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!

We have arrived. Safe and sound. And we moved into our new apartments. The girls live at the Webster Apartments which is close to the Empire State Building. The men stay at the YMCA Vanderbilt this year which is close to the United Nations Headquarters.

We enjoyed doing a lot of great things this past weekend. We explored the City a little bit. I went to see my work place, bought an unlimited ride pass for 30 days and went to the bookstore to see if I find a nice book to read. We also went out and explored night life in New York City a little bit. We went to a very nice club called Underground and had a fun time there.

I will definetely do some sightseeing pretty soon!

Take care,
Sandra

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,

how is it going? I hope everybody who is reading my blog has a great time. We came back from Miami Beach two days ago. It was really so much fun. Maria, Suzana, Daniel, Tobias and I enjoyed the nice weather, good restaurants, the sun at the beach and the warm water with lots of jellyfish. We had a nice apartment with ocean view and a nice terrace with illuminated chairs! We also went shopping, but some of the stores were quite expensive. I found a really nice shirt, but it was $800. I also saw one that I liked which cost only $400, and the girl at the store tried to talk me into it ). We all found some nice clothes which we could wear when we went out at night.
Others of the IIB family went to Las Vegas, San Diego, Washington, D.C. and Boston and New York City. We all had safe trips and are back again. I missed the other IIB family members very much, and it is nice to be back again.

We have two more weeks left here at New Paltz. Time goes by quickly. My projects keep me busy here, but that is really good. I enjoy my studies and the work load.

This weekend, there is another outdoor trip. I have signed up for Paintball, and I am very excited to go tomorrow! I love the outdoor trips we can do here. They are really nice. Once in a while, it is nice to go off-campus and try some new things. I have never played Paintball before, and I cannot wait to “get painted and paint back” ;O)

I’ll keep you posted. Have a great weekend!

Love,
Sandra