As part of our quality control process, we visit each internship site to meet with the internship supervisor, and the intern. This fall’s site visits started last week, where I visited with 6 interns over 2 days. Without exception I met with supervisors who were impressed with the work ethic and enthusiasm of our students – Nice job IIB!

Today is Wednesday in just 2 days, we will be riding the bus to NYC. Is a sad week but yet exciting. Its like your trying to do everything of New Paltz you can’t miss. We just went on a bike ride through the trail-way, it was great! You can’t miss that! Also we went to see the old houses, that are like 400 years old, they are really somethin…but the best part is that I actually enjoyed my time here.

Cliches come around now, when  say time isn’t enough, well yeah! Cliche!, don’t know what happen, we made friends who are staying! They’ll keep going to class while we’ll be working on the internships.

Now that everyone has an internship, we gotta keep ourselves toegther and get ready for the great apple. Im actually gonna miss the cafeteria, the gym, but specially the ducks!!!…………….NOT haha, they are pretty animals, but yet anoying with their noises, they are now coming out, the weather is getting nicer I guess we need to go, as the Ducks come out.

I didn’t bring an umbrella, you must bring one. You must walk around campus, you must go to to Muddy Cup! Get a nice coffy, bring a book.. You must go to the bookstore, it has cool new and used books, of all kinds, is so nice just to get there and be lost for 2 hours, until you pick a book.

All of this places, are worth it and im going to miss them a lot.

See you in the great apple………CLiche!!!!

Hi again!
Few hours ago I was thinking about the concept of time. In SUNY New Paltz time flows really fast, it will sound like a cliché but “I remember getting here as if it was yesterday”. With a lot of activities, trips, friends, classes, and short daylight, I wish I had more time to spend in this place… it is never enough.

As I am very interested in student activities and organizations, I recently joined de SUNY New Paltz Management Association. These guys are very hardworking and take their role very seriously. They are also looking for internship opportunities so that the interested students can apply through them. I highly suggest to you all coming for the IIB Program to join student associations; I think it is the best way for meeting people with shared interests.

New Paltz, NY
New Paltz is a very cozy place to live. Students are everywhere and because of that some of the shopping places offer student discounts.
The Main Street (which name says it all) is surrounded by very nice places; find attached a picture of a beautiful “vintage type” coffee shop.
One of the best things about New Paltz is its proximity with New York City (90 min). It is very easy to catch a bus in the local bus station, it is not expensive and they have a lot of routes.

“Student to Student Tips”
I highly suggest to every foreign student coming to New Paltz, to get a New York non-drivers license or ID. In some of the places that you’ll be visiting they will ask for an official ID, your passport will be fine, but I am convinced that is more safe and secure to have a NY ID. It doesn’t cost a lot of money and it is less risky to be carrying this document. My advice is to apply for it as soon as you get here. Ask for more information to any of the IIB Staff.
All right my dear friends,
See you next week.

Located in Main Street, New Paltz

Hasbrouck. The most repeated word on a daily basis in New Paltz, ever since I got here.

This is the cafeteria. You can go out with an apple in your hands, but not with a piece of bread in your mouth. Come on Taco Tuesday or on Nothing Weekend. This is where I meet my friends to see what happened the night before, or the plans ahead of us. To see the face of everyone, on a different stage of the day is really entertaining! I like to hear everyones news stories, I I understand, cause sometimes they’ll speak in Swedish, by them I mean the Sweedish group of the IIB program.

It’s been a month, we’ve had a snowstorm, rain no parade, and my favorite so far cultural exchanges. To go out there, and see how different and similar people are to you. Why SUNY New Paltz? everyone asks me! …well cause I had no idea, and you know that’s great, cause its more fun at one point. Its great that my school is 10 mins walking distance from a bar that becomes a restaurant during the day!!! What? yeah P&G’s is one of them.  Visits so far- countless, visits to go….not counting.

I sometimes feel like if everyone was part of a movie, cause it looks and feels like it. Those hoolywood chick flick, its real! and I like it. What sorprises me is that so much stuff  is same thinking as the sweedish guys, same thoughts! who would have thought?

So yeah this is us:

Karl Johan- “KJ”- fashion and comedy stands out for him

Marcus- Italy adores his accent, and gotta say I admire him because he just sold his company.

Boudil- Always have something to say.

Cecilia- Like the mom of the group, very mature thoughts.

Anna- Sexy girl, with carisma.

