Central Park Zoo

Last weekend my boyfriend and I ventured to the Central Park Zoo.  We went into the park on 87th street and happened to get a little lost.  The paths in the park are not straight through - they wind around.  The zoo is located on 65th street so we decided to get out of the park and walk down the sidewalk.  When we finally got to the zoo, we were frozen.  It was $12 for an adult ticket for the general attractions.  The first exhibit we visited was the Tropical Zone because we wanted to warm up. This is a huge room filled with plants found in the rainforest and exotic animals.  There were hardly any nets or glass so the birds were free to fly around.  It really felt like you stepped into a rainforest.  The colors on the animals were absolutely beautiful.  After the Tropical Zone, we saw a polar bear, snow leopard, and red panda.  Then we found the Arctic Zone which was home to one of my favorite animals: the penguin! We spent about ten minutes watching the penguins play and swim around.  There were probably about fifty penguins and they were very active and funny.  There was one that kept showing off by splashing the glass with his tail.  The last creature we encountered were the seals.  They were very smart and amusing and could do tricks on command.  Despite our very cold walk through the park, we really enjoyed the zoo.  It took about an hour to walk through all the exhibits.  It is definitely worth the visit!

Alumni Night

This last week has been very busy, both interning and getting acclimated to the big apple.  Last night Marist held an alumni night at the 92nd Street Y, set up by Deborah Porter.  The alumni were from the communication department and areas such as Sports Communication, Advertising and PR were discussed.  About fifteen alumni showed up and there were about fifty Marist students. Food was served and it was delicious! The night was set up with alumni staying at designated tables and the students rotating to a different table every fifteen minutes.  One of my friends described it like 'speed dating.' I ended up at the Sports Communication table first.  One, I know nothing about sports, and two, I have no interest in them.  However, the woman who spoke was very knowledgable.  She gave us tips on how to stand out as an intern and be successful.  Her most important advice was, when you are interning, always be enthusiastic, even if you are given a menial job.  Being enthusiastic shows your supervisor that you are willing to do what is needed in order to help the company.  It also persuades a supervisor to trust you with more tasks.  The next table I visited was Journalism which had a woman who worked on a Teen magazine.  She gave the standard pointers about how to get a job and how to move up in a career.  The last three people I visited sat at the Advertising table.  One man worked for Public Service Announcements and stressed how important it was to be working at a job that is rewarding.  He talked about the anti-drunk driving campaign and how your poster might deter someone from drinking and driving, therefore saving a life.  The alumni dinner was a wonderful night.  I met some very interesting people and the food and atmosphere were awesome. I would advice people who are Juniors or Seniors to visit the next alumni night and start to make contacts!