Hello, Everyone! So lately time has been going by super fast. I only have 1 week left before I go home! It is a very bittersweet feeling because I am thoroughly enjoying myself here but at the same time I am happy to come home to my family and friends and finish out my senior year. With graduation fast approaching, my life will be changing again very soon! I cannot believe that I have gone through almost 4 years of college. Anyway here is an update on the last few weeks:
My roommate was fortunate enough to get us signed up for a White House tour! Unfortunately, we were assigned the 7:30 AM tour. After we stood in the windy and cold weather and went through 2 security checks, we finally got in! On our way in, we saw Obama's dog, Bo, frolicking in the grass...cutest thing ever. The tour was short and we only got to see a limited portion of the house but it was still exciting. Later that day, we went on a tour of the Pentagon. This was also a fascinating experience. They showed us where the plane hit on 9/11 and we also got to see the memorial. After our tour we went to the zoo. D.C. has been marketing the panda that they apparently have in their zoo but when we got there, no panda. In fact, we didn't get to see much of anything, I am assuming because it was too cold. The next day in our class, our teacher brought in a former CIA agent who talked briefly about his experiences. It was interesting to hear about a sector in our government that is usually kept under wraps. On Friday, we got ready for our long weekend in NY. It was a beautiful day in D.C. and we didn't even need our coats! Anyway, the bus ride was quite long and we were stuck behind some very irritating people but we were happy to finally get to NY. That night my friend and I went to visit my family for dinner. The next morning we woke up bright and early and took the train into NYC. We visited Time Square, The Rockefeller Center/ Top of the Rock, 5th Avenue, Central Park all within 2 hours! For lunch we took the subway down to SoHo and had pizza and my favorite pizza place of all time, Bleeker Street Pizza. After, we walked around and found ourselves at Washington Square Park. The next day we went to the UN. Little did we know that the flags only go up on week days! We also went to the Public Library which was beautiful. Later we went shopping in SoHo. That night we decided to visit Time Square again and we took lots of lovely pictures. I went back to my aunt's house that night because my mom was coming to visit in the morning. I woke up to snow everywhere (it was so gorgeous!) and to my mom. It was great to see my mom for a few hours after not seeing her for so long. Before we knew it, Monday came and it was time to go back to D.C. We were so productive in NY that I wasn't able to catch up on sleep until close to the end of the following week.
My class on Friday was a great experience. Our professor brought in former UCDC students who now work in D.C. Hearing about their struggles and triumphs was very inspiring. I am considering moving out here and being able to hear their stories was awesome. On Saturday, we visited Arlington National Cemetery, Mount Vernon, and Old Town Alexandria. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and gave us great insight on everything D.C. related. We were able to see the changing of the gaurd at the Cemetery. This was a moving ceremony. Later our tour guide told us that one of the "unknown" soldiers was actually identified back in the 90's. After visiting a few more grave sites, including the Kennedy's, we took the bus to Mount Vernon.I was exhausted but tried to take it all in. George Washington had one heck of a view of the Potomac from his backyard! That was probably my favorite part of the house tour. Once we were done at Mount Vernon we had lunch at this nasty buffet place where I almost mistook catfish for chicken (that is how tired I was!). Our next stop was Alexandria. My friends and I just walked around and got a good feel for the town. It was very cute and quaint with lots of families. I was so happy to see so many dogs! There are almost no dogs in D.C. =(. The next day my roommates and I visited the Jefferson and FDR Memorial. I think my favorite memorial would have to be Jefferson's. I love how Jefferson is looking out towards the White House. After this weekend, we had pretty much done all of the touristy things in D.C. It only took 8 weeks!
The following week went by very quickly. I was mostly preoccupied with work and had very little time to explore the city. On Thursday, I got a very nice surprise! One of my closest friends came to visit. I was so happy to see a familiar face because I had starting getting homesick. I do love it here but I am at the point where I need to go home and regroup and refresh. I remember having this feeling when I was leaving my study abroad program in Madrid. Anyway, the following day another one of my closest friends flew in and we started doing all the touristy things all over, except 4 times as fast as before! We hit up Georgetown on Friday and of course had some cupcakes at Georgetown Cupcakes. That night we went out to Adam's Morgan and had a great time. We tried the falafel that everyone raved about and got hooked instantly! The next day we hit the ground running. Our first stop was the White House. From there we did the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean Memorial, the WW2 Memorial, the Washington Monument and the Capitol all before lunch! We stopped for lunch at my favorite Spanish tapas restaurant, Jaleo. Our other friends from the program met us there and we all had a very nice lunch. After lunch we went to the Archives then walked down to the Jefferson Memorial. By the time we were done at the Jefferson Memorial, the sun came down and we were able to experience the other memorials at night which is something I really wanted to do. It was beautiful. Before I knew it, the weekend was over and it was time for my friends to leave. I have a hard time saying bye to people even though I know I'll be seeing them soon. All in all, it was a lovely way to spend my last full weekend in D.C.
On to my work life:
For the past 3 weeks I have been rotating working on the same few projects. I have been mostly updating media lists for each of our clients which has taken up way more time than I had ever imagined. I have also been scanning editorial calendars and pitching reporters based on the topics the publications are planning on writing on. I have gotten much more comfortable with pitching. I am still working on getting the messaging right but I feel like I have made an improvement. I also had the opportunity to follow up with reporters over the phone. At first, I was very nervous thinking about talking to them. I realized that it was something I had to learn if I want to gain results and it definitely paid off. After following up with a reporter, I secured a briefing for one of our clients! This was one of my proudest moments thus far. When I got back from New York, I had a meeting with one of my supervisors who wanted to discuss my progress and what I wanted to see before the end of my internship. This was very helpful for me because I could get some feedback on my work so far. As I have been mentioning, this internship has been a challenge in some aspects. The meeting helped me realize certain things that I need to focus on. I have since worked on organizing my emails into folders, which is something I definitely need to incorporate in my private email accounts. I receive so many emails and sometimes they get lost in the mix. I have realized that in order to really bring my A game, I can't be missing out on any of these emails. It sounds so obvious but for some reason, it didn't occur to me. Another thing that I have been working on is using my resources before I ask questions. This also sounds so obvious, but when I work so close to my supervisors, I find myself just blurting out questions that I could have probably answered myself with a little more research. For the next week or so after this meeting, I continued to work on media lists but I also compiled 2 coverage reports for one of our clients and 1 awards list for our office. Today, I had a follow up meeting with my supervisor. We discussed my future and what skills they think I need to fine tune.This conversation got me thinking if PR is really for me. From my experiences at this internship, I do enjoy the dynamics, I just don't think tech PR is for me. I have been discussing career paths with one of my professors and he introduced the idea of working in politics/ the public sector. While I can see myself doing many things, I would definitely love to participate in a political campaign. Anyway, back to my internship, I have 2 days left. Since we have recently added 3 new clients, the office is going to start to get inundated with work but I am excited to see what it is like to start up a new client. All in all, I feel like I have learned many lessons from this internship. I was exposed to everything from winning new clients to losing clients to breaking major news for one of our clients. Working in a smaller office, I was able to get a glimpse of my future should I continue working in PR.
