Last Thursday morning my mom flew from Seattle to Dallas. I picked her up at noon, we got some Chick-fil-A and we headed on our way out of town. The first night we made it almost to Memphis (we honestly didn't want to stop in Memphis since we don't know the good and bad parts of town) and the second night we made it to Roanoke, Virginia. The third day we contemplated stopping in Amish country to explore, but the weather radars weren't looking good so we just decided to push through to Princeton. Turns out the weather dissipated before it ever arrived, but we were glad we arrived early to Princeton as it wasn't easy to find the hotel (the address for the hotel isn't recognized by GPS systems) and it gave us time to get to know the city a little bit.On Sunday we drove to my summer condo so that I could move my stuff in and meet my sweet roommate. Then we ran a couple errands and ate some lunch at Panera (I had their new yummy Tomato, Mozzarella, and Basil salad). Then we headed to the train station and took the train into Newark so that I could see my mom off.
When I returned to my condo my roommate and I talked and accidentally happened into a personal conversation - we barely knew each other and she was telling me about her past (she's divorced) and it just immediately made me feel like I would feel at home here. Plus, although her name is Qun Zhang (her first name is almost pronounced like Schwinn) her English name is "Julie" so obviously it was meant to be for us to be roommates!!
Monday was my first day at ETS. I met the 24 other interns - who are all very nice - and I met my two mentors - who are also super nice! My mentors and I had a meeting and they told me about my summer project and gave me my first assignment - to read eight articles. Yay for getting right to work! :) I had a follow-up meeting with them this morning that I think went well (I didn't have too many questions - not sure if that's good or bad?! - but we still talked for about 45 minutes) and my assignment for the remainder of the week is to just keep reading and to find more articles and read them! Yup, so far, it's just like being at school, but the topic is interesting so I don't mind!
My "office" is a conference room (an ETS building is being renovated so they're short on space) with five other girls - we don't have cubicles so yes, we do sometimes get a little chatty. I'm already having a really good time getting to know these other ladies, as well as the other interns, over lunches and impromptu discussions and am looking forward to getting to know them better this summer!!
Tomorrow, Thursday, the interns are all (well, almost all of us) getting together at Chevy's Mexican restaurant for Happy Hour so we can continue to get to know one another better. We're hoping to do a weekly Happy Hour and we'll rotate locations so that we get the most out of our time in this area.
As a sidenote, in case you don't know, I've never actually participated in a Happy Hour or anything like this so I'm a little nervous to be in a situation that's so out of my comfort zone. Originally we were going to meet at a cute bar in downtown Princeton and I was very nervous about being that far out of my comfort zone, but now that we're meeting at a Mexican restaurant (the other place didn't have a Happy Hour and drinks were really expensive) I feel a little better, but I am still a little nervous so please feel free to send positive thoughts my way around 5 pm (EST) tomorrow!!!
I'll try to take some pictures of town and of ETS this weekend so that you can see how gorgeous it is here!!!
Smile: Yay for making friends in new places!!
Extra Smile: Although I don't have cable, I do have a TV in my room so I can watch So You Think You Can Dance this summer! It's the little things in life! :)
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