Here are all the photos!
My last work day in Minneapolis was pretty uneventful. the news the night before had said it might snow a bit in the morning and then be rainy in the afternoon, so I woke up an extra half hour early to make sure the roads wouldn't be covered in snow.
I drove down to Rochester, and it was significantly smaller than Minneapolis, I mean, I couldn't even find a Caribou Coffee! I had to get Dunn Bros. and it was awful.
in Faribault I ended up talking to one girl for over an hour, but she is very excited about coming to the university now.
On Saturday I was determined to spend the day in the Mall of America. I had gotten through the first floor on Thursday, but I had all day to get through the other two. then I had lunch with my middle school friend Allison! we just both happened to be in Minneapolis for various events and got to meet up! I hadn't seen her in a couple of years and we have both graduated and gotten jobs since then. totally random, and really nice! I didn't realize how much time I had spent alone not talking to anyone, it was great to have a friendly face.
I am really glad to be home and back into my normal routine, but it was fun to be on a business trip for the first time!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Fair Day
Today I had two fairs to get to on the other side of town - by 6:45am. The funny thing was that all the college reps had to meet at a mall and there were buses waiting to take us to the first fair - seeing about 60 adults professionally dressed on buses is pretty funny, but the funniest part was when we arrived and we all piled out of the buses got our rolling suitcases out and swarmed towards the gym.
The fair was pretty successful but way too long. all the reps were starting to drag and then we all remembered we had another fair to get to! we piled back on the busses and got to the second school and it felt like an eternity! 5 hours of hundreds of students asking you the same questions can get very tiring. "what is your school known for?" "do you have sports at your school?" "you're the number one party school right?" "I don't know what I want to study - I want to play baseball"
but I did see several students in maroon and gold! turns out they have a really good baseball program and we actually have been recruiting them, so they proudly wore sun devil gear.
after the fairs I pretty much just wanted to sleep, but I decided hanging out in my hotel room was a waste of a week in a new city, so I went to the Mall of America! I was very tired, so I only walked around the first floor (there are 4) and had dinner and went to see "He's Just Not That into You". The food was good - I had a cheese burger, but the best part was the salt and vinegar french fries, they were definitely puckering. Also, the best iced tea I have ever had was there. it was black current, and it was a really subtle berry flavor, so it just took away the bitter taste without really adding too much fruity flavor. The movie was really cute too. I am going back to the mall tomorrow and saturday for the other floors, no need to tire myself out too much just for shopping.
The fair was pretty successful but way too long. all the reps were starting to drag and then we all remembered we had another fair to get to! we piled back on the busses and got to the second school and it felt like an eternity! 5 hours of hundreds of students asking you the same questions can get very tiring. "what is your school known for?" "do you have sports at your school?" "you're the number one party school right?" "I don't know what I want to study - I want to play baseball"
but I did see several students in maroon and gold! turns out they have a really good baseball program and we actually have been recruiting them, so they proudly wore sun devil gear.
after the fairs I pretty much just wanted to sleep, but I decided hanging out in my hotel room was a waste of a week in a new city, so I went to the Mall of America! I was very tired, so I only walked around the first floor (there are 4) and had dinner and went to see "He's Just Not That into You". The food was good - I had a cheese burger, but the best part was the salt and vinegar french fries, they were definitely puckering. Also, the best iced tea I have ever had was there. it was black current, and it was a really subtle berry flavor, so it just took away the bitter taste without really adding too much fruity flavor. The movie was really cute too. I am going back to the mall tomorrow and saturday for the other floors, no need to tire myself out too much just for shopping.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Workday/Vacationday
Today I had 5 schools again but no fairs so I got the afternoon to myself!
I decided not to eat at the hotel breakfast buffet today because it costs so much, and I tried to find a Caribou Coffee (the local starbucks-like chain, but starbucks is everywhere too) to start my day, but somehow the directions I looks up didn't work, and I wasted all my breakfast time driving around and I still had 20 miles on the highway to get through, so I ditched the idea and headed to the school.
My first school didn't have any students waiting for me, so I got to leave early and the front desk lady gave me great directions to the local hot spot cafe for breakfast. it is called Keys Cafe and Bakery and boy was it worth it! best french toast of my life and the hashbrowns were so crispy! I got a cinnamon bun for the road (aka for breakfast tomorrow when I have to be on the other side of town at 6:45 in the morning and dont want to think about breakfast) and went to the rest of my schools. I had several really good visits with about 8 kids each.
