NYC: New Year Brings New Hopes

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! It's 2011! :D

For the first time ever, I actually celebrated New Year's Eve.

Every year, my family keeps it low key...and by low key I mean seriously low key. We're usually just playing on the computer or the Wii for most of the day, and then when it's the last 30 minutes or so, we'll watch the NYE TV coverage (aka the video of the ball dropping 3 hours before).  Then we'll eat some kind of snack and bust out the sparkling cider.  Totally low key...

There are several reasons to celebrate 2010 and to welcome a new year.

1) Graduation from the University of Portland - Those last couple months as a Portland Pilot will definitely be cherished, even with all those sleepless nights and papers I wrote.  There are so many awesome memories that I made with my friends that shadow those lows, like when they kidnapped me to VooDoo Donuts, when we ventured downtown, when we went to the many successful CPB events, when we made those hilariously fun dance videos and soo much more! :D

2) Summer Travels - Although it was a summer without studying abroad, it was fun to travel to Colorado, different places in California, and back up to Oregon.  And what made it better was being able to spend time with my family and friends.  It was such a chill summer.  However, it really sucked applying for all those jobs and not getting any response back until...

3) NEW YORK CITY! - I know I've probably said this a million times, but honestly, I definitely was not planning to be in New York City 6 months after graduation from college.  It has been a whirlwind of success so far, and I'm excited to see what the new year brings...

Here's to 2011!!

To welcome in the new year, Ben and I went to Times Square and waited for a good 8 hours for the ball to drop. We ended up on 49th Street and 7th Avenue.  The view isn't bad from there, but we definitely wish we were closer to get the sweet hats and streamers.  Definitely good to know for the next time I go on this escapade to Times Square on New Year's Eve!

The experience was one to remember.  I don't know how many times I thought about how surreal this is.  Everything about being here in NYC has been surreal.  It's like living a dream, which reminds me...

Our theme for 2010 was the year of chasing dreams! I'm positive Ben and I have accomplished the theme, especially by ending up in NYC to actually chase those dreams and TCOB. Because of this, 2011 has so much promise for us...

As we begin enterprising - boldly going where we have not gone before.  (Go ahead and laugh at my inner geekiness....). But it is true. This is the first time in my life where school doesn't dictate my year.  In fact, I don't even know what the year looks like beyond the first couple months with my internships.  It is exciting, and I know this year has a lot in store.  It's just a matter of continue having that drive and motivation to accomplish everything and reach that end goal of having a career in PR/Marketing.  2011 will be the year to make it happen!

The path is already being paved with my continuing internship with City Parks Foundation and a paid internship with Baltz & Company, a boutique PR agency that specializes in food and hospitality.  I'm so excited to get started with them.  I'm also stoked to continue my internship with CPF, especially as we prep for their biggest event of the year - SummerStage.  With these two internships, I will be able to gather the knowledge and skills needed to excel in PR whether that is in the non-profit or agency setting.

But yes, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Make 2011 an awesome year! I wish the best for you! :)

JOB HUNT: HIRED!!

After a summer of applying for jobs and getting no positive responses,

I finally got a job at Macy's in New York City! :)

I interviewed with Macy's in Sacramento after coming back from Portland, and the interview went really well.  However, they did not have any openings, so they benched my application.

With no job offer yet, I figured I'd try applying for a Macy's job in NYC, home of the world's largest Macy's! What was there to lose?  Only days after sending in my application, I was surprised to get a response to schedule for an interview.

Today was the day, and everything turned out great! I'm so glad I'm finally hired!

Now it is just a matter of landing an internship...!

New York City is so full of opportunity, and I feel truly blessed to have this chance to pave this path I've been trying to unsuccessfully construct in California.  Honestly, it was so frustrating turning in all those job applications and not getting any response back or finding out I wasn't what they were looking for.  I may have mentioned this before but seriously, as a college graduate, I feel like we have this feeling that we should be hired on the spot because we're fresh and new experience that can really enhance the productivity of a company.  Maybe I'm just optimistic, but I really thought that's how it would work.  With this economy, it's a sad reality that getting a job is harder than it looks.  Congrats to all those who were able to get a job directly after graduation! I don't know how you did it, but hey! now I'm part of the club...well, sorta.  

With a new job and more to come, I can't wait to see what else happens as this NYC adventure continues! :)

Reality Check...

Being in Portland but away from all the 

UP Orientation activities was a reality check.  

I know I graduated 5 months ago, and I thought it hit me back then when I conducted my last CPB meeting.  The bittersweet feeling of graduating lingered throughout senior year, especially as the weeks got closer to that final day.

However, today, it hit me that I'm no longer a student at the University of Portland.  I LOVE the University of Portland and all my friends who are still there.  It's just weird not being on campus with them now, helping out with Orientation and welcoming the new freshmen like I have done for the past three years.

I'm thankful that I was able to see so many familiar faces while I spent time here in Portland, but I wish I was able to spend more time with them like we did before, whether it was around campus, in the library or in the basement during those crazy late nights. I won't ever forget the memories I made at the University, but I hope to continue to make new memories with the friends I made there.  I know it'll be difficult to plan out when and where we'll next meet, but I'm positive that it will happen!

Good luck this year Pilots! It'll be another great year on the Bluff! :)

Dear Family & Friends...

As much as I love telling you all individually what's going on with my post grad life, I figure it might be easier to just blog about it, but I'd love to keep in touch with you too.    :)

This new chapter in my life is quite different from the rest.  I'm so used to knowing what's coming next and what to expect later, but now, my future seems to be a big question mark.

So back tracking to high school, my goal was to get stellar grades and participate in a ton of extracurriculars to get into college. Then major in Communication Studies to become a journalist. After graduating college, it was off to grad school to further enhance those journalism skills.

My original plan was right on track until I got to after college graduation...and that's where this blog begins.

It has been 1 month, 13 days since I graduated 

from the University of Portland in Portland, Ore.

In my graduation announcements, I announced that I got an internship in Portland, Ore. Unfortunately, that is not that case. I was qualified for the position at this public relations (PR) agency, but due to my lack of reliable transportation in the city, I was turned down.

Side note:  During my senior year, I increasingly became interested in PR and event planning as a possible career. However, I'm still fascinated with journalism. Needless to say, my options just widened by a lot.

So I'm at home, searching and applying for internships/jobs (more about this later), but no such luck.  It feels like summer vacation, and I'm still in the mind set that I won't be here after August, even though I will.  As much as I love this infinite summer feeling, it has been frustrating that I haven't found an internship or job yet.

I really want to gain more experience so that I have something to work off of in grad school. Yes, that is still part of the plan. It's just a matter of figuring out what I want to focus on.

Well, that's my current scenario in a nut shell.  This blog will record my post grad life, including updates on the job hunt, future goals, adventures with family and friends, random thoughts and more.

Until next time...