Blog #1 IS DUE ON 9/20/07 BY 11:59pm!!!!
Please answer the following prompt in no fewer than 350 words.
This week in academic seminar you will share first day experiences and finish posting your first blogs.
How did your preconceptions of your WLE match with your actual experience on Wednesday? What most struck you about the professional environment in which you are working? If you are still setting up a WLE, then post a blog that details recent developments in your search.
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8 comments:
John Carreon
What I expected from the DA’s office was like a very serious place and with everyone really quiet. Also just people doing their work and minding their own business without really talking to each other. I also expected a very like strong and very intimating atmosphere. When I got their, they had me go through a little security center. Then I can see the Supreme Court doors which was very big. When I got to the elevator the atmosphere completely changed. It was more of what I expected and it was really scary. The change in the atmosphere was really fast. But when I got to the office where my future mentor was it changed again to a more comfortable atmosphere. She started off with a small interview and she kind of tested me on like what things go on in the DA’s office. She had me work for like 2 to 3 hours and it was really hard. Their filing system is really messy and it was really hard to file things. A lot of the files where out of place and it hurt a lot because I felt like I was getting like a million paper cuts. Their where a lot of other interns their and she said that they liked the inters they had at CAT before because they did a really good job and I kind of feel like I have to met that expectation of theirs, maybe even more. She said she will also send us to people who will need help and I really want to learn a lot about how the DA’s office works. The people where really nice and they said hi and they where talking like a casual place they where talking about work like cases they where working on and stuff. It felt more comfortable being their while they where talking because the serious factor kind of started to dissipate. It was cool I felt like I can rest easier just being their, because they are really nice. I think the people in the department I’m working in is easier then others because it not as serious as the other places in the building. Like homicide investigations on the 4th floor or the interrogations on the 5th.
David Luerssen
Theta Block
Last Wednesday was a very long and frustrating day. I looked in the internet for internship possibilities but I didn’t find something interesting. Then I also heard from Ms. Biosky that she didn’t get an answer from her contact but I wondered about this because I asked her for an internship one week ago. Then I asked yesterday Mr. Smith about one of his contacts who is a realtor. He tried yesterday to call him but he didn’t have success and today he left a message for the realtor answering machine. So I have to wait for an answer from him.
An other possibility for the internship is the contact from Mr. Koh who takes care of the money of other persons and tries to let the money grow. He will decide next Tuesday if he has an internship for me. This are the two possibilities at the moment but I have to wait for the answers of both contacts. That’s all for the moment I think. I don’t know what to write more about my research.
My internship research has been a somewhat frustrating experience. I really wanted to focus on an internship in an architecture firm or within public relations, but most of my opportunities seemed to be in elementary school assisting. After having an interview with my sister-in-laws former co-worker, I realized that although I have the capability to work with first graders, that isn’t what I want to spend 7 hours of my week doing. I then consulted Beth Rubenstein from Out of Site, a real live architect, about possible firms in the city that would accept a high school intern. Within a couple of days I had collected a long list of firms, and cold called until my fingers bled (or at least were really tender). Finally I got in contact with Amy Eliot of “Tom Eliot Fisch”, who invited to their office to talk about what possibilities I had with interning with them.
Wednesday morning I went to school and prepared for my interview, while looking up alternatives in case this one fell through. I left really early for my interview, wanting to make sure I could avoid all possible delays and ensure my punctuality. I make a quick stop at Teaz Me in the Westfield Shopping Center and enjoyed a refreshing pomegranate cherry with white tapioca balls. After strolling through union square and window shopping at Louis Vitton and Christian Dior, I made my way to my interview. The office was on the 7th floor of a white and grey marbled building on the corner of Post and Grant. I met with Amy Eliot and we discussed the possibility of fitting me in with a member of the firm to shadow with once a week. She told me about the previous interns who would come in for a few hours a few days a week to help out, but she didn’t know who would have the time to work with me. But we came to the understanding that I could have independent tasks to complete, like establish a resource library with their free shelf space and stacks of interior design and architecture books. But she had to talk with the other partners in the firm and see how they felt about hiring in a new member. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but I’ll know the results by Friday. Wish me luck!
Jessica Wells
Wednesday was not a shocker all in all. I knew that the job that I chose was going to be centered on large amounts of physical labor. I began mental preparation shortly after I first contacted Jim McCormick and Parks and Recreation. I just wasn't expecting how completely beat and sore i would be the next day. I got up pretty damn early yesterday. Which isn’t a huge deal because I am an early riser anyway, but the fact that I went to sleep and it was nighttime and I woke up and it was STILL nighttime tripped me out a little. What shocked me most about the professional environment on Wednesday was that I wasn’t completely uncomfortable. The park is divided into territories for each individual gardener called ‘beats‘. The beats are usually a couple acres, and very difficult to keep maintained due to public traffic and the homeless, so everyone is always busy. The people who work as gardeners all have known each other for decades, and are for the most part just interested in getting their individual work done. There is an air of welcome when you meet ‘co-workers‘, but they tend to keep their respectful distance. And I like that a lot. If I could have my way I would just do my work and not really talk to anyone ever, which is the exact opposite of what I experienced at the Exploratorium. Although that will never happen, it’s nice to be in a less human saturated environment. Especially that early. Being completely physically exhausted is sort of satisfying; you get those nice after-work endorphins. Also, because I get there so early, after internships I have most of the day to do something. Even though I didn’t have energy, it was nice to know that if I wanted to do something I could.
