Mama I'm a Big Girl Now

Before I start I have to let you know that this is going to be a long one, because I have a lot to say. Then again, what's new!?!? I'm going to try to be methodic about this, so I will go day by day...
Wednesday:
Finally the Horizon interns for FSO (Financial Services Office) got to have their own orientation and learn about what we will be doing and who we will be doing it with.  There is a total of 36ish interns and we got a full day of games, information, and skits to bond with.  It was actually very fun and the other interns seem like very interesting people.  From day one I can see signs of personalities (the clown, the talker, the complainer (surprisingly not me),etc) but I am trying not to make judgements.  I also realized at the end of the day, that one of the interns is also from Montevideo, seriously?!?!?!  What are the chances!!!!!! After the meeting I got to meet one of the supervisors for my team and got my first assignments!!!!! Aaaahhh! I have an assignment AND  I like it! My first task involved a list of 662 people that needed to be called and 10 others that needed to be called about other matters.  After receiving the email I was a little worried, but after all the orientations were finally over my supervisor came down to meet me and assured me that not all of them needed to be called.  It turns out she needed to be out of the office Thursday and Friday for a wedding, and she wanted to make sure I had enough to do.  I don't know if I made it known, but I am THRILLED that she is making sure I'm busy, because I truly LOVE busy.  Sorry about the obnoxious capital letters happening, but Miranda taught me that this is the only way to show emotion when writing!  (and i guess exclamation points too)  Anyhow... back to the topic at hand... I love the office! And on Wednesday I was excited for it to be Thursday!  Soooo excited that I went directly to bed and woke up by myself in the morning (a first).  After getting ready quickly, I hurried to the subway station where I stood with the other locals dressed up in business attire... After 4 stops I was at the office at .... 8:15... Ok, so i'm supposed to start at 9:00, there isn't any rule that you can't be too early!!!!  Gladly, I was not the first there!  When I walked into our assigned conference room, I could not believe it! It was tiny, but most importantly it is a CORNER OFFICE with all windows on the 30th floor with and incredible view!!! Ok, so I share it with 11 other interns, but after seeing the other group that is in the back of the windowless mail room, I could not be any happier!!!

The View of the Office

What a view

The office

As people trickled in I realized I had a problem, how the heck was I going to call 600+ people in a room with 14 people!! I don't mind calling strangers or talking to strangers, but I sort of mind calling and talking to strangers while other strangers stare at me waiting for their supervisors to come get them. After about 30 minutes, I realized that we are actually all in this together... so I got over it and started the calls!
It was incredibly fun! I was a little jealous because the others had their supervisors come and take them to lunch,etc, but my time will come, and I love calling people! At lunch I decided stay and drink a protein shake while the rest ventured to the cafeteria, so that I could get some work done.  It was a blast! I love the people in there.  My favorite is a guy from West Africa, because everything he says is soooo funny.  I don't know if he means to be, but he has made us all bond and is incredibly sweet!  On Thursday I also got to meet a guy who works there whom my accounting teacher at home had referred me to.  He was incredibly nice and came down to our conference room to meet me.  We have advisors and counselors assigned to each of us, and the West African guy and I share a peer mentor, we are going out to eat with her next week so it should be fun!  She was also an intern with the company and now works full time auditing.  She spends most of her time at the client site so she came specifically to stop by and say hello.
Even though I did not get to try out the cafeteria the first day, I did get to go to the break room!!! We have an incredible coffee machine.  It is sort of like a Keurig, because you chose individual flavors, but it is better!! You can mix two, make tea, cappuccinos, hot chocolate, or anything else you want!  There's vending machines which are incredibly cheap, because they are subsidized, and there is a supply closet! It is the closet of my dreams!!! Any and all desk supplies you could dream of!! You just swipe you badge (yes, I have a badge now!) and get what you need! My new badge also lets me into the building and each floor... I officially feel like an insider!!

