Insert scream here. Just kidding but not really. Way too excited. Slept decently. Luckily the flight is super short so waiting to get to Charm City shouldn’t take that long. I’ll instagram when I get there (obviously). Aw come on. Just hearing the rain coming down on my roof. Better not mean any delays for my flight. Till noon, you all should text me :). Boredom is not how I want to go out. And after 2, I’m sure I’ll be texting you…in all CAPS. Okay, this is by far the lamest blog post I’ve ever done but you know what, who cares? I’m going to Baltimore, baby!
It’s crazy.
I’ve been waiting for tomorrow for almost four months. When I started the Under Armour Ultimate Intern competition, I honestly kept thinking how amazing it would be to spend a summer in Baltimore. And tomorrow, I get to do just that. It’s fun to think about how much work went into this too. Running around Disney like a crazy person taking pictures with random strangers and Disney workers, and writing stuff every day to post—it was a trip. But hard work pays off and that was a great example that it does.
I know I’ve done it five thousand times and it must sound repetitive by now… but seriously to every single person who helped me out during the process: thank you. Whether you SuperCam’d it for me at school or Orlando, or even just asked how the competition was going, it really meant a lot and again, thank you. And the excitement you all showed for me is more than I could ever ask for! I think some of you were even MORE excited than I was which I didn’t think was possible to do! Haha, but really, it’s been an incredible feeling to have all of you come together to help me out and I’ll rep us all well in Charm City.
Not sure what I’m really expecting. I told myself that I’d write down expectations to go though honestly, all I feel is excitement. I think and hope it’ll be as great of a time as I suspect it’ll be. I want to learn as much as I can not only on a technical level of learning more about digital marketing, retail and branding, but also I hope to gain more of/improve on the ‘intangibles’ as I like to call them (i.e. leadership skills, drive, etc). Can’t wait to meet all of the rad people at Under Armour, especially the other interns.
I honestly will miss Michigan while I’m gone though. Ann Arbor and home have always treated me so well and I’m leaving so many of you behind. September seems so far away from now and that kind of makes me sad to think that for many of you, that’ll be the next time I see you! But no worries—welcome week, football season, and suffering through classes together will all make up for it! And bring your summer stories along. I love hearing them!
Sidenote: Not bringing any Michigan gear by…yeah, them… is so strange. SO STRANGE. But no worries Ann Arbor, I’ll rep you still.
Okay back on track.
To my friends who are off doing their thing this summer: BEST OF LUCK!! Do work wherever you are and whatever you’re doing. I hope you have a blast and as always, TAKE PICTURES and keep me updated via social media. Or a phone call. That’s nice too :)
Alrighty, I’m off. Today Michigan, Tomorrow Maryland. And I can’t freaking wait!
ps.
Flashback:
I was talking to my dad yesterday about where some of my friends were going this summer or things some of my friends had accomplished this year. And I found myself not being able to slow down because there were just so many cool things that my friends were doing. I think the picture above is true…in a sense. I think some people can interpret it wrongly by saying that you should just surround yourself with successful people and that sounds a bit…I don’t know..like you just want to get ahead yourself and use those people?
Yeah. That’s not me. I feel like I’ve surrounded myself with people who are positive and who I know are going to be successful because of how brilliant they are. It’s fun to think about the future and no, I don’t want to fast forward anywhere but imagining where they’re going to be is really cool. I’m lucky to have them and I can’t wait to see how far they go. Because I think I’ve surrounded myself with people that are truly driven and want it. Whatever “it” is for them, they have ambition to get “it.” And that, I can respect.
That’s one of the things about me that I’ve found out. I get so excited for my friends’ successes. I freak out for them. For good grades on tests, for successful interviews, for job offers, for EVERYTHING that has the slightest positive twist to it. Really. I just find it so exciting to see how people evolve and to see people succeeding, especially these people are the same people that have been supportive of me and my successes as well.
So this is for all of those I’m lucky enough to call my friends. Do me a favor: update me on how your life is going. It’s okay to brag a little (just a little!). Being away from school shouldn’t block your ability to tweet an update, to text me something, to blog about your adventures or even just taking pictures. I want to see where you are and what rad things you’re up to! And maybe use your success to help the younger people out there who are looking for advice. Because hey, we were all in that position one time and we all know that they would appreciate it. Because truth is—we’re growing up fast. And we (most of us anyway) are rising juniors. Upperclassman. Time to set the example. A positive example. A successful example.
Ready friends? Let’s see how far we go.
When people ask me what my interests are, I say sports, marketing and social media. The first on the list usually needs to nice conversation about sports I like, athletes I cheer for (cough Andy Roddick is at the top of that list), and teams I like (GO BLUE! GO WINGS! GO LIONS!…just to name a few!). The second is pretty self-explanatory only because that’s what I’m studying in school at the Ross School of Business.
