First Day!!!!

Yesterday was soooo much fun! It was the first day of my HR internship at NRDC in NYC. I was so excited that I woke up reallly early. I slept on the train to work (I took Metro North from Milford to Grand Central). Actually, I got lost on the way to the Milford train station, lol. Good thing I left early! I took the subway for the first time, when I got to NYC. It's really not as bad as what people say it is. There's something about seeing the throngs of people race to the subway car before the doors close that kinda intrigues me. But anyways, it took like 10 minutes to get to 23rd street, and it was a 5 minute walk to 20th Street. I got to work by 9 AM, and people immediately started introducing themselves and making me feel welcome. I got to see my workspace, which is right in front of a huge window, so I have an amazing view of the city.

But I didn't have time to get comfortable, cuz we had a staff meeting promptly at 9:30. It was so great to have that meeting the first day I arrived because I was introduced to everyone, and I was able to observe the company culture. I've deduced that everyone is quirky, yet really smart, kinda like the William and Mary of the business world, lol. People have a lot of luv for NRDC too, with all the paraphanalia they wear! People came in with windbreakers, totes, etc. And they're always handing out freebies! So the meeting was like 30 minutes long. Then Yolanda and I retreated to her new office (it's so nice) and we talked about all of the projects I would be doing. It's going to be a whole lot of stuff, and I have a feeling that I'm going to be bringing work home, simply because I want it to be perfect. I'm already supposed to be doing 5 major projects, but I'm going to have little projects every now and then too. So it's going to be lots of good experience:)

So I basically met tons of people all morning, and we sat and talked for hours. IT ppl played on my computer and wrote me goofy messages, haha. The entire HR team has decided to devote themselves to making me a New Yorker, lol. It's hilarious. Oh, so next up on the agenda was lunchtime! We made an executive decision to go to Olive Garden in Chelsea. Sigh, so many hot gay men, lol. So we indulged in a good celeb gossip fest (something about new yorkers and celebs)and ate tons of food. Then, the HR director put the entire lunch on her corporate AMEX. Now that is hot. Oh, and we spent like 2 hours at Olive Garden.

So I got back to my desk and started on my first project. This is the one that I think is going to take me weeks to complete. I have to find and organize all the career fairs in SF, Chicago, DC, NYC, and some other place that I'm forgetting. Oh, and the career fairs have to pertain to minorities, law, and the environment. So I'm supposed to find dates, contact info, prices, etc etc etc cuz NRDC might want to recruit kiddies from these career fairs. Needless to say, I'm already making schedules for this project, haha.

I can definitely see that this is one of those once in a lifetime opportunities. I'm not even really describing just how amazing the place is right now. But I was told that I'm probably going to be really spoiled and I probably won't want to go back to Corporate America. So even though it's a train ride a way, it's more than worth the commute, especially with the coworkers, amenities, and salary. Where else am I going to find a boss who understands and nurtures my love for sample sales and clothing, lol. So I'm just really optimistic about everything (you know how I am) and every new experience is extremely exciting.