Emma- Mysterious one

Jill- Funny, sarcastic…goofy

Shanet- Looks quiet, but has a lot to say.

Winta- smily, simple and smart girl.

Alejandro- Next President, admirable

Erika- “Kik”, individualistic, loves fashion, smart.

Alexia- Crazy, just a cool mess

Pau- strong ideas.

Paola- “Esta de pelos”, her favorite phrase, funny outgoing, count on her for everything, except for the GYM

Alejandra- everything is funny for her, simple girl next door.

Myself- What else do I have to say?

So you can have an idea of evryone who’s part of the IIB program. We see each other everyday, its become like a , family……NOT, just kidding. It’s great that everyone’s so different that’s something having only 2 different countries in the program (sweeden, mexico).

Next time, we’ll se where this countries are located, because people has asked me their location. Like Cancun was in New Mexico right? I guess this is a learning experience for evryone…

Hello there!

I hope all is well. Even though it is pretty late and I am very tired, I decided to write once more before we leave for the City. I am pretty sure that I won’t have time to blog tomorrow.

Yeah, exactly: it is half time!!! Two months of the four are already over and that means: WE ARE MOVING TO NEW YORK CITY!!! We have successfully finished our studies here. I personally have gained a lot of great insights into public relations, business communications, marketing and management. So time is up here, but there is more to come. I will be in the office at 9 a.m. sharp on Monday! I am totally looking forward to interning at Gibbs & Soell Public Relations! The whole IIB family is very excited to move to New York City, have great internships there and meet new interesting and very inspiring people!

However, moving to the City also means to say goodbye to all the friends we made here on campus. We have to say goodbye to the sweet girls in our suite who were really nice, open-minded and caring. We also need to say goodbye to the kind staff of the one and only Hasbrouck Dining Hall who answered every question with a smile. And last but not least, we will just miss all our friends from our classes, outdoor trips and the dorms

That was New Paltz: running around like crazy with the women’s rugby team (even if only for a very short period of time due to being sick and having so many things to do), being in New Paltz “painting the town red,” being a part of the WNPC-TV crew, hunting the ducks, the geese and the squirrels on campus, contributing to the US American buying power at Woodbury Commons Premium Outlets, and last but not least: just having fun with the other IIB family members!

Goodbye from New Paltz and see you in New York City!!!

Hi there,

I hope you are doing fine. I am doing great. I am almost done with my studies at New Paltz. We had been pretty busy, but now we are wrapping things up. My homie Mariana and I held our mock press conference in our PR class yesterday. That was the last task for this class. I also finished my portion for the group assignment in my management class. The only thing we have to do is to present it next Thursday. I also have to work more on my marketing project, but have done some work already. We also have to do some more work for our group project in our business communications class. It is really not that much work. We are only here for another week, so we are pretty much done with our studies.

Our paintball trip last Saturday was very nice. Some guys and some girls from the IIB family signed up, but only the girls came. Hey guys, where were you? We really missed you out there!!! I did not like the game in the beginning, but it was so much fun later on.
Paintball is a strategic game in which one team has to beat the other team by eliminating the other team’s members. Everybody is equipped with an air gun filled with paintballs as your ammunition. You also have to wear a mask to protect your face, and since this was the first time for me to take part in such a game, I chose to get a chest protector as well.
At first, we went into a part of the woods. The referee quickly informed us about the rules, counted down from three… and everybody ran away hiding in a bush, behind a tree or under a stack of leaves – except Magdalena and me. We looked at each other, and did not really know what was going on. So our referee yelled “hide, hide!” and we chose the first tree as our shelter. We basically stayed there in defense. While some of our team members were shot and had to return to our home base, we were still hiding behind the tree shaking, sweating and feeling the strong urge to use the restrooms. However, we managed to stay in the game until one member of the opposing team made his way to my tree and eliminated me. I eliminated him, too, though ). From then on, the following games became more interesting. In one game, it was our task to attack the other team, they had to defend their castle. I made my way until the center and waited there. All my team members became eliminated. I, however, was the last one to defend myself against ten or even more of the opposing team. They could smell a rat though that I was the only one left. So they moved closer to me in order to attack me. I “painted” one, probably two, but then they eliminated me, and the game was over. But hey, they complimented me on staying in the game as the last of my team. That was nice. The shot at my leg hurt though, and I still have a pretty big bruise there. But it was so much fun. I had never imagined that this would be so much fun. In total, I “painted” some guys of the opposing team, lots of walls and shelters on the fields, and one spider that scared the wits out of me.
The people who went on the trip were really nice, however, I missed the guys from our IIB family. That would have been fun for them as well!!!

