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!

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I last blogged.

These past 12 days have been A M A Z I N G!!

The internship has been what I expected and more. Working at Time Inc. in the Research and Insight department is a priceless experience. I’ve become close friend with Excel and Outlook and i’ve tried my best to get to know everyone in my office. The truth is that being in cubicles gives you a lot of privacy but few opportunities to talk to anybody (unless is strict business).

I’ve wondered lately how have I been performing. I feel that I am at the right place, and my boss keeps telling me that I have good questions. She also keeps handing me more complex projects every time, but still I would like to know what she really thinks of my efforts.

Feedback is always useful, so I encourage you to aks for it. Sometimes you won’t hear what you want but at least you will know what went wrong and you will be able to modify anything that is compromising your experience as intern. It is true, you are in the lower step of the company. Some may want to take advantage of your good will and time available: GO FOR IT! You will learn from every little task they ask you to do and if you perform well and willingly I am sure they’ll trust you with bigger, harder tasks.

Good luck to all of you, I hope you are enjoying as much as I am.

Dear friends,

this is my last blog entry. Unfortunately. But it is over. And it was so much fun!!! We all had a great time. We all were active and got involved! Our time is up! In fact, we are all back home again.

IIB Graduation

We had a very nice graduation ceremony with the IIB staff, our supervisors and partly, but importantly with our family members from home. It was our last time to be together and it was so much fun, but also a bit sad. I hope that we made friends for life!

I want to say THANK YOU to Jeff, Beth and Bruce from the Institute for International Business @ SUNY New Paltz.
I want to also say SPECIAL THANX to Roger and Andrea from Gibbs & Soell Public Relations New York for deep insight and a good training!

Last Days in the City

My sister came to visit me, so we hung out in the City, went to the Statue of Liberty again, to Staten Island (remember: the one thing in New York City that is for free is the Staten Island Ferry!), and went to the Top of the Rock at night. Our last days were awesome being together and hanging out in this GREAT city!

SILENCE

Back home again. Silence. A huge bed. A shower in which I can shower without my flipflops, which is clean and for me alone. Silence. Silence.

We are all back home. And we will not forget the great time we had in New Paltz and New York City. I really hope we stay in touch through Facebook and e-mail and chat and whatnot. It was great to meet you all!

Big love,

Sandra

Last week was Thanksgiving. It is an all-American holiday and it was really nice. I did not have to work for the whole weekend. However, I got up early on Thursday morning and went to Macy’s Happy Thanksgiving Parade which was along 7th Avenue. It was nice, however, I thought the inflated sponge bobs, dogs, big apples, Kermit the frogs and baseballs would be even bigger. Well, okay, they were quite big, but I thought they were as tall as one of the houses. Anyways, it was nice to see them floating through the street canyons. When I came home to the Websters, my portion of one of the millions of turkeys which were killed for this holiday waited for me already. So I had a bit of light turkey here, a bit of a dark turkey there, some stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes and vegetables. NICE!!!

Turn the music on in SoHo and I am there…

I went to SoHo last weekend on my tour which started at the Flatiron Building and led me to Brooklyn Bridge. SoHo is NICE! A lot of artists had lived here, and some are still there. You could buy New York paintings, different creations and models of eccentric rings (in fact, I tried one and could not get it off anymore until the guy told me that one ring is $220 – YUCK, almost broke my finger, but got it off then, could have only given him the last five bucks I had in my pocket), AND there was an a-capella-band. Four guys sang a nice song. It was fantastic. Great voices, good vibes, nice spirit! They definitely made my day.

Beautiful Brooklyn Bridge

The most beautiful bridge in New York is definitely Brooklyn Bridge. When you wanna walk over it, you should take the A or C train to High Street in Brooklyn and go from there back to Manhattan. I went at sunset and it was beautiful. The sun was low and the light nice and golden. It was freaking cold, but that did not matter. I will definitely go back for another walk!

