The Real World

My mind was racing with thoughts trying to figure out where it may end up. I begin brainstorming ideas for this blog, Iowa City, Des Moines, Hawkeye Football, and working. Since moving home from Iowa City to Des Moines has been a big change for me. Living there for the last three years I thought of Des Moines as a vacation away from home during the summer. Now that I have been home since May I realize how much I miss Iowa City at times. There was always something going on whether it was school functions, home football games or just the atmosphere it was all very entertaining. As a student I enjoyed going to tailgate and sit in the student section at all the home Hawkeye football games. I realize how much I miss that and now have to settle for watching them on TV; it’s not quite the same. My time in Iowa City was fun; exciting and definitely a learning experience of what it’s like to live on your own, taking care of your own bills, getting up for class, working to earn spending money, plus having to go buy your own groceries.

The real world started when I found my Internship with Glazer’s Distributors of Iowa. I knew it wouldn’t be easy but would need to be organized, responsible and tackle any challenges that might come up. The freedom I once had living in Iowa City would be gone and less free time. Waking up at 7 most days wasn’t fun and working 8-4 can be rough at times. I have a better understanding of what my parents go through during a normal work week. Having now done it, my Internship has been phenomenal and fun. I have meet a lot of new people, made some friends and best of all getting the real life experience that I read about in a textbook or talk about it in class. My job working as a Merchandiser and Sales Representative in training has given me the opportunity to use what I learned in class. To go out and network with buyers, attend Holiday buying parties, attending weekly meetings with Representatives from products we distribute.

It has been a challenge to accomplish everything on time, working long days you’re tired by the time you’re off you just want to go to bed. Though that’s part of life and having used what I learn in college to be successful has help me in becoming more organized in the workplace. Moving forward I feel more grown up now than I did before. Hopefully with this internship I show my supervisor that I am a hard worker, responsible and willing to test myself. I would love to further my career at Glazer’s and gain the experience under my belt if offered a job once I complete this program.

Cody

My Love For the City

After reading through all of your guys’ posts regarding your feelings toward living in Des Moines during this internship process and the adjustment of leaving Iowa City, I realized that I wasn’t all alone on my bias towards IC. Over the past three years I have become very fond of the Iowa City lifestyle. I was born and raised in a small town in southwest Iowa called Creston. It’s a rarity for people to make it out and not somehow find themselves back living in Creston after finishing school. So when I left home back in August of 2007 to start school I made it a point to never return for longer than a weekend. Even when I go back for a couple days people ask me if I’m back for good. Can’t a guy visit his family and close friends for a couple days without looking like a failure who found himself back in “the black hole”? I shouldn’t be so negative towards my hometown but I’ve seen it swallow up too many of my childhood friends not to be a little bitter. So needless to say the city life was a pleasant change for me.

Iowa City became my new home and my love for the Hawkeyes reached a whole new level. So when the opportunity to join Aviva Investors came about last fall I realized that I would be forced to relocate temporarily. I don’t have a lot of friends or family in the Des Moines area besides my aunt and uncle in Waukee so I was hesitant to move from Iowa City for 6 months. But since I am nearing the end of my time at the University I realized that I better lock down a finance internship before I try to get some full time work next year. Scary to think I’ll probably be working around 70 to 80 hours a week a year from now so I’m taking this opportunity day by day….no need to rush all that. I am learning a lot about private fixed income and I am excited to apply what I’ve learned at Aviva in the classroom in my last two semesters back at Iowa.

The Des Moines life is starting to grow on me as well. I’ve gone out with the guys from work a few times and I like the all the different bars and restaurants. It is a little on the expensive side compared to Iowa City, but I definitely could get used to living in a city like Des Moines after I graduate. My attitude towards Creston hasn’t changed, and I am definitely not afraid to venture off to somewhere crazy like California or Arizona for a while after I’m done with school. Overall, I’m glad I took the internship at Aviva and to be honest, the money isn’t too bad either.

Keith P.

I GEEK GREECE

With so many topics to write about, I wasn’t sure where to begin with this assignment. After thinking about it for awhile though, it became clearer to me what I should write about. Like Kaitlin, I also don’t really like talking about myself and am much more of a listener, but a few topics really get me jazzed. During Crystal’s site visit, she asked me what I geek, (because the library has a campaign asking people, “What do you Geek?”), and I had so many different thoughts. I wanted to find the one thing, one word, to describe what I geek and I found it – Greece.

