from the intern blog…

I feel as if I have a poor sense of concentration, because every time someone walks past me I glance up in hopes of receiving some form of task. I am one of the few last interns to arrive in the Design Department and join the already numbered posse of designers. I should introduce myself to whom ever reads this ever growing and enlightening blog.

This intern is originally from Connecticut, but has been at Evangel University in Springfield,Mo. for the past two years. My name is Ashley Boos and I am a design intern. I am an Electronic Media Major and minoring in Art and Marketing. What that really means is, I want to do anything with designing or business.
I officially arrived at my new home in Lake Mary Saturday morning, even though I had only left Springfield the afternoon before. Yes, I admit I was excited, but I blame my trucker style driving to the fact that I was full of excuses. I had an excuse for every rest stop or hotel that would have been a good place to stop. JennW said Georgia, I beg to differ.

So far life as an intern has been one long party. Well, actually the weekend before I even had stepped foot in the office the many interns stalked me on facebook and invited me to join their festivities. It was a much appreciated time of getting to know people. I usually am anti-social and enjoy sleeping, running, or listening to music by myself. Saturday we saw a movie that only two (to my knowledge) really enjoyed. I just found watching a movie with AARP cards was a bit awkward. What was really cool is that on Sunday I ended up going to Summit Church and enjoying an evening with the interns again.

I really have only been at Relevant for the past two days and foresee myself learning quite a bit. I have already dived into the world of story graphics and observing. As much fun as this all is, I am kind of missing all the faces of the ones I saw all year at Evangel. I hope I make them proud!

Day One: Story Graphics and Pei Wei

It wasn’t until 7:20 am that I realized that I overslept on the first day of interning. My aunt and uncle warned me of the heavy traffic heading into Orlando, so i was in a desperate panic when I realized I couldn’t get fully ready the leisurely rate I would have hoped. Nonetheless, I showered, moussed the curls, and proceeded out the door within 40 mins. I was fully ready to accept the fact I would be late due to heavy traffic, but to my surprise the “hour commute” was only a 25 minute one. So I was or couldve been 30 mins to the first day, I really wasn’t that eager. I gathered that Orange Ave would be an interesting one to get acquainted with and explored. I ended up at an Einsteins Bagel shop and had time to enjoy a Dutch apple bagel. I finally did make it to the green building situated between train tracks and a quaint park.

Arriving at 9am-ish is an odd concept. I have classes that meet at that time, but never did I realize that real life starts at 9. I met many smiling faces and felt a little bad that my handshake was not strong. It was very great to be welcomed by a design dept. staff meeting. Alastair, the creative director, informed us that they are going to do their best to educate us will all that could be learned in these next 8 weeks. Hopefully I will learn more about concept and realize that the books I purchased will be very helpful.

You can look around the office at any given point and find people busy puttering away at work/projects. The greatest part of my day is the amount of music I am allowed to listen to and the massive amounts of photoshopping graphics I am designated to do. It was my duty today to try my best at story graphics for the website. Lets just say at the rate I pump out story graphics, Relevant might have to rethink bringing this novice into the department. Story graphics are those cute little graphic headings to their web stories. The first two story graphs I did with little work, only one came out with the right concept. I was pleased with it. The other two I was having a little bit more trouble on. One graphic gave me about 3 hours of deep sighs and almost tears on my part. My creative directors critiques was everything I knew I was having problems with. Its not like school, where you can settle for below par stuff. Needless to say I was relieved when I finally worked through it and found what really would work.

Lunch with the fellow interns was really nice. We went Pei Weis, which is the fast food version of PF Changs. I enjoyed the lunch just as much as I enjoyed the company. I will say, these Relevant Interns are super sweet. The day is almost done. Like, 6 pm is leaving time. Hopefully I will get another project and do better than before, timewise!

From the Hills of Lake Mary

I probably shouldn’t have, but I did anyways… Prior to my departure for the looming road trip from Missouri to Florida, everyone had a mutual agreement that I should probably stop at one point and sleep during this 1124 mi drive. It sounded like a good idea, but really who were they to tell me what I would be feeling like during this drive. The first leg of the drive, Missouri-Arkansas-Memphis, was my least favorite. It was absolutely beautiful lush green hills of the Ozarks, but seeing it from a one lane pseudo highway (which was just another town road) made it last too long. I finally got really excited when I paid 2.84 per gallon of gas only to see it spike back up to 2.94 within the next 15 minutes. The part of the trek that took me through Memphis, well the ghetto/poverty-like Memphis was another awkward leg of the trip. I didn’t stop like I had wanted to because the people of Tennesse just didn’t look to friendly.

The next leg of this trek Mississippi-Alabama-Atlanta, was a long one. I remember at one point in Miss./Alabama, I was always grateful every couple of miles when there was some form of life. I drove through Atlanta around Midnight. At this point in my adrenaline filled head I was thinking, I can keep going. Its only like what another few hours until the florida state line, I think I can keep driving. Looking at the map and seeing a distance is quite different than actually driving. I believe it was 4:00 am when I realized I had been driving since 1:30pm, and I still was going strong. I crossed Florida’s state line 5:30 am ish and finally stopped for an hour at a rest area to sleep. Got back on route by 7 am, arrived at my new home in Lake Mary Florida at 9:00 am. Lets just say, no one was happy I did the drive in one night, but just happy I was safe and semi sound