My caption

At five on thursday I left and headed back to the dorm.  Once there I stayed in bed and watched my new found show Dawson's Creek.  Lame... yes I know, I'm only 200 years behind the rest of the world... but what can I say...
Friday morning was another early morning at work, but this time on purpose.  My accounting teacher from Sophomore year is in town for the weekend and I agreed to meet her in Times Square in the afternoon.  In order to do that, I had to make sure I could still get my 8 hours in.  I found that I was not the first in the office, because one of the girls that commutes from Jersey asked to make her schedule 8 to 4 in order to avoid rush hour traffic.  Since the firm seems to be incredibly flexible and considerate they told her that was fine! Once the office was full again, we all continued on our diverse tasks while joking and laughing! It's really a good group, I have a feeling we are going to get sick of each other at some point, but so far so good! On Friday I finally made it to the cafeteria and it was wonderful! You have a million wonderful options and eating with the interns was enjoyable as well! At 3 I left the office to meet with my teacher, who was eating with her daughter at McDonald's.  I talked with them for a few minutes and then rushed back to the office so I could still be able to leave a little early!
Once my 8 hours were complete at 4:45, I left and headed to Ghost the Musical, where Adam and I were planning on playing the lottery to win cheaper tickets, but luck was not on our side! But all is well, we crossed over to Gerschwin's Porgy and Bess and got student rush tickets for that instead! After grabbing dinner and killing some time, we headed over to the theater and enjoyed the show.
Even though it was different from anything i've seen on Broadway, it was terrific! I loved the male vocals and acting, they were truly impressive!!! It is not my new favorite, but I am glad I got to see it!

The plan for this morning involved me getting up at 7:00 meeting another girl from Mississippi who is here and heading to Evita to get rush tickets for tonight, however... I OVERSLEPT!!! I woke up at 9:30 in a panic thinking of poor Miriam waiting at Union Square and our lost tickets. I immediately called Adam who told me not to worry that they were in line and that Miriam had not waited THAT long.  I feel awful about it, but at least we have tickets for tonight! Tomorrow I WILL get up, because I have to get rush tickets for Other Desert Cities' last performance, I promised my theater teacher from high school I would, and if he says its good, it must be amazing!  But for today, I'm excited about Evita! After a lazy morning today, I headed over to Washington Square park to get some lunch and ran into a wonderful street market and a whole lot of people! I LOVE NEW YORK! It is a gorgeous day and the energy here is just incredible!

Wedding Pictures at Washington Square Park

Street Market

Washington Square Park

 For now, I'm off to go venture some more!! Sorry about the length of this post, but then again... no one is forcing you to read!!!!

Rainy days and Monday sure don't keep me down!

Cheesy I know, but I love Cheese! Yesterday was day 1 with the firm, and if I have taken anything from the past two days, it is the importance of confidentiality in the firm.  Everything we deal with, see, and hear could be top secret information, so I will be disclosing almost nothing of what I'll work on.  Day one started early for me, because I wanted to make sure to be there right at 8:30.  I ended up getting there at like 7:45 and sat at a coffee and enjoyed the fact that I was about to begin my career with the firm.  It's actually beyond surreal... I just sat there looking over my paperwork in my business attire sipping my coffee.... WOW! Once at the office they had a wonderful breakfast ready for us and the orientation began.  After our delicious lunch, they gave us our computers and the introduction to the system began.  We learned about our email system and appointment scheduler.  THe orientation was done by 5:30 and I hurried back on the subway to my dorm and had dinner at the dining hall with Adam.  Laying in bed at night it finally hit me.  I'm living a movie life...  or at least the kind of movies I was always obsessed with when I was little (or like last week).  I take the subway to work looking professional, get to work and am legitimately treated like royalty, and then today... the icing on the cake.  I got an email from my team leader. I have a TEAM LEADER! What?!?!? And an appointment request for a lunch meeting with my team! Is this real life?  Ok, though I know that this summer internship is not a client based internship, and I will be working with teams in the office, it is going to be an incredible experience to get me ready for another internship where I will work with more of the accounting side and meet with clients.  
Today was more of the same... we got set up in the system and received details on our training sessions for tomorrow.  I have to be in at 8:30, but since we got out early today, I should be very well rested for that!   After a walk in the rain, I have decided that after a week and a half of rain scattered days, I will be purchasing an umbrella! It took me way too long to give in, but I can't go to work in cute clothes with a gross looking rain jacket over it! Maybe after I get my paycheck I will take a  walk to Forever 21 (2 blocks from here) and buy a cute rain jacket! For now, I am going to go lay in bed and work on the Freshman Retreat for the Honors College!

