Winterim 2020 in New York

Student Blog Posts from New York Internships

First day in NYC - Virginia Wall

So today was our very first day in NYC and it’s been quite eventful! The day started with a quick tour by Richard, lunch of our choosing and and introduction to the subway system! My day was a lot more eventful than that, though. I got on the yellow train and just followed the trustworthy Kate Miller, as she used to live in New York and knows her way around much better than me. After we got on, I quickly realized she was going uptown and I was supposed to be going downtown. Kate had to walk me, like my mom, and drop me off at the right train to insure I wouldn’t get lost. I had to ride 6 stops to Union Square. Made it there safely and all the way back home... just to get locked out of my room for the third time today. Taylor and I had to get new room keys and ended up having to get security to let us back into our own room! We ended the day at John’s Pizzeria, which was SO good! It was a very fun, exciting and eventful first day!!!

Day 2 - Lily Silvester

This morning, all seventeen of us woke up at different times, ranging from 5:30 to 10 a.m., to begin our internships! I woke up around 7:30 a.m. to get ready for my internship at BMI.  I left the hotel and began to walk to the subway; however, I quickly became lost. Luckily, I found Hannah and we walked to the station together. I got off at my stop and walked the rest of the way to the 7 World Trade Center. I was very nervous for my first day of work; however, my nerves were soon calmed by the kindness of those I worked with. I met many brilliant people who took me under their wing. After our internships, we had a lot of freedom. We got to explore the city and go to dinner by ourselves. I went to the Vessel, the Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree, and a coffee shop. We all met up around 8:30 to eat cookies and share about our day. I finished the day running in the gym with Clara and Maddy. Overall, today really calmed all of our nerves. We have a better idea of where we are working, what we are going to be doing, and who we will be with for the next few weeks. I cannot wait for the following days to learn and explore the city more!  

Day 3 - Lily Przybylinski

Third day in New York, second day of internships! Today, we all woke up ready for our internships and much more confident after conquering our first days at work. Abby and I left for our jobs at Penguin Random House at around 9am, and luckily did not get turned around after exiting the subway today like we had before! The day consisted of reading manuscripts and going to a design team meeting. In the meeting, we got to see the book covers that were currently in progress, complete with all the concept art and the developing pieces, which were really amazing to see.

After getting off work, Abby and I stopped at a macaron stand in a marketplace called the Turnstile that is located in the subway and is filled with restaurants and little stores. Then, shortly after arriving to the hotel, we set off with Cate, Ellie, and Kate for dinner. Twenty minutes later, we were at Ellen’s Stardust Diner, where the staff serenade you and dance on tables while you enjoy your meal. An hour later, we left satisfied after singing along to Disney classics and Tina Turner while eating our food. All in all, Day 3 was a success!

Day 4 - Clara Murff

Today, the Bears on Broadway got to see "Ain't Too Proud", an exciting Broadway musical centered around the life of the Temptations: a musical group deemed the #1 R&B/Hip-Hop Band of All Time. Before the play, at 6, we left the lobby and walked to the Imperial Theatre (the location of our play) to eat at our choice of the variety of Times Square restaurants. I and a few other juniors ate at “Brooklyn Diner” where we sat by an old couple who commented on our accents and our politeness. The old man kindly advised us to call our parents and to take care of ourselves and changed for many of us our belief about New Yorkers being rude. We then met back at the theatre at 7:40 for the 8 o'clock play: it was an amazing show to say the least. The dance numbers were wild and rowdy; in fact, not even the somewhat obnoxious audience members behind us could distract the Honeybears from the flashing stage lights. My personal favorite member of the band was Paul - a troubled yet kind band member who always seemed to be the peacemaker of the group. I also liked “Blue” and his astonishingly deep voice. The play truly instilled a sense of wonder into the audience around all the personal sacrifices the band members had to make in order to change the music scene and the world the way they ultimately did. I cannot wait to listen to all of the Temptations hits and to fully appreciate the difficult journey travelled to create them.