This was the last outdoor trip because we move to NYC pretty soon. All the trips, from rockclimbing to kayaking to horseback riding to paintballing were very nice!!! I highly recommend the outdoor trips offered by the Athletic & Wellness Center at SUNY New Paltz.

On Saturday, we will go to Woodbury Commons Premium Outlets. I am looking forward to doing some more shopping and relaxing. This is definitely a reward after all the hard work.

I wish you a great weekend!
I’ll definitely write some more before we move to the City!

Big love,
Sandra

Hello everybody,

sorry, it has taken me a while to come back to my blog. I have had a virus, so I needed to take care of that. The doctors and nurses at the student health center are very nice and warm-hearted. They really helped me, and I feel a hundred percent better! I hope you are doing fine, too (whoever reads my blog).

We have been pretty busy here with our studies. We handed in a memo and two press releases for our public relations class, just started on a group project in our business communications class, plus I wrote a test in my management class last night. I hope it went well. I will have another test in marketing next week, and Veronica and I also work on a group project for that class.

Besides studying hard for our classes, we also focus on our internships. A lot of us go to New York City for interviews. Some of us already found internships. I found my dream internship, too! And I am totally looking forward to doing my internship soon! It is at Gibbs & Soell Public Relations! Yeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaa!

We also went to a wine & spirits dealer in New Paltz. The two owners showed us their store which is very neat and fancy. We developed some ideas for them, and they gave us some sparkling wine to take home (hell, where is it by the way!??). We also had a wine tasting – I especially enjoyed that part or our visit ).

Even though we are pretty busy at that time of the semester, our studies do not keep us from going on outdoor trips! Because I enjoyed going rockclimbing and kayaking, I decided to sign up for horseback riding as well. That was so much fun! I have never ridden a horse before, but I hope to have the chance to do that more often in the future.

I really love my horse. His name is Bloody and he was eating… ALL THE TIME!!! I got on my horse, and guess what he did!? Yeah, he went to a stack of grass and ate. We started our tour and Bloody and I were the first ones to go after our tour guide. The others had to follow us one after another. Bloody took his time to stop at each blade of grass and at every bush he found on the trail in Marlboro Country (well, not THAT Marlboro country, but the place we went to was called Marlboro, too, in New York State though). So he was pretty much eating all the time! The others had to wait behind us then, which they did not like, I think. They told me to not let Bloody eat, and to kick him really hard instead, so that he would move, but I felt sympathy for Bloody having to carry me all around. So I let him have his portion – and we became very close friends ever after! At one point though, he started to run off with me. However, I was able to manage to stop him again because I got a bit scared. I do miss him… TONS! That was a very nice adventure!!!

Rosh Hashanah is coming up and we won’t have any classes until Wednesday or Thursday next week. So Maria, Suzana, Daniel, Tobias and I have decided to spend a weekend in Miami. We booked our flights two days ago, and we will leave in a couple of hours. So I have to get ready for my trip (well, actually, I am sooo ready to go…)!

Keep on reading my blog and take care!

Love,
Sandra

Hello everybody,

this is my first contribution to the IIB Blog. Yes, a new class has arrived for fall 2008. We are 24 students, that means 13 from Sweden, 6 from Mexico, 4 from Germany and last, but not least, 1 from the Netherlands. My name is Sandra, and I am from Germany. I was looking forward to coming here… and finally I’m here! In fact, I am already in the middle of everything since we are here for four weeks already. Let me give you an overview of the things we have experienced so far:

- we arrived on Tuesday, August 19, 2008. New Paltz is a very small city and practically only consists of the State University of New York at New Paltz. Well, let me add that there is ONE important street – namely main street – for all of us where you can find around four to five pubs or bars. One of the best places in town is P&Gs which kitchen burned down recently, but thanks to the fact that it was only the kitchen, the place has opened again, so our night life is saved. Apparently, there are also some other nice places to go, so our night life has never been in danger.