This week I have been busy again with work and getting my final papers done. I leave for New York on Sunday and will be back in California by the following Saturday. I cannot believe how fast this quarter has gone by. I am so thankful to have had this opportunity. Never in my life will I ever be able to still have the comfort of college life while working full time. I have met so many great people and have made some solid friendships. In short, my trip out here was very successful and I would suggest anyone who has an opportunity like this to take it as fast as possible! Anyway, I have more papers to write so I must end this extremely long and boring blog post. Hope you enjoyed it!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Fantastic Start to February
Hello everyone! Can't believe we are already 2 weeks into February...time is going by way too fast. I've noticed that the older I get, the faster time goes by and the more the days blend together. I am happy that I am keeping this journal because even recalling the past 2 weeks worth of events was difficult! Anyway, I have done a lot these past two weeks and have some exciting things planned for the rest of my trip.
I began the first day of February off right by having a girls night at my sorority sister's apartment. The past two weeks have been crazy busy at work so it was nice to have a a little down time. The next day I wrote a fake memo to Nancy Pelosi for my Washington Media class. Researching the media coverage she has gotten was interesting to say the least. At the end of the week, my other professor planned a visit to The Washington Post. One of the reporters showed us around the news room then gave us a chance to ask him questions about his job. It was really cool to have that insight, especially since The Washington Post is regarded as a top newspaper. On our way out, we saw Ben Bradlee who was the executive editor from 1968-1991 and was famous for helping break the Watergate Scandal. When we got back to class, I made a presentation about my internship. I was surprised at how easy it was to talk about my internship. I did however have a hard time describing the clients that we work for. After class, my friends and I went to one of the only taco stands in D.C. and then visited the Supreme Court. We got there just in time for the last showing of the actual Supreme Court Room.
The next day was a rainy Saturday in D.C. My friends and I went to brunch then took the metro to Friendship Heights which is in Maryland. There was a lot of shopping opportunities but I could not justify buying anything =(. We did however hit up Cost Plus World Market. They had a wine tasting event and the people there were extremely nice and helpful. I bought some white wine from Spain that ended up not tasting too good. The next day was Super Bowl Sunday. I made the terrible mistake of going to Trader Joe's that morning. Not only was the line out the door but half of the things I normally buy ran out. I spent the rest of the day being lazy.
The week that followed was generally uninteresting outside of work as I was mostly swamped with work. On Friday, my professor had 2 field trips planned. Our first field trip was at the National Gallery. We met with a curator who discussed her job and the museum. She explained how the Gallery was federally and privately funded which I found to be interesting. She also explained the degree of care and thought that goes into the artwork that is put on display. The exhibits take about 2-3 years of planning! Our second field trip was at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building which is where most of the White House Staff works. We met with one of Michelle Obama's speechwriters. She gave us a synopsis of her previous jobs that led her to her current job. She explained that speech writing fell into her lap and was not really her original career path. I asked her about her work load noticing that she had 2 blackberries and had to monitor them constantly. She explained that life on the campaign trail was even more hectic as she once put her blackberry in a plastic bag as she showered because she couldn't miss a call. I found her hard work and dedication to her job very admirable but at the same time, I could never imagine being that attached to my phone or even my job! But I can't judge since I have never been put in that position. I can only hope that I find a job that I love enough to shower with my phone. She ended by saying that working for the public has given her a lot of satisfaction and joy. This was really inspiring to me especially since I am at a fork in the road and I have no idea what my future will be like. It inspired me so much that I spoke to my professor about possibly doing communications for the public sector and even working for a campaign. Only time will tell! That night, we celebrated a birthday at a restaurant in U Street. It was a tapas type restaurant and it had a nice view. I could see the tip of the Capitol and part of the Washington Monument from my seat.
Yesterday, my friend and I went to the Newseum. This is a museum that is focused on showing news coverage from the past and present. The exhibits that stood out to me the most were the Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 exhibits. The Katrina exhibit showed the news coverage from different parts of the country and they also had a short documentary. The documentary was very powerful and showed how the media was more informed than the government about the severity of the situation. There were clips of people on the streets chanting "HELP!". It still boggles my mind how we are one of the most powerful nations in the World but we can't even provide basic help to our own citizens in a timely manner. There was also a timeline that showed that it took 2 weeks for any recovery efforts to begin. Definitely a moving exhibit and I'm so glad that we got to see it before it was over. The 9/11 exhibit was equally moving. They had the antenna from one of the buildings on display. They also had the front page coverage from different states and countries on display. The documentary brought me to tears. It detailed the great lengths reporters went to to get coverage. The reporters that were first on the scene were there before either of the buildings collapsed and it was amazing how brave they were to stay there as law enforcement would pressure them to leave. It was very moving and at the end it listed the reporters and crew that lost their lives covering this tragedy. One of my other favorite exhibits was the Pulitzer Prize exhibit. We were rushed through this because the museum was closing but it was absolutely fascinating. Many of these pictures were graphic and devastating but I appreciated the raw moments these reporters were able to capture. Many of these photographers could have lost their lives taking these pictures. All in all, I highly recommend going to the Newseum.
