Virgin America has on-board wifi. How fab is that?
At a comfortable cruising altitude of 35,000 feet I caught up on this week’s Glee and Private Practice. I checked my email, updated my Facebook status and retweeted my work Bible, the AP Stylebook.
This is just the latest in the luxuries afforded by the quirky new carrier. The also offer free music, satellite television and endless Diet Coke. Win.
Why am I telling you this, you ask.
Last week was my final spring break as an undergrad, so I decided to spend it networking, researching and deciding what to do with my life. Yikes.
Up until a few days ago, I thought moving to New York for a (dream) job was a possibility. I went to the city that never sleeps to see if that dream was reality.
Monday morning, 10 PR pros in training met in the lobby of the Hotel Edison on 47th St. and Broadway. I’m sure we were a sight to see: a gaggle of California gals giddy with excitement at the prospect of traipsing around midtown Manhattan for the day.
On our agenda was three informational interviews with TGC alumni at Tiffany & Co., Hearst Publications and ABCNews.com.
Before five o’clock, we had covered 15 city blocks, taken pages and pages of notes on how to land a job in entry level PR and make invaluable connections that can and will serve as great resources through the years.
Tuesday was filled in much the same fashion. We had interviews at Edelman, Access Communications and W Hotels.
All through the interviews I kept thinking how proud I was of what these women have accomplished. All of them have been in my shoes: attending Chico State, landing a position in TGC and then making their way in the world.
It was truly inspiring to hear their stories of uncertainty, adjustment, hard work, tenacity and finally, success.
Exhausted and aching from two intense days, we fell into bed Tuesday night looking forward to two days of freedom in one of America’s favorite cities.
Wednesday morning dawned cold and rainy. We strapped on our rain gear and headed to the subway to start the day in Greenwich Village, at the apartment of fictional columnist and famous New York City diva, Carrie Bradshaw.
A few blocks down from 66 Perry Street is another famous New York landmark, the Friends’ building, which resides at the corner of Grove and Bedford...which of course we marched up to and discussed whether or not it looked the same as it does in the show (it does).
We spent hours and hours pounding the pavement of New York City. We took countless subways uptown, downtown and everywhere in between. Our money was spent inside vintage shops like Shareen Vintage, restaurants like Boyd Thai and Peanut Butter & Co., and purchasing souvenir’s at the NYU bookstore.
As I sat on the plane Friday morning, watching The Warblers perform Maroon 5’s “Misery” and replying to internship emails, I could barely contain my excitement to be getting back to the west coast.
Little did I know I was coming back to west coast and the worst weather ever. I might as well have stayed in New York City.