Pictures from NYC Marathon

today show

Dana and Penny at the Bridge

Mississippi in the park

Serendipity

New York City Marathon

Ok, so I might not have run a marathon these past few days, but since I last wrote on Wednesday, I feel like I have.  Thursday morning started off a little earlier than I desired at around .... 10:30.  I met up with Adam at around 11:10 and we headed to the dining hall to make use of my meals there.  After stuffing my face and promising not to do it again, again, I got a text from Penny saying that they had landed.  After finishing the food, Adam and I took the subway.  He headed to work and I went to Penny and her friend Dana's hotel to wait for them.  When they arrived and unpacked we walked on the upper West side to a little deli to get them some lunch.  It reminded me of the Beacon or a local place because everyone was over 65 and it was packed.  After eating, we walked south to Levaine's where they got to try the world's greatest cookies!!! After a quick walk on the edge of central park to their hotel, I headed back to my dorm to change and left Penny to get ready for the big fancy Honors Alumni dinner.  After getting ready I took the subway to Lexington and 42nd (grand central) and sat at a Starbucks to wait for Adam, who got off of work at 6).  Once he was done, I expected him to call, but when he did, he told me that he was almost to my dorm!!! I felt so bad! He works just a few blocks from where I was waiting and the dinner was just across the street, but he thought I had told him to meet me at my dorm so he took the subway all the way there!!!! After taking the subway back up, we crossed over and arrived at a gorgeous private room (the wine vault) where alumni from the honors college were gathered with DSG and the Chancellor.  We were about 20 total and the room was wonderful.  Penny and I sat with the Chancellor's wife and had a wonderful night! Afterwards, I went back with Penny to their hotel and slept on their couch, because we wanted to get an early start and it was after midnight.  Friday started waaaaay too early at 4:30, when we woke up to go to the today show.  We knew that Chris Brown was giving a concert but we did not realize the crowd that we would find.  After getting of the subway at about 6:00, we ran smack into Andy Grammar who was rehearsing "gotta keep yo head up" (haha) for Fox and Friends.  There were maybe 20 people there and we got to enjoy the performance from very close!! After that we went to the today show, where we waited in line for 2 hours and then settled for going to get breakfast and just hearing him as we walked.  It was really cool though and there was a precious little boy who knew the dances and was just full of rhythm!  From there we took the subway to Washington Square park, where I changed and then led them through Soho to Little Italy, where we had a lovely lunch.  After that.... CHINATOWN
I thought that I had done the whole Chinatown deal, but I was mistaken.  After we stepped foot on the street a little tiny woman chased us asking if we wanted bags (gucci, coach, etc) and two seconds later we were surrounded.  One girl tapped me on the shoulder and next thing I know she pulls up her sleeve and as she says "Tiffany, silver, Tiffany" she flashes about 20 bracelets.  It was a bit much for me, but really cool! After that, we walked to the Brooklyn Bridge and Century 21.  Century 21 is a HUGE department store that Mrs. Fitts recommended to me.  It is packed with discounts and was also incredibly overwhelming after a full day of walking.  Once we were done at ground zero we decided to take a cab back and rest, but after 20 minutes and $17 dollars we settled that it was going to take too long and a subway would be way more sufficient.  Once at the hotel, Adam met us and we rested until 6:00 when we headed out to a restaurant that was recommended to us (sarah Beth) by Drew.  It was delicious! We were all sooo delirious and tired that the waiters couldn't help but smile when we finally left.  After saying goodbye to adam, we bought a bottle of wine and chocolate and went to relax at the hotel room. Saturday morning, which I can't believe was yesterday, we woke up at 7:30 and I headed back to my dorm to shower and rest before Mississippi Picnic in the park.   Since it was a gorgeous day, (cloudy but cool) I decided to walk to 53rd where my favorite bagel place is.  Since they were on 80th, it was not too far.  After getting my cream cheese olive bagel, I noticed that the lines for tickets at Sister Act were very short. Although we had decided to wait to get the tickets to Once until next weekend, the lines gave me hope and I decided to keep walking to 44th and find out how bad the lines were there.  After seeing that it wrapped around the block and finding out that the front of the line had arrived there at 4 am, I noticed that Memphis's line was short!!! So... I called Adam and he took the Subway to me and we got tickets for the night performance.