On to my busy work life:
One of our clients came out with a huge announcement on Feb 3. So basically from Feb 2 to now I have been busy putting together a coverage report for our client. It was awesome to see our outreach. We were able to get many major news outlets to specifically cover our client and the press release was reposted on more than 100 websites. Working so closely with this announcement has taught me a lot about the media. Some of our briefings were booked far in advance and some were booked the day of. It is near impossible to know what to expect before the news actually hits which showed me how important it is to be able to cater to any situation.
When I wasn't busy at work putting together that report, I was busy pitching reporters for our other clients. I have slowly gotten better at this but I obviously still have a lot to learn. I am struggling with the message our clients are trying to convey and I am also struggling with giving the different writers the information they are looking for. I am assuming this is something that takes time to learn and isn't something I could have learned in a class room.
So that is what my past 2 weeks have been like. I am looking forward to my trip to NY next week and I am also looking forward to my planned visits to The Pentagon, White House, State Department and Alexandria/Mt. Vernon/Arlington. I hope everyone has a lovely rest of February! I will try to post pictures on my next post!
I began the first day of February off right by having a girls night at my sorority sister's apartment. The past two weeks have been crazy busy at work so it was nice to have a a little down time. The next day I wrote a fake memo to Nancy Pelosi for my Washington Media class. Researching the media coverage she has gotten was interesting to say the least. At the end of the week, my other professor planned a visit to The Washington Post. One of the reporters showed us around the news room then gave us a chance to ask him questions about his job. It was really cool to have that insight, especially since The Washington Post is regarded as a top newspaper. On our way out, we saw Ben Bradlee who was the executive editor from 1968-1991 and was famous for helping break the Watergate Scandal. When we got back to class, I made a presentation about my internship. I was surprised at how easy it was to talk about my internship. I did however have a hard time describing the clients that we work for. After class, my friends and I went to one of the only taco stands in D.C. and then visited the Supreme Court. We got there just in time for the last showing of the actual Supreme Court Room.
The next day was a rainy Saturday in D.C. My friends and I went to brunch then took the metro to Friendship Heights which is in Maryland. There was a lot of shopping opportunities but I could not justify buying anything =(. We did however hit up Cost Plus World Market. They had a wine tasting event and the people there were extremely nice and helpful. I bought some white wine from Spain that ended up not tasting too good. The next day was Super Bowl Sunday. I made the terrible mistake of going to Trader Joe's that morning. Not only was the line out the door but half of the things I normally buy ran out. I spent the rest of the day being lazy.
The week that followed was generally uninteresting outside of work as I was mostly swamped with work. On Friday, my professor had 2 field trips planned. Our first field trip was at the National Gallery. We met with a curator who discussed her job and the museum. She explained how the Gallery was federally and privately funded which I found to be interesting. She also explained the degree of care and thought that goes into the artwork that is put on display. The exhibits take about 2-3 years of planning! Our second field trip was at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building which is where most of the White House Staff works. We met with one of Michelle Obama's speechwriters. She gave us a synopsis of her previous jobs that led her to her current job. She explained that speech writing fell into her lap and was not really her original career path. I asked her about her work load noticing that she had 2 blackberries and had to monitor them constantly. She explained that life on the campaign trail was even more hectic as she once put her blackberry in a plastic bag as she showered because she couldn't miss a call. I found her hard work and dedication to her job very admirable but at the same time, I could never imagine being that attached to my phone or even my job! But I can't judge since I have never been put in that position. I can only hope that I find a job that I love enough to shower with my phone. She ended by saying that working for the public has given her a lot of satisfaction and joy. This was really inspiring to me especially since I am at a fork in the road and I have no idea what my future will be like. It inspired me so much that I spoke to my professor about possibly doing communications for the public sector and even working for a campaign. Only time will tell! That night, we celebrated a birthday at a restaurant in U Street. It was a tapas type restaurant and it had a nice view. I could see the tip of the Capitol and part of the Washington Monument from my seat.
Yesterday, my friend and I went to the Newseum. This is a museum that is focused on showing news coverage from the past and present. The exhibits that stood out to me the most were the Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 exhibits. The Katrina exhibit showed the news coverage from different parts of the country and they also had a short documentary. The documentary was very powerful and showed how the media was more informed than the government about the severity of the situation. There were clips of people on the streets chanting "HELP!". It still boggles my mind how we are one of the most powerful nations in the World but we can't even provide basic help to our own citizens in a timely manner. There was also a timeline that showed that it took 2 weeks for any recovery efforts to begin. Definitely a moving exhibit and I'm so glad that we got to see it before it was over. The 9/11 exhibit was equally moving. They had the antenna from one of the buildings on display. They also had the front page coverage from different states and countries on display. The documentary brought me to tears. It detailed the great lengths reporters went to to get coverage. The reporters that were first on the scene were there before either of the buildings collapsed and it was amazing how brave they were to stay there as law enforcement would pressure them to leave. It was very moving and at the end it listed the reporters and crew that lost their lives covering this tragedy. One of my other favorite exhibits was the Pulitzer Prize exhibit. We were rushed through this because the museum was closing but it was absolutely fascinating. Many of these pictures were graphic and devastating but I appreciated the raw moments these reporters were able to capture. Many of these photographers could have lost their lives taking these pictures. All in all, I highly recommend going to the Newseum.
On to my busy work life:
One of our clients came out with a huge announcement on Feb 3. So basically from Feb 2 to now I have been busy putting together a coverage report for our client. It was awesome to see our outreach. We were able to get many major news outlets to specifically cover our client and the press release was reposted on more than 100 websites. Working so closely with this announcement has taught me a lot about the media. Some of our briefings were booked far in advance and some were booked the day of. It is near impossible to know what to expect before the news actually hits which showed me how important it is to be able to cater to any situation.
When I wasn't busy at work putting together that report, I was busy pitching reporters for our other clients. I have slowly gotten better at this but I obviously still have a lot to learn. I am struggling with the message our clients are trying to convey and I am also struggling with giving the different writers the information they are looking for. I am assuming this is something that takes time to learn and isn't something I could have learned in a class room.
So that is what my past 2 weeks have been like. I am looking forward to my trip to NY next week and I am also looking forward to my planned visits to The Pentagon, White House, State Department and Alexandria/Mt. Vernon/Arlington. I hope everyone has a lovely rest of February! I will try to post pictures on my next post!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Exploring the City
So I realize that I haven't updated this in a while =/. Can't promise to keep this short but I will try and make it sweet! For the past 2 weeks I have been determined to be more productive and visit more things. I would have to say I've been pretty successful.
