This spring break, I was able to go to NYC with the TCU Neeley Fellows program. This trip provided me with so many experiences to grow as a student and a professional. I came into the trip with a negative attitude, if I am being completely honest. I was homesick, tired, and felt beaten down. I didn't see myself working at any of the companies we were visiting, and most of all I couldn't see myself living in NYC. I came in with preconceived notions of what the city would be like from my past visits and my sisters experience. Lets just say all of that was pretty far off.
I started out the trip with a fun surprise. I missed my 8:00 flight out of DFW. In complete panic, I had to find a way to make it to NYC somehow. I without a doubt learned to always give myself some cushion time at the airport after a snow storm. I made my way to Lovefield Airport, waited in the terminal for 7 hours, and boarded a Virgin America flight to NYC that would land very late at night. So late in fact, I had to stay the night with my friends in the Bronx at Fordham University.
The trip began and we started visiting companies such as Footlocker, that I had no interest in before. Seeing the day to day life of an employee at a company like this showed me that I was in the right major. If I liked what they were doing at Footlocker, a company I had no interest in, then I was on the right track. My biggest learning experience came from visiting some Advertising Agencies such as VML and Translation.
I don't consider myself a very creative person, so marketing was really off the table for me at that point. I walked into VML and was captivated by the relaxed and innovative environment. I learned all about a job called an Account Manager, which is basically a person who uses management skills to serve as a link between the creatives and the clients. What they were doing was so interesting to me and I envisioned myself working there. I had no idea that through this trip I would find my future career aspirations and fall deeply in love with a city, that I had no intention to fall in love with.
Here's to the future!
Good to hear that VML and Translation are still interesting corporate visits. I went to NYC undecided regarding if it was a location I wanted to work and live in, but felt the corporate visits and the people you meet there are well worth it and an opportunity you most likely won't get again unless you work at one of those companies.
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