See Claire intern.

A bigger appreciation of home.
I’m not one to always brag about home. The reality is, home is in the middle of nowhere really, and there isn’t much to say about it. But being away from it longer than usual made me realize why I still come back to it—it’s the people. I may not be a fan of the lack of stores and things to do, but I have met some pretty incredible people in that small town.

A bigger love for New York.
This one I expected. New York is one of those places that I’ve always thought about, read about, and talked about. But it’s one thing to dream about and another to tackle it and immerse yourself in it. And now that I have, I’m hooked.

A whole lot of knowledge.
Around Week 4, my team of interns and I were working on our project. One of us had a really solid thought or idea and Amy stopped us and said, “Wait, do you realize that three weeks ago, we had no idea what that even meant?” As I look through my notes from the beginning of my internship, I’ve come to see just how much I really did learn! Outside of the world of media and advertising, I definitely learned a whole lot about facing obstacles and being on my own for a bit. 

A better sense of direction.
I’ll be the first to admit that my sense of direction isn’t the best. And living in this city forced me to improve that. Significantly!

A Starbucks Gold card.
It’s true, I’ve become one of my biggest fears from the time I began drinking coffee…I am a coffee addict. Every morning, I would grab a cup in the office kitchen. It was easy, it was quick, and it was the perfect pick-me-up. But then on the weekends, I found myself struggling to focus and would end up at the Starbucks a block away from my building. Thanks to my roommate’s advice, I registered my Starbucks giftcard my mom had given me before leaving and well, now it’s gold. 

A plethora of magazines.
And I am so grateful for it! 

New friends.
I was nervous to come to New York. Not going to lie. Because I literally didn’t know a soul my age. Lucky for me, I ended up with some fabulous roommates and met some really wonderful interns. And was even reunited with an old neighbor from 8 years ago!

Better budget management.
Shout out to Mint.com.

It’s been incredible, and I couldn’t have asked for a better summer.

Seriously.

After a lot of back and forth and planning, Calvin was able to come up to the city to visit!

Since he’d never been here before, I tried to plan things that would give him a taste of what the city’s all about.  So Friday, after a brief storm, we walked the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan (had to the see the city from a far, of course!), which ended up being quite a journey, but well worth it. On the way home, we stopped in Times Square to check it out at night :)

Saturday was a pretty big day. We grabbed some lunch on our way to Times Square and then saw Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark! Although it doesn’t have the deepest plot, the effects were pretty incredible. Then we went on over to Junior’s (one of my favorites) where Calvin ended up with a sandwich with 26 layers of meat on it (no joke)!

After a very filling dinner, we just had to walk it off, so we headed to Bryant Park and wondered around Rockefeller Center. Later that evening, surprise, we went to Top of the Rock for a pretty spectacular view of the city. Perfect weather, perfect view.

The next morning I took Calvin to Central Park, my favorite place to go on a Sunday.

It wasn’t long enough of a weekend, but I sure am glad he came to the city :)