Day 5 - Abby Moschel

Today we woke up early to head to the Met Cloisters, all the way uptown in Washington Heights. It’s basically this really big European church on top of a hill. There are so many large corridors with medieval architecture, stained glass windows depicting biblical scenes, gardens, and tapestries. My favorite site was the tapestries depicting the unicorn because it was so fascinating hearing Richard, our tour guide, talk about the meaning and symbolism behind them. He said that there is a dual meaning to the unicorn-- Jesus Crist and a lover of a virgin-- because it showed the virgin taming the unicorn and the purifying magic it had. After, we took a bus to the MET which was cool since most of us have never taken a public bus before. When we got to the museum, Lily P and I set off into the ancient Egypt exhibits, Greco-Roman arts, and European paintings. It was cool to see all of the old hieroglyphics and even a mummy. There was also a large pool in the Egyptian sect which was beautiful. Lily and I also saw a hidden exhibit of fashion in the basement and there were so many beautiful gowns all from the 1900s to now. I really enjoy seeing the modern and contemporary exhibits when I go to art museums because they always have the most interesting pieces. We probably spent at least 30 mins looking for it until we realized that the top floor of the exhibit was closed off for changing out the artwork. Luckily, we were able to find the bottom part of the exhibit. After the MET, I watched the Titans beat Baltimore with my roommates!

Day 6 - Kate Miller

Today was so much fun! Being able to sleep in was so nice and the bus tour was so informative! It was such a convenient way to see a lot of NYC landmarks in a relatively short amount of time. The knowledge our tour guide Richard shared with us about the city was insane and I feel like I learned a lot about the history of NYC. We first went to Greenwich village where we saw the friends house and the narrowest house in NY. It was in the 60s and sunny all day, which was perfect for walking around the village and window shopping. We then went to the 9/11 memorial and Trinity Church, where Alexander Hamilton is buried. After that, we saw other amazing churches like St. Patrick’s and St. Paul’s and learned about Central Park and Harlem. To finish the tour, we went to Grand Central station, where we learned about the history of the station along with some few secrets. For example, there is one area where two people can face opposite corners of the room and still hear each other talking! It was so wonderful to get to learn all these interesting things about the places we went to and I feel like I have a deeper understanding of New York and its history. To round out the evening, Abby Moschel, Lily Presbilinski, Cate Kohl and I went to Ceci, a pizza joint near Times Square. They had an amazing array of different pizzas and toppings it was hard to choose one! I eventually settled with the (amazing) pepperoni and bacon pizza and treated myself to a chocolate lava cake for dessert! I wish I had taken a picture before I ate it but I just couldn’t help myself once it arrived. Both pizza and cake were addictingly good and I am definitely going back another day. Today was such a fun experience and I hope there are more days in New York like it!  

Day 7 - Walker McKnight

 After a fun weekend of being together as a group we headed back to our internships this morning. Ms. Gonzalez and Ms. Evans went to work with the MAC Presents girls for their site visit. Right before leaving for work we found out that the red line number one train we usually take to work was not running today. So at the last minute we had to try a new route to work which ended up being faster and easier than our original way. This small unexpected change in our day seems very typical in New York and we could tell we were not the only ones dealing with it once we saw how packed our train was. Other than subway troubles, it was fun to show them the office and what we are working on! During my lunch break Carter and I went to Chopt where we were overwhelmed with the speed of the process of ordering, making, and purchasing our salads during the rush of lunch hour. After eating, it was so fun to stroll down the streets we had never been on before and discover new lunch spots and shops. We could not resist stopping in the famous Dylan's Candy Bar and observing the way all the candy was displayed in an aesthetically pleasing rainbow of colors. After work, a group of us met up to shop around near the world trade center. Our group gathered at 6:30 to head to our rescheduled dinner at Taboon. Thankfully this time they were ready for us and we enjoyed a multi course delicious meal ranging from cauliflower appetizers and fish entrees to chocolate mousse and ice cream for dessert. Dinner was a hit and after a quick group meeting we headed back to our rooms to prepare for an early wake up call tomorrow morning! We cannot believe we will have been here for a week tomorrow. 

