Jet-setting and Apartment Dwelling

Again, I have proven to be a flaky blogger. An entire month has passed and so many things have happened. Exactly one month ago, I was killing time in Westport with Professor Ure while we waited for our second chance to catch a plane over to Sweden after missing our first one due to a series of unfortunate events. Within the last month, I have traveled a combined 50,000 miles between Providence, Boston, Stockholm, San Diego, and Oklahoma. I can't even tell you the hours I spent on an airplane. But the stories I have to tell is worth every minute spent in airport security, waiting for transportation, and time spent crammed on an international flight. After my travels, I started my internship with WaterFire, started settling into my new East Side apartment and my friend Madison came to visit! I apologize for the long post...

Just to give you the highlights of each trip:

Stockholm, Sweden (May 22nd-May 30th)
When Professor Ure and I finally got to Sweden a day after the rest of the group, we jumped right in and got to work. Despite our big plans to get all of the work done in the 11 weeks of class before the trip, we of course put it all off until we left the country. It was our second year to partner with Bergh's School of Communication in Stockholm (one of the best communications schools in the world) and they were phenomenal. They were able to get us an awesome opportunity to create a marketing communications campaign for Electrolux, pitch it to them at their world headquarters and showcase our project at the Bergh's Annual Exhibition. The Bergh's Exhibition is a showcase of their students' final projects for other companies around Sweden and the opening night draws in a crowd of VIPs in the communications world around Sweden and Johnson & Wales played a part in it. After much dispute, our booth turned out wonderfully and we made it through our pitch to Electrolux. I have to say that I am truly disappointed in us for blowing that awesome opportunity. I do admit that I got caught up and completely spent on JCPenney and the Ad Team project, I just did not put in the effort the Electrolux campaign deserved.

Luckily, our schedule allowed for the ad team presenters to enjoy the city for the weekend after completing our project. I must say, Stockholm is a beautiful city with fantastic food, great people, great transportation, and beautiful scenery. I do hope to visit Sweden again.

One minute it was sunny

The next, it was raining

San Diego, California (June 2nd-June 4th)
After taking a short breather after getting back from Sweden at Professor Ure's house, Addy, Christie, Ure, and I were off to the airport once again to go the American Advertising Federation's (AAF) Conference called ADmerica and the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC). This time we met up with the other key ad team members and Prof. Monahan (Tom). We flew transcontinental on JetBlue airlines...which I love, watching tv really makes the trip fly by. We checked into our hotel and decided to explore San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter before starting the conference the next day. In the midst of all of the excitement of making it to the nationals, we had to try really hard to not forget what we were there to do, to win.

Our first few run throughs were a bit rough and people were getting nervous for the presenters, but after some quiet time away from the rest of the group, we pulled it together. The day of our presentation, we slept in, ironed our outfits, ordered in room service, visualized success, and catch a little bit of the national spelling bee before heading downstairs to compete. It was just what we needed!

Mmm room service breakfast

Visualizing success

Ryan's motivational speech

3rd Place!

We delivered a flawless presentation and once again became a crowd favorite (Addy especially). Once we were done presenting, the rest was up to the judges. The next day, they announced the winners at the luncheon. After much anticipation, they announced 4th place as Butler University, then us as the 3rd place winners! Ithaca College won 2nd and Miami University got 1st place (well deserved). The professors and a few students flew out that night and the rest of us had Saturday to enjoy San Diego and fly out later that night. Saturday was very fun, we slept in, ate lunch, and rented a boat! Made great memories and bonded with our fellow ad team members more than ever.

We're on a boat!

Tahlequah, Oklahoma (June 6th-June 12th)
After one strange day spent in my apartment on the couch, I got on another plane and headed home for a visit. The point of the trip was to unwind from the craziness and spend some time with my family and friends because I wouldn't get another chance to go home for quite some time. And I went home to see my oldest friend, Ben, get married. My time at home was exactly what I wanted it to be. I got to see all of my friends at home, spend time with my mom, and got to relax. I didn't have anything to do but hang out all day for 6 days. It was fantastic. I got to reconnect with one of my best friends, Katelyn. We used to be neighbors when we were kids and we started drifting senior year of high school and then I left for college. Glad to have spent time with her reminiscing, we walked the neighborhood, went to the river, and she came over and watched tv with me then stayed for dinner just like old times. I also got to spend time with Janessa before she left for Falls Creek and got to see Emily and her son Declan. Unlike most of my trips home,

I barely saw my guy friends except for at the wedding. When I got to the wedding with my mom, I realized all of my friends there were in the wedding party...a bit awkward, but we made it through. It was a very nice wedding in front of the historical Murrell Home. Right before the ceremony began, heavy clouds and wind moved in and looked like it was going to storm. Luckily it never did rain, it was actually a blessing because it cooled the weather and made the outdoor wedding not so hot. After that, I boarded on my last plane for a while and headed back to my real life, not in Oklahoma.