But before I describe why I love Greece so much, I should clarify what the word really means to me or what I think of when I hear the word. Other than the amazing memories from my study abroad experience there, Greece reminds me of many things I love: travel, lifelong friends, a giving/sharing culture, eating well, music & dancing, natural beauty, taking your time, relaxing, and enjoying life. I know it probably sounds pretty corny or cliché, but those words truly represent the Greek culture and what I think about the country and its people (and my feelings haven’t changed since its debt crisis).

Here are just a few reasons why I love the country:

· Because Greeks buy fresh food, eat slowly, and share with everyone
· Because nights in Greece finish in the morning
· Because Greeks take their coffee slowly and in good company
· Because Greeks never visit others empty handed
· Because in Greece family is still something valuable
· Because Greeks always make it, even if in the last moment
· Because whenever foreigners cannot find a word, they use a Greek one (like in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, “You tell me a word and I tell you the root of the word, in Greek!”)
· Because Greeks spend their bad and low times with friends and family, not with shrinks
· Because Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were Greek
· Because they built the Parthenon
· Because Greeks don't use ketchup with food - it tastes good anyway
· Because Greeks are not ashamed to cry
· Because Greeks dance when they are sad
· Because Greeks work to live and do not live to work
· Because, although Greeks smoke more than anyone in the world and eat the most red meat in Europe they live the longest in EuropeBecause in Greece nobody is hungry (not even stray dogs)

Also, just for fun and to wrap up the many reasons why I geek Greece here’s an interesting article about the wonderful Greek diet and its positive impact on their lives: The Island Where People Live Longer.

(The island pictured to the left is not Icaria, the one mentioned in the article. Most of you probably know it's beautiful Santorini.)

Yamas (cheers!) Lauren S.

So What's a Fella to Do?

The constraints on living in Des Moines are a far cry from the near-complete freedom associated with the natural Iowa City lifestyle. While living in Des Moines, I've rediscovered what it means to live under another's roof and rule. My parents are the sweetest people in the world, but their lifestyle is no longer what I'm accustomed to. I've realized that I've had to change the way I go about my days and nights, though that is in part also influenced by my work. This is not to imply that living in Iowa City is the perfect living situation, but the differences between the two are enough as to warrant a comparison of the two situations.
When living in Iowa City, I realize exactly how much freedom I have on my own. In Des Moines, I can't cook my own meals without being interrogated by my parents as to why I'm not eating what they're eating. As much as I love my mom's cooking, my tastes have changed since I've moved off. The Des Moines situation is less than ideal due to the lack of control, but the freedom of Iowa City contains problems of its own.
For the most part, living in Iowa City is a beautiful situation. I can come and go as I please, I don't have to answer to anyone regarding anyone, I completely set my own schedule, and I don't have to worry about waking anyone at a late hour. The freedom of Iowa City, in fact, allows for a situation in which I allow bad habits, have no one to check them, and see the bad habits become permanent.
A balance between the two seems to be the option. A situation in which I have my own rules, but those rules reflect the lessons instilled in me by my parents, seems to be the way to go. Maybe, one day, after I get a job and my own place, I can embrace that lifestyle change.

by Justin H.

Happy to be Here

By: Hannah






I am doing my internship at Generation Next Child Development Center and Preschool. What I am doing is shadowing my supervisor and completing various tasks while learning the ins and outs of starting up and maintaining a business. I couldn't have asked for a better place to intern at. I was hesitent to even do an internship because you always hear how interns are just there to do "b**** work." This is far from that. I have learned so many things from my supervisor, Karen. She doesn't make me file or run errands for her all day. I sit down next to her and watch her do many different things, such as payroll and charging clients' accounts, and then she lets me do it myself. I feel like she really wants me to learn and it makes the job ten times more fun. This is exactly what I want to be doing in the future and doing this internship has only heightened that desire.


Today I had a new task to complete on my own. The co owner, who does a lot of the accounting stuff for Generation Next, is gone for a week and I had to learn how to enter parents' weekly tuition into the system and then write up a deposit slip and get it to the bank. You have to enter the correct amount into the correct spot on the system and make sure your totals are the same in the computer and the deposit slip. Sounds easy, right? Not so much. I was so nervous I was going to mess up while entering numbers in because this was a new job to me. But when owning your own business, little things like this have to be completed without messing up!


