I am reaching the end of my semester. So far I have learned the easy way and the hard way. I learned that managing time correctly is an effective way to keep you moving forward. I’ve had difficult moments, due to not knowing how to deal with the pressure of meeting deadlines. This semester I had many projects to work on. Having a lot of things to do, and a limited time frame , frustrates me. I could not determine which project deserved more of my attention, because I did not organize them in terms of importance based on the period they should be presented. Its hard to balance life and school.

Life is always changing, things are not always going to be as expected. There were times that I wanted to quit everything, because I felt that everything I was doing seemed to be going nowhere. It does matter how good you are, what talent you poses there are things in life that will challenge to go through tough times. Notwithstanding, after I took some time to clear my mind from negative thoughts, learn that during those hard moments its where the real growth takes place. When you know within yourself that you must continue and not let anything stop you, you will go beyond your own expectations. I thought to myself, that this is what I want. This is what I stand for. I will give my best to finishing all my projects. I stopped worrying if I was going fail or not. All I care now is to give my best and to learn to develop myself to a better state.

At my internship, a new project came. Nevertheless, they were simple layouts. It didn’t take more than three hours to finish. After that, everything became quiet. I didn’t get any new assignments other that updating their social media and organizing photographers’ portfolios. At the end of the day they asked me if I was able to be in a photo shooting as an extra. I said yes to them, and I thought to myself, that this is a good chance for me to learn about the process of a real photo shooting.

Early morning I received an email with the time and location to the photo shooting. it said the I have to be there at 10 am at the Brooklyn museum. They are taking photos to advertise a new perfume. I got there early, some of the crew were also arriving. I did my check-in with one of the directors, then later told me to get breakfast and wait until they have everything set up. It was a great experience for me. In one side of the set there were crew members working along with photographers to set up the cameras and fixing the lights to its proper position. In the other side, make-up artist were getting their models ready.

Despite everyone working together, the director told me they were behind schedule, and that I was free to leave if I desire. They weren’t sure how long more will it take to prepare everything. I decided to wait an extra hour. However, at 2 pm I realized that I soon need to be at my job, and that I couldn’t wait any longer. Although it was unfortunately that I couldn’t stay throughout the entire photo shoot, I earned a great experience from this.

This week I was able to finish the facebook cover picture. I was glad to be able on time just before the deadline. Mey gave me positive feedback on my final piece. Although she has looked through the entire process, she was surprised when she was the final design. Later she told me to save in a specific folder, so she can later showed it to her supervisor for approval. I felt great, I hope they upload it to facebook soon.

On the meeting with my internship class, I briefly talk about this project. Later, one of my classmate who was interning in a photography agency just like me, said to the class that he was doing layouts to show every photographers’ work. He gave me good layout ideas. I hope I get to do layouts as my next project. Despite of having a lot of projects already, I like to keep myself busy and motivated.

This week I have a meeting with my senior project adviser, I am so tense. I feel that I haven’t put enough effort or time on my senior project. So far I have created a logo and now I am currently working in my clothing catalog which is taking more time than expected.

What I did next was do more research in layouts, then later I save them to use as an inspiration. I have come up with 5 different layout, and I was ready to show to my advisor. Hopefully I am able to find a better solution, because at this time I haven’t find a fixed solution to my creative problem.

It has been a tough semester for me and I am sure most of my classmates share the same view. I currently balancing work, internship, senior project and packaging design class. I am able to handle it, however things happen in life that makes me loose this balance and it take me a while to find good stability between school, life and work. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining or making excuses, I just wanted to state this feeling. There are times I feel that can’t continue anymore. However there is greater feeling that doesn’t allow me to quit. Someone has told me once, “the closer you are in achieving your goals, the difficult it gets.” It definitely got difficult, but I know that this is what I want. I am also aware that something things does make much sense at the moment, but I know within myself that day I will understand and say to myself this is what I have accomplish.

This past days, during my internship, I have spend most of my time creating a facebook cover picture. My first step was to select what pictures I will be using on my final design. Mey didn’t limit myself, she gave me a green light to select as many pictures as I desire. Later, looking at my sketches I have determinate that I will be needing at least 30 pictures. 25 of them I will need to resize to a specific dimension for them to fit in 851 px wide by 315 _­ tall. soon after, I will need to place them side by side. These small pictures will serve as the background. Then I will applying a light grey gradient and lower the color saturation. After creating this background, I will then used the remaining pictures to be highlighted with full color and a subtle drop shadow. I have calculated that it will take me approximately 2 weeks to finish this design.

Sometimes Mey asks me to help her in organizing photographers’ portfolios. I am more than glad in helping her. It’s an great opportunity for me to look at their work. I am able to learn and be inspired. I get to use my knowledge learn at my photography class. When looking at their work, I focus on the they display products and the perspective they were taken.

I am working at WSM every Monday and Friday, from 10-6pm. So far I have worked for two days. I have realized that this is the first time they have a graphic design as an inter. Therefore, I have to find new ideas to bring to this agency. This could be fascinating and frustrating at the same time. Nonetheless, I have offered some ideas to begin. I talk to them about changing the Facebook cover page to something that represent more about the company, something that illustrates their work in an interesting way. Mey agreed with me in creating a new Facebook cover picture. I have created layouts in the past using just images, but this time was different. I have not done a Cover picture for a social media before. Therefore, before doing anything else, I must do some research in finding the correct dimensions and the resolution that Facebook requires. After I found this information, my next step is to create a picture that invites people to know more about this agency. I spend most of the day researching collages samples, looking at similar agencies’ cover pages, and creating sketches of possible layouts.

