1st day til Birthday

On my first day I showed up a bit early which was great. Right away I got to sit in on Good Morning IA which is what they call their Monday morning meetings where they catch up the office on things and projects going on. After that I went into an office to fill out paper work, and they tell me that this is the candy office and always has goodies for anyone who wants to stop by. Anyone who knows me knows how excited that got me! Next I found out that two temps were starting that day and all three of us would spend the majority of the day in a conference room for ADT training. At first I thought of the security company and was way confused. Luckily I waited to see what I was in for. Turns out the office is not using Revit yet and mainly use CAD. Sorry to the people who don't know what this means, but they are computer programs used for construction documents, and building in 3d and all that great stuff. Anyway ADT means Autocad Desktop...at least I'm pretty sure even though desktop is one word so technically it doesn't make sense. To me it seems like what would happen if cad and revit had a baby haha It is a much more standardized and organized way of using cad and I wish I could have used it on school projects.

At lunch I went with one of the temps Marija (love how she spells it) and Michelle to get some soup at this place that is all over the city. They sit on either side of me in the office and it turns out they went to grad school together. After lunch I still had training but once that was done I got settled in at my desk, made sure my profile was working and then got an office tour and was introduced to everyone. All the new names were overwhelming but luckily they gave me a floor plan of the office with each persons name written at the desk they work at. This has come in handy sooo many times. We only take up one floor, but i still felt lost trying to find a desk I hadn't been at before.

Over the next few days I learned the office might relocate soon or be renovated. Everyone hates the current layout, which is odd to have a not so functional layout in a design firm office. So it was my task to go into the plans and find solutions to moving walls, adding additional work spaces for growth, and having a completely different sort of reception area. 

I really enjoyed my first week, everyone at the office is extremely nice. It was really cool to get to work on a few different projects my first week that way I get to experience all the different types of work that has to be done in the sort amount of time that I will be here. My second Monday working was my 21st birthday so it was really strange to work all day. Marija and Michelle took me out to lunch, they are the sweetest! We went to an Irish Pub since I was craving fish and chips. Ooohhh they were delicious, and they gave me so much fish as well. The project I was helping with needed a lot done before a meeting the next day and I was helping render in photoshop. We were so busy that I almost had to stay late! Luckily I have to be approved for overtime and got to go home. I basically just crash when I get home which was fine by me since the night before we celebrated my birthday. I must say being gone working most of the day on my 21st sure did make me feel older and all grown up. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing, but hey as long as I get to end the day with cake I'm happy.

Test Run Just For Fun

The weekend before my internship began I went into the city with my mom and Aunt Renee to get used to the commute and streets I would have to know. First I take my drive to the closest BART station which is Pittsburg/Bay Point and then ride the train the rest of the way. I get off at the first stop in SF, Embarcadero, and it is really close to the office so the walk wasn't bad. We managed to get a little lost even though we were so close, but I'm so used to getting lost I just expect it when going new places. Once we were situated we walked to my building, which is the Union Bank building. The office is on the 15th floor in the financial district so we are surrounded by bank buildings.

After I introduced myself to the security guard and receptionist it was time to shop of course! Found some great internship type clothes, by the way the Ross in the city is huge! They also have tons of Calvin Klein dresses which made me very happy :) Next was lunch at a tiny place called Bangkok Noodles or something like that. It was really good and hopefully I go there again. It was weird because in the bathroom they used these awful fluorescent lights that were way too blue of a color that when combined with the graffiti walls felt really creepy. All in all it was a great day and actually warm which was surprising since everyone said how cold the city would be and I happened to show up on the perfect day.

Mads by the Bay

Oh hey, yes this is my blog from my European travels last summer, but you all are in for a real treat. I will now be posting about my interior design internship this summer! So to start with I am interning with IA Interior Architects http://interiorarchitects.com/ check em out! They do amazing commercial interiors, and will soon be coming out with a mobile site for those of you viewing on your smart phones.