“Thank You Lord” – a Sunday in a Gospel Church

If you come to New York, do not miss out on a Sunday at a Gospel Church in Harlem. There is a nice one at the corner of Convent Avenue and 145 Street which you can easily reach by subway A or C. The church is called Convent Avenue Baptist Church. On Sunday two weeks ago, there was a gospel choir rocking da house. It was beautiful. The people moved and clapped to the music. Last Sunday, there was a male choir. They all had beautiful voices! It was awesome to listen to the soloist sing “Thank You Lord” – it really touched me. My twin sister Nicola comes on Sunday and I definitely have to take her to this church in Harlem. She can’t miss that!

Time moves quickly

I cannot believe that my internship is almost over! We are here for a little bit more than six weeks now. Time goes by way too fast. So this is one of my last blog posts, yet not the last one. Please stay tuned! It is my pleasure to tell you more about my experience!

Big love,
Sandra

Hello again!

I have started my internship with Gibbs &  Soell Public Relations – and this is AWESOME! I enjoy it very very much!!!

One of the clients at Gibbs & Soell is NFTE (pronounce “nifty”). NFTE stands for National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. It is a non-profit organization, and they provide entrepreneurship education programs to young people from low-income communities. Their vision is that every young person will find a pathway to prosperity. They have programs in 22 states and in 12 countries outside the United States. They have reached nearly 232,000 young people since 1987.

The NFTE offers young students from low-income families an opportunity to launch their own businesses. Compelling evidence from researchers at Harvard University shows that youth who are taught about entrepreneurship show a positive change in attitude and strong success orientation, and are more likely to be focused on academic and professional achievements and aspirations and leadership.

Tomorrow, on Thursday 23, 2008, 35 students will compete in the OppenheimerFunds/NFTE National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge. The first place winner will walk away with $10,000 in seed capital to either start a business or invest in a further education. In honor of this occasion, participants of the challenge rang The Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). I was there as well and while the participants rang the bell, we watched them from the trading floor. The ringing of the bell was on Tuesday October 21, 2008 at 9:30 a.m. – and at that time, around 120 million people from all over the world watched this event!!! You missed it? No problem. Just go here and watch the video.

Being on the trading floor of the NYSE was a great experience and a nice start into my internship at Gibbs & Soell. In fact, visitors are not allowed to visit the NYSE anymore. This was changed in the aftermath of 9/11. So this was a unique opportunity for all of us!

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

My time in New York is almost up. Time is ticking…

Today the last week of my internship started. On Thursday our IIB graduation ceremony will take place in the I-House. It will be the last time that we all come together. And then everything will be over. Over and out.

Not everything will be over – but the IIB program Fall 2007. I will stay in New York until the 23rd of December and will be coming home for christmas exactly on Christmas Day in Germany. I have always loved the song ”I’m coming home for Christmas” but it has never been more true for me.

Back to this week: On Friday I will go to the Blue Note Christmas Party and say goodbye to everybody there. That will be sad. From Saturday until Monday I will travel to Philadelphia and Washington D.C with my two IIB buddies. Our very last trip together.

My last week in New York will be packed with sightseeing and christmas shopping. And not to forget with packing- that will be a real nightmare.

When I think of leaving New York and the end of the IIB program, I have a laughing and a crying eye. On the one hand I don’t want to leave, I don’t want it all to be over. It was a dream. I have learned and experienced so much in only four months. It feels like it has been a year or more that I have been away from home. On the other hand I am looking forward to meeting my family and my friends at home again. And it will be christmas which is always nice. I will enjoy the silence. No more elevator and tourists.

Read more about the IIB ceremony in my next blog. Take care. HO HO HO!

So I read in The Onion recently that this joint’s called “The city that never sleeps” because it has to work through the night to afford the rent. That’s pretty much spot on. But I guess you get what you pay for. This city’s full of so much interesting stuff, day and night, it’s kind of all worth it.

