Weekend in Review

What a week it has been.

So last week was my first week on my client, and let me tell you, I am not a intern that runs for coffee, staples papers, and makes copies.  I have been doing so much actual audit work, and I have been learning so much.  It is really good to actually get a glimpse of what my life will probably be like in a little more than a year. 

Work was long, and tiring, but I still managed to get out of the house on Friday night for some fun.

I went to our weekly intern happy hour and had a great time.  I saw a ton of my friends from training, and met some interns from EY, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.

After I left happy hour, I went to the Gamecocks bar to watch the remainder of the USC-UVA baseball game.  When I got there, I ran into a friend from college, Andy.  I spoke to him for a few minutes before I went to get a table to watch some of the game.

I left just after the 10th inning, and made my way home.  After a long week at work I was ready to call it a night.

Saturday I eventually made it out of the house around 3.  I went to Target, where I somehow managed to spend way too much money.  After target, I came back to my apartment and did a little cleaning.  It really is amazing how dirty this place can get in a week.  For dinner, I went and grabbed a burrito at Q'doba--and I can't even begin to tell you how much I miss Moe's.

After dinner, I was feeling tired, so I decided I was going to stay in and get some rest.

Today, I went on a nice morning run around 10, and found out that a gay pride parade was going to be happening on my block later this afternoon.  I got back in and showered and grabbed a quick lunch, and then headed back out to see the parade.

It wasn't really anything crazy, just a bunch of people walking the streets.  At least that is what I could tell. I seriously contemplated buying a rainbow flag. They were only $1.

After that little adventure, I made my way up to 5th avenue to go to forever 21 and H&M. I managed to just buy jewelry, thank goodness, and didnt end up spending too much.  Less than $20, actually!

After hanging out on 5th for a little bit I headed to Bryant Park, my favorite spot in the city.  I found out when I got there that they do a different movie on the lawn every Monday, so I am definitely thinking about going to one next week. After Bryant Park, I decided to walk to Times Square to get to a subway station that stopped close to my apartment.

Now that I am home, I have been busy doing laundry.  Soon I will start packing, because I leave for Boston tomorrow morning for a work conference.  I am so excited to be able to hang out with all of the other interns, and hopefully I will get to go out a little on my own.

I know I have been slacking about blog posts, but I will do my best to write more from now on!!

Life Lessons

So, I have been thinking a lot lately about how much different things are here than what I am used to at home. I thought this might interest a lot of people, because I think it's so cool, so here is my running list:

1. People here take their dogs EVERYWHERE.  I don't mean just walking them on the street.  I mean like in grocery stores and electronics stores.  Its weird.
2. You are not allowed to have a garbage disposal in your apartment if you live in the city. I have no idea why
3. The biggest price differences are in frozen/cold items.  I'm talking $10 for a gallon of ice cream here. And that is the off brand...
4. Some of the street vendors actually have pretty cool stuff.
5. English is a language I hear just as much as chinese and spanish
6. People in business suits actually have personalities, and the people I work with are actually awesome. 
7. I am paying $104 a month for an unlimited ride metrocard. That is less than I would spend on gas in a little more than 2 weeks
8. People don't keep air conditioners in their apartments. And I have no idea how those people survive. 
9. Abbreviations are used very specifically. You must say L-I-Double R or L-I-R-R, you may not read the word lirr.
10. My apartment welcome book came with lead paint warnings. Uh...

That is the list so far.  I will try to add more as the summer goes.

Look for a post later this week about my first week of "real work!"

Weekend in Review

My first weekend being a working girl! Having never worked a 40 hour week before, let me tell you that I have come to appreciate the weekend much much more.  I decided that every Sunday, I will post a weekend in review, so that I can give you the story of the whole weekend at once!

Friday:

I actually got off of work at 3 on Friday.  It was really nice to be able to come home a little early and have some time to rest.  And rest I did, I took a nice long nap! After my nap, I ate a little bit of dinner.  I was supposed to go to an intern happy hour, but I decided to skip out on it as I was feeling pretty tired.  Friday night I mostly stayed in, nothing too exciting. 

Saturday:

I woke up pretty early to try to get to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit that I didn't get the chance to see last weekend because of the long lines.  I was halfway there, and I discovered that the 6 train was down.  Unfortunately, I was not going to walk 1.5 miles there, and didn't necessarily want to pay for a cab, so I never made it to the Met.  However, I was in the area in which I will be working for the rest of the summer, so I decided that I would go find my office. 

