This Time Last Year

Wow, so it's going to be April already! I guess I was confused by the snow that's still blowing around outside of my window. April means that in about a month, I will have been graduated for an entire year. If there was one piece of advice I could give myself for this time last year, it would be very simple: don't be afraid to make a plan.

I spent the last month of college counting down the days until I no longer had a plan, or heath insurance for that matter, instead of focusing on creating a new one. I looked for employment before graduation, but stuck mainly to online listings and was very picky where I applied. I had a vague idea of what I where I wanted to live after graduation, but was too scared to commit.

Making a plan after graduation is terrifying for many reasons, but for me, it was mostly because I was so afraid on missing out. I was afraid of choosing the wrong city, falling into the wrong job, and ultimately not being happy. It took me literally until my graduation day to realize that making a plan in pursuing it can also be very exciting. When I finally decided to move my life to Rochester, NY, I ended up feeling more relieved than I had in months.

Here's the thing about plans.. you can change them. I remember talking to a friend once who was deciding whether or not to move across country with her boyfriend. I told her that if she didn't like it, she could always come home, but she'd probably regret it if she didn't take the chance. This seemed like such a revelation for both of us. I realized, after months of agonizing, that if I didn't like my post grad life plan in a few months, I could change it.

So, to any senior college readers we have out there, try to stop being afraid this month. Start planning and start being excited about the next steps in your life. Oh, and remember to finish those last few assignments before senior week- you've still got to graduate!

Yogurt and Interning

A few days ago, I was grocery shopping and overheard two women bragging about their daughters. They were talking about how their daughters had just graduated and landed these fabulous jobs, while their friends were only interning.

This got me thinking about my past internships, and how if I hadn't happened to find my current position, I would likely still be interning at this stage of my career. I wanted to walk up to the women and tell them that interning after graduation can actually be a great way to further your career, but instead I grabbed my yogurt and fled the scene, pledging to compose a passive aggressive blog post about these ladies in the near future.

Most people who have completed internships throughout their collegiate careers realize that internships are truly what you make of them. Often times, supervisors will promise the world to their interns, when in reality many interns end up making copies and coffee for nothing but academic credits... that they pay for. If you want to get exposure or try a new task, you have to persistently make it known that you're available.

Internships in the post grad world are a bit different in that there is much more at stake. In college, after your summer internship you head back to classes with some experience of the "working world" and hopefully a few contacts.

As a post grad, there is nothing following the internship. You either have a job offer at that company, or it's back to the job hunting drawing board. This doesn't make your internship any less valuable (yup, I'm talking to you yogurt ladies). It just means that you really must make the most of it to see any type of result.

Here are some tips for making the most of your post grad internship:

-Ask questions- This is actually true for any level of interning, asking questions shows that you are willing to learn and genuinely interested in your work. Want to help write the next press release the company sends out? Ask. Your interest and willingness to try new things might be what prompts the company to offer you a job.

-Be sure to communicate everything you've learned- Let's say that your current internship doesn't end up offering you a full time gig and you find yourself interviewing for other full time positions. While every job might not require the same skill set, I bet the personal growth you experienced through your internship that can stretch over many fields. For example, in my interview for my current full time job, I spoke about a video production internship experience that was less than ideal and how I handled it. While video production is not a part of my current job at all, I know the problem solving skills I learned will be valuable for any position.

-Be aware of your finances- Do not accept unpaid internships after graduation unless you are financially able to do so. Plain and simple.

-Don't let rejection get to you- When I was rejected after my first post grad internship interview, I felt like my degree was useless. It seemed like the perfect position, a blend of marketing writing, and social media. It was even paid with room for advancement! I allowed myself one night to sulk and then continued job hunt the next day. Within weeks I landed my current full time position. Ironically, I now have the same job title as the woman who interviewed and rejected me for the internship.

What about you readers, any tips for post grad interns? We'd love for you to share!

Musical Monday: The Limousines

This week for Musical Monday I came across a real gem. I first heard it on Stereo Mood, so just music, no video. There I was trying to explain to a co-worker, in the nicest way I could muster, that they are an idiot, and this song came on. Internet Killed the Video Star by The Limousines. It was so catchy I was bobbing my head. That probably took away some of my authority while lecturing, but I'm okay with that. When I got home I youtubed the actual video. It is creepy, to say the least. But I can't take my eyes away from it. Chubby zombie women in bikinis? Yup, you're really seeing that. Enjoy!