I haven't written much about my Washington Media class that I am taking. My teacher used to cover the White House for Time magazine. He is very knowledgeable and tries to keep things interesting for us. Two classes ago, we held a mock press conference where he posed as Press Secretary Gibbs. We were all assigned different media outlets and I was assigned the New York Times. It was nice to sit in the front row and be able to ask more questions. I really enjoyed the press conference because it gave me a little feel for how cut throat journalism can be.
The next day, I had my Washington Seminar class. My original professor was sick and was absent up until the last class. We finally met him and he seems to be a great teacher. He was genuinely interested in our experiences with our internship and took time to get to know every one of us. After class, I went with one of my friends to her internship site to get something signed. We were in Tenleytown which is near American University. It was cool compare college towns. I wish there was a metro system running through my campus! That night we went out to Adams Morgan. Apparently the taxi drivers here do not mind packing people into their cars. I think we squished 8 people (including the driver) into a normal sized taxi. Interesting taxi ride to say the least.
On Saturday, my friends and I had made Restaurant Week reservations at Jaleo. This restaurant was suggested to me by the intern I work with and was absolutely amazing. It was a Spanish tapas restaurant and I could pretty much say the tapas were better tasting than the tapas I had in Spain. They even had homemade hazelnut ice cream which was to die for. We wanted to squeeze in a museum after but we were way too full.
Sunday came around and I was left with a lot of chores and errands. I took the 10 block walk to Trader Joes and forgot to pull out cash so I walked back with my groceries....my arms pretty much died. I came home and made lunch and got ready for bikram yoga. I had been wanting to try this for a very long time and I'm so glad that I finally did. For those of you who don't know what bikram yoga is, it is a form of yoga that is done in a room that is kept at 110 degrees. It is not traditional in the sense that there is no flow. There is a series of 26 poses that you go through and you basically just hold each pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute. I really enjoyed the heat after being in such cold weather for so long. It was much more bearable and enjoyable than I had expected. My friend and I were so excited about it that we went back on Monday. We had a 1 week introductory fee and were allowed to take unlimited classes for a week. Unfortunately, I got so busy after Monday that I wasn't able to go back =(.
Later that week D.C. experienced a bit of snow. It was enough to disrupt work for many. I had the day off on Thursday and even left work early on Wednesday. I heard some people had spent up to 6 hours commuting back to their homes. I don't think I would ever be able to tolerate driving in snowy conditions...I can barely tolerate driving in L.A.!
On Friday, my friends and I started the day off at Ben's Chili Bowl. This is a famous restaurant and I think Obama ate there before his inauguration. It was pretty good but we were all too full after. After, we went to the National Air & Space Museum. It was interesting but I didn't really have the attention span to really take it all in. We played in the snow on the way to the metro and had a blast. The mall was covered in snow and the view of the Capitol and the Washington Monument was beautiful.
The next day we intended on going to the National Gallery of Art but instead we went to the National Portrait Gallery. I enjoyed this museum more than I had expected. It houses all of the Presidential portraits and they also had many different types of exhibits. We were not allowed to take pictures but I took one on my phone and made it my background. I just couldn't resist! After the museum, we had an early dinner at Lupe. It was the first Mexican restaurant we have tried and it was pretty decent. Definitely not as good as California Mexican food but it was good enough. That night we went to Georgetown. It was the first time I had gone at night and I had a great time.
On Sunday, I had one of the most productive days to date here. I woke up somewhat early (9 am) and got ready. We had planned on going to the Eastern Market before our lunch reservations at Oyamel. I was surprised that it actually happened. I really liked the street the Eastern Market was on and could see myself living there..but apparently its not the best part of town haha. Oyamel is a Mexican restaurant that is in the same chain as Jaleo, the Spanish restaurant I had gone to before. It was also highly recommended. Since they were still doing restaurant week, we got to try a good amount of the menu. Our waiter liked us so much that he surprised us with one of their delicacies: grasshopper tacos. I had read the reviews on this restaurant and heard a lot about it so I decided to try it. It wasn't too bad as along as i didn't look too closely haha. After lunch, we went to the National Archives. it was really cool to see the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Magna Carta. They also had letters to past presidents on exhibit which were quite hilarious. After, we hit the grocery store to pick up some groceries for the week and for dinner that night. One of my friends invited us all over for a "Jewish" dinner. She made latkas, matza ball soup and chicken. It was fun to have dinner with everyone. This was one of the many reasons why I have lagged so much on this blog post!
Anyway, on to my internship. Since I last wrote, I have come a long way. For the past week and a half we have been bracing ourselves for an announcement that has been a long time coming. The timing kept getting switched which kept us on our toes to say the least. I also followed up with the pitches I wrote. I had been waiting for a response all last week and finally got 2 this morning. I am excited to see where they go and hopefully they will bring opportunities for our clients. I am still struggling a bit with some of my assignments which is frustrating but I have to remember that I have only been exposed to the PR world for about 4 weeks. I have learned a lot but there is still a lot more to learn and a lot of experience to be gained. My week was cut short last week due to the weather. Today, as I mentioned, I received word back from my pitches. They are both still in the planning phase but I think they both have potential to become good opportunities. The big announcement that we have been waiting for is finally set for this week and I am getting excited. The other intern and I received our responsibilities today and I am looking forward to carrying them out.
Sorry again for the lengthy post....as you can see I have been busy exploring the city. I will try and add pictures to the next post. This week marks the 1/2 way point for the program. It hit me the other day that the end of college is really close and it is starting to freak me out! I am going to start my job search this week I think...yikes! Anyway, have a great week!
I haven't written much about my Washington Media class that I am taking. My teacher used to cover the White House for Time magazine. He is very knowledgeable and tries to keep things interesting for us. Two classes ago, we held a mock press conference where he posed as Press Secretary Gibbs. We were all assigned different media outlets and I was assigned the New York Times. It was nice to sit in the front row and be able to ask more questions. I really enjoyed the press conference because it gave me a little feel for how cut throat journalism can be.
