Tuesday, June 29, 2010

First 4th of July in an Airport

As of today I’m half way through week four. That means I only have 45 days or seven and a half weeks left here. AHH. I guess I might freaking out a little too early, after all I do have a lot of interesting plans happening right now.

This Thursday Wes, Sarah, Kendall, Amanda and I are getting on a plane at 7:05AM and flying to Dunedin. We get into Dunedin at 8:50AM then we wait for our bus to leave at 2:25PM. THEN at 6:15 we arrive in Queenstown! The self-proclaimed “adventure capitol” of the world.

Needless to say I’m really excited for this trip, and the five of us have hardly any free time there. We only have two full days in Queenstown so we all have to make the most of them.

On Friday morning Sarah, Wes, and I are starting early with a Lord of the Rings tour. We’ll be seeing the river where the fellowship past the big stone statues, the river where Arwen drowns the ring wraths, a battle scene that I can’t remember, and the delta where Faramir attacks the elephants. It’s going to be sweet to see all that cool scenery.

Friday afternoon I may very well be doing a bungee (sorry mom). I’m having a hard time justifying which bungee to do. Mom, this is where you skip the rest of this paragraph. I can do the big bungee, which is roughly 140 Meters (450 feet) or the lame cheap 40-meter bungee (131 feet). That last sentence makes it sound like an easy decision, but the really cool bungee is really expensive. I’ve already spent a pretty penny on plane ticket, lord of the rings tour, and on Saturday (next paragraph).

Saturday I will be seeing one of the most amazing places in the world, Milford Sound. Milford Sound, which is actually a fiord, is in the middle of Fiordland National Park on the west coast of the South Island.

So before I say anymore I will explain what a fiords and sounds are. A sound is, “a slim passage of water connecting either two seas or a sea and a lake. A fiord is a long, narrow inlet of sea tucked between high cliffs.” The story behind Milford Sound is some glacier formed it way back when. Then after years and years of this glacier sitting on top of the fiord, the glacier…left, or melted, or something.

Milford Sound is covered with peaks, waterfalls, and other cool New Zealand scenery. This is a trip the group and I have been looking forward to for a while. I wish I could spend more time in Queenstown, or go in summer. But I’m here in winter and I have a job, so I’m going to do the best I can. Sometimes I forget I’m not here to travel. I’m here to do my job and learn about advertising. Though I can’t explain how long the weekend feels like, in the sense that I don’t think about work at all over the three-day weekend. When I return on Monday it feels like I haven’t worked in weeks instead of days. Don’t get me wrong I do like my job, the people I work with are great, and all the people I’m introduced to are all really nice too.

Speaking of work, I have a big project in my lap now. I am doing my own media plan for a pie shop! Pie being along the lines of potpie. This plan is not for a client, it’s more of a tool for the agency and I’m building it for them. To do this plan I need to select a target market that I believe is the best choice, and find the best way to reach them. I’m little tempted to do a full marketing plan for this project. I could easily form a mock full service agency with some of my fellow interns. Then again, that might be biting off a little more than I can chew.

I really want to knock this thing out of the park, especially since I have to present it to Grant, Steve, Matt, and probably Jason and Rowena. This is my big chance to make them go, “Damn, this kid is good.”

Here’s another exciting thing about work, a second intern is starting soon. This Monday, after my amazing weekend in Queenstown, there will be another American intern at the Wellington office of Y&R and MEC. Her name is Jenny and she is from Colorado. This is the fifth Coloradan to join us in New Zealand, where the hell do they keep coming from? I shouldn’t be talking though, if I count as a Michigander then there are four of us here in NZ scattered around. Jenny is either an account management or creative intern. I’m thinking she is an account management because she is working on my end of the office and not with the creatives.

So with all that the next 4-5 days are going to be pretty exciting. It pains me a little knowing that I’ll be spending my 4th of July traveling back from Queenstown. It’s the first time I wont be in New Buffalo celebrating on the beach with my Shady Lane family accompanied by smores and fireworks, but I think the gang and I will make up for it.

2 comments:

  1. Hope you weren't disappointed in a Michigan-less Independence Day. I know I wasn't! Probably was the best weekend trip so far! :)

    Sorry to be a blog creeper. I'm just interested and curious.

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  2. Hi Bud, I'm glad I'm reading this after your return from Queenstown. How was it? Sound like the area is beautiful. Love you, Mom

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