You say it's urgent, so urgent.

So! Interesting day at work today.. two fire trucks and a rescue team were called in at 6:30am..

My co-worker and I work our regular shift from 6am-3pm, because that is when the shop is open in my plant, and we’re doing a lot of work involved with them instead of just in an office. So we get to work and are checking emails and going over the list of things we have to do today and a blaring horn signaling a fire sounds out of nowhere in a near silent office. Most of the full time employees just think it’s a drill or were joking around with each other like “what did your line do to start a fire?!” When the trucks actually showed up two minutes later, we all started to get confused since we didn’t think there was actually a potential fire in the building. After roll call and a few more minutes of waiting we were waved back inside by the head firefighter. Apparently, a fluorescent bulb had a “burnt ballast” (I’m still trying to figure out what that means) which caused the fire alarm to go off. You’d think in a plant that manufactures electrical products, that a “burnt ballast” would be the last thing to cause trouble..

The rest of the day went well though. I’m actually starting to get into my projects today, making rough drafts of meetings, visual boards, and just keep learning more about my line! :]

Keep your eyes open.

Wow, it's been a little while, hasn't it? I only recently was able to set up the internet in my apartment, so now I don't have to hang out at Starbucks every night just to check my emails and, oh gosh, Facebook! It is really convenient to have internet in the apartment now though, because I don't have to worry about walking places to get it (not that it was that far in the first place) or worry about interrupting people when I'm on Skype. I had a Phi Rho E-Board meeting earlier this week on Google Hangout, and I felt bad because there was a woman quietly reading her book right next to me.. I guess if she had been irritated, she would have moved or told me, right?

So I made it through an entire week of my internship! It's been really exciting being on the floor and seeing how engineering work is really done. On the first day, my supervisor wanted me to shadow the lead wiring employees to learn how to read wiring diagrams and schematics, but I got so bored of watching after five hours that they put me to work instead :p. I only got to measure out specific lengths of wire for the rest of the day, but I worked with two other employees so the job went by fast. On the second day, I even got to wire some of the panels! Oh, I guess I should back up a little too. I work with the medium voltage assembly line, and (in my opinion) they get to build the biggest and coolest projects in our plant. Unfortunately, this type of project isn't done frequently, so I probably won't be able to work on anything like it for the rest of the summer, but hey, at least I got to walk into the middle of building it when I got here! Besides learning how to assemble the projects and learn about all the different voltage lines, I have a lot of other projects that involved training programs for the employees and improve communication between the lines and the office. Basically, my job is to make everything easier. I'm normally good at this type of thing, so I'm really excited to dive farther into my assignments. I'll explain more about them as I go along.

Honestly though, my favorite part of the internship so far has been meeting and getting to know the people that I'm working with. There's a couple of guys around my age that work on my line, but most of them are older adults with wives and kids. They all have such unique personalities and they love to joke around with each other while they're working; it's just a really enjoyable setting to be in for me since it's my first "big kid's job." I get along really well with them, and they've been so patient about trying to teach me things that they've been learning about for years. Working like that makes the days go by really fast too!

Once I start going out into the city and doing things, I'll start posting pictures of Portland, too. It's beautiful here :]

Oh, the places you'll go!

Hello, PORTLAND! I still can't believe I'm here right now, and I'm not exactly sure when it's going to hit me. Probably half way through the summer I'll realize it like BAM. :p

Anyway, despite the current dreary weather, it is absolutely GORGEOUS out here! If you've never been to Portland, write it down on your bucket list of places to go before you die. As soon as we drove out of the airport, all I saw was hills and mountains of greenery. If that's not something a Spartan could easily fall in love with, I don't know what is.. 

My roommate and I drove to our apartment and talked with the woman we're leasing it from. She gave us a tour of the complex and told us all of the fun places to go around town. The apartment is a really cute two-story townhouse with fully equipped kitchen and furnished rooms! She is one of the nicest women I've ever met, and I can't thank her enough for opening her home to us for this summer! :]

The only downside of my first day so far is that the internet is still not hooked up in the apartment. So, currently, I'm people-watching at the local Starbucks to use them for their Wi-Fi (shh, don't tell anyone!) :p

Here's my plan for today though: grocery shop, map out running routes around the city, write a letter to my sorority big sister, and cruise around town! :D

I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again.