The next day, I had my Washington Seminar class. My original professor was sick and was absent up until the last class. We finally met him and he seems to be a great teacher. He was genuinely interested in our experiences with our internship and took time to get to know every one of us. After class, I went with one of my friends to her internship site to get something signed. We were in Tenleytown which is near American University. It was cool compare college towns. I wish there was a metro system running through my campus! That night we went out to Adams Morgan. Apparently the taxi drivers here do not mind packing people into their cars. I think we squished 8 people (including the driver) into a normal sized taxi. Interesting taxi ride to say the least.
On Saturday, my friends and I had made Restaurant Week reservations at Jaleo. This restaurant was suggested to me by the intern I work with and was absolutely amazing. It was a Spanish tapas restaurant and I could pretty much say the tapas were better tasting than the tapas I had in Spain. They even had homemade hazelnut ice cream which was to die for. We wanted to squeeze in a museum after but we were way too full.
Sunday came around and I was left with a lot of chores and errands. I took the 10 block walk to Trader Joes and forgot to pull out cash so I walked back with my groceries....my arms pretty much died. I came home and made lunch and got ready for bikram yoga. I had been wanting to try this for a very long time and I'm so glad that I finally did. For those of you who don't know what bikram yoga is, it is a form of yoga that is done in a room that is kept at 110 degrees. It is not traditional in the sense that there is no flow. There is a series of 26 poses that you go through and you basically just hold each pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute. I really enjoyed the heat after being in such cold weather for so long. It was much more bearable and enjoyable than I had expected. My friend and I were so excited about it that we went back on Monday. We had a 1 week introductory fee and were allowed to take unlimited classes for a week. Unfortunately, I got so busy after Monday that I wasn't able to go back =(.
Later that week D.C. experienced a bit of snow. It was enough to disrupt work for many. I had the day off on Thursday and even left work early on Wednesday. I heard some people had spent up to 6 hours commuting back to their homes. I don't think I would ever be able to tolerate driving in snowy conditions...I can barely tolerate driving in L.A.!
On Friday, my friends and I started the day off at Ben's Chili Bowl. This is a famous restaurant and I think Obama ate there before his inauguration. It was pretty good but we were all too full after. After, we went to the National Air & Space Museum. It was interesting but I didn't really have the attention span to really take it all in. We played in the snow on the way to the metro and had a blast. The mall was covered in snow and the view of the Capitol and the Washington Monument was beautiful.
The next day we intended on going to the National Gallery of Art but instead we went to the National Portrait Gallery. I enjoyed this museum more than I had expected. It houses all of the Presidential portraits and they also had many different types of exhibits. We were not allowed to take pictures but I took one on my phone and made it my background. I just couldn't resist! After the museum, we had an early dinner at Lupe. It was the first Mexican restaurant we have tried and it was pretty decent. Definitely not as good as California Mexican food but it was good enough. That night we went to Georgetown. It was the first time I had gone at night and I had a great time.
On Sunday, I had one of the most productive days to date here. I woke up somewhat early (9 am) and got ready. We had planned on going to the Eastern Market before our lunch reservations at Oyamel. I was surprised that it actually happened. I really liked the street the Eastern Market was on and could see myself living there..but apparently its not the best part of town haha. Oyamel is a Mexican restaurant that is in the same chain as Jaleo, the Spanish restaurant I had gone to before. It was also highly recommended. Since they were still doing restaurant week, we got to try a good amount of the menu. Our waiter liked us so much that he surprised us with one of their delicacies: grasshopper tacos. I had read the reviews on this restaurant and heard a lot about it so I decided to try it. It wasn't too bad as along as i didn't look too closely haha. After lunch, we went to the National Archives. it was really cool to see the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Magna Carta. They also had letters to past presidents on exhibit which were quite hilarious. After, we hit the grocery store to pick up some groceries for the week and for dinner that night. One of my friends invited us all over for a "Jewish" dinner. She made latkas, matza ball soup and chicken. It was fun to have dinner with everyone. This was one of the many reasons why I have lagged so much on this blog post!
Anyway, on to my internship. Since I last wrote, I have come a long way. For the past week and a half we have been bracing ourselves for an announcement that has been a long time coming. The timing kept getting switched which kept us on our toes to say the least. I also followed up with the pitches I wrote. I had been waiting for a response all last week and finally got 2 this morning. I am excited to see where they go and hopefully they will bring opportunities for our clients. I am still struggling a bit with some of my assignments which is frustrating but I have to remember that I have only been exposed to the PR world for about 4 weeks. I have learned a lot but there is still a lot more to learn and a lot of experience to be gained. My week was cut short last week due to the weather. Today, as I mentioned, I received word back from my pitches. They are both still in the planning phase but I think they both have potential to become good opportunities. The big announcement that we have been waiting for is finally set for this week and I am getting excited. The other intern and I received our responsibilities today and I am looking forward to carrying them out.
Sorry again for the lengthy post....as you can see I have been busy exploring the city. I will try and add pictures to the next post. This week marks the 1/2 way point for the program. It hit me the other day that the end of college is really close and it is starting to freak me out! I am going to start my job search this week I think...yikes! Anyway, have a great week!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Slowly Becoming a Washingtonian
Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed my last post. Since then, many things have happened but I will try and keep its short!
About my experiences:
This past week represented a lot of firsts. I hadn't ventured out more than a one mile radius from where I live and work, but I finally did this week. On Friday, my roommate and I decided we needed rain boots and we went shopping near Chinatown. Now, I've been to Chinatown but I didn't realize that it was practically in walking distance. We went to a huge Forever 21 which was stressful and pretty unsuccessful, which is good I guess. Needless to say, neither one of us found rain boots =(. That night we went out to Adams Morgan for the first time. Ever since I signed up for UCDC, all anyone would tell me to do was go to Adams Morgan. Now I know why! It was very lively. Restaurants, bars, clubs...they had it all. The people were equally interesting. One guy introduced himself to me as "Adams Morgan".....haha very original! At the end of our night we decided to go for oneof the Jumbo slice pizzas that are so popular in Adams Morgan. They were definitely amazing but we all had to share because they were so huge.