Then for the afternoon I headed to downtown Minneapolis to check out the worlds biggest target and the nicollet mall area (a nice pedestrian street downtown). Parking was a nightmare to find, but once I did find a place to park I got to use the skywalks! they really do connect every building like a maze so, although it was still almost 50 degrees and windy, I didn't have to walk outside.
Turns out the target isn't the world's largest. bummer. but it does have a 3 story front entrance and it is a two story store - it has an escalator called a vermaport which is a dual escalator for you...and your shopping cart!
The rest of the street was pretty fun too, many of the tall office buildings had retail stores in the bottom couple of floors and the skywalks went right through some stores! You have to walk through the men's department at Macy's just to get through the building! talk about prime real estate, hahaha
I ate at a place called the Newsroom. it was kind of a sports bar kind of place, but it did have good food.
I left downtown around 6pm and for the first time have been able to lounge in the hotel room without having to hurry up and answer email so I could go to bed to wake up early the next day. yay!
I decided not to eat at the hotel breakfast buffet today because it costs so much, and I tried to find a Caribou Coffee (the local starbucks-like chain, but starbucks is everywhere too) to start my day, but somehow the directions I looks up didn't work, and I wasted all my breakfast time driving around and I still had 20 miles on the highway to get through, so I ditched the idea and headed to the school.
My first school didn't have any students waiting for me, so I got to leave early and the front desk lady gave me great directions to the local hot spot cafe for breakfast. it is called Keys Cafe and Bakery and boy was it worth it! best french toast of my life and the hashbrowns were so crispy! I got a cinnamon bun for the road (aka for breakfast tomorrow when I have to be on the other side of town at 6:45 in the morning and dont want to think about breakfast) and went to the rest of my schools. I had several really good visits with about 8 kids each.
Then for the afternoon I headed to downtown Minneapolis to check out the worlds biggest target and the nicollet mall area (a nice pedestrian street downtown). Parking was a nightmare to find, but once I did find a place to park I got to use the skywalks! they really do connect every building like a maze so, although it was still almost 50 degrees and windy, I didn't have to walk outside.
Turns out the target isn't the world's largest. bummer. but it does have a 3 story front entrance and it is a two story store - it has an escalator called a vermaport which is a dual escalator for you...and your shopping cart!
The rest of the street was pretty fun too, many of the tall office buildings had retail stores in the bottom couple of floors and the skywalks went right through some stores! You have to walk through the men's department at Macy's just to get through the building! talk about prime real estate, hahaha
I ate at a place called the Newsroom. it was kind of a sports bar kind of place, but it did have good food.
I left downtown around 6pm and for the first time have been able to lounge in the hotel room without having to hurry up and answer email so I could go to bed to wake up early the next day. yay!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Days 2 and 3
I passed out last night before updating on my first work day in MN.
I visited 5 schools and attended a college fair. of the school visits, the first couple didnt have any students show up, and then the 3rd one had 8 students! then one or two for the others. My GPS was not quite as friendly as i wanted it to be and it caused me a lot of u-turns. luckily I wasn't late to any visits.
I found a place called Cristos for dinner before my fair. It is a greek restaurant with excellent hummus, but the pita sandwiches are stuffed inside the pita (like a pocket) instead of the pita wrapped around it (like a taco) so all the meat was on top and all the lettuce was in the bottom, good food, but that was weird. I got baklava to go and it was delicious!
I got to the fair and don't see my name listed. the organizer comes over and says he got an email that was sent to all the fair organizers that said we had cancelled all our fair visits for the week!! I thought he was joking, but he wasnt. So I called work (it was still before 5pm at home) and told them we had been cancelled for the week, and they got on it right away to get me back on.
The organizer was so nice, he had given me a table in the back (fairs always put the schools in alphabetical order) so I was near West Point, but then he moved my table all the way to the front of the A's so I would at least be in my part of the alphabet. it was perfect! I was the first table every student saw! I even made contact with an alumni that would love to help. Over all it was a great day!
Today, I had four schools and a fair. the school visits in general had better turn out but the most embarrassing/funniest thing that could happen did. I walked into my second school and the career counselor had the exact.same.outfit.on. I am not joking. we had the exact same sweater vest on (from NY & Co) over a white button down shirt and black pants. the students all had to comment on it, and it was kind of hard to laugh it off, but what else are you going to do?! it was so crazy.
Then I get to the fair tonight and the woman at the table next to me had a sweater on that was exactly like my sweater vest again but it was a full sweater. Still it was noteworthy for the other reps - how did that happen to me twice in one day! this fair wasn't nearly as busy either.
I ended up eating at a chain restaurant here called Leeann Chin - it is like Panda Express, but not as good. Tomorrow after my schools I am either going to the Mall of America or downtown Minneapolis. I haven't decided yet.