I am working on Jefferies, a broker dealer, but that is really all I can say without violating my privacy agreements. 

I found their office, luckily it is only 2 blocks from the subway station, so I will have a pretty easy commute. 

After finding the office, I decided I would walk over to 5th Avenue to do some shopping.  I found a 6 story Forever 21, so I was in trouble.  I ended up buying a few things, and feeling guilty about spending money.  I ended up leaving 5th after F21 because I was scared I would spend more.

But, I did get distracted walking to the subway.  I found a bakery I had been hearing rave reviews about called Crumbs, so I walked right in to see what they had.  And I found this:

A peanut butter cup cupcake.  I bought it, without any regrets at all.  When I got home, I immediately sat down with a fork to dig in to this wonderful creation.  It was, hands down, the best cupcake I have ever had.  The frosting was a peanut butter buttercream with chocolate cake.  There was even icing INSIDE the cupcake.  It was heavenly. 

After my cupcake, I watched some tv, then met with my friend Bret for lunch.  I know dessert before lunch, always a bad idea.  We ate at a little deli, and I had barbeque chicken pizza. The slice was huge! It was really good.  Afterward, I went through Times Square to get to my subway home.  I stopped in Toys r Us in Times Square to look for a NYC themed Barbie for a gift to one of my friend's little sister, but unfortunately I couldn't find anything. Maybe I will be able to find her something before I leave. 

Once I got home, I napped and watched a movie I rented from iTunes.  If anyone hasn't seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, then you should.  I see it recommended as a top rated movie on a lot of sites I come across on stumble, so I decided to rent it.  It was a really great movie, however it was hard to follow at times. 

At the end of the movie, I heard my phone ring. Which meant the doorman was calling me.  Austin had sent me flowers! They are so pretty, and the note was really sweet.  I was feeling down, and he wanted to make me feel better.  They definitely did!

After the movie and dinner, I headed to Brooklyn for Target and DSW.  I was really disappointed in the DSW, but I always love going to Target.  I may even go back today! I had to get my dad a father's day card.  Obviously a little late. While I was at Target, Bret called, so I met up with him and we headed out for a fun night. 

Sunday:

I woke up pretty late for me, about 10.  I was tired still so I just laid in bed until about 1.  When I finally got up, I decided I would make some lunch--easy mac--and get a small grocery list together.  I think I will try to find Trader Joe's today and shop there for groceries.  I hear they are much less expensive.  After making my shopping list, I swiffered and swiffer mopped my apartment.  Let me tell you, this place gets dirty in a week, and I have no idea how I still have hair on my head after all of that shedding. I guess I will have to start doing a swiffer during the middle of the week too so it doesn't get so dirty.  

For the rest of the day I have just a few things to accomplish:

Grocery Shopping

Finish Laundry

Research my client

Pick out a work outfit

Organize my work bag

I am pretty nervous about starting at my client tomorrow, but it is definitely something that I am looking forward to.  It was tough to be sitting at the office all week hearing lectures, so I am ready to jump into some real work!

Wish me luck!

First Week

Sorry it has been so terribly long since my last post.  I have been more busy than I imagined.

So here is how my first work week went:

Monday:
First day of work! The day consisted mostly of lectures about the basics of the company.  It was a terribly long day, because we were sitting in the same chair for 9 hours.  We even had lunch in the same room.

Tuesday:
This day was when all of the audit interns were separated between our industries--commercial or financial services.  I am in the financial services sector, so I was meeting a lot of new people.  These trainings consisted mostly of auditing basics, including the auditing system that Deloitte uses.

Wednesday:
More trainings, we played a lot of games Wednesday, so the day went by much more quickly. 

Wednesday night, a few of the interns went to a Yankees game.  I had a really great time, and it was good to get to know some new people, and also get to spend time with people that I was already familiar with. 

Thursday:
Thursday was a pretty relaxed day.  Most kids still didn't have access to the online trainings we had to do, so we spent a lot of time playing games and watching online videos.  It was a pretty fun day, and I sat with some really nice kids.