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I am extremely excited to say that I do believe I have met almost all the other Relevant Interns that I will be working with. I met up with a group of the ladies to see a movie that I would rather have not spent money on. Knocked up was an ok movie. I think I enjoyed the idea behind the story more than the presentation. I think almost 75% of all vulgarity, profanity, and “bad stuff” couldve been taken out and the movie wouldve been more digestible. It was fun to meet these people. And then tonite I met up with them again at Summit Church in Orlando. It was an excellent message and the atmosphere was way cool. At this time I met Alastair Sterne, the all wonderful Design Director of Relevant Magazine. It was pretty sweet to meet almost all of the Interns again and Alastair. We ended up sitting next to each other at some deli chain shop. We really didn’t have a conversation, because where we were sitting was the split of interns vs. not interns. From the conversation at dinner I can tell the four main things that will most likely come up in any one of the interns conversations:

number one— It is most likely to be mentioned in any form or fashion that this is unpaid. I will make it my goal never to talk about the unpaid-ness of this internship. I am going to try to enjoy this for the mere experience of it all.
number two– I can guarantee something about the intern blog will be stated and discussed and stated again.
Number three– something about the beach or intern hanging out times will be circulating our conversations at any given point.
Number four– There is no doubt that the blatant use of ‘RELE’ in front of, or in conjunction with will be used an obscene amount.

At this time, I am going to bed because tomorrow I will finally see this amazing office that I have been so eager to dive into. I feel a great deal of ease knowing I have met some of the people I will be co-working/interning with. And I know tomorrow we are doing lunch in celebration of my arrival!

re-le-vant

So it officially is Friday, the day I venture central Florida to pursue everything relevant. What makes me laugh is all summer semester I have been trying to get up at this time to run, yet the snooze button seems like a better option at the moment, and the last day I am up. Too bad it is cloudy/rainy/angry looking outside. My online course is complete, my interpersonal communication class is meeting at Shoneys for breakfast/discussion/the easiest final ever, and then my Biology exam. The Bio exam really might determine my happiness, but going by the amount of studying I put in, its a wait and see. Wait until the last minute and see the mind of Ashley do olympic style gymnastics to complete the test.
I read the newly updated internblog @ RELEVANTMagazine.com with an excitement I haven’t felt since I was in the fourth grade and I found out my mom was visiting after 5 years. It was that nervous, “omg”, adrenaline, heart pounding, makes you want to run long distance experience of excitement. I am a little concerned, they all seem way cooler than me. Like, each person is unique in the way that everyone has a story. I am really excited to meet Hannah and Jen, only because they are the ones I have been in semi-fluid correspondance with via facebook. My director has the coolest tattoo up his arm, its a t-shirt and jeans type of atmosphere, and I have a strong feeling that I am going to sweat an unattractive amount.
I admire the cinder block room in Inez Spence Hall that I have called home for the past month. I smile because for the first time, I don’t feel like my life is cluttered with stuff. I can physically see everything in my ownership that is traveling with me. Two body-sized bags filled with clothes, books, and dvds. One medium sized duffle overflowing with shoes (75% of which I know I will not wear its a choice factor). Two overflowing tote boxes of my Health and Beauty supplies. A backpack full of books and cds. My computer and all his companions. My bedding and my pilates mat. All of this to say, I do have a plethora of stuff. Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed by stuff that I long to simplify it. Its kind of like how I feel about life. Life can become cluttered with stuff that can become overwhelming. What is great as Christians, we know that God is simple in an aspect. He is simply the alpha and omega, and we accept him in his state of greatness as if he was simple. Then again I am no philosopher, just a well-adjusted student that is ambitious and tenacious.

I will update from the road!

bags are packed and im ready to go….

I wish I was listening to the leaving on a jet plane song. My bags are packed, as of 5 mins ago, my fridge is defrosted, my room is in state of transition. I was awake until 1 or 2 am getting many things ready for an upheaval. I never realized how horrible my packing skills are. I have two body-sized bags almost filled with clothes. Luckily the one that has room left will be stuffed with books, internship papers, and other sources of partial enjoyment. I still have to go and purchase “Jesus CEO” in order to get reimbursed for this program. *9:58 am* *sigh* I have class at 10:30, but a first aid box to get from the wellness center, and two research papers (one is done, and no surprise that the other one hasn’t even been started.)
Here is the state my room is in:

And the countdown begins…

It is official. The days of summer school are winding down and alas, I am more than ready/anxious/nervous to begin my journey to Orlando for my RelevantSummer. I am listening to the recent podcast, pouring over/stalking the intern blog at Relevantmagazine.com, and trying to make sure I know all I can about this fabulously intimidatingly rad magazine. Summer school is still here though. *tear* I have approximately 1 five-pager to edit, 1 to begin ( really i need to pick a topic), a few exams and a whole lot of packing to accomplish. Most of this has to be accomplished before Wednesday, oh wait that is tomorrow. The list is beginning to get longer of the things that needs to be accomplished before Thursday, and I really should start getting things in order for my road trip extraordinaire from Springfield to Orlando. 3 days, 24 hours or driving, and 1300ish miles stands between me and my summer.

I am revisiting this one verse I have held dear to my heart since I was 13. Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not [there is nothing to fear], for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties, yes, I will help you; yes, I will hold you up and retain you with My [victorious] right hand of rightness and justice.” I had a hard time falling asleep last night. My worries and fears of this summer began to eat away at my needs to rest. Today at lunch, I started to have an almost-anxiety attack. Thinking about driving through the southeastern part of America. The thought of driving through the thick-dark Mississippi forestry at night started playing games with my mind. I can only imagine the worst (which in terms of interpersonal communication–Fallacy of Catastrophic Expectations!). You know that scene, a young damsel sitting in her car at a rest stop, a hobo-like figure taps on the glass of her driver side window, with a pick axe. [insert dramatic-scary music] So the point of this melo-dramatic scene, Isaiah 41:10 will get me through this.