- during our first week on campus, almost nobody was there. It seemed as if the campus was a ghost town compared to my home university. There were only a few international students fidgeting around. This changed soon, however, since the freshmen, junior and senior students arrived pretty soon after us. I live in a nice suite in Bevier Hall with Maria and Suzana from Sweden and Melissa, Cindy, Mary Ann, Aylin and Shannon from the US. Our suite is great, nicely decorated and very cozy! In fact, this is THE place to hang out and everybody is welcome!!!
Bevier Hall is located right next to Hasbrouck Dining Hall – vegetables, fruits, noodles, pizza, soups, cereal, beverages, salad – no matter what, you can eat as much as you want and as often as you want. It is all you can eat (not to mix with you can eat it all!).

- the STUDENT ACTIVITIES department arranged a lot for us in the first week of our stay, so that we would not get bored with unpacking our stuff. There was a very famous comedian who talked about campus life, everyday life – let’s say life in general. On another day, there was a hypnotist who made people acting stupidly which was really funny. We all had a great blast! The funniest part was when the hypnotized people thought they were naked in front of us…

- we also had the chance to go to New York City. Guess what!? Yeah, of course we went shopping there. The day was very short though and we did not manage to see everything. But we had a great time. And we all love the City already!

- as for me, there are tons of things to do on campus. The motto of the Athletic & Wellness Center is “Be active. Get involved!” – and that is what I wanna do here!!! Therefore, I have joined the TV station on campus and am in charge of filming. That is a really cool thing to do. The station is called WNPC-TV and has three different channels. I am mainly interested in news. I also practice with the women’s rugby team on campus. I do not know anything about the rules yet, but it is really cool so far! The girls are very nice, have great personality and are fun to practice with. There are also a lot of student activities organized by the Athletic & Wellness Center, so we went rockclimbing last Saturday and kayaking on Sunday (which was yesterday). I also signed up for horseback riding and paintball. I’ll keep you informed about these events! Horseback riding is on Sunday – and I am certainly looking forward to doing that!

- since we arrived here, we have been studying a lot. I take four classes: Business Communication and Public Relations – those courses are designed for the IIB students only – and Marketing and Management which I take with a lot of American students. We had some assignments already, such as writing a press release, doing a memorandum or analyzing an advertisement. It is very interesting and I am looking forward to the next four weeks on campus!

- we have also already started to apply for internships for our second, more practical part of the IIB experience. I have had an interview at Gibbs & Soell Inc. which is a huge PR agency in New York City. That internship position sounds really exciting and I really hope that they accept me.

Other than that, I am very glad to be here. I will definitely keep you informed about what is going on here.

Cheers,

Sandra

Done. After 4 months, the IIB experience, for me at least is over. We had our graduation last Thursday night and it was great way to finish off the semester. I wish I had a bad thing to say about the last four months but, seriously, I don’t. Oh, the surf sucked. That’s about it.

The graduation was a great night. The coordinators were there, representatives from SUNY New Paltz, the ambassador of State University of New York, as well as all 20 students. I was pretty shocked when I got chosen to deliver a speech in front of everyone. I would think I’d be the last person the class would want to represent them, but we live in strange times.

I could try and wax lyrically as to why the last four months were so good, but it still wouldn’t do it justice. The only way I’d describe the experience is: amazing. Before I started the program, I wanted to be a real part of this place. To not just be a tourist, but to be on the other side of the window, not on the outside looking in. I did that, and I’ve the IIB program to thank. Living here and working here and being thrown into a completely new environment where I knew noone seemed kind of daunting at first, but it taught me a lot about myself and the world. New York City, this country, its people and also the program, showed me that anything really is possible. Your only competition is you. To borrow from Hilltop Hoods, my favourite Aussie Hip-hop (Skip-hop) crew… “The only competition you’ll find is in the mirror”. NYC is living proof. if you want something, anything, you go get it.

I’ve come up to Calgary, Canada to do some snowblading with a mate for a week and then I fly to LA with another mate to do our road trip, The Hard Road 07/08. We’re hiring some old bomb and driving from LA through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, New Orleans and a few other places and the only thing is, we have to be back in NY Jan 13 for my flight back to Melbs. We’ll be armed with nothing but a few dollars, a camera, a maglite and a ukelele. Really all you need.

If you’re considering doing the IIB thing, do it. I’m the last person to peddle anything for anyone but it’s an amazing experience, all round. I didn’t manage to get deported to Mexico yet, which kind of sucks, but I can work on that when I get home.

Excuse me now as I just get the last few things done on my trip and then hit the surf back in the Burn, every day for like 12 hours, for at least 2 months. Hell-yeah!

Peace and love.

Dave