I visited 5 schools and attended a college fair. of the school visits, the first couple didnt have any students show up, and then the 3rd one had 8 students! then one or two for the others. My GPS was not quite as friendly as i wanted it to be and it caused me a lot of u-turns. luckily I wasn't late to any visits.
I found a place called Cristos for dinner before my fair. It is a greek restaurant with excellent hummus, but the pita sandwiches are stuffed inside the pita (like a pocket) instead of the pita wrapped around it (like a taco) so all the meat was on top and all the lettuce was in the bottom, good food, but that was weird. I got baklava to go and it was delicious!
I got to the fair and don't see my name listed. the organizer comes over and says he got an email that was sent to all the fair organizers that said we had cancelled all our fair visits for the week!! I thought he was joking, but he wasnt. So I called work (it was still before 5pm at home) and told them we had been cancelled for the week, and they got on it right away to get me back on.
The organizer was so nice, he had given me a table in the back (fairs always put the schools in alphabetical order) so I was near West Point, but then he moved my table all the way to the front of the A's so I would at least be in my part of the alphabet. it was perfect! I was the first table every student saw! I even made contact with an alumni that would love to help. Over all it was a great day!
Today, I had four schools and a fair. the school visits in general had better turn out but the most embarrassing/funniest thing that could happen did. I walked into my second school and the career counselor had the exact.same.outfit.on. I am not joking. we had the exact same sweater vest on (from NY & Co) over a white button down shirt and black pants. the students all had to comment on it, and it was kind of hard to laugh it off, but what else are you going to do?! it was so crazy.
Then I get to the fair tonight and the woman at the table next to me had a sweater on that was exactly like my sweater vest again but it was a full sweater. Still it was noteworthy for the other reps - how did that happen to me twice in one day! this fair wasn't nearly as busy either.
I ended up eating at a chain restaurant here called Leeann Chin - it is like Panda Express, but not as good. Tomorrow after my schools I am either going to the Mall of America or downtown Minneapolis. I haven't decided yet.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Minnesota!
I have officially landed in Minneapolis! and luckily for me, it looks like a warm spell has come with me so it will be a balmy 40 to 50 degrees for my whole week here. Just to put it in perspective, I just watched the news and they said the low tonight is going to be 38 degrees - which is the average daytime high this time of year, apparently for MN this is May weather. For me it is the nighttime low in January. hahaha, crazy.
my flight got in late so I didn't get to Minnesota until 4pm. I had planned to drive around town and aclimate myself for my schools tomorrow. Instead, I decided to pick one school to try to find today using the GPS i brought. it works pretty well, but sometimes didn't give me enough time between telling me I would need to turn and the turn coming. So part of me is a little nervous about using it tomorrow when I have to go to five schools and a fair, but overall I think i just need to get used to it.
my hotel has a display of brochures on restaurants, so I perused and picked up a couple. After I felt comfortable with my GPS I made it take me to Rudolph's. it is a bbq place near downtown minneapolis (I couldn't tell you exactly because I missed a couple turns from my GPS and had to loop around the freeways a little bit). The food was great! they brought my cole slaw out before the meal, like a salad, which was weird but it was so gooood! it was like KFC cole slaw but much tangier, almost burning. and the ribs were excellent too. This place even serves Carnegie Deli cheesecake! My goal is to eat at as many places I don't see at home as possible, so I am looking forward to it.
I have taken some pictures, but will have to wait to upload. I will update again tomorrow!
my flight got in late so I didn't get to Minnesota until 4pm. I had planned to drive around town and aclimate myself for my schools tomorrow. Instead, I decided to pick one school to try to find today using the GPS i brought. it works pretty well, but sometimes didn't give me enough time between telling me I would need to turn and the turn coming. So part of me is a little nervous about using it tomorrow when I have to go to five schools and a fair, but overall I think i just need to get used to it.
my hotel has a display of brochures on restaurants, so I perused and picked up a couple. After I felt comfortable with my GPS I made it take me to Rudolph's. it is a bbq place near downtown minneapolis (I couldn't tell you exactly because I missed a couple turns from my GPS and had to loop around the freeways a little bit). The food was great! they brought my cole slaw out before the meal, like a salad, which was weird but it was so gooood! it was like KFC cole slaw but much tangier, almost burning. and the ribs were excellent too. This place even serves Carnegie Deli cheesecake! My goal is to eat at as many places I don't see at home as possible, so I am looking forward to it.
I have taken some pictures, but will have to wait to upload. I will update again tomorrow!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
