0 comments

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

An SES Weekend

This past weekend was packed with all things concerning special events. Now if you remember from last year, I took a trip with Special Events Society to Disney World last spring break. The spring break trip was announced for this year; we're going to California! One must apply to be able to go on the trip and with such an increase in members, over 200 to be exact, I had to step up my SES game.

On Thursday I stepped out of class and directly into my car to volunteer at the EUHOFA Gala being put on my the University to volunteer. Rae and I volunteered along side lots of other Johnson and Wales students including the staff from the Johnson and Wales Inn and Leigh and Keith ( a cute freshman couple that I gave a tour of the campus to last year). I still haven't really figured out what exactly EUHOFA stands for, no one else really knew I either. Anytime I would ask, I would get the same response, "Europeans in the hospitality industry - very important people." The event was heavily over-staffed, they stuck us in the coat closet to work coat check. The event coordinator felt so bad about not having anything for us to do, she let us eat and leave early. And that is why volunteering at events is by far one of my favorite hobbies.

SES @ Yankees Stadium
Friday, SES set up a field trip for us in the Big Apple. For $50 I had the opportunity to take a coach bus to the city, tour Yankees Stadium, Radio City Music Hall, and the New York Public Library, and included dinner at Planet Hollywood in Time Square. The idea of living in New York City really overwhelms me, more so before I took the trip than after. Life is so different. The problem is that the majority of the jobs in my field of study just so happen to be in the city. I warmed up to the idea a little more as the day went on. My favorite tour of the day was touring the library. The other 2 were great, but they were tours for just regular people who want to see the facilities where the library tour was conducted by the events coordinator of the library. I find it so interesting that this library is so much more than just a library, it is an icon. I didn't realize that the library was a popular place to get married when I first watched the Sex and the City movie. I truly thought Carrie was being really unique and untraditional for her big wedding, turns out it is the most popular place to get married in the city. The woman who gave us the tour has the best job ever. She's not an event coordinator, she is actually head of marketing for the Library and handles the movie shoots that happen in the library and then she deals only with space rental for the library. The beauty of events in the library is that it is purely a space you are renting out. It works great for the client because they are not restricted to using any particular caterer or anything like that and it is great for the library because they don't deal with the clients but they deal only with the planners. The job skips over all of the hassels of the event industry.  There was also another highlight to this trip: the Forever21 in Time Square. I thought I was over shopping at Forever21, but this one had the best stuff and it was 4 stories! It is like it's own department store! I bought a few things... After dinner, we loaded up the bus and passed out.

Saturday I worked my last paid Open House (JWU Preview). I got a new job! At the start of winter trimester, I will no longer be a tour guide, but I will be the new Commuter Relations Assistant at Student Activities. I will have my own office, I am so excited! So this is where it begins, I am the assistant to the assistant director of Student Activities...kinda funny.
After the Preview, I went home and took a short nap and then went and volunteered at another event with SES. The event was TV Diner's (a Massachusetts tv show that goes around and reviews restaurants in the area) Annual Gala at the Lexus Dealership outside of Boston. The event was a fundraiser for homeless children (sounded kinda sketchy...more vague) it was $100 a ticket open bar and all you can eat samples from various restaurant booths. Our job was to serve hors' d'oeuvres and  keep the event space clean so basically clearing tables of stemware and dirty plates. They gave us baskets to load all of the glassware and dishes in to take to the back, meaning the half empty glasses of wine would swish all over the place. By the end of the night I had never smelt so much like alcohol and been so sober. We had a few issues with the caterer boss lady throughout the night (the troll they call her). Sydney had to demand for us to get a break, some water, and a little food. Definitely one of the more labor intensive events I have done, but in the end I had a blast. Once again, I got to go to a fancy party for free and get lots of free food and desserts at the end.

In the time that I have procrastinated to study for my finals, I had a chance to perfect my resume, volunteer logs and my SES California application. I turned it in tonight! So excited, I hope I get to go. Until next time...
0 comments

Monday, November 8, 2010

America has spoken...

2010 Midterm Election Results
House of Representatives
This past week's midterm elections proved to be hugely successful for the GOP's. Congrats to them taking control over the House of Representatives!  Finally some balance in our legislature. Some states just still don't get it though, including: Rhode Island, Massachusetts, California, Nevada... It's interesting how the states that are bankrupt do not connect economic policies with the people they elect into office. Why is it that Texas is the number 1 place to do business in the country and why is Rhode Island the 50th? Every time we talk about it in my classes with the liberal professors and I talk about how the government is spending too much money, they always talk about the money we're pouring into the "war" and not education.. not really the issue. It's a great tactic I guess, no one can deny bettering education, same thing goes for the environment. It still doesn't justify the wasteful spending, wasteful being the key word. Do Rhode Islanders think their state is bankrupt because of the 10 republicans in the general assembly?? We did go up to 18 for the next year, Travis Rowley (Rhode Island Young Republican Chair) predicts 30 for 2012. I wish them the best of luck. I do have more optimism for this state, the fact that it was the Independent and Republican gubernatorial candidates that were neck and neck in the end proves that the state is over traditional liberal politics around here. It makes sense that the Independent won, I have noticed that people up here do not feel comfortable affiliating with any particular party. The word Democrat and Republican really turns people off up here.

P.S. I am all for you believing that liberalism is the best way if you can back up your reasons factually and not just by telling me that my conservative politicians are idiots. I am sick of being insulted for my beliefs. You are far more convincing when you are expressing your beliefs with data instead of personal attacks.
That's my political rant for the time being. Until next time...
1 comments

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Freak Week 2010

The week of Halloween is Freak Week, 1 of the 3 major weeks UIB puts on throughout the year. Major Week means we have a different program every night of the week. A lot of the events are traditions but we experimented with a few new ideas. We tried dry erase marketing by just writing our events on the white boards in classrooms and personal white boards and we were getting lots of results by looking at attendance at the events at the beginning of the week. Towards the end, the marketing began to fizzle and so did our numbers. People were also heading out to the clubs instead of staying on campus. We program fun, free, or inexpensive events/activities for students and secretly provide alternatives to drinking. Alcohol usually wins over a school dance but we made the best of the dance Saturday. The important part of the dance was that everyone who came had a good time and some of the students who came probably wouldn't have had anywhere else to spend their Halloween night. After a while we all started to have a sense of humor about the low attendance and we decided to set up stanchions outside of Wales Hall and stand in line like we were waiting to get into a club like the clubs across the street. We got a lot of confused looks from people who were on their way to Ultra of Coliseum but we actually tricked a few people and they actually got in line with us. After a while most everyone had left except for UIB people so we started doing karaoke because no one was really dancing anyways. Francis started off by singing Green Day then his famous cover of Tom Petty's Free Fallin'. Greg and 2 other guys from the sailing team  got up and sang Backstreet Boys, then we got up and sang Spice Girls, it was nostalgic of our childhood.

UIB E-Board + Sott
Nightmare on Pine Street Vidoe Dance Party
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...