Highlights of my work week:
Closet Clean-out!
I got to help clean out two closets FULL of event supplies! It was an all day project but it was a lot of fun seeing all of the inventory used for events and helped me learn about events that Discovery put on in the past. We found A LOT of tents, a few red carpets, and of course a ton of trash! The best part is I got a few things to take home with me!
Competitive Karaoke!
From small town bars to Applebee's karaoke night, I have seen a lot of karaoke bars through the years, but nothing compares to this! Discovery has a Competitive Karaoke team! After work I went and hung out at the bar in which teams compete head to head against each other for the title of the ultimate karaoke team! each week there is two rounds of solo acts and then a round of a team song. The audience votes by using an app on their phone. It was a lot of fun and the Discovery team won all three of their head to head rounds!
Lunch with my boss!
One of my highlights this week was getting a chance to go out to lunch with my boss Caitlyn. She took the time to take me out and go over my first few weeks. I really appreciated this because things have been going so fast it was nice to take a break and have her give me feedback and explain how the Global Events Department works. Because the Global Events Department have events back to back to back on a never ending cycle it is crucial that they work extremely efficiently. This means they have a specific format and procedure in doing things and Caitlyn has been a huge help in helping me learn how to follow this format so that I can be successful. She also has given me great advice on things I need to do before I head back to Nebraska!
Destination America's Fourth of July Events
The event is getting closer than ever! This week I spent a lot of time trying to tie up all the ends with the food trucks we are having come to Union Beach along with getting contracts done for bathrooms and other vendors needed. This event is a lot of work because we are basically having to bring in everything or build it. Both of the locations that the parties will take place in were demolished by Hurricane Sandy so we don't have a lot of existing structures and businesses to work with and trying to outsource our necessities is a lot of work! One big project is preparing for the band we have booked, The Mavericks. More information to come next week!
Intern Happy Hour!
Happy Hours are a norm in DC, and the interns at Discovery want to participate! This week I went out after work with a lot of the other interns working in all areas of the company. It was fun to compare jobs and stories and hear about what all of the other departments do and how much actually goes on in our building. Our night ended with a surprise when the waitress brought one check for about 6 tables worth of people. Thank goodness we are all in college and could figure out how to do math, even though it took awhile!
Highlights of my weekend:
Safeway's BBQ Battle!
CNN calls it one of the top five summer events in the country! With tens of thousands of people flocking to get some great barbecue, I wasn't about to miss out! Discovery wanted to capitalize as well so they decided to have a VIP tent to also promote their show Pitmasters on Destination America. I walked around Pennsylvania Avenue trying the many samples including ice cream, pizza, chips, and of course lots of meat!
Destination America's VIP tent had the coolest DJ stand... and it is even Husker red! I need to look into getting a replica for tailgating! It even has a fog machine!
Of course I got to meet the stars of Pitmasters... and try their famous BBQ!
I also met Famous Dave!
Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History
After all of the food I wanted to get out of the heat so I checked out the nearest museum, the Smithsonian of Natural History. This museum wasn't high on my bucket list but I decided to check it out anyway and I actually really enjoyed exploring it. My favorite part was the diamond and gem exhibit... I found a few pieces I would love to take home with me!
Below is a picture of the famous Hope Diamond on display at the museum.
There were real life mummies on display!
Pentagon City
The museums started to close so it was time to find something else to do... so I headed to the mall! It was crazy getting off the metro and walking straight into this giant mall. This mall is a shopper's paradise and I didn't even get to half of the stores before leaving. I will have to go back!
Chinatown
To end the night I headed to Chinatown to get some tasty Chinese and explore downtown DC at night! I loved it!
International Spy Museum
DC has more spies walking around its streets than any other city in the world! That is why this city is the perfect place for the International Spy Museum! I learned a lot of interesting parts to America's history that I had never heard before and found out how big of role spies play in running our country. Spies are the backbone in some of the biggest events in our history. For example, it was because of a double agent that was feeding Hitler false information about Normandy which helped make D-Day a success. Even Hollywood is involved with the history of spies as the make-up director for the Planet of the Apes had a huge role in creating disguises for spies. Along with the museum I did the interactive spy mission which wasn't my favorite. It was only for ages 12 and older but it would have been perfect for kids ages 6-12. I do recommend the museum though! Now I look around and try to pick out the potential spies all around me! There are bugs everywhere listening, the museum even showed that they used dog poop in the past to serve as a bug!
