the arts community as whole. In other words: "This city is what you make of it".

Great first week.

Happy weekend!

(first week) typical intern thursday

What I love most about being the intern is that I'm never really sure of what's going to happen when I come in for work in the morning.

Today I spent two hours copying, collating and stapling for the big lunch meeting. As soon as the board arrived, I felt like an intern in the worst way. Everyone seemed very polished, established, put-together. My shirt was from Target. But also like an intern, I was thrilled just to be there. Like I had already done something great.

After I finished for the day, I took a long, long walk into downtown to go window shopping. Everything I saw paled in comparison to nicest things I remembered from the meeting, so I caught the bus and came home.

(first week) slow, slow wednesday

Yesterday (Wednesday) was slow.

It rained so I couldn't continue my lunch break walk to the river. I used the opportunity to stay inside and start putting more faces with names. I ate lunch with a few people from my side of the hallway and I listened to them talk.

Today (Thursday) looks exciting. I'm going to a lunch meeting for the board of trustees just to be present as the intern. What am i supposed to wear to a board meeting?

(first week) tuesday meetings

I was still excited from my walk to ArtsWave on Monday, so I took long walk through the city during my lunch break today. I picked a street and kept walking until I started to run out of time. I could almost see the river when i had to turn around. Next time it's pretty outside, I'll wear more comfortable shoes and keep walking.

I was invited to sit in on two meetings today. The morning meeting was with a lot of the faces and departments I couldn't remember from Monday. They talked about their current email system and how it could be better in the future. I just got here yesterday & I'm still pumped just to have a company email address in the first place. But i still took notes.  

In the afternoon, I went to a  digital strategy meeting with PR and marketing about the organization's presence in different media forms. Super interesting & very exciting. For the first time, I felt like I had something to contribute. This is something I understand! But of course, I stayed quiet and made mental notes of things I wish I had said. Next time.

(first week) inspiration from bill withers

Monday in review:

Great first day. Lots of questions, getting lost, lots of names, faces, departments and titles to remember.

During my lunch break, I took a walk to ArtsWave (my internship sponsor) to turn in some paperwork. In just a few blocks I felt like I was in a completely new city. The weather was beautiful and downtown was alive like I'd never seen it. Lots of urban professional types. Maybe I was one of them?

I came home exhausted and made myself a giant bowl of pasta. I watched a documentary on Netflix called Still Bill about Bill Withers, a completely normal dude who happened to write about five of the greatest songs of the 70's. And he's still a completely normal dude. It was great to watch because he seems so genuinely down-to-earth even though the whole world loves his music.

(first week) monday morning

Today i start the internship. My first "real" internship. I'll be working with the administrators of a large, historic performing arts organization for ten weeks, full time this summer. Starting today. I'll be a normal working person. 9 to 5.  

In celebration of my normal life and normal job for the summer, I went to the store last night and bought food that I think normal people eat: eggs, bagels, peanut butter, orange juice... all things that i usually only eat at other people's houses.

The idea of waking up every day and going to work, then coming home and doing other things is very new. I'm excited to have a clear, definite line between "work" and everything else.

pomp & circumstance

today was commencement at the university!

i wasn't in the cap & gown this time: just the supportive friend in the stands. i still can't believe they called all 1,100 names. all of them. lots of elizabeths & nicoles.

the graduate convinced me to eat a chicken sandwich to "celebrate the occasion". i'm a little vegetarian. but i can't say i hated it.

 

two days until the internship begins bright & early monday morning. i don't know what i'm going to wear.