When East meets West

I drove 3,088 miles to get here. Depending on how much you trust Google maps that is. I graduated college in Maryland on May 25^th, 2013 and promptly left a week later to drive from my home on the east coast all the way out west to Los Angeles, California.

What was my motivation for this rather abrupt, epic road trip across the country? Well, it was a combination of a wonderful summer internship opportunity, my love of California and a seemingly unquenchable thirst for adventure. Plus, it was the perfect excuse for a road trip I’ve always wanted to take: traveling all the way across the USA, seeing places I’d never seen before. Spoiler alert: Colorado and southern Utah are stunning.

Cram two childhood best friends in a car and send them out on a seven-day road trip and you have all the perfect elements of an adventure in the making! While I could go on about how incredible this road trip was, how we danced in the middle of the Utah desert with no sight of another human being for miles or climbed to 8,000 ft, those stories will appear at another time. The spark of this adventure remains the opportunity to intern with World Vision International, an international humanitarian organization dedicated to fighting poverty around the world, with children at the front of all its concerns.

For those that have known me through college, working for World Vision did not come as a surprise- I’ve always loved the work they do and was heavily involved with World Vision ACT:S in college. My particular current title is Global Creative Services intern, which you have to admit sounds pretty cool. Roughly, what that means is that I work in the creative department on design projects. We range from creating new identities and icons for departments to doing the layout and design of all their print and web pieces. We are the strategy and concept behind the design, and sometimes do the actual designing ourselves.

That knowledge of my department has rapidly filled in through these last three months of working out here. This blog has been sparked into existence thanks to the fact that while my three-month summer internship contract is up, I have somehow found myself signed on for another three months as part of the fall internship program! Needless to say, I’m thrilled about this new opportunity to learn and grow more as a young professional after graduation. This extension of the internship will involve some new players, and I’m excited to be doing some work with our Emergency Communications team and our Publishing team!

It seems California isn’t done with me yet. As an east coaster, there are a lot of things to adjust to here on the west coast- like why you all feel the need to place “the” before a road name. The 101. The 210. Oh don’t worry. I’ve picked up your lingo. Our east coast version? We either eliminate “the” altogether or put an “I” for interstate there. I-95. Maybe we even get fancy and throw in a route, as in, “You take Rt. 1 down to 32 West!” I’m catching on here though. A few slips of the tongue are bound to happen, but we’ll get there eventually.

That’s why I’m writing this: to show you the adventures and experiences of a Maryland girl in the Golden State (fun fact that this was made the official state nickname in 1968). But these are also the writings and musings of a 20-something making her way in the world, braving the path of an internship and discovering the future one step at a time. So if you’re willing, I invite you to read and comment. Live vicariously, commiserate and hopefully laugh once in a while.

Setting out across Arizona