I have had to do many projects so far with Karen and the rest of the management staff. I have to say my favorite has been the networking event and coat drive I have organized. My networking event was last night and it was for parents to come in and socialize and meet each other since they usually just drop and pick up their children quickly. We served refreshments and appetizers and I feel it was a huge success! I even met some people who are in the business field that I want to be in and got to chat with them about their experience.


The coat drive has been a success also. I sent out a letter to the parent's letting them know I was going to put this together and take the donations to St. Joseph's Emergency Shelter once completed. I am suprised with all of the donations that have been brought so far, and the box has only been sitting out for two weeks!


My experience with my internship is turning out to be a huge learning experience for me and if I had a chance to change it, I wouldn't.

To the End of New in the Beginning

By Christine

I had a hard time coming up with something blog about until I went into work today. I realized by the end of the day that I am finally getting through the awkward stage, and becoming more comfortable with my environment.

I knew that living in Des Moines would be a change, and that taking this internship would mean new people, new apartment, new town, new friends….etc. I decided to take this internship because I really wanted the experience, but I must be honest and say that I really hate starting over. I hate new beginnings. I always want to fast forward a few weeks to where I no longer feel like the new person at work. To where I know my co-workers a little better and feel a little less awkward in my surroundings. Don’t get me wrong, I like trying new things but more like one thing at a time instead of everything being new at once. I always try to keep myself as busy as possible to help the awkward transition stage get over with faster. I try to be as invisible as possible, and not get in anyone’s way. I think part of me wants to study the people around me first before I interact with them. I’d have to say that’s the psychology part of me.

I like to try and read people and figure them out a little bit better before I chime in. If I decide to just be more open right away I always, always, always put my foot in my mouth. For example, the first day of my intermedia class my junior year at Iowa I introduced myself to the girl next to me. We started chatting, and eventually the conversation led to her telling me about her two friends who have been married about six weeks and are already fighting. She mentioned that she was pretty sure they were going to be divorced within 6 months. I replied “yea with the divorce rates the way they are today, I am just not sure if marriage is a good idea anymore” and she responded “I am getting married in May”. To say the least we didn’t have much to talk about after that.

My point is that I do not do well with a new environment. When I studied abroad in Ireland, the first night I was there I freaked out and had no idea why I put myself in that situation. Although I am really uncomfortable with everything changing at once I still force myself into those sorts of situations because in the end it is always worth it. Studying abroad is the best thing I ever did, and I am sure at the end of this internship I will feel the same way. Eventually everything always comes together. I feel that I am starting to get to that point in my internship. I am comfortable with the people I work with, and I am finally receiving more work from my boss which makes me believe that he is becoming more comfortable with me as well. I am thankful that my awkward stage is coming to an end.

I am glad to be taking the “new” out of my beginning.

*The image I added is very similar to the one we were given at orientaion. I could not think of anything else that would help demonstrate what I am talking about.

Housekeeping?

By: Tamra

My experience this past weekend at the season opening concert for Civic Music Association can be summed up in two words; learning experience. Dealing with management teams, artists, volunteers, and other staff was a new experience that kept me on my toes.

The day started out rainy and cold, making everything a bit more challenging to begin with. My assignment of the morning was to hang around the auditorium and be at the beck and call of anyone doing any set up.

My supervisor had to run a few errands, which left me to answer any questions. After about ten minutes the artist’s manager asked me where the director was. I told him she had stepped out for a minute but that I was the intern in charge while she was away. He asked me where the “back line” was. I must have given him an unintentional blank stare because he chuckled and rephrased the question, “where are the drums” this I could understand. I was excited because this was a question I actually knew the answer to. I told him that our director had just spoken with the company providing the drums and his drums would be there within a few minutes.

Task one completed.

I sat around for another ten minutes while the drum company arrived and started setting up. The guy putting together the drums looked at me and asked if I was housekeeping. The artist’s manager immediately assured the drum guy that I was indeed housekeeping. I didn’t know many things that day but I did know that I was not housekeeping.

I introduced myself at the Civic Music Intern and that I could try to help him with anything that he needed. He then proceeded to ask me if I had a vacuum. I spent the next twenty minutes running around looking for a vacuum. My twenty minutes had been wasted; there was no vacuum in sight.

Task two failed.

The director finally returned and I was partly relieved she was back to handle all the questions and odd requests. I was partly disappointed that my time in charge had been so short. The rest of the day was a blur filled with many more odd tasks. When it was time to go home I couldn’t believe it was ten o’clock already.

I concluded that my first concert was a success because I had not personally caused any major problems and everyone seemed to enjoy the concert.

Concert one success!