On Saturday, my roommates and I took a tour of the Capitol. I wish I had more energy during our tour but I just didn't. Anyway, it was still cool to be walking around the Capitol but we didn't get to see where the House and Senate meet which is what I was most hoping to see. After the Capitol we were all starving. It was late lunch and my Peruvian roommate suggested we try Peruvian food. We went to a restaurant near our metro stop. It was small and quaint and looked authentic. We had the "Lomo Saltado" dish. It was amazing and kept me full past dinner. That night we celebrated one of our friend's birthday.
Sunday was mostly a lazy day. After being constantly on the move, it was nice to sleep in and not be on a schedule. My roommates and I ended up walking to Trader Joe's to grab some groceries. Apparently we had the same idea as 200 other Washingtonians but the service is so good at TJ's that it didn't seem to matter much. After we got back, I went to the school gym. I have been working on running, which I've hated since childhood. I did about 2.5 miles of running and .5 miles of walking which is more than I usually do!
Monday was MLK Day and we all had the day off. I intended to participate in the festivities happening here but I woke up too late. I ended up meeting a friend from home and shopping in Georgetown (another first). I LOVED Georgetown. The streets are old fashioned and adorable and the shopping wasn't too bad either. I managed to find a pair of $100 Steve Madden heals on sale for $20! The sales person had originally said they only had an 8.5 which was too big but I asked again and they found an 8! Can't say no to that =). Unfortunately, still no rain boots.
On Tuesday, I got up early for work, got ready and went to work only to find out I had the day off. The roads were icey and the people in my office were working from home. This was a pleasant surprise because I had a lot to get done anyway. Needless to say, I didn't get much done haha. I did however go to the gym and run 3 miles! Later that night, I met up with a friend for dinner. We went to an upscale "Southern" restaurant. I enjoyed everything I tried which usually is not the case for me. When I got back, I came home to quite a surprise. The apartment above us had set off the sprinklers! I was told our room was flooded which painted a Titanic-esque picture in my mind. When I got to the room, most of my roommates were sleeping. Somehow none of our possessions were damaged, thank God. The floors were completely drenched along with the roof of our shower. I was (still am) confused about the whole situation. The building hired help and started working on the damage that night which was disrupting for a bit.
Today I woke up to a group of men ready to tear down what seemed like everything in our apartment. I tried not to get in the way and went to another room to get ready. When I got home from work, they were still working on our room and there are currently about 5 huge fans blowing throughout our apartment. I guess things could be worse.
On to my internship:
Last week, I met the other intern working in the office. We are the same age and she is awesome to work with! She has a lot of experience in the restaurant world and has great suggestions. Can't wait to try them all. I continued doing mostly the same tasks I had done before which was good because the more I practice the easier it gets. I have noticed this already.
On Tuesday, I had the day off but still worked a little from home. I started researching writers to pitch to on behalf of one of our clients. Being away from the office was difficult because of course I had 100 questions. I tired to improvise as much as possible and look things up when I really had no idea.
Today, I continued working on the pitches and actually pitched to a writer. I was really proud with my end result and glad that I was working with someone who was willing to help me along the way. I also did some Twitter monitoring for a client which resulted in a retweet by our client on a tweet I found. Its these small things that make happy! It is really cool to see my work actually become something. Its not like I'm writing a fake letter to someone to be graded or creating a fake powerpoint project. It is actually real.
Thats my update for now! I know its long again, sorry!
About my experiences:
This past week represented a lot of firsts. I hadn't ventured out more than a one mile radius from where I live and work, but I finally did this week. On Friday, my roommate and I decided we needed rain boots and we went shopping near Chinatown. Now, I've been to Chinatown but I didn't realize that it was practically in walking distance. We went to a huge Forever 21 which was stressful and pretty unsuccessful, which is good I guess. Needless to say, neither one of us found rain boots =(. That night we went out to Adams Morgan for the first time. Ever since I signed up for UCDC, all anyone would tell me to do was go to Adams Morgan. Now I know why! It was very lively. Restaurants, bars, clubs...they had it all. The people were equally interesting. One guy introduced himself to me as "Adams Morgan".....haha very original! At the end of our night we decided to go for oneof the Jumbo slice pizzas that are so popular in Adams Morgan. They were definitely amazing but we all had to share because they were so huge.
On Saturday, my roommates and I took a tour of the Capitol. I wish I had more energy during our tour but I just didn't. Anyway, it was still cool to be walking around the Capitol but we didn't get to see where the House and Senate meet which is what I was most hoping to see. After the Capitol we were all starving. It was late lunch and my Peruvian roommate suggested we try Peruvian food. We went to a restaurant near our metro stop. It was small and quaint and looked authentic. We had the "Lomo Saltado" dish. It was amazing and kept me full past dinner. That night we celebrated one of our friend's birthday.
Sunday was mostly a lazy day. After being constantly on the move, it was nice to sleep in and not be on a schedule. My roommates and I ended up walking to Trader Joe's to grab some groceries. Apparently we had the same idea as 200 other Washingtonians but the service is so good at TJ's that it didn't seem to matter much. After we got back, I went to the school gym. I have been working on running, which I've hated since childhood. I did about 2.5 miles of running and .5 miles of walking which is more than I usually do!
Monday was MLK Day and we all had the day off. I intended to participate in the festivities happening here but I woke up too late. I ended up meeting a friend from home and shopping in Georgetown (another first). I LOVED Georgetown. The streets are old fashioned and adorable and the shopping wasn't too bad either. I managed to find a pair of $100 Steve Madden heals on sale for $20! The sales person had originally said they only had an 8.5 which was too big but I asked again and they found an 8! Can't say no to that =). Unfortunately, still no rain boots.
On Tuesday, I got up early for work, got ready and went to work only to find out I had the day off. The roads were icey and the people in my office were working from home. This was a pleasant surprise because I had a lot to get done anyway. Needless to say, I didn't get much done haha. I did however go to the gym and run 3 miles! Later that night, I met up with a friend for dinner. We went to an upscale "Southern" restaurant. I enjoyed everything I tried which usually is not the case for me. When I got back, I came home to quite a surprise. The apartment above us had set off the sprinklers! I was told our room was flooded which painted a Titanic-esque picture in my mind. When I got to the room, most of my roommates were sleeping. Somehow none of our possessions were damaged, thank God. The floors were completely drenched along with the roof of our shower. I was (still am) confused about the whole situation. The building hired help and started working on the damage that night which was disrupting for a bit.