Basically from the get go I wanted to intern at IA, and decided the San Francisco office (also the headquarters) would be my target goal. I really would have accepted anywhere they needed an intern since I love their firm. After several weeks of contact, getting my portfolio passed around, and actually no formal interview, I was offered the internship in SF. I was THRILLED to say the least. I believe it was finals week and when I got off the phone I screamed and jumped with joy, and embarrassed to say I even started shaking. But hey this is the internship of my dreams we are talking about. After I figured I had bothered my roommates enough with all the commotion, I went outside to celebrate some more and call to tell my parents the good news. My neighbors happened to be studying for finals with their windows open...oops haha I must have been so annoying that day because in casual conversation with my roommates I would randomly say, "Ahhh I am just so happy!"

Once the shock of getting the exact internship I had hoped for wore off I realized I needed to arrange to stay with my Aunt and Uncle in the East Bay, since my internship started in a little over a week!!! Eeek! I seriously had to pack to move home, and then right when I got there start to pack for my internship. I left a few days early so I could get settled in. My mom and I drove so I could have a car up in Cali. On the way we stopped and ate at this lil place off of Diners, Dives, and Drive-ins in Reno. Pretty funky/westerny/tacky but great Eggs Benedict.

After the long painful ride we went out for dinner in Brentwood, the town where I am staying, then went to bed to rest for my visit to the city the next day. More on that tomorrow!

6/17/11 Its a nouveau day!

wait for it :)

6/16/11 muse-see-ums

Wow so this day sticks out in my head more than most. We started out by going to a chapel, walking around, then to the Pompidou museum. I have never been a huge fan of the architecture of the Pompidou, but I absolutely loved the art inside! I wandered around by myself and was the last one in our group out of there. After a quick lunch we headed to the Louve which was the opposite for me...I enjoy the acrhitecture of the museum more than the outside. It was still spectauclar though. I got to see the Mona Lisa which was tiny, Winged Victory which is just gorgeous, and the famous Aphrodite. It was definitely a tiring day and I could go back to both museums and see things I didn't have time to look at.

6/15/11 Chunnel and the oo la la factor

wow so my blog is broken, wont let me post any pictures or post drafts. I might just create a new one... Well we went on the Chunnel aka channel tunnel, which sounds cooler than it actual is. The only way you know your under water is when your ears start hurting. Once we got to Paris we took our luggae to our cute lil hotel which was actually pretty close to the eiffel tower. My luggage handle broke so it was extremely hard to drag it around the metro station, and up and down stairs. I ate at this pizza place on our street where the workers greet us even if we are walking on the other side of the street before they are even open. I had this cool dessert which was a hallowed out frozen orange with orange sorbet in it. Then we headed over to enjoy a night chillin on the grass by the eiffel tower. There are the illegal street vendors everywhere trying to sell wine, keychains, and these whirly gig toys that light up. Once it got darker the oo la la factor happened! I decided that should be the term for when the eiffel tower lights up and twinkles because everytime it takes your breath away and people all around say oooo! and cheer. After that we headed home.

6/14/11 Last day in London

For our last day in London we went to Kensington Palace, which was really close to where we stayed, and then looked a a lil pattern exhibit. After that we had the rest of the day to do whatever and pack to leave the next morning.



Kensington Palace had this really wacky/creepy exhibit where it shared stories and glimpes of the lives of 7 princesses who have lived there. This was the only room we could take pics in and it had a knitted throne and knitted candle stands with microphones that made your voice sound creepy

I was just outside the Palace enjoying the sun when pidgeons came by me. They wanted a cracker in the grass but it was too big for them to eat so I broke it up with a stick for them. Then I noticed the skinnier one was misssing two toes, and had a gross swollen foot that was shriveled so it walked weird. I felt so bad for it so I shared some crackers with it.

Me feeding the birds, I felt like that lady off of Mary Poppins who sings the toppins song. Oh and the lame bird turned out to be a bully, it would follow and chase other birds away from the food!

When chillin at the Palace a helicopter came down and cops were guarding the area, so naturally I had to go see who the important person was. I never did find out...

The VIP helicopter taking off, the breeze from it felt amazing. Glad my last day there was so gorgeous.

One of the ways they mixed funky peices with the old palace

Saw this building on our way somewhere and I just love it!

Game time! Ok so the game is called Count the Cranes, and well ya you count the cranes...haha for some reason they were all over the place on this day

Beyond awesome astro turf area for people to enjoy there lunches at the National Theatre

Sweet skate park that drops down from the sidewalk and is tucked in under a building

Why?? cuz everyone wants to order food out of a giant seagull i guess haha