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.

Hello dear friends,
Today I just started my second week as an intern in Bertelsmann HRS. All I can say is that in this last week I learned a lot.

First of all, the corporative culture is excellent. My team is very well spirited and productive. Second, I’ve got the chance to attend to a very important national event… this means networking. Third, Bertelsmann group offers a wide variety of discounts and facilities to their employees (Yes, including interns) so, last Saturday I entered to the Metropolitan Museum totally free…

For more information, I share with you the link of my profile: http://www.createyourowncareer.com/Students-and-Interns/Meet-our-Interns/Alejandro.html

“Student-to-Student Tips”
When you apply for an internship with the IIB Program, I recommend you to apply only for those companies that already worked with IIB students. This will save you a lot of time and your chances to have an awesome experience.

New York, New York…

Spending two months at New Paltz was a little too much for me. I’ve come to realize that I’m a city girl, and I love it. We arrived a few days ago and so far it has been better than I expected. Today was the first internship day for many of the guys. I will start tomorrow and I’m very excited.

We are living at the International House. To be honest it is a little far from all the exciting things downtown and since we are very close to Harlem, it gets a little scary at night. Altough, the building is wonderful and the best part is that we don’t have to share rooms anymore. Don’t expect too much of your room except that it is your own. Some were lucky and got a nice view, others got sink IN the room, and some others got more space. Whatever is the case, I deeply appreciate privacy.

I can’t really explain how happy I am to be here. The city welcomed us and now we are trying to be part of it. As expected, now everyone is working in different places and minding their own business but we (the Mexicans) are trying to remain united. -I don’t know how it is like with the Swedish, I’ll have to ask.- What I do know is that I’m thankful for our culture, because we stick together to do trivial things because as Luke said† “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much….” We can count on each other!!

Guys, all the wait was worth it!! BIG TIME

Time went very fast after our brief period studying at SUNY New Paltz. Now we all have two days living in NYC… things changed so fast.

At first sight NYC can look as a very complex place to live, and it is, but just in the beginning. One should know very well the subway and bus routes, which are going to be just as your best friends (you’ll see them all the time and they will take you to any place at any hour). Of course it takes time to get used to this transportation system (read the “Student to student tips” section). In SUNY New Paltz we used to have a small shuttle called “New Paltz Loop” which can drive you trough the most important places in town and is totally free, thanks to the SUNY Student Association, and governmental authorities.

2 days and lots of experiences… lets see what happens tomorrow in my first day as an intern.

“Student to student tips”
Not knowing how to get to a specific place using the NYC Metro? Try this site, it will also calculate the time it takes you to get there: http://www.hopstop.com/?city=newyork

Best regards,

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!!!!

My dear father always advised me to carry a small bag everywhere. He told me I should  bring with me my mobile phone, enough cash, tissues, id, and a band aid. To be honest, I never listened to this wise advise, but now i realize how useful it was.   A MUST in every lady exchange student wardrobe is a long strap hand bag. To avoid any type of robbery or losing valuable things (like your passport) you should carry a small purse with your personal belongings wherever you might go. Especially clubs, bars or concerts.

New Paltz is a small student town. I consider it is safe to walk in the middle of night, or to go out at any time, but you should never push too hard. What I mean is that you don’t want to be tempting by carrying a 500 hundred gucci purse to any event in town (even if it is not a real 500 gucci). Especially when this beautiful bag contains your precious survival kit: passport & credit card.

The long strap hand bag will stay close to you (carry it across the chest). You might not find it as chic but I assure you, your things will be safer if they are right next to you. It also has the advantage that you will actually feel your mobile (if it vibrates) even if you are at a very loud place. You won’t have to carry your camera in your wrist (it gets uncomfortable) and people will think it twice when approaching you to try to take your stuff away.

Take care of each other, in the end..what remains are the good experiences and the friendship of those who shared with you a whole semester.

Hello all!

This week I want to write about some of the outdoor trips that all the students can enjoy in SUNY New Paltz, also I want to write about my personal experiences in two of them.

If you are joining the IIB Program for the Spring period, you will have snow… That is great because you can go to the Hunter Mountain ski trip! Hunter Mountain is just 40 minutes away from SUNY New Paltz; it has 55 trails, 11 lifts, and it is 1,600 ft. I highly recommend this place for everyone (beginners, not beginners and experts).

Another very special activity that you can try is ice climbing. The ice climbing is practiced in a place called The Playground, somewhere in Stoney Clove. I highly recommend this outdoor trip because most of us don’t have the opportunity of experiencing this sport back in home.

It is important to mention that all of these activities are organized by experts in the Wellness and Recreation Center of SUNY New Paltz. Take advantage of the opportunities that they offer and enjoy them with safety.
I attach to you some of the pictures!

“Student to Student Tips”
Please keep in mind that all the outdoor activities are available for all the student community and part of the staff, sometimes the spots are very limited and will fill quick. As soon as they open the registration, go ahead and sign in for as many trips you can.

This is our last weekend in New Paltz, next Friday we will be in the city. Thank for following us up!
See you next week.

Stoney Clove

Before coming to New Paltz, I was taking Italian classes, as my third language. Why Italian? Don’t know, sound really beautiful and fun, plus I love Italy, and Italians. But lately many of my friends were taking Mandarin (Chinese), since its supposed to be the third most spoken language in the world, after English and Spanish in a near future.
Well let me tell you those people are not going to have any trouble going around Chinatown.

One of the best deals of coming here, is the whole interview- internship, process. Getting excited and nervous for your next trip to New York, but it is also to find your way in the city, getting to the particular address you have. Well I have to say that ALWAYS ALWAYS bring more than 2, resumes, cover letters, cards, whatver information it is that you are giving away. I just went to the city for a couple of interviews and brought with me 2 resumes (1 for each), buut, in one of them, two people interviewd me, so I had to give my only 2 resumes I brought wih me, silly me! I know! but happens, so I was near Chinatown and I had to run to print one more, for my next interview. Could’nt read anything! All of it was in Chinese! Everything! I went to several places asking for a Internet Café , or something like that! And they were answering me in Chinese, which for me is nothing but weird noises and strange drawings!. This is the moment where I said, I shoul have taken Mandarin instead of Italian. Thank God! There’s Itouch and Tecnhonology! And some people look it up for me!
I got to the Internet Café! But that’s why you should carry several copies of everything , cause you never know whats going to happen!
Good luck with your interviews!