tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/sthm/NikkiGleason//361 2009-10-29T15:19:16Z Movable Type 3.34 tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/sthm/NikkiGleason//361.11203 2009-10-29T14:58:50Z 2009-10-29T15:19:16Z

Firstly--- How bout them Phils?! Game 1 was so decisively ours. It's a great time to be in Philadelphia, especially with all those nay-sayers...we'll prove them wrong. Secondly-- Do you remember me talking about being on the website committee for...

Nikki Gleason Firstly--- How bout them Phils?! Game 1 was so decisively ours. It's a great time to be in Philadelphia, especially with all those nay-sayers...we'll prove them wrong. Secondly-- Do you remember me talking about being on the website committee for Senior Seminar? Wellllll now the website is up and running! Check it out at sthmseniorseminar.com. I'm so proud of the website committee. Long nights at the TECH Center paid off! We'll be updating it frequently with pictures, newsletters, and events, but for now we've got a really great base. Thirdly-- This week was the 10th Annual Women's Entrepreneurship Conference. I attended for the first time, and honestly I had no idea of some of the resources I learned about. Temple is ranked third in the country for Entrepreneurship, a huge honor, and accordingly, our Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute (IEI), is doing big things to empower all students as future business leaders. The keynote speaker as this conference was Robin Wilson, the founder and CEO of Robin Wilson Home (robinwilsondesign.com). Ms. Wilson was eco-friendly before it became a trend, and told us about her struggles and triumphs over the past ten years as she has developed and grown her interior design business. She was recently ranked on the list of New York's 50 Most Powerful Women, and her tales of starting off with a bang, to getting burned out, to refocusing and starting again, made me feel like I can do anything I want with perseverance and creativity. In fact, her starting line was, "What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?" and I think that is an inspiring attitude we should try to engender within ourselves. And as a last side note! The winner of the Entrepreneurship Conference's essay contest was one of my classmates! Alina is the Project Chair in Senior Seminar, working hard to plan our 18th Annual Career Day, and her essay was chosen from the largest pool of entries the contest has ever seen. Congratulations! tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/sthm/NikkiGleason//361.11124 2009-10-21T19:28:54Z 2009-10-21T19:39:42Z

Last night, I was privileged to work as a volunteer for the 16th annual Taste and Tour of the Countryside, a food, beverage, and venue trade show that has numerous exhibitions, all showing off drink specials, gourmet dishes, yummy desserts,...

Nikki Gleason Some of us volunteers! I'm in the front on the right. And Traci, who I stole this picture from too, is in the back row third from the left. ]]> tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/sthm/NikkiGleason//361.10989 2009-10-06T20:59:28Z 2009-10-13T03:14:56Z

I'm vigorously working with the Senior Sem website committee to learn Dreamweaver and Photoshop and get our class's website up and running very very soon. I'm commuting two hours every time I have class (and other days in between), cramming...

Nikki Gleason Perfect day to play tourist! It was cool to look at Boston with a bit of a tourism planner's point of view. They've got a well-thought out public transportation system-- essential in a city run by pedestrians and cyclists; the river is so sparkly and clean, and the riverfront area offers some activity for everyone, be it the aquarium or upscale restaurants, history or dance clubs; and Boston Commons (like Philly's Fairmount Park) has copious landscaped gardens, fountains, and statues. But! It was so hard to find baked beans. You know, we've got our glorious cheese steak. And Boston has its beans?! Except I spent a lot of my weekend looking for a place that could give me a small container of baked beans, to try the authentic thing-- to no avail. My friend ended up texting one of those services where they respond to you and answer your question. Their response? A sassy "Are you serious? Beans at this time of night?" Oh well. Next time!]]> tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/sthm/NikkiGleason//361.10765 2009-09-10T21:56:16Z 2009-09-12T15:26:37Z

I just had falafel on Temple's campus for the first time. It was SO good. There's this place on campus lovingly called the "wall of food," sort of like a strip mall with six or seven windows for food vendors,...

Nikki Gleason Iker Casillas, the goalie for Real Madrid. I have SUCH a crush on him. He's beautiful, right? Classes are going really well. They are challenging and most require a lot of reading, but I realize when I talk to professionals and other students outside of Temple how much I am learning, and it's a really good feeling. Senior Sem is just as intense as everybody told me it would be, but I feel really lucky to be in that class, to be challenged in a professional environment as I will be in just a year. I'm also realizing that I really need more professional clothes, blazers and button downs and such. So I'm totally off to the outlets-- truly, it is necessary to shop today! I hope it's not raining wherever you are! It is not always sunny in Philadelphia, as it's been either drizzling, misting, or pouuurrring for the last two days basically. ]]> tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/sthm/NikkiGleason//361.10733 2009-09-04T12:55:08Z 2009-09-04T13:05:22Z

Sigh. I thought it'd be a good idea to squish my last five classes into two days. Which, really, considering the fact that I'm commuting via the train, makes a lot of sense. But it also makes for some lo-o-o-ong...