That night I watched Nik Wallenda cross the Grand Canyon on a two inch wire along with millions of people around the world on the Discovery Channel. We had been talking about this for awhile at the office and it was cool to see it finally take place. I felt so proud to be on the Discovery team when seeing how big of a success it was and seeing all of the tweets and Facebook posts about the show from everyone. It was the #1 show on cable, #1 trend on Twitter, and blew up Social Media around the world. And this is the company I work for!!!!
Overall, I had a very busy and successful week and weekend and I can't believe I am heading into my fourth week! It is almost half-way over! Make time slow down!!!
Important Things I have learned so far:
-People in DC LOVE to honk, and not only
do they honk A LOT, when they honk they do it in a loooooong and mean way.
Sometimes I think people lay on their horn just to hear how long the horn
will last!
-Alcohol is not sold anywhere besides
specific alcohol stores. No gas stations, no grocery stores, and of
course not in any CVS (which are conveniently located every few blocks).
When I was sick last weekend, I went to a gas station, grocery store, and
CVS looking for some Brandy to make my mom's home remedy to getting better
quickly and could not find it anywhere! Lucky for me, I did find an
alcohol store less than a block from my apartment complex.
-There is no such thing as a "quick trip" on the Metro during the weekends. They don't run the trains as often and they are constantly doing work on different lines so I have to take shuttles to detour around those stops which takes FOREVER. A half hour trip easily can turn into a 2+ hour nightmare!
-I miss Central time!!! When watching the NBA Finals, I almost always fell asleep at the best part, the end! It was because it started so late here! The games wouldn't start until 9 to accommodate the East Coast. I never realized how much I love the "middle" time zone!
-I miss my car and having the freedom to just hop in and go! I definitely took that for granted before coming here!
-People here don't buy in bulk! Without a car, you can only buy as much as you can carry. It is hard when you buy a gallon of milk to buy much else just because carrying it all is impossible! Instead of making a trip to the grocery store every couple of weeks I make one every couple of days!
One of my biggest lessons I have had here so far is about diversity. I have had a lot of classes over diversity through my college career but I have never immersed myself in such a diverse culture as I am immersed in right now. Most of the time when I am on the metro I am the minority. I go to Sunday church and I am the minority there as well. I have never been to a Catholic Church that has more of a "Soul/Gospel" choir and is run so differently even though technically the mass is the same. I am constantly walking around people that are speaking several different languages and I have come across so many cultures I can't even count them all. I have also learned about the diversity of values. In Nebraska, almost everyone comes from a similar background and have a common ground on how they were raised which results in similar values. I have found here that people value a lot of different ideas that are very different from "traditional" Nebraska values. One quick example I have to help explain what I am saying: This last weekend I tried an experiment where I went out of my way to hold the door open for everyone I came across. Some people looked like I was crazy and other people seemed shocked. When I was carrying in groceries, I had three people walk in front of me and did not even considering holding the door open for me even though my hands were over-filled. It is just the little things in how people go about the day which are different.
One of my biggest lessons I have had here so far is about diversity. I have had a lot of classes over diversity through my college career but I have never immersed myself in such a diverse culture as I am immersed in right now. Most of the time when I am on the metro I am the minority. I go to Sunday church and I am the minority there as well. I have never been to a Catholic Church that has more of a "Soul/Gospel" choir and is run so differently even though technically the mass is the same. I am constantly walking around people that are speaking several different languages and I have come across so many cultures I can't even count them all. I have also learned about the diversity of values. In Nebraska, almost everyone comes from a similar background and have a common ground on how they were raised which results in similar values. I have found here that people value a lot of different ideas that are very different from "traditional" Nebraska values. One quick example I have to help explain what I am saying: This last weekend I tried an experiment where I went out of my way to hold the door open for everyone I came across. Some people looked like I was crazy and other people seemed shocked. When I was carrying in groceries, I had three people walk in front of me and did not even considering holding the door open for me even though my hands were over-filled. It is just the little things in how people go about the day which are different.