Our Weekend in Lewisburg

Shikole and I in Lewisburg!

The street our hotel was on with the most random shops ever

Our hotel courtyard

Me in front of the Susquehanna river looking patriotic....?

Shikole in our huge room!

More of Lewisburg

Shikole at Bucknell

A pretty view from the Bucknell campus

It was so awesome to see Shikole this weekend and enjoy everything that the town of Lewisburg, PA has to offer. We walked around the quaint town, visited Bucknell University (which is huge!), ate, drank, and relaxed. I'd say these photos sum up our stay nicely. Also, if by any chance we have readers that go to Bucknell, be sure to be on the watch for our business cards, we definitely put them everywhere around your campus!

Could Today Get Any Stranger?

Today has been one of the strangest days of my life. It started like an ordinary day, with my alarm going off, me groaning and blindly reaching in the direction of the noise, and rolling out of bed. I went to take a shower as usual and BAM.

No, literally, BAM. I stubbed my toe. I yelped from the pain and let out a few choice curse words as I half stumbled the rest of the way into the shower. Then I looked down and saw blood. My toe was bleeding. Profusely. I showered very quickly because standing on it wasn't all that pleasant.

When I got out of the shower I examined my injury. (This gets a little graphic, don't read if squeemish) The nail was split down the middle, part of it coming off, a large piece of flesh was dangling. Pulling the flesh hurt to the point of tears, taking it off was not an option. There was still blood everywhere. I decided to just put some band-aids on it for now and revisit the issue later.

So I get in the car to go to work. I'm running about 10 minutes late because of the toe incident. 5 minutes down the road I get stuck behind a car going 20 in a 35 and I was getting pissed. The car pulls over to let me pass and I go on my merry way. Less than a minute later I see flashing lights in my review mirror.

Unmarked police car purposefully going slow, can you say entrapment?

Anyway, the Officer comes up to my window and doesn't even ask if I know why I'm being pulled over. I thought they had to do that. Apparently I was wrong. This man just started to list the offenses I had just committed, even though most of them were bull.

1. Tailgating. (Not guilty. As previously mentioned, 20 in a 35 is entrapment)
2. Rolling through a stop sign. (Ok I did that. He had me there)
3. "Speeding" at 33 mph in a 25 mph zone while going down a hill. (Not guilty. Ever heard of gravity? You tend to speed up going down a hill.)
4. Dice on my mirror (Not guilty. Since when is it illegal to have dice???)
5. Failure to provide proof of insurance (My fault. It was renewed last week and I forgot to print the new card out.)

After lecturing me, he wrote me just one ticket, for the insurance thing. So glad he realized the rest of it wouldn't hold up if I fought it.

After those great experiences that began my morning I finally arrived at work in one piece. I was on the phone with a client, explaining to them how to change their voicemail recording when my personal cell phone starts lighting up. The screen shows me an international number and I assume it is my hotel in Istanbul confirming for my trip.

Then the number called me 4 times in rapid succession. I did not answer because I was at work. They finally left a voicemail. In the meantime, I had googled the country code and discovered the call was coming from Iraq. I don't know anyone in Iraq.

At this point I'm confused. So, like any person would do, I listened to the voicemail. It was an Iraqi male, who knew my name (said it in the voicemail). He claimed he found me on Facebook, saw my number listed, and wanted to be friends. There are a couple problems here. First, I don't have my number listed on Facebook. Too many crazy Exes that I don't want to contact me for that. Second, my Facebook profile is set to private and unless we are already friends, you can't see it.

At this point I was no longer confused, I was freaking out. It wasn't even noon and my day had been more eventful than the last 3 months, not in a good way. I still don't understand this peculiar phone call, or why a police officer would list 5 offenses and give me 1 ticket, or how I could manage to make my toe bleed after being awake for only 15 minutes. I blame the SuperMoon phenomena that scientists have been talking about.