Day 8 - Lily Majors

Finance day! While this “title” for the day might not be the most enticing or appealing for some, the list of activities planned for us certainly were. To be honest, before today, when I thought of finance I thought of men in suits talking about stocks, bonds, and investments. This day really gave me (and my group) an exciting and new perspective about the finance/corporate world. We started the day out at NASDAQ. We witnessed the Opening Bell Ceremony at 9:30 am on live TV and learned about what NASDAQ does. We then headed over to Merril Lynch, a wealth management company, where a panel of women in senior positions talked about their roles and career paths. It was interesting to note how many of them stressed that they did not study business or math in college. Almost all of them majored in a liberal arts topic and yet they still ended up in finance. An interesting question was posed to the panel that asked how they navigate working in a field dominated by men. I thought the response was very noteworthy because Ms. Rose responded that “it can be empowering”. Our last stop was at Blackstone, a financial services firm. We ate a delicious lunch while listening to an overview of what Blackstone does. We also learned about their commitment to helping our community which they do by hiring veterans and making an effort to help the environment. A HUGE thank you to Mr. Miller for organizing this day for us! It was very appreciated, informative, and eye-opening and we are all extremely grateful for the opportunities we had today. 

After a busy morning we all headed our separate ways to go to work for the afternoon. Following work we had a free night for dinner so most of us grabbed something to eat from close by and headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest. We are all looking forward to seeing Mean Girls tomorrow and continuing our internships for the rest of the week! 

Day 9 - Cate Kohl

Today at work I met with three different people who work with BMI. I met with Katie, who works in the creative department. She said that she has met lots of different celebrities such as Shawn Mendes. She meets with different artists and helps them in the business. She was newer than most of the people there, so she had not helped that many people yet. We also met with Mary who also works in the creative department. She works with Latino people and helps them in the business. She specifically helps the people who sing in Spanish, and she helps support them in the business. Finally we met with a lawyer who talked about his part in BMI. his job does not consist of courtroom cases, but face to face meetings. After this Kate Miller and I got lost trying to find Mean Girls. It was quite the experience getting lost. We finally arrived at the place, but walked past it. I turned around and realized it was right behind us the whole time. After Mean Girls, I met Cameron Dallas. Meeting him was amazing, and I almost passed out. I even got a picture with him, and he signed my playbill.

Day 10 - Hannah King

Another great day in the Big Apple! I started my morning off at 9am, as I left for work. It was raining heavily which made for a slow commute to work. After six stops on the subway, I was at work and ready for the day. I feel like I am getting very good at navigating the subway and am more confident in my independence! I worked on a number of projects and tasks at my desk. Ms. Evans came to my sight today and visited me. I was really excited to show her around my work. Time really flew at work and before I knew it, it was 4:30 and I am due back to the hotel. I took the subway back to the hotel and got back to my room and relaxed for a little bit. Tonight, many girls choose to head over to Brooklyn and walk the Brooklyn Bridge with our trusty tour guide Richard. We saw some amazing views and had some delicious pizza at Julianna’s. Richard told us history facts and stories about multiple places around the city. Some girls headed to other parts of the city for a free dinner and time with friends or family. As a whole, our group is loving NYC. We are taking advantage of the city and taking it all in! 

Day 11 - Taylor

Today was quite an eventful day for the bears in Times Square! Per usual, we woke up and headed of to our busy internships. Today, I continued making excel spreadsheets that held the affiliates of different beauty magazines such as: Cosmopolitan, Allure, Refinery and over 200 others! For dinner, we were invited to the Harvard Club by Lily Silvester’s grandparents. It was one of the fanciest meals I have ever eaten and all of us were very grateful to be there! After dinner, we had a short, yet very cold, walk to the theater to catch the showing of To Kill a Mockingbird. Although it was a very different tone and setting than the Broadway show, Mean Girls, that we saw Wednesday night, I enjoyed it just as much. Most everyone was required to read the book in middle school, so seeing the Broadway interpretation was fascinating and extremely entertaining. Throughout the show, I was taken back by the powerful message the plot and talented acting demonstrated. I was very excited to see the actor from one of my favorite movies, Love Simon, whose name is Nick Robertson. He played the character Jim Finch. I had no idea that he was in a Broadway show, so this was a nice surprise! Although today was much fun, there were some road bumps along the way. Some examples are: Gabrielle accidentally slept through her alarm this morning and woke up when we were supposed to leave, my backpack got stuck in the subway doors as I was trying to get on, and my phone went off during the show. These hiccups just make the trip even more memorable.