But the third, social media, sometimes throws people off. “Social media?” they ask. Yes, social media. But I’ll always clear it up for them.
I don’t mean social media in the sense of updating Facebook statuses or tweeting what you ate for lunch.
I mean social media in the sense that I’m absolutely fascinated at the ability of sharing stories in multiple ways…in just seconds. In its simplest form, social media is just blogging. Micro-blogging in terms of Twitter, social-blogging in terms of Facebook, network-blogging in terms of LinkedIn.
I love being able to communicate with people that you normally don’t get to. Those people being celebrities, companies, recruiters, alumni of my school, stores, etc. I love that, as a student, I can find out more about the industries I’m interested in with just a view of their Twitter, or get the latest information of what’s going on around my school.
I like influencing my friends, peers, and other people to get involved with the social media movement. I like getting people interested on the benefits of social media and I try to tell them how to use it properly, about privacy settings and what I’ve gotten out of different social media outlets. I know that many of my friends will vouch that I’ve gotten them on Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and even a few to find out their Klout scores!
But my biggest interest comes in social media marketing. It’s amazing how influential social media has become for marketing now. Companies not having a Facebook and/or Twitter is a rarity these days. Product information comes out via these social media platforms now. Even customer service is done through them these days. The brilliance of social media is that everyone who is your fan or follower is interested in you in some way—or else why would they have liked your page or followed you? That in itself has already given you the target market. You can reach all of your followers with just 1 tweet. And all of your fans with just one post. It’s unbelievable if you think about it.
The thing is, social media is what YOU make of it. So make the most of it! Follow what you like, learn more about it, and then tell the world your opinions on it. Sharing is caring!
And so yes, that is why I love social media. Passionate about it.
—-Post originally written on March 4th as I competed for the Under Armour Ultimate intern team. This has been edited.
Where I’ll be in 18 days:
Where I want to be on July 4th:
Where I want to visit for friends this summer:
Where I’ll find my way back to:
Summer in a quick nutshell and maybe some surprises on the way.
Ohhhhhh we’re living on a prayer!
Well thank you for that intro Bon Jovi. But really, we’re halfway done with college? It is still hitting me. Right now, my high school is still in session and so being home from college, it’s amusing to look back and be like, “What? AP tests are going on right now? I remember those…”
Reminiscing. Probably my most positive and negative trait. Because if you know me, you’d know that I cherish every memory. Sometimes too much. Me and nostalgia are best friends by now. That is indeed why I take so many pictures.
But seriously, I just remember being a sophomore in high school, which is now FOUR YEARS AGO (what the hell…) and thinking to myself, “Oh, I got two more years of high school. That’s a long time.” And it flew by. And I remember on my high school graduation thinking about how it had gone by so quickly.
I don’t expect anything different with these last two years of college except for that maybe it’ll go even faster. I feel like I still have a lot to accomplish these next few years. And I do. And I always think to myself, “Do I really have time to do it?”
But then I think about how if I keep worrying about not having enough time…that time will fly by as I worry. And I’ll regret trying to fit everything in by force instead of just…letting it happen.
I’m excited for these next two years. I’m nervous. I’m skeptical. I’m stressed. I’m thrilled. I’m amused. I’m every adjective you can possibly think of. But I think that just means that I care. I care about my education. I care about my experience at Michigan. I care about the friends I make here. I care about the mistakes I make. I care about the failures I have. And I care about the successes I’ll have with the combination of all of what is listed above.
And so with that, all I can say is that these next two years? Let’s all make the most of it and keep caring. Because no one wants to live with regrets.
Oh you will all thank me one day for taking so many damn pictures.
Here’s to the memories.
My birthday isn’t for a while but every time birthdays come around, there’s always at least one person that says, “Do you feel any older?” And usually, my answer is “No, not really.” But I think, when my birthday comes, I’ll say, “Yes,” this year.
Not “old” in the sense that I’m getting wrinkly and am losing my hearing.
More “old” in the sense that I can honestly say that I think I’ve grown to be a better person in the last year, maturing, and also learning so much about myself.
Finished up with my Sophomore year in college, I think it’s a good time to reflect. This year was filled with so many different things. My freshman year of college, I came in not knowing what to expect, getting a taste of what it was like to fail, realizing that things just don’t come to you and that you have to go get it. I found that classes weren’t a breeze like they were in high school and how the “real world” was actually only a few years away.
With all that in mind, this sophomore year was a huge progression. This year, I feel like I’ve figured out more about myself. And here’s how I’ve grown up.
An article that I wrote. Check it out!!!