Today I woke up to a group of men ready to tear down what seemed like everything in our apartment. I tried not to get in the way and went to another room to get ready. When I got home from work, they were still working on our room and there are currently about 5 huge fans blowing throughout our apartment. I guess things could be worse.
On to my internship:
Last week, I met the other intern working in the office. We are the same age and she is awesome to work with! She has a lot of experience in the restaurant world and has great suggestions. Can't wait to try them all. I continued doing mostly the same tasks I had done before which was good because the more I practice the easier it gets. I have noticed this already.
On Tuesday, I had the day off but still worked a little from home. I started researching writers to pitch to on behalf of one of our clients. Being away from the office was difficult because of course I had 100 questions. I tired to improvise as much as possible and look things up when I really had no idea.
Today, I continued working on the pitches and actually pitched to a writer. I was really proud with my end result and glad that I was working with someone who was willing to help me along the way. I also did some Twitter monitoring for a client which resulted in a retweet by our client on a tweet I found. Its these small things that make happy! It is really cool to see my work actually become something. Its not like I'm writing a fake letter to someone to be graded or creating a fake powerpoint project. It is actually real.
Thats my update for now! I know its long again, sorry!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
New Year, New Life
First of all, Happy New Year! I had probably my best New Year to date. I got to spend time with some of my closest friends. The road trip back from SF was another story. The grape vine was shut down and we had to take a 4-hour, snowy, icy, detour! It was all fine and dandy until the last 2-3 hours when we went 5 mph. Anyway, San Francisco was amazing and I managed to keep my shopping to a minimum. I had the best dim sum experience and went to a nice bar. Wish I had pictures on my camera to share!
So I have decided I am going to write about my life outside of my internship first then write specifically about my internship so here goes my experiences:
We took the red eye right after my road trip back from San Francisco. I was quite exhausted and ready to sleep through the flight. Much to my surprise, we went through security quickly and easily. I slept like a baby through both my flights and finally reached D.C. As soon as we got in, we took a trip to Target to buy the essentials. My roommates and I had an interesting time trying to figure out the bus system and got some major attitude by the bus driver =).
During the weekend, my roommates and I did some sight seeing. We visited the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the WW2 Memorial and the Washington Monument (which I noticed I can see from a distance when I walk to work!). It was very cold on the day we chose to do this but I did still enjoy visiting them.
We also went ice skating at the Sculpture Garden near Chinatown with our school group. That was fun for about an hour then it just got cold and so we left and got Chinese food. The Chinatown in DC is NOTHING like the Chinatown in SF. We almost left because it was a bit pricey and we had been spending a lot of money that weekend. Anyway, we decided to stay and eat. I don't remember the name of the restaurant we went to but the service was horrible. We even witnessed a waitress demand a higher tip from the table next to us. Turns out the waitress had charged the customer $100 more than she was supposed to so the customer left a small tip. The waitress said, " 50 cents! 15%!!" and handed back the receipt! We were all in shock! I couldn't believe it. So I'm pretty sure that is the last time we will be going to Chinatown.
At night, we ventured out to the bars nearby. We hadn't realized that we were so close to a fun night life. We still want to visit Adams Morgan and Georgetown but Dupont Circle was a lot of fun.
Yesterday, Rachel and I met up with one of our older sorority sisters who had coincidentally just moved out to D.C. It was awesome being able to catch up and see a familiar face. We went to the Madhatter and enjoyed 2 for 1 appetizers during happy hour. We also witnessed a good amount of snowfall. It was very pretty but I couldn't help but think how cold and slippery the walk home was going to be. I also wondered if people used their umbrellas in the rain....I know stupid question haha. Anyway, the snow fell for quite a while and we walked home in the snow! It was pretty and Rachel decided to throw snowballs and take tons of pictures when I all I really wanted to do was get back so I could get in my pj's because I had a looong day. I did realize that I will be needing to buy new boots to brace the snow so I don't fall in the middle of the street! Yay!
Onto my internship experience:
On my first day at my internship I met one of the three people working in the office. The office was smaller than I thought but I quickly came to the conclusion that I liked it better that way. I feel like I will be getting a much more in depth experience. Turns out my first day was one of the busiest. One of our clients had a press release that was sent out that morning and it gained a good amount of attention. I was able to see the whole process of being contacted by a reporter, to listening in on the interview, to viewing the completed article online the same day. It was very exciting for me because I was able to help with the whole process.
My second day was a bit less exciting. I was assigned to look up awards for one of our clients to apply for. Since our clients are tech companies, the language is still a little above my head. It was difficult to find relevant awards because I couldn't really decipher what was relevant and what wasn't. Anyway, I did what I could and called it a day. When I got in on my third day, I was told the award list was due that day! I was already a little discouraged because the task seemed so easy but was so difficult for me. I powered through the day anyway and ended up finding the perfect resource for my project. I skipped lunch to get it done and was so happy to turn it in. It was such a great feeling when my supervisor said, "Good job on this!" Even though its not that big of a deal, I was happy to hear that I'm doing a good job.
Today, I was monitoring Twitter for 2 of our clients. This is another job that seems easy in theory and is somewhat easy, but still challenging because I don't have the language down yet. Although, I have made huge strides within my first few days in terms of learning the language and familiarizing myself with our clients and practices .
All in all, I am very happy with my internship. It is exactly the experience I was looking for and a really great learning environment for me. All of my co-workers and supervisors are friendly and helpful. I can't wait to continue learning and challenging myself.
And now for some pictures! This is a huge feat for me because I am not much of a picture taker/downloader/ poster. Some of these pictures are borrowed from my friends.
This is the room I share:
Typical White House Pictures
That is all for now! I tried to make this entertaining but I'm using this blog mainly as a journal for my memories so my posts are long and a bit boring. Sorry! Hope you enjoy the pictures.