Everything’s sort of winding down for me here now. If that’s possible in this mad-crazy city. I feel like I’m kind of ready to go home though –New Paltz was amazing and my internships have been everything I had hoped for. But on the other hand, I feel like there’s a lot that could easily keep me here. It’s going to be good to get out of this freezing weather (I lost 2 fingers and a toe today) and I’d love to be back already for the awesome surf, sand and beach cricket of the Melbourne summer. It’s just that I’ve met so many amazing people here, and I’m just getting to know some more, that a part of me really doesn’t want to leave.

My internships are going along real well. The thing I’ll take most from working at VICE and First30Days will have been working closely with, and getting to know, writers and editors who’ve had such amazing experiences in life and in the industry. It’s been great being able to not only get their feedback but also hear (or read) some of the stories they have to tell, what they hope to achieve and their dreams for the future. New York is the most competitive place in the world in so many ways (including publishing), so to make it here you’ve got to have at least some idea of what you’re doing.

I went to see the Rangers play the NY Islanders at Madison Square Garden last week with a friend from the IIB program and the Rangers won 4-2 in front of a sell-out crowd. Heaps good. Even though I love my basketball and have been playing since I was a kid, the hockey had such a better atmosphere than the bball. But that probably has a bit to do with the fact that the Rangers are doin’ well and a lot to do with the Knicks absolutely sucking, having a clueless coach and a useless point guard who hasn’t passed the ball once in his entire 12 year NBA career. (Oh, and the same night, the Knicks lost in Boston to the Celtics by a record margin, 104-59. You beauty.)

The other night I went to see a friend I met in New Orleans last year battle at a hip-hop club in downtown Manhattan. I met him when we were both working with the volunteer Hurricane Relief Crew Common Ground in August 2006, helping in the cleanup and restoration of the city after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He’s got an album comin’ out next week, but he didn’t do too well this night. He got torn apart when a guy he was up against spotted that he had writing all over his hands (it’s got to be completely freestyle). I spoke to him after to see what he had written. It was directions on how to get to the club.

I also went with a few friends to a “gay and gay-friendly” Hillary Clinton ‘08 fundraiser a couple nights ago and that was kind of funny. Free drinks, which was good, but Hillary Clinton, who is bad. To be fair, maybe she’s the lesser of all the evils, but anyway, whatever, she wasn’t going to get any of my money……… Just thinkin’ though, I do however remember dropping a penny on the floor just before we left the bar. I just hope, I pray, her campaign flunkies didn’t pick it up and add it to the pile. Damn. That kind of sucks though. I’ll never be sure.

Lookin’ forward to going to see one of my favourite rappers, Matisyahu at the Polish Club in Brooklyn this weekend, as part of the Jewish Festival of Light. Hell yes.

And now I got to go, I’m meeting this dude in the alleyway behind our building who runs his own “travel assistance” business. Like I said, I want to try to stay in the US and this guy’s hooking me up with what he says is a perfectly legitimate VISA. He seems nice. His business hours are only 2.45am-2.55am every night, his office is his black van that has no plates and he tends to scurry into the dumpster every time he hears sirens off in the distance, but that’s cool. Dude seems legit.

Big Love,

Dave

4 day weekend… over. Damn. Kinda sucks, but kinda good. Now that Thanksgiving’s over, there’s only 3 solid weeks left of our internships before we all go our separate ways (I mean, I’m going to Canada and then comin’ back to do a coast-to-coast road trip across the USA, and most of the others are also stayin’ on and doin’ all sorts of other stuff in the States, but you know what I mean…)

Both my internships are cruising along nicely… There’s always something happening at VICE and the people I work with all have their own crazy stories. My Boss Shane Smith (one of the 3 founders of VICE), did a story for VBS (VICE’s online tv network) on the nuclear arms trade and actually managed to buy a dirty bomb (kind of a mix between a nuclear warhead and a conventional explosive) in Bulgaria. Scary how easy it was. Another one of the founders (Suroosh Alvi) travelled to Pakistan to do a story on the largest illegal arms market in the world, and they also travelled to Beirut to uncover a boy scout group which doubles as a breeding ground for the PLO and Hezbollah. My supervisor recently did a story about war resistors from the US military, men and women soldiers who have sought asylum in Canada after refusing to fight in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. And on a more random note, he also recently wrote a blog on the VICEland site about spending three days homeless in New York City. This came about after VICE bet him he couldn’t go three days without spending even a single penny. He won the bet.