Day 12 - Carter

We split up and a big group of us headed to the Museum of Natural History. It was incredible. I saw the space, mammals, dinosaurs, and so many more museums. After a while, we left and headed toward SoHo again. We found this great restaurant and it was snowing so much it was painful to be outside. I got pancakes and mac and cheese and had more trouble with my debit card but fixed it. We walked around and shopped then decided to go to the Whitney. It was composed of such beautiful modern art! I took lots of pictures and even got some inspiration for a lot of my own art pieces! We explored that then left to walk to Chelsea Market. We found another flea market and explored that then explored the market itself! There were so many restaurants and shops it was incredible! We decided to bike to the vessel because Walker hadn’t seen it yet! It was snowing a lot outside but we just hopped on the Citi bikes and biked 2.5 miles along the Hudson River to get to the vessel! Once we passed the vessel and parked the bikes we rode the subway back to the hotel to rest before dinner. I just relaxed then got ready and headed downstairs. The walk to Nirvana, an Indian food restaurant, wasn’t bad at all but it was quite cold outside. I sat next to Cate, Kate, Lily P, and Abby and was so glad to make new friends. I got to learn lots about all of them and became close to Cate. I could tell we were going to be good friends because we have a very similar sense of humor and are both incredibly quirky. I was so happy that I got a chance to really talk to her! We discussed everything from youtube to riddles to jokes and tik tok. The dinner was incredible and I tried lots of new food I’ve never had before. It was a very long dinner and afterward, we tried to get ice cream before we went back to the hotel. But a few of us got lost and couldn’t find out where we were. So we had been aimlessly walking around and found out we were pretty far away from the hotel so we got in a taxi and headed back. I hung out with Gabrielle and Walker which I always look forward to and then came back to my room for bed check. I can’t believe we have less than a week left! I feel like I’m just starting to get to know some of these girls and wish I branched out earlier! I recently became aware of how present I have been over the course of these two weeks. I have not once thought about obligations or things back at home and have truly been living every moment to the fullest. While I’m in New York I really don’t want to and can’t afford to waste any of my precious time on my last Winterim trip!   

Day 13 - Eads

Today was a great Sunday in the city! We started off the morning with a group trip to the MOMA. Which stands for the museum of modern art. We spent an hour in the space exploring what they were displaying. One of my favorite pieces that we saw was starry night by Vincent Van Gogh. Funny story actually, when I was in preschool, my art teacher asked me to try and recreate the painting. Which actually is in my house currently. So it was cool to see the real thing! After the MOMA, we met up with our great tour guide Richard, who then guided us to Central Park. We walked around the park while he explained to us it’s rich history. We saw where residents walk around the park as well as run. We also got to see a castle which was in the middle of the park, and had a great view of the city. Towards the end of our park tour, we walked toward the exit and found this fountain which is known greatly throughout television. As a huge gossip girl fan myself, that is the exact spot where chuck and Blair got married! So I was definitely fangirling big time. After our walk in the park, we made our way to the subway and back to the hotel in time to watch the titans game! Fingers crossed they pull out the win!!! What a great Sunday.

Day 14 - Ellie Frist

Today, we went on a tour of the High Line! The High Line used to be New York Central Railroad Spur, but is now an elevated greenway of sorts! Along the High Line, there were many different forms of art. One in particular that stuck out was the piece by Simone Leigh called Brick House, which was a 16 ft tall bronze bust of a Black woman with a torso composed of a skirt and clay house. However, that was just one of the many works of the Highline. Richard, our tour guide, also told us about the architecture of the High Line and how it maintained its linear structure even while it was being transformed into the greenway it is today. Then, to escape the cold, we made our way to the biggest Starbucks in New York, where I bought a large hot chocolate!

Next, we made our way to the Tenement Museum. The tour of the museum is extremely interactive, with an actor/ actress playing the role of a real person who lived in the tenement house. My group met Victoria, who lived with ten other people in a three room "apartment". It was shocking that so many people lived in such a small space, I could barely fathom it. However, it was exciting to be able to learn about what life would have been like for someone who was an immigrant during that time. Being able to compare the life of an immigrant over one hundred years ago to the lives that immigrants are living today was fascinating. It shows that over time the overall story hasn't changed much but that the characters of the story do. Hopefully, one day this will change.