This is it. I can't believe I'll be flying away from Michigan for the next three months. I had never imagined that I would be working in a place other than the midwest, let alone one that was three timezones behind. It's going to take A LOT of adjusting, especially because I'll basically be living out of a suitcase the whole time, but I still think it's going to be a really great summer.

I'm not only going to learn more about the engineering profession and what it's like to have a 'big kid's' job, but also a lot about myself in the process. Or at least, I hope I do! We had orientation at Headquarters over the past three days and the HR reps stressed how much we will change as workers, students, and individuals over the next 12 weeks. It's kind of scary to think that I'll be a different person when I come out of this, but I can only hope that I learn enough to make myself more well-rounded!

I ought to go finish packing (which has been quite stressful!) since my flight leaves in less than 12 hours! Yikes! When you hear from me next, I'll be across the country! :]

Happy Mom's Day!

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to all of the mom's of MSU students out there! It's kind of rainy and chilly here in my hometown today, but don't let that stop you from pampering your mother and giving her the best day ever! I'm not letting my mom do any cleaning, laundry, or cooking today!

Aside from that, this past week as been pretty busy, but I've still been able to relax quite a bit. Since school let out, I've unpacked and organized all of my college things and have started preparing for next year, rented an apartment in Portland for my internship this summer, bought my plane tickets, finished The Hunger Games series, and went on a date with my boyfriend! I still have SO MUCH to do before I leave though..

We have orientation in Cleveland for all Eaton interns starting on Wednesday, so my friend Hannah and I are driving down there on Tuesday night (a 4 hour drive!), and staying until it's over on Thursday. Since I'm flying out for Portland early on Saturday, that gives me three full days to pack EVERYTHING I need, and take care of everything else I need to do before I come back in three months..

Looks like I better get started now!

Schools out for summer!

I know, I know, the title is really cliche and I've used it before, but it's true! I should have posted this yesterday, but in the frenzy of taking my final two exams, moving out, and saying goodbye to my best friend who's transferring to another university, I was a little busy.

Finals week was.. okay, I guess. I only had three finals (one on Tuesday and two on Friday) but those last two just made the week long and boring. When I wasn't studying I was reading my book, and when I wasn't reading I was studying. Almost all of my friends were done with their exams by Wednesday or Thursday, so they all got to hang out late on Thursday while I was studying and going to bed early in preparation for my 7:45 am Friday morning final.. :/ It really sucked considering I'm going to be across the country all summer and it was my last chance to see a lot of them until September.. Thank goodness for online video chatting!

And speaking of which, I finally got my location and I'm going to be interning with Eaton in Portland, Oregon all summer! I'm both really excited and extremely nervous. It will be my first job actually pertaining to my major, so that will be AWESOME finally seeing how everything I'm learning in class applies to the real world. But it will also be my first time all on my own for an extended period of time. And I have to admit, I'm not too thrilled that I'm SO far away, at least for my first internship. I was prepared to be placed somewhere in the Midwest or along the East Coast, but the West Coast had me totally taken aback. Fortunately, I've heard Portland is a gorgeous up and coming city full of young adults, urban living, and is surrounded by National Parks. That, I can definitely live with. :]

The only thing I have to do now is find an apartment, buy my plane ticket out there, and pack! It may not seem like a ton of things to do, but it will DEFINITELY take up the majority of my time over the next two weeks until my start date!

DTS: Down To STUDY

Well, it's that time of year again.. the oh-so-dreaded FINALS. I was lucky enough not to have mine start on Wednesday, but I am part of the unfortunate bunch that will be having two of them on Friday... So maybe I didn't exactly luck out then.

Either way, it feels like I've just been studying forever.. Last week was our final design project for my Mechanical Engineering Design class, so I didn't even get a chance to start studying until AFTER that was finished.. That project went well though, so I can't complain.

I haven't decided if my waking up super early to study before my 7:45am exam today was a good choice or not.. probably not since I'm procrastinating and decided to blog instead.. :p

I should probably get back to studying now.. good luck to everyone on their final exams, presentations, projects, and papers! And congratulations to all of the new Michigan State graduates, some of my closest friends, I will miss you all next year while you start your big person jobs! <3