After  getting to my dorm (by subway the rest of the way) and relaxing I headed out to my favorite part of NYC, the park.  It was as gorgeous as ever and Mississippi showed up.  I ran into a few familiar faces, walked around the tents set up by different Mississippi businesses and Universities and listened to some music.  The afternoon was perfect! Not too hot, not too cold, just one small little sprinkling shower, McAlister's sweet tea, caramel cake, fudge, catfish, hush puppies, etc.  Hahaha! After the park I went with Penny and Dana while they got ready for their show and then we headed to dinner at Richard Emmett's, where we had more delicious food.  While the girls watched wicked, I got to watch Memphis again! And what a show!!!! It was even better the second time, because I had forgotten how incredible the music is.  After the first half Adam made some comment about the main guy and I couldn't help but think how perfect his voice would be for RENT, if only he was a little bit younger... After hearing a comment about him being gay, I focused in more on his character and continued to be blown away by his voice.  After the first song in the second act, as Adam was flipping through the program, it finally hit me! Its ADAM PASCAL!!! The guy who played the first Roger in RENT, AAAAAHHH! I could not believe that I hadn't realized it, and though I was happy to find out he is not gay, I was saddened to find out that I still have NO shot since he is married, has two kids, and is 42... The age, I guess I could deal with, but the wife and kids... no thank you!
After the show we went to find Penny and Dana, and we found two very anxious women... They were desperate for a bathroom and had been kicked out of the theater before getting to use them... As we rushed desperately through the streets to find a bathroom  we were turned down at restaurants, hotels, and ALMOST at a starbucks, but finally after bribing the cashier by buying a coffee, they got the bathroom! Once Adam and the boys said their goodbyes Dana, Penny, and I dragged our feet to Times Square (since Dana had never been) and snapped some pictures.  Not two seconds later, we were in a cab heading to Serendipity for some frrrozen hot chocolate. Hmmmmmmm.... sooo yummy, as you can tell, I really starved during their visit to New York! Our taxi ride back to the hotel was one to remember since our cab driver blasted Indian music and tried to cover up our ridiculous outbursts abut tangerines and pillows... Once at the hotel, we hit the pillows and were out until this morning.
The day started early with a little farmer's market where Dana and Penny got breakfast outside the hotel.  The shopping continued in Times Square with the usual souvenir shops and Forever 21.  I also got to enjoy a lovely trip to Forever 21, where I invested in some flats that will help me deal with my first day of work, since I have horrible blisters from the dinner on Thursday.  (By the way Mrs. Freeny's trick about mole skin was a fail!) Once the shopping was over we enjoyed our last meal together in NYC at the Hard Rock Cafe (my first time!) and then I led them to their subway and headed to mine.  While waiting for my subway, I got to hear a wonderful girl's choir singing "You raise me up" !  Once at my dorm I met my fourth and final roommate/suite mate and got ready for the intern cruise !
As I expected the intern from Tennessee called me and asked me to meet her at her dorm so I could lead her to Chelsea Pier (since it was her first day here!) After taking the subway to her dorm and seeing where she is living I am thankful for my little old non air-conditioned room.  She is living in another NYU dorm. Her room in air-conditioned, she only shared it with one girl, and she has a kitchen and a living room! However, she is not in a location that I would want! She is waaaay too close to the craziness that is tourists lin China town.  I think today might be my last time visiting her!
After getting her, we headed to Chelsea Pier and boarded the very nice cruise ship with the other interns.  The food was wonderful and we simply ate and enjoyed getting to meet one another on the boat.  After seeing lady liberty we made it back to the port and I headed back here to write, shower, and most importantly.... SLEEP!  Tomorrow is the big day!!! Day numero uno here I come! I am luckily one of the few interns that has the training sessions in the Times Square office, but the majority of the interns will be having to travel to New Jersey (on their own) to do it! I am VERY lucky!  I will post pictures in a bit!