After the Tenement Museum, we went to a restaurant in Little Italy called Il Cortile. It was a great end to such a fun (and cold) day. I had a great dinner with many interesting conversations and tons of laughs. I have loved being able to get to know so many different girls on this trip. It reminds me of one of the many beauties of Winterim: The chance to get to know other people better. I wouldn’t have traded all of the laughs we had tonight for anything. I look forward to see what tomorrow brings!

Day 15 - Gabrielle

Today was a good day! Taylor and I got up and went to a coffee shop before going to work together. At work, I worked on recording information about products that my company sent out this week into an Excel sheet. It was a little bit monotonous but I love the feeling of being busy and having something to do. Then Taylor and I went to lunch in the Tunnel, an area in the building next to ours with a bunch of cool, up-and-coming restaurants. We sat there and decompressed for a little while, talking about our mornings and our internship as a whole. Then we went back to work until 4, when we had to race back to the hotel in order to have time to get ready for the Harpeth Hall Alumnae event. We left at 5 to go to a little cafeteria-type place where we could all get something different. Then all of us, dressed as nicely as we could be, walked nervously over to the alum event. Of course we had no reason to be nervous, but it was still nerve-wracking, as we would be expected to have small-talk with impressive alums for two hours. I was very anxious about it beforehand! When we got there, I had trouble opening up and making myself talk to people, even people that I knew, because it was such an overwhelming situation. However, after everyone went around and introduced themselves, I had a wonderful time speaking with women that I knew, and even some that I didn’t know. I have had four sisters go through Harpeth Hall, so I had fun finding people that I knew and that my sisters knew. I challenged myself to talk to at least one new person, and I talked to two girls from the class of 2013 whom I had never met before. I had so much fun at this event, and I wanted to keep finding new people to talk to about their experiences after Harpeth Hall. Afterwards, our whole group went to Insomnia Cookies, which is an amazing cookie store that sells warm cookies, milk, and ice cream until 3AM. We all got cookies and went back to the hotel for the night. Overall, today was a great day that I won’t soon forget.

Day 16 - Maddy Corts

Today was an amazing day! After everyone finished work for the day we all took the subway to Dizzy’s Club near Columbus Circle. At Dizzy’s club we had a really delicious dinner and watched a Jazz show. The music was very enriching and we all enjoyed it so much. The Jazz music reminded us of the movie La La Land, so it was really fun to hear and see the musicians in action. It was also great to all be together for dinner one more time. Our travel group is such a great group of girls and it is always so fun to have dinner with everyone. At dinner we all talked about how crazy it is that the trip is already coming to an end. Our time in New York City has flown by so fast and we are all so sad that it is almost time to head back to Nashville. On this trip we have all grown closer to each other and learned so much about ourselves. I think that everyone has had such an amazing experience getting to know everyone in our group and learning more about what they might be interested in. We are sad that the trip is almost over, but everyone is so thankful for this amazing opportunity. 

Last Day - Clare Coleman

Hello and happy Thursday! Although I am in the midst of packing and dreading leaving NYC behind, I can not help but smile when reflecting on Winterim 2020. Today went as followed: I got up, had my coffee, and headed out for my very last work day at MAC Presents. Work today was bittersweet- saying goodbye to all of the MAC team brought tears to my eyes, but looking back at all we had accomplished felt so rewarding. The team even sent us off with sweet handwritten notes and Milk Bar treats! After work everyone met on the third floor of the hotel to have a fun gift exchange so every girl could leave with a piece of the city. After the gift exchange, we all headed to Rockefeller Center to be "On Top of the Rock"! To see the entire New York skyline from thousands of feet in the air was truly breathtaking. I had spent my entire Winterim on group level walking the streets, but to see New York from a different point of view felt magical. After a fun adventure to the top, I found myself having a last and 'final hoorah' dinner at the infamous Nobu Downtown. I had the most delicious sushi and dessert- a perfect way to end three week trip of fun and adventure! I am so thankful for my Winterim experience and all that I have learned within these past three weeks. NYC, Clare Coleman will be back soon! XOXO