At the beginning, I though it was an easy project, but the more I got into it, the more complicated it got. They obviously didn’t need another simple cover picture. What they need is to show to their followers that they are a creative photography agency. WSM has many clients from different countries, and creating a collage of their work will be a great way to show their passion in photography.

Four days later, I Benjamin Contact me through email, asking me when could I started working with them. At first I was exited about this news, but later I though it wasn’t necessary having two internships at a time. At he moment I am taking Senior Project, packaging and internship class plus a 25 hour part time job, I wanted to do great in all my classes, that means to give a reasonable amount of time in all my classes, and with two internship I would be able to do so. In consequence I have to declined Benjamin offer, and decide to stay at WSM. The decision wasn’t difficult, at WSM I was already working for them, people at the office already knew me. I didn’t want to start all over again in a new place.

The semester will soon be over, and all I want is to have a great work that I will be proud of showing to my friends and family. At the same time I want to enjoy my last semester. So far I have expanded my network with people who share the same passion for design and creativity. Its excited to think that soon we will be professional. Some of us we will be working in other countries, several of us will have a hard time finding the right job. However all of us will have an interesting story to talk to our friends and family, and one day feel proud to say, “This is what I have done.”

Today, October 12 it’s my first day at WSM as a graphic intern. I woke up early to set up my goals for the day. First I have to be early at my internship to learn their work process. Second, I have to be at 5pm for an interview with Benjamin.

When I was on the elevator going to the 14th floor, I felt nervous at first. I always get this feeling when something new is presented in my life; notwithstanding this feeling is what motivated me in life, it also fills me with emotions and excitement. Soon I was meeting with Mey, She was Kindly say hi to me, and then she introduced me to all her coworkers one by one. The office has no dividing walls, so it was easy to say hi to everyone individually. I often have hard time learning people’s name for the first time I am meeting them. This time I wanted to remember their names as much as I could, but at the end I couldn’t remember any of their names. After I was introduced to everybody, Mey explained me the responsibilities and the assignments of the job. First she showed me how they keep organized all their files. They keep them is a server, where each photographer has their own folder and inside each folder there is a sub-folder name after their client and the current date. Second she gave me the password of their social media sites, to interact with their followers by uploading some of their work. My job at the moment was to check all their social medias and website to familiarizes with their work.

I left the office at 4:20pm, so I could have some time to go to the interview with Benjamin. I arrived minutes before the according time. I didn’t wait much for Benjamin; soon we were talking about how social media has become an important part of our lives. Later he asked me what was my best social media campaign that I have seen lately. I remember seeing this interesting Coca Cola campaign where they have place a soda vending machine in a college campus. However this wasn’t like any other soda dispenser, in order to open the soda bottle, they must first find another bottle to help it open. In fact the whole campaign was called Coca-Cola Friendly Twist. It was all about finding friends on their first day of school. Benjamin found it quite clever, as he hasn’t seen this campaign. After that, I asked some question about his company and later at he end of the meeting, I handed him my business card and thank him. When returning to my house I felt good and positive.

On October 8th, I received an email from Mey, saying that she wasn’t unable to reply me back due to the amount of work she had. Later she asked me if I was able to start on Monday. I soon as I saw this email I answered it by confirming that I will be there at 10am. I also remember that I was going to be meeting with Benjamin for an interview. I didn’t feel frustrated or worry about anything, since I knew that on Monday I was going to start my internship, as I need to start working for those 120 hours. As the matter of fact I was able to relax and pay more attention to my other class assignments.

I found the time to read the article “Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture” by Chantal Panozzo. I found it very interesting since I once had an interest in visiting Switzerland. In fact, I was trying to teach myself German by watching videos online. Therefore, ever since I read this article, the desire to learn a different language has increase. I have heard that in Switzerland there are 3 main languages spoken: French, German and Italian. Thus, I have three opting to choose form and according to people, these languages shouldn’t be hard to learn since they are similar to English and Spanish. My goal after graduating is to travel to other countries; Switzerland is one of the best alternatives at the moment, as I will have to opportunity to experience the quality of life Swiss people have.

The next day, I took the initiative to apply for new internships. I took couple of places from the list that Professor Mason have giving me. I also have looked up online for internship on websites like Glass door and Craigslist. I realized that some of these places require a cover letter so I began writing one. With no time I have complete 4 applications. From now on I have to keep applying for new ones until I get a response. A day passed, and I started to look up for new internships. As I was about to send my resume to a new internship, I was on my inbox an email from Benjamin, a media director from a place that I have applied yesterday. He was setting up an interview for me in the next few days. I reply him as soon as I finish reading it. After couple of minutes, he answers me back with some instructions, direction and the time of the meeting.

I begin to explore more about the job description. I soon realized that they were looking for social media creations, something that I have done before, however it ready to be presented. Immediately I begin to gather some relevant work that I will be able to explain at my interview. I added a project that I have done in my analytics class, which the main purpose was to promote our website using social media. I have learned a lot from this project. At the beginning I believe that it was simple to promote our website using Facebook, for instance posting links that takes directly to our website. Nevertheless, it wasn’t as simple as I thought it would. I must concentrate in a specific group of people who are also interested in the same topic as my website, instead of aiming everyone. I obtained good result after this, and I was ready to share this experience at my internship.