This week I had to go to school because the restaurant that I wanted to intern could only have me there from 2-9 and I couldn’t do it at that time so I had to turn them down. So I went to school and looked up random bakeries and restaurants and made like 30 phone calls and the all said that they either didn’t have a intern program there or they didn’t have space for me. So I started calling other places like party planners and other things lie that but they said no. So Now I am waiting on a phone call back from the San Francisco main Library and I am going to call Iris distribution where Adrianna interned at last year and hope fully I will get it by next Wednesday. If they don’t work out then I’m going to get a phone book and just call random business that I might like to intern at and settle for anything that might sound cool to do but right now I might take anything up or just end up at another school like last year.
Isabel Pedraja
Yesterday was my second day at my WLE. Like the first, it felt pretty long and I was surprisingly exhausted. I never knew playin around with 3 year old and 4 year olds could be so tiring. I now have a greater appreciation for teachers of preschool or kindergarten. Despite when I babysit every once in a while Im not around little kids that often because I dont have any younger siblings and neither do my close friends. I'd forgotten how immense the imagination of a child could be. They can make up a story or game off the top of their head in just a few seconds flat. It also amazes me how amused they can be by the smallest simplest things such as: paper planes, apples, and bubbles. Another not so cute thing that really surprises is how much they cry over the smallest things. It's hard for me to be sensitive or 'soft' towards them while the kids crying because I don't have much patience and that's just not my personality. However, never could I get mad at them...they're just way to cute for me to even think about rasing my voice at any of them. I guess I kinda expected that part. Despite my exhaustion Im enjoying it and it's not physically or mentally difficult in any way or form I just have to get use the routine. The two ladies I work with are very helpful, pleasant, and appreciate my help a lot. My mentor, the owner of the school, is one of my best friends' mom who's really great in all aspects. Im looking forward to continuing my internship and starting a project at the Debra King school.
Hanora Bauer
For working in a small salon I thought it was actually gonna be very boring and the day would never end. But it was somewhat diffrent,in that first I got to wake up at 10am which was great. Then since Gustavo owns his own salon he can really come in when he wants unless he has an appotment early. So when I first got there he wasnt there and didnt get there untill about 10:15. We first started talking about the diffrent things he had to sign and how we felt the weekes would go. What he wanted to see and what I wanted to see happen. It was kind of hard to communicate with him because he speaks mostly spanish but I started to get used to it. As the morning progressed he had some customers and I helped fold towels. This took up about 2 hours so then it was about time for lunch.
Since I was so close to my house I just went home to eat and it was cool. Then when I went back we started to talk about me buying a manikin head and cheap sissors. It was really cool to look through all the supply magazines and see how expensive all the stuff really was. (now I know why they charge so much to cut your hair).He had some more customers while this was happening and they all seemed excited that I was so young and being exposed to a working enviorment like that which I had got myself. As the day ended I helped clean the floor and the sink but it wasnt to hard. We then sat and disscused what would be set for next week.
Argent
To tell you the truth my preconceptions of my WLE matched my actual experience like fitting air down a gofer hole because I had no preconceptions and didn’t know what to expect! I assumed I would be hanging out with animals and habitat maintenance but that is a give in when working at a zoo, so I can not really count that as a match. But the working environment was not really professional. To me it looked like one of our classrooms except with more action and much more lively. People moving around the place, doing their own thing! It was not really a shock to me because I just can not see how you can have people working in an office while there is stuff to do around the zoo. Everyone is divided up to divvy up tasks around the ARC so that everyone has something to do and so that things get done much quicker. But back to the non-existant professionality, there is time for jokes in this place. My mentor, Edell tends to crack jokes and make people laugh all the time so it does not seem to be very “ideal” formal or professional but everyone there is a lot that gets the job done. I was assigned to this task called Big Pens. It is quite poop oriented but it is not so bad. Basically I take the weights of each animals’ dish and weigh them out and log them. Then, I scoop poop or as much poop as possible, which I then start to disinfect the floor with a big floor brush thingy. Now the poop is not rabbit poop. It is the poop of a kinkajou, wallaby, bobcat and a pair of armadillos and porcupines. After disinfecting the floor I then hose it down and then I wait for it to dry so that I can hang sheets and other “enrichment” around the indoor pens.
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