Ben & Ceyeli Corbett
June 11, 2011

Providence, Rhode Island (June 12th-Present)
The rest of my time has been spent settling into my apartment. I spent a lot of my free time browsing Target, Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and IKEA looking for just the right things for my new home. It's such a womanly instinct to want to create a home. I loved every minute of shopping for things. Madison flew in for a few days to come visit and help me settle a bit. So glad she got to come. It's cool that we both don't live in Oklahoma anymore, but I can say with full confidence that we will be friends for a very long time. Also I have a summer roommate, Nicole Bomba. She's great! She's subletting for a few months and although we had never met before, we have mutual friends and get a long great.

I also started my internship at WaterFire. As the development intern, I get to see a completely different perspective of putting on an event. My department is all about finding the funding for each WaterFire and building good relationships with sponsors and donors. On my first day, I sat down with a list of phone numbers of restaurants and hotels in Providence and asked for them to offer deals to our best donors. This is going to be really good for me to learn to not be afraid to ask for something. That's always been my one fear, asking a question that I do not know the answer to, and getting an answer that I do not want to hear. Still no paying job...but it's gonna be a great summer!


That's all for now...until next time...

Year End Frenzy Pt. 2

And the time has come again...another year of college ending. And once again, I let reading days just slip by without barely cracking a book to study. I get a few free days and suddenly I can't help but schedule stuff to fill the free space. Busy as usual. Good news though, I got an internship with WaterFire the summer. I'm super excited about it. I'll be working with 2 JWU alums, and one of them being a former Ad team member too. But before any of that happens I still need to do so much and travel so much. Needless to say, I will be quite the traveler by the middle of June.

This past long weekend was filled with activities of course. I had the chance to network with administrators, share my student experience with University Admissions Marketing, retreat with the new executive board for UIB, go shopping at the outlets, work at Future Affairs Productions, and socialize with the UIB/sailing gang as well as the SES/PLC crew. Not very much packing got done...

I am so pumped for finals to be over so I can focus on what really needs to get done. I need to get my life straightened out before leaving for Sweden on Sunday. That's right, I'm leaving for Sweden this Sunday. That means I should have a job lined out, my apartment partially ready to live in, and prepare for an international trip with a national advertising competition to follow.

Lots to do, but I am surprisingly calm about all of it. Maybe too calm? Regardless, it always gets done in the end. Wish me luck on this week!

Year End Frenzy

Gosh, I can't believe that we are already well into the month of May. Funny  how time never moves at the speed you want it to, it either moves to fast or too slow. Something feels like it's either yesterday or forever ago. But one thing is true, I am about 2/3 finished with my college degree, it's crazy because I was technically a freshman last year. 3 years is short, but I'm sure 4 years fly by as well.

The academic year is wrapping up nicely. Stress level is pretty normal. I am taking things one day at a time and making most of every moment. A forte of mine is definitely my ability to focus one day at a time without losing sight of the future. People are always trying to find a balance, because you cannot always just live in the moment, but you cannot only focus on the future without ignoring the present. I have lots of exciting things about to happen in the next few weeks that my mind just cannot even process right now. Once I finish up all of my school work and pack up my apartment, I will be jet setting to Sweden for a week, then heading to San Diego, CA with the Ad Team to compete in nationals.

In the mean time, I am scurrying around trying to find something useful to do for the rest of the summer. I am determined to find some really awesome experiences this summer, especially one that pays. I have a place to live, I just need a job or internship. The worst part about the situation was that a few weeks ago, I was struggling to chose between more than one opportunity, and now I am left with none. Hopefully it is all a crazy coincidence that will lead me to an awesome opportunity. The last minute notice may either work in my favor or not. Smaller start ups may be just realizing now that it may be nice to have an intern. I sent my resume to about 12 different opportunities in Boston I found on Craigslist (which is always a toss up). I also sent my resume to Waterfire Providence for their marketing and development internship, it's unpaid, but I don't have to receive class credit and it looks like a great internship. I will be meeting with them this Thursday to discuss further. Now if only the others would get back to me. A handful of the positions I applied for were social media positions. I like to think I am pretty well versed with social media, but there is so much more I want to learn! It is an awesome tool, and still quite mysterious. Businesses may not fully understand what it is and what it can do but they know they have to have it.

Just a few things bouncing around my head, until next time....

My life is Ad Team, no UIB, no I have no idea.

Where has the month of March gone? I cannot believe there is only 1 week left of March.