Wednesday in the Park with Adam

Today was another very relaxing day in New York City.  It started at around 11:30 (pitiful I know, but I was up until 4 watching a show on Netflix that Maia recommended)  when my second roommate walked in to bring her things in.  She is from Jersey so she was just in the city for the day, she will move in permanently on Sunday.  I assume she starts her internship on monday too!! After Colleen left, I stayed lazy in bed finishing the season of the show.  I had a late lunch at the dinning hall and then met up with Adam on Times Square.  From there, we walked up to Central Park and had a very relaxing afternoon walking around...  It wasn't a Sunday in the Park with George, but I'll settle for Wednesday in the Park with Adam !

Relaxing in the City That Never Sleeps

My plan for today's blog was to talk about my past two days relaxing in NYC.  However, about 6 minutes ago I (along with 2 of my suite mates) listened from our dorm as a girl screamed bloody murder outside.  At first, we all decided that it was a drunk girl, but then as she continued to scream we came to conclusion that it was more.  We heard someone say "call 911," but all we could see from our window was people looking every which way trying to figure out where it was coming from.  Three minutes later there were 2 NYPD cars outside and an ambulance.  The girl, of course, had stopped screaming and all we could see were people looking around very confused.  It caught the three of us very off guard, because even though one of them lives in New York and the other one is from DC, we were not expecting this in our little bubble at NYU.   It is crazy how much goes on in this city, and it become obvious when there is a girl screaming outside your window and you can't even figure out what's going on.  After living for 11 in a town where I can make one call and find out who the person with the flat tire on the side of the road is, it is killing my curiosity!!! I have to learn that living in the city I will not be able to always be in the loop.  

In that same way, I have come to realize that there is truly a million things you could be doing in this city. I know people talk about how fast New York is, but for the last few days my life has seen the slow New York.  I steamed clothes yesterday, read half a book, and people watched in Washington Square park.  After trying out the dining hall, I searched out my side of the city for some free wifi (since I hadn't figured out the internet at the dorms). I sat at Starbucks for a few hours and then returned to my dorm to sleep and read.  It was a wonderful day of relaxing and the first in a long time! Today was once more very relaxing! I slept in, finished my book, and went to the dining hall for a late lunch. 

More relaxing in NYC

After lunch I returned to Washington square Park and watched some more people.  It's unreal the talent around that fountain!!! There are tourists, students, crazies, and parents with their kids... Here is where I'm learning how to be a local.  Adam laughs at me constantly about my obsession, but if I'm going to be here for 2 months, I cannot be spotted as an outsider constantly! At 5:00 Adam came over and we went internet hunting, because after 30 minutes on the phone with Costa (the tech guy at work back home) I decided that safari was my problem and I needed firefox in order to connect to the internet at the dorms. First we went to the Starbucks that I went to yesterday, which made me feel more like a local (since a lot of the same people were back), but the internet wasn't working.  After 2 Starbucks, we found the perfect match!!!!! And my internet is fixed! Back at the dining hall we found 2 girls from back home and decided we would hang out soon.  After finishing our dinner the fire alarm went off and we exited again to Washington Square park and headed on a picture adventure.  Adam is a photographer and is always out on the hunt for the perfect shot.  We walked uptown and we (AKA Adam) got some great shots!  

