ketchup

get it??

So, for those of you who don't know (JSTU! Thanks for the kudos!), I'm in Reading, PA for the summer doing an internship in the newsroom of The Reading Eagle. I'm the features intern, which means I get to write mostly for the lifestyle section, and sometimes for the weekend (A&E) and religion sections. Exciting!



















(photo courtesy of travel.webshots.com)

I'll just go chronologically since there's so much.

Zach and I headed out of Norman Sunday morning at 10:30. (We were pretty exhausted from John and Lisa's wedding, which by the way, was oodles of fun, a little bit stressful, but all together a wonderful time - congrats Mr. and Mrs. Stewart!). The beginning of our trip wasn't bad, we were entertaining each other with new music, chit chat, etc. It actually seemed to be going by pretty fast.

We stop for gas and snacks in Springfield, and hit the road again. But, weird, the air vents seem to not be blowing as hard as they usually do. Maybe we're just imagining it, we think. Then... wait, this feels not so cold anymore... within 10 minutes we were sweating with windows down. Busted AC. AWESOME. This is going to make for a great trip.

So, we use the iPhone to look up a Mazda dealership in Springfield, only to realize when we get there that it's Sunday. After some calling and google mapping, we find an open Firestone. THANK GOD FOR FIRESTONE! We drive there, and Zach hits the AC button, just one more try for good measure. It works PERFECTLY! Ice cold, rushing winds of air. I never thought I'd love wind so much. We get it checked out anyway, just in case it's possessed with secret AC problems (the kind that crop up on brand new cars, apparently), and we don't want it going out again on Memorial Day. They look at it and say there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. Strange. So, we continue on, never another AC problem. Good, but weird.

Zach almost missed St. Louis due to an unplanned nap, but woke up in time to snap a couple arch photos...




























It's Lauren and the arch! (The trip is already wearing me down...)



















The trip really wasn't so bad - we played the alphabet/celebrity name game (does it have a real name?) and developed a point system that added some serious competition. We find a place to stay in Columbus, OH, but decide to drive through the night instead. The last leg across PA was brutal, we switched drivers about every hour and fought just to keep our eyes open. We caved and took a nap in the car for an hour on the side of the road. But we finally made it!

The most immediately apparent differences in PA were:
1. trees
2. lots of green
3. no open space
4. hills

We get to the dorm and get our rooms (The college I'm living at, Alvernia, a small private school in Reading, comped Zach a room on the boy's floor for the week, sweet!) and my room doesn't suck!! It's a triple room, so three beds, desks and wardrobes, and it's a corner room so it's a little bigger.

View upon entrance:




















Food nook:




















Front door:




















Back corner:




















Look how big it is!! (That's what she said!)





















Hey good lookin'





















Alright, that last one was just for fun.

After a MONSTER nap, we woke up and ran some errands. First on the list, find a Walmart. Achieved. It's no Super, 24-hour Walmart, but it'll do. Second, drive to work - super easy. Hooray!

Day one of internship (subhead)

Woke up early, what a shocker! Decided not to go with my new light gray suit and lavender button up because I want to look nice but I also want to blend in. I keep the lavender shirt and switch for brown pants. The wonderful boyfriend drops me off after buying me some McDonald's breakfast (what more can a girl ask for?). I read the paper while eating my breakfast burrito - I have fears of being quizzed on the news my first day. Too much school in my past.

Get there at exactly 8:45 (perfect!) and come in to meet the editor. He's nice, older white guy, seems conservative, pretty much what you'd expect in a family-owned newspaper editor. We try to make small talk for 10 minutes while we wait for the other intern (Vikram from UT) gets there to start orientation. We have some awkward small talk, but both seem relieved when we find we have something in common - he's a Dallas Cowboys fan!

Vikram arrives and we're sent to test our urine! Woo! We quickly bond over the stress of being able to produce enough to fill the cup. The urine tester ladies are Nazis! We come back, attend the morning meeting (which, strangely, isn't as different as you'd expect from Daily budget meetings, in some ways...) and go to lunch with our editors; mine is Kathy, the lifestyles section editor, and his, the design editor. It's nice to have a lunch plan since no one ever knows what they're doing for lunch on the first day.

We talk about the city, the paper, and they give us some helpful information. Kathy is really really nice and super helpful, which is great.

The newsroom setup is exactly what you'd expect - a huge room, all on one level, where everyone can see each other. It's awkwardly quiet.

After lots of paperwork, email and phone setup, and "tech" training (they just made the big switch over to InCopy and InDesign from Word and Quark, so I'm all set there...) we are sent to our respective sections. I'm taught how to enter weekly entertainment listings, one of my more tedious intern duties, and then I'm given some assignments! Hooray! I will list them.

1. a weekend story about three generations of family members performing in one community theatre show (oh my!)
2. a fitness profile - Q&A with a nominated local person with a commitment to fitness.
3. a feature on bridge (the card game)
4. a religion story on a pastor who is also a magician (yep)

... I think that's it. For now. Excitement.

My editor informs me that she's not too hard on hours - as long as she knows where I am and if I'll be late, and mostly, as long as I get all my work in, it's all good in the hood. So that's cool.

Nothing else too exciting, really. Today I just sat at my computer, emailed a couple sources, called a few (which is horrible in front of lots of people), checked my email a lot, asked a couple dumb questions, went to lunch with Zach and peaced out at 4:30. Niice.

I really like it so far. Hopefully I get a good amount of clips.

I feel like this is way too long, so I'll wrap it up.

Anyone know anything about The Tennessean, Nashville's paper? They posted a job I really want! That's all for now.

PEACE... FROM THE NORTHEAST.