My internship at First30Days is also goin’ along pretty sweet. We’re getting closer to launching and everyone’s kind of getting a bit more nervous and anxious by the week. Last week, my boss and company CEO invited one of her friends to come talk to us about creating a better work environment and just generally living better. He travels the world giving talks and lectures to organizations, universities and different groups. He talks about how there’s no such thing as a white lie; that every lie told has a consequence and restricts us from truly opening up to others… Everyone’s been working pretty hard recently so we’re having a late thanksgiving dinner thrown for us at a New York restaurant tomorrow night. Sweet.

It was my first Thanksgiving ever over the weekend and it absolutely owned. I spent Thanksgiving night out on Long Island with a friend who I met at SUNY New Paltz and her family. Sensational. Turkey, good times and heaps of Apple and Blueberry pie. That stuff’ll save the world. Then last night, I got invited out to another friend’s joint from New Paltz. She went home to her family in Yorktown, NY for the weekend and invited a few people out there for a party. It was kickin’, we partied like it was 2009.

In the last couple weeks I saw Aussie singer/songwriter/clown, Ben Lee, in Manhattan, I voted in the Aussie election (And we’re no longer under the thumb of a right wing regime! Rock!) and also went with another dude from the IIB program to see my team, the N’Orleans Hornets, play New Jersey in an NBA game out in dirty Jersey. The Hornets fought back from being down 8 with 2 minutes to go and then won it with 2.4 ticks left. Awesomeness.

Well I’m gonna get back to it. My fridge in my room is making mad crazy noises. I overloaded the motor last night after I tried cramming way too much into it, so now I’m gonna try and fix it with my heaps mad refrigeration repair skills… Next time you hear from me it’ll most likely be completely f****d.

Peace.

Dave

A typical day in the city looks like this for me: I wake up because of my friend, the elevator. After finally getting up, I rush down to the dining room to grab some breakfast, which is only served till 8.45 am-not much longer at the weekend. Then I  get ready for my internship.

On the street I have to face a lot of obstacles which could prevent me from arriving at work:  tourists, slowly walking people in general, traffic lights that say “Don’t walk”, cars, and of course Macy’s and other “fellow” stores. After a ten-minute-walk towards the Empire State Building, I enter the subway station. I take the subway to the Flat Iron Building. Having arrived at the Flat Iron Building, it only takes me some minutes to get to EMI Music on 5th Avenue.

At EMI I am welcomed friendly every morning: “Good mornin’, Sylvie. How are you doin’?”. A short ride with the EMI elevator- and I finally arrive at Blue Note, where I am interning.

Music is everywhere: everybody who works for Blue Note listens to music. On the walls are posters and frames of artists, discs, CDs, awards etc.  

After having said “hi” to my bosses and a little chat I arrive at my desk. Now my day at work can start.

I love my internship. The people are really friendly. It’s a cosy working atmosphere. Every day it feels a little bit like coming home.

During work I always keep in touch with my two best IIB friends. So I am well informed about what is happening at their internships and in other offices in New York. And I inform them (in Sylvie’s news hour) about the latest news of The New York Times, The Wallstreet Journal, LA Times, Daily News…, that I have to look through at work.

After work I go to the gym. And I’m not the only one. When I arrive at the sports club (next to the Empire State Building), it’s rush hour at the cross trainers. Having finished my workout, sauna and shower, I can make my way home. And still there are tons of people, although it’s already night.

To be continued…