After parting and each taking our separate subways, I returned to my dorm and after the screaming incident got my suite mates hooked on SMASH! They are currently watching episode 1!   Tomorrow, I will be starting off early and trying to get tickets for Once! Hopefully we will get some! 

Making new memories, a summer in NYC!

Last summer I spent 3 months reading through my grandmother's memories and organizing over 700 letters.  This summer I am shifting gears completely! I will be spending two months in NYC, which up to this point is one of my favorite places in the world. I will be interning with one of the top 4 accounting firms and learning about the place where I could potentially work in just a few years.  The fact that I have the privilege of living in the city of my dream working on something I enjoy (or at least I think I enjoy) is incredible.  While here I will also be working long distance with the Honors College at home helping get everything ready for our Freshman Retreat in August! Sounds like a lot of work but I could not be more excited!
My journey started early Saturday morning (4 am), and I arrived in NYC at 1:30.

Since I could not check in to the NYU dorm, where I will be staying until Sunday, I stayed at a hotel.  I was a little apprehensive about the hotel because I booked it blindly on Expedia, but it turned out wonderfully!

As soon as I got in, Adam, who works with me at Honors and is also interning here this summer, met me at the hotel.   We walked around the financial district and found some delicious sandwich at one of the local deli's.  We took our delicious lunch and enjoyed it sitting by the Hudson looking at the fountains, the masses of people, and lady liberty.  Here we came to the conclusion that our first step in the journey of "becoming locals" must be to get a baby and a stroller! hahah! Later we came to the conclusion that a dog would be acceptable as well.

Financial District! 

After eating, we took the subway downtown and went to a little (not so little) street market going on at Avenue of the Americas.  There was every food imaginable from crepes to corn on the cob to fruit... Adam enjoying some watermelon and we walked, walked and walked some more.

Adam enjoying his watermelon! 

( the building behind him is where he is interning.)
After walking we took the subway back to my hotel where we CRASHED, he went home, and I slept over 14 hours until almost 9 am Sunday morning (AKA moving day)!!!
Sweet Adam came back Sunday morning and helped me move in to the NYU dorms, where I met one of my roommates and one of my suite mates.  They are both very nice and turned out to both be from Florida (one studies in D.C and is about to transfer to John Hopkins and the other studies in NYC.) The three of us bonded over EVENT PLANNING!! Hahaha, the three of us have very different majors (dance, neuro science, and accounting) but we all settled that we would all drop everything if we got the opportunity to plan events for a living! hahaha!
After moving in, Adam came with me to get my NYU ID and then we grabbed lunch at Brad's, which is around Washington Square park.  Then we started our day of grocery shopping, which began around Washington Square park.  After getting the essentials for me (minus the Special K protein drinks that we could not find) we headed uptown to Columbia, where he is staying.  Here we finally found my drinks and shopped around for his groceries.  He is staying at a fraternity house and has access to microwave, over, and a fridge, which I do not!  After shopping we took a break at his place, and then met up with his friend and headed to Levaine's for cookies!!!
This place never disappoints!  We each got a different cookie, so they both got to try 3 out of the 4 that they sell. SOOOOOO good! After that we walked to Central Park and walked back to Columbus circle.

View from Columbus Circle (took a break inside because it started to rain) 

From there we took the subway to the flat iron district and watched a flashmob that was being filmed for a commercial.

Flat Iron Building

We visited Eataly and then walked back to Washington Square and sat by the fountain listening to the street performers while the sun set.  Kind of idillic, actually.

Washington Square Park

After that, I called it a day and headed back to the dorm to sleep.  I failed at getting my internet to work, but hopefully I will be able to get this fixed soonish!
Today, I woke up, steamed clothes, explored the areas around my dorm, tried out the dining hall, and visited the nearest Starbucks to get on the internet... Whew... ok I promise my posts will be more interesting, but for now, I just wanted to summarize the incredible things I've seen thus far so the family would be caught up!