So I have decided I am going to write about my life outside of my internship first then write specifically about my internship so here goes my experiences:
We took the red eye right after my road trip back from San Francisco. I was quite exhausted and ready to sleep through the flight. Much to my surprise, we went through security quickly and easily. I slept like a baby through both my flights and finally reached D.C. As soon as we got in, we took a trip to Target to buy the essentials. My roommates and I had an interesting time trying to figure out the bus system and got some major attitude by the bus driver =).
During the weekend, my roommates and I did some sight seeing. We visited the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the WW2 Memorial and the Washington Monument (which I noticed I can see from a distance when I walk to work!). It was very cold on the day we chose to do this but I did still enjoy visiting them.
We also went ice skating at the Sculpture Garden near Chinatown with our school group. That was fun for about an hour then it just got cold and so we left and got Chinese food. The Chinatown in DC is NOTHING like the Chinatown in SF. We almost left because it was a bit pricey and we had been spending a lot of money that weekend. Anyway, we decided to stay and eat. I don't remember the name of the restaurant we went to but the service was horrible. We even witnessed a waitress demand a higher tip from the table next to us. Turns out the waitress had charged the customer $100 more than she was supposed to so the customer left a small tip. The waitress said, " 50 cents! 15%!!" and handed back the receipt! We were all in shock! I couldn't believe it. So I'm pretty sure that is the last time we will be going to Chinatown.
At night, we ventured out to the bars nearby. We hadn't realized that we were so close to a fun night life. We still want to visit Adams Morgan and Georgetown but Dupont Circle was a lot of fun.
Yesterday, Rachel and I met up with one of our older sorority sisters who had coincidentally just moved out to D.C. It was awesome being able to catch up and see a familiar face. We went to the Madhatter and enjoyed 2 for 1 appetizers during happy hour. We also witnessed a good amount of snowfall. It was very pretty but I couldn't help but think how cold and slippery the walk home was going to be. I also wondered if people used their umbrellas in the rain....I know stupid question haha. Anyway, the snow fell for quite a while and we walked home in the snow! It was pretty and Rachel decided to throw snowballs and take tons of pictures when I all I really wanted to do was get back so I could get in my pj's because I had a looong day. I did realize that I will be needing to buy new boots to brace the snow so I don't fall in the middle of the street! Yay!
Onto my internship experience:
On my first day at my internship I met one of the three people working in the office. The office was smaller than I thought but I quickly came to the conclusion that I liked it better that way. I feel like I will be getting a much more in depth experience. Turns out my first day was one of the busiest. One of our clients had a press release that was sent out that morning and it gained a good amount of attention. I was able to see the whole process of being contacted by a reporter, to listening in on the interview, to viewing the completed article online the same day. It was very exciting for me because I was able to help with the whole process.
My second day was a bit less exciting. I was assigned to look up awards for one of our clients to apply for. Since our clients are tech companies, the language is still a little above my head. It was difficult to find relevant awards because I couldn't really decipher what was relevant and what wasn't. Anyway, I did what I could and called it a day. When I got in on my third day, I was told the award list was due that day! I was already a little discouraged because the task seemed so easy but was so difficult for me. I powered through the day anyway and ended up finding the perfect resource for my project. I skipped lunch to get it done and was so happy to turn it in. It was such a great feeling when my supervisor said, "Good job on this!" Even though its not that big of a deal, I was happy to hear that I'm doing a good job.
Today, I was monitoring Twitter for 2 of our clients. This is another job that seems easy in theory and is somewhat easy, but still challenging because I don't have the language down yet. Although, I have made huge strides within my first few days in terms of learning the language and familiarizing myself with our clients and practices .
All in all, I am very happy with my internship. It is exactly the experience I was looking for and a really great learning environment for me. All of my co-workers and supervisors are friendly and helpful. I can't wait to continue learning and challenging myself.
And now for some pictures! This is a huge feat for me because I am not much of a picture taker/downloader/ poster. Some of these pictures are borrowed from my friends.
This is the room I share:
Typical White House Pictures
 |
| The cold and windy day we picked to see the monuments! |
 |
| It is a little hard to read but it says "Freedom is not free" |
 |
| At the bars |
 |
| This picture is out of place but this is from the monuments |
 |
| Ice skating at the Sculpture Garden. Don't laugh at my furry headband! It keeps me warm =) |
Thursday, December 30, 2010
I hate saying bye!
So today is my last official day home before I leave! I'm leaving for D.C. right after New Years in San Francisco so my life is quite busy at the moment. I started packing yesterday and I am slowly realizing I may need a second bag =(. I am going to try my hardest to only pack one bag because checking 2 bags is $55! I have so many better ways to spend that.
Anyway, I said bye already to some friends and it is just so strange. I hate saying bye! I know I'm on to bigger and better things but its just something I've never liked doing and something that I try to avoid. I feel like I'm in a strange limbo right now. So many things going on at once. Today is my sister's birthday, tomorrow is NYE and Sunday I'm leaving for D.C.
I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy new year! 2011 has finally come..I have been thinking about this year ever since Freshman year of college! Ahh I'm graduating this year!! I hope to make this year a success =). Look out for my next blog! It will be my first in D.C.
Anyway, I said bye already to some friends and it is just so strange. I hate saying bye! I know I'm on to bigger and better things but its just something I've never liked doing and something that I try to avoid. I feel like I'm in a strange limbo right now. So many things going on at once. Today is my sister's birthday, tomorrow is NYE and Sunday I'm leaving for D.C.
I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy new year! 2011 has finally come..I have been thinking about this year ever since Freshman year of college! Ahh I'm graduating this year!! I hope to make this year a success =). Look out for my next blog! It will be my first in D.C.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Pre-D.C. Thoughts
I am one week away from moving out to D.C! I am very excited but also a little (OK maybe a lot) nervous about the weather. Do I really need a puffer jacket as everyone says? I have purchased a semi-puffer jacket from H & M. Hopefully it will suffice. If not, I'll have one more thing to shop for in D.C. I imagine the selection will be better there anyway.
I am also looking forward to meeting everyone at my internship. I have no idea what to expect but I am going in with an open mind. Can't wait to learn all about PR!
That's all for now! I'm hoping to update my blog once a week so keep checking back!
I am also looking forward to meeting everyone at my internship. I have no idea what to expect but I am going in with an open mind. Can't wait to learn all about PR!
That's all for now! I'm hoping to update my blog once a week so keep checking back!
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