This past month has been insane. On top of my regularly busy schedule, Ad Team was added on top. Any spare moment of mine has been spent in the Ad Lab (or Idea Lab). A group of 20 or so of us have been working endlessly on the JCPenney case. It has been an awesome experience. It is one more thing that reminds me how much I love all my life decisions. It is astonishing how passionate my advertising professors are about their jobs. They work right along side us through those countless hours in the Ad lab. I really enjoy sitting back and just listening to the 3 of them discuss this competition like it is real life. They discuss JCPenney as if they were our real life client and we are a real life agency. So cool. It was fun to apply the knowledge I learned from my classes so far and use them towards the project. I worked mainly on the research and media team. I helped spend a hypothetical $100,000,000 on buying advertising space alone. I have become somewhat of an expert on current television shows and their ratings.

On top of that, UIB has been in full planning mode for our Spring events including our Launch Party. The day has finally come, the day we unveil our new logo. I must admit, I have let my fingers slip away from this project and I am disappointed in myself. I don't think I set unrealistic goals towards this re-branding initiative, but I may have assumed everyone working on it was able to read my mind. I have come to realize that I don't know how to express my ideas and thoughts to their full capacity. I don't enjoy being the dictator of ideas, but I also don't like when my ideas aren't carried out the way I wanted it to. So what do I do? Is it just my personal taste? Is it ever okay to tell someone they have bad taste?

After taking a step back from all of the craziness, it has made me realize that it may be time for me to chose. Activities that come along with my major seem to always conflict with the extra things I do that have to do with student affairs and/or events. I feel like I am always having to compromise myself and spread myself thin to be able to do both. I had to step down from heading the Wildcat Wahoo Carnival because of the Ad Team competition being held the same day. I can't be in my office for the full amount of hours because I spend it working on the JCPenney campaign. Don't event get me started on my opportunities I have to chose from for the summer or the other leadership roles I have taken on. I am never one to put all of my eggs in one basket, but that has caused me to officially spread myself out too thin. I am not performing up to my full capacity. I love what I do and I don't like feeling like I have to chose between the two. So do I cut some things out? Or do I learn to manage my time better? Is that even possible? If there were only more hours in the day.

Just venting a few thoughts, until next time...

Growing closer to the rest of my life.

My entire life, I have always pretended and tried to act older than I really am. I've always been able to connect with adults better than people my own age and I have always been told that I am wise beyond my years. The thought of growing up has never been scary until just recently. The realization has come in slow bursts. I first caught a glimpse of being an adult when I flew into Providence from Christmas break and had no one there to meet me and no school transportation to call. I had to have a cab take me to where my car was parked. That was mainly bad planning on my part but it was a preview of my life when I move somewhere completely new and I do not know a soul. I am not afraid of moving somewhere completely new again, I did it for college, I can do it again for my career, but I had never really thought about how weird it is to not have anyone meet you at the airport or anyone who could meet you at the airport.

Remember back when I was stressing about when and where I was going to do an internship? Problem solved, I got an internship at a local ad/pr agency in Providence, Duffy and Shanley. I am officially staying in Providence for the summer. I will be working at school part time, taking a night class, and doing my internship. That should keep me busy, at least busier than I was last summer at home.

Since I hang around so many SEE (sports/entertainment/event management) majors, I forgot that unlike their degree plan, mine does not actually require a full internship. So strange enough, I only need to do this internship at Duffy, I don't have enough credits to do a full one. It's good because I am that much closer to being done with college, but bad because a lot of really cool internship opportunities require that it is for credit only. I only have 2 trimesters left of classes after this academic year. What do I do all spring trimester next year? Should I hang around since I have a year lease and graduate with all of my friends? Do I peace out early and hop on a 2012 campaign trail? Who knows! I'm flying through college faster than normal, but I guess it was the plan all along. 

Until next time...

Intern

I know. It's January, but I have to start deciding what I want to do this summer! It is finally time to start interning. I have waited for this time since before high school. I have been looking at internship opportunities for years now. There are so many jobs that I want, I would love to be able to intern for all of them! Now it is time to actually apply for them, but is it? Rae has been looking/applying for some really awesome internships all over the country ( which I have already seen as well). I don't like the idea of picking up for a very short amount of time and moving across the country for an internship just yet. Is that closed minded of me? I love the idea of graduating first and then upping and moving anywhere, I don't want to live somewhere temporarily and then having to come back to school. That's so much unnecessary moving for an opportunity that will still be there when the time is right.

I have great opportunities lined out for me here in Providence this summer; does that mean I'm selling myself short? I have an apartment here, I have a job that includes housing and meals, and I also have some really internship opportunities that I would really like and I think I would learn the same things as I would moving across the country.

Lots to think about. But for now, I need to focus on some things that are happening NOW. Small but important things like projects for class as well as ad team, UIB, and making steps to making a difference for commuters somehow. More to come once I actually produce some results from those projects on my plate at the moment.