Thursday night the intern class had an organized happy hour, it was in the financial district, so it was a pretty cool atmosphere.  Unfortunately, however, it was really crowded, so it was hard to get to talk to everyone.  It was a really good time, though.

Friday:
Today was pretty quick as well.  This morning we had a "welcome" breakfast where we had the most delicious french toast.  It was so sweet it didn't even need syrup.  I also got to meet a few other interns, and some professionals that I hadn't met before. 

Tonight I'm not really sure what I'm going to do.  Maybe go out, maybe stay in because it's rainy and nasty here. 

I start working at my client site Monday, so I will try to be better about keeping things updated!

Weekend in Review

This past weekend was my last weekend with my parents in town, so here is a little recap of what we did:

Saturday:

We woke up pretty early, probably about 7:30 or 8, and all showered and got dressed.  We decided that it would be a good idea to go to the Home Depot (we had already taken several trips there this week) to grab a few last minute things to get the apartment completely finished.  This included scissors, a heavyweight shower curtain, and a few other miscellaneous items.  While we were at the Home Depot, we decided to wander down a block to the Big Apple BBQ Block Party in Madison Square Park.  Here are a few pictures:

 The line of tents, It also went down another side street.

This is where we ate, the ribs were SO good!

Preparing Ribs!

Another tent was preparing a whole hog, this was the skin.  Gross.

 This was what we had for dessert-blueberry crisp from the Blue Smoke Bake Shop.

After we explored the bbq, we came back to my apartment and crashed for a little bit.  At about 2, we left for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to see the Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty exhibit.  When we got in, the sign posted said that the wait time was 1 and a half hours.  So we tried to find the end of the line.  Well, I would say that we probably walked through about half of the museum to even find the end of the line! It was indeed the LONGEST line I have EVER seen.  Needless to say, we skipped the exhibit.  I may go back this Saturday to see it, but I plan on getting there at 9, before the museum even opens.  

After the museum, we met at a small Italian place with my dad and had dinner.  It was nothing to write home about. 

This morning, I dropped my parents off at the airport.  I think they were sad to see me go, because they were both tearing up.  And I was surprised that I was choked up too.  

Since then, I have gotten a manicure and went to Duane Reade for a small errand.  I guess for the rest of the evening I'll relax and get myself ready for my big first day of work tomorrow!

Impact Day!

Today, I was able to volunteer with Deloitte at P.S. 212 in Queens, NY.  Queens is a borough of New York City, and it is not the wealthiest part of the city.  It was great to be there with the kids and have the opportunity to play teacher for a day. 

I was assigned to a team of 6 other interns, and 2 leaders.  The leaders were in their 5th and 3rd year at Deloitte.  We spent our morning teaching first graders about families, communities, and the importance of education and jobs.  I really had a great time, and enjoyed the antics of the kids in the class.

Afterwards, we were able to take a charter bus back into Manhattan, where all of the Deloitte interns and professionals, along with several Goldman Sachs professionals celebrated a day of volunteering.  I didn't stay long though, because I woke up at 5:15 this morning, and was very tired.

Sunday, my parents will be leaving.  Hopefully we will be able to do some exciting things before they head home.

Settling In

I am moved in!  Here are a few pictures of my apartment before the move:

The view from the front door when you walk in.

 View from the bathroom looking into the main room.

The teeny kitchen.

It's safe to say that when I walked in, I was shocked at how much furniture I actually have.  I had a tv! Which was a big relief.  And it has cable, or at least local channels, which is another big plus for me. The only thing that I was sort of bummed about was how hot it was inside the apartment.  I was dripping sweat and I was only unloading suitcases.  After my parents came yesterday, though, that wasn't a problem:

Air Conditioner Installation!

Needless to say, it is much much cooler in my apartment now.  And since the room is all finished, here are a few pictures of what it looks like:

The entrance: there is a pretty big closet behind that door!

The view of the Bedroom from the entrance.  I couldn't be happier about it

View of the desk and kitchen, the garment rack is broken and won't be staying for long.

The bathroom.

Hope you enjoyed seeing my sweet home!

P.s. Sorry this was so late, Brianna!

Next Stop-NYC!!

I'm waiting in the airport.  It still hasn't sunk in that I'm leaving.  I'm not coming home for 2 months.  I'm going to be in a city where I know 5 people--at best.