Guess What

This weekend Shikole and I will be meeting up in Pennsylvania! Since we both started working full time, we haven't been able to see each other at all due to our limited time off and the lack of college breaks. Since D.C. is 7ish hours from Rochester, we wanted to make things easier on each other and decided that we would meet in the middle! (Just like the Diamond Rio song, "I'd start walking your way and you'd start walking mine, we'd meet in the middle....") Okay.. no one else's parents made them listen to country music when they were little? Moving on...

After some intense google mapping we settled on Lewisburg, P.A. ,which is apparently right near Bucknell University and exactly 3.5 hours from both of our homes (to the minute).

We're hoping to spend our weekend relaxing and walking around the presumably cute college town, maybe window shopping a little, doing some blog networking, having a few drinks in the evening, and just getting away from our normal lives for two days.

Since we will be in the same place, we are going to take lots of pictures, and maybe even some video for you guys to see! I know I'm always so curious to see what bloggers sound like in real life, plus I have this flip video camera that I barely use.. so... we're making one!

I know that it's only Tuesday and we have a few more days before this little trip, but we are both overly excited and in need of a break from our respective cities. Do you guys look forward to weekend getaways as much as we do? Let us know in the comments. :)

Grad Meets World Guest Post

Hi readers! Today we bring you a guest post by Amanda Abella from Grad Meets World. Amanda is 20something language instructor and freelance writer based out of Miami, Florida. As a self-described personal development junkie, she is fascinated by post-grad life and hopes to help other 20somethings achieve their goals. She blogs about her adventures and shares her knowledge over at Grad Meets World. Enjoy her post on financial savings goals!

3 Steps for Setting up a Financial Savings Goal

As a post-grad you may suddenly find yourself with a few surprises. You are now responsible for your own life, your income, and any bumps that may come along.

Take me for example, not even a year out of college and I have a day job, I’m trying to run a side business, and I have surprise expenses piling up.

Amidst the surprises, I have been able to save up enough money for two of my financial goals for 2011: open up a brokerage account and open up an IRA to start saving for retirement, both of which I did last week and it’s only March.

Now I have a couple of more expenses to plan for: two weddings that will be taking place in California later this year, for one of which I am a bridesmaid. I must admit that I started shopping around for plane tickets and ended up suffering from a severe case of sticker shock. Both tickets may cost me about $1000, and that’s not including the days which I will be staying.

However, instead of panicking and thinking, “Holy crap how am I going to afford two trips to California this year?!?!” I am taking the same proactive approach I did with my previous goals.

How to Set Up a Financial Goal and Nail It

1. Don’t panic. Ask yourself “What can I do to make extra money?”

There are lots of ways you can make some extra cash. I personally enjoy freelance writing; however there are several other money making projects you can take on as well. (For a great list read The Smart College Grad’s 5 Ways to Make Extra Money in Your 20s).

Whatever extra cash you make then gets split between your checking (hey we’ve got bills to pay) and your savings goal.

2. Set up a separate high interest savings account with your specific goal in mind.

“But Amanda, I already have a savings account with my current bank!”

I’m sure you do, but do you know what you are actually saving for or are you just automatically allocating random funds once a month? Better question, how often do you dip into your regular savings to buy something? Or even better, have you checked out your bank’s miserable interest rates lately?

I have several different savings accounts at online banks with specific goals in mind. For instance, when I was saving up for my IRA I opened up an account at Emigrant Direct and nicknamed it “Retirement” so I would know exactly what I was saving for.

Online banks usually earn you up to 5 times more interest than a brick and mortar bank which is reason enough to start putting your money elsewhere. But the real winner for me was the following: if I ever feel the urge to waste money on something I don’t really need, it would take at least three days for the online bank to transfer the money back to my checking. By that time my urge is gone and I actually saved my money.

There are several online banks out there and all it takes is a little bit of research to see which one is best for you. I personally favor ING Direct, Emigrant Direct, and FNBO Direct.

3. Split your check into percentages and pay yourself first.

I actually got this idea from one of my favorite personal finance books, The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers, and the Self-Employed. The concept is simple: split every check you get into percentages and PAY YOURSELF FIRST.

For instance, 10% of every check I received, whether it was from my day job or freelancing, went into my savings account labeled Retirement. This ensures that you save some money every time you get paid.

By following these three easy steps you’ll be sure to reach your savings goal in no time!