I think my nerves are starting to set in. And there is a crying baby 10 feet away from me.  Awesome.

So to combat my butterflies, I'll recap the past few days, and then predict what the next few days might be like.

Friday I came home.  It was weird to be home with parents and not much alone time for the weekend.  Its sometimes difficult for me to be around my parents for extended amounts of time (I mean a few days haha) because I'm not used to being asked so many questions and having people talk to me.  Don't get me wrong, I like spending time with them, it just takes some adjustments.

Saturday I went to Augusta for some shopping.  It was pretty lame, because I felt like I couldn't shop since I was about to be a resident of the fashion capital of the world. I came home, went to Kobe for dinner (yumm) and watched some tv with the parents.

Sunday was full of packing.  I forgot to get a picture of my room, but it was COVERED in clothes.  I am bringing 2 small carry ons with me, then my parents are bringing 3 checked bags--containing most all of my clothes and shoes, and some bedroom stuff too. I was pretty stressed out, just because I hate packing. 

Then came today.  And here I am, in the airport, waiting to begin the journey of a lifetime.  I think I'm more scared about screwing up at work and not making friends over anything else.  But I'm sure things will work out when I get into a good routine. 

Tonight I will be at the apartment alone.  I'm sure I will spend the evening exploring, and I have quite the to-do list for today:

• Unpack what I have for the apartment
• Buy a pillow
• Go to H&M in Herald Square--my favorite location
• Go to Forever 21, Nordstrom Rack, and Strand Books in Union Square
• Check out the Highline--a city park built on top of an old elevated railroad, it looks pretty cool and its in my neighborhood!
• Explore my neighborhood
• Find some relatively healthy dinner
• Try not to spend all of my money

My parents are coming up tomorrow with the rest of my things.  They will be staying in my apartment with me-so I'm sure it will be nice and cramped seeing as I only have 1 room, a very small kitchen, bathroom, and closet. 

That's about all I have to say. Hopefully things will go smoothly once I arrive at LaGuardia.  I'll post pictures of my new apartment soon!

The Big Move

It's the most dreaded time of the summer...move out day.

In the past few hours, I have managed to separate all of my clothes--and it is definitely time to make a donation to Goodwill.  I basically had to decide what I wanted to take to New York and what I could live without for 2 months.  I still think I have wayyy too much to fit into my too tiny NYC closet.  But I will try, and if I fail, I guess I will have to live partially out of a suitcase for 2 months.

Tomorrow I will be (very unhappily) lugging all of the things I have packed to my new house for next year.  I'm sure it will be miserable, as I hate moving, and the high is an unforgiving 97 with a chance of rain.  Oh what fun I have waiting for me!

Friday I will be deep cleaning my apartment, turning in my keys, and heading home.  It's going to be weird packing up all my things to go to NYC once I get back to Aiken.  I really don't think its sunken in that I will be living in New York.  My brain still feels like its just going to be another regular vacation.  Maybe it will hit me when I'm on the plane, maybe not until I pick up my keys from the leasing office, and if I'm right, it probably won't feel real until I start working.  Either way, it's still so exciting and I'm still in shock that I am even fortunate enough to have an opportunity as awesome as this.

Sadly, though, moving comes with goodbyes.  Today was my last day at my job at the Y for the summer.  When I started, I was terrified, but now I feel so much more confident in my knowledge of accounting.  I have learned more than I imagined, and have actually been able to apply things from the job to the classroom and vice versa.  I will definitely miss the crazy ladies on the 6th floor, and I am sooooo thankful that they are welcoming me back in August.

After work, I met my friend, Beth, for dinner.  Beth and I met a little more than 2 years ago at my old job.  We worked together for close to a year, and I'm really glad that we are still keeping in touch.  We ate at McAllister's, which was delicious, and saw Bridesmaids.  The movie was so much better than I expected.  I literally laughed out loud.  Which doesn't happen very often for me during movies. If you have the chance, definitely go see it.

Tomorrow I will be eating with my friends O'Hara, Reghan, Brianna, and Catherine.  So that will be pretty much my last meal with friends before heading to a city where I literally know 5 people. 

It's starting to become nerve wracking, but I am absolutely ready to see what the City has in store for me!

ps. I'll try to include some pictures with these soon.  I'll have to work on becoming blog savvy.