Nikki Gleason Sigh. I thought it'd be a good idea to squish my last five classes into two days. Which, really, considering the fact that I'm commuting via the train, makes a lot of sense. But it also makes for some lo-o-o-ong days. From 11 to 3:20 each day, I have Art Heritage (my last core class), Organizational Management, and Senior Professional Development Seminar (affectionately known as Senior Sem). After a two hour break (oooh yeah!) I have Destination/Special Event Management (on Tuesdays nights) and Legal Issues in Tourism and Hospitality (on Thursdays). What I like about these classes is that they are things that I never thought would fit right in my brain, but they're not at all impossible. My professors have already posted a lot of readings, and they're interesting and make sense. This semester is going to be all about staying on top of work, pushing myself further than I have before, and taking every step to make preparations for my internship (in fifteen short weeks!). Summer was fantastic, but it is sort of good to be making some serious moves and being busy. I'm going down the shore for Labor Day weekend! Management Chapters 2 and 3 reading on the beach, anyone? Ooooh yeah. tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/sthm/NikkiGleason//361.10629 2009-08-14T23:36:57Z 2009-08-14T23:49:30Z

I have this friend who goes to Drexel and lives in Broomall (a suburb west of Philadelphia). I live in Malvern, which is about two inches more north and four inches more west of Philadelphia (at a certain zoom on...

Nikki Gleason I was scared that our canoe would topple and I would fall in with my camera so I don't have pictures of us on the lake, but here is an almost-sunset view, I received an email from one of my professors a few days ago, introducing us to the course. This one is my capstone. It's called Senior Professional Development Seminar (Senior Sem) and is sort of designed to simulate a business world experience and use all the curriculum has taught you. We have a binder due a week before class that is supposed to hold details of where we have completed our 250+ Industry-Related hours over the past few years, and I'm excited to started working on it and get ready to....well, do the semester.]]> tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/sthm/NikkiGleason//361.10536 2009-07-17T12:55:57Z 2009-07-17T13:05:40Z

Soo good for me, I got back from family vacay in New Hampshire and I've gotten out of that weird summer slump and am actually doing something with myself. This week was a GLORIOUS one. I turned 21 on Monday...

Nikki Gleason My little sister Kelsey and me in Quechee Gorge in Vermont I also got a job this week, so that's cool. It's a restaurant job, and hopefully it'll continue through the school year so I can buy more dresses and more important things like textbooks. Today I'm going to visit the company I really would love to intern with in the spring. It's an event planning company that does both social and corporate events, and what I like about it a lot is that interns are trusted and given real responsibilities. If this doesn't work out, I think I'd like to look for internships outside this area...maybe Portland, Oregon, or even go back to Spain. Decisions, decisions. Tonight my two good friends from Spain, Bethany and Alyssa, are coming to visit for the weekend! I'm very excited to see them!]]> tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/sthm/NikkiGleason//361.10495 2009-07-02T13:26:55Z 2009-07-17T13:06:20Z

I got my tonsils out two weeks ago, and since then has been a montonous pattern of taking medicine, wishing I could eat crunchy things, watching the marathons of 'NCIS' that USA Network was kind enough to put on, aaand...

Nikki Gleason Touching stingrays Octopus! This past weekend I went to a farm in New Jersey with my dad's girlfriend, and had the best soft serve ice cream and picked blueberries and peaches. The peaches are PERFECTLY ripe, and I've already used some of the blueberries in a cookie recipe of my own design. The rain has been relentless, but this day was really sunny, and it was so nice to be outside. This coming weekend, I'm leaving for a road trip to Hanover, New Hampshire with my mom and little sister. My mom grew up there, and hasn't been back since she graduated college. It'll be really special to visit the places she remembers. Enjoy your 4th! Watch fireworks (another one of my top ten favorite things)! ]]> tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/sthm/NikkiGleason//361.10412 2009-06-04T17:22:34Z 2009-06-04T17:32:48Z

I went to Maine as soon as finals ended to visit Alyssa, my roommate from Spain. We hadn't seen each other since we split up to go our separate ways in the Barcelona airport in December, so it was FANTASTIC...

Nikki Gleason On the way to the beach! Eerie fog, right? During our moose trek. Back to Philly! ]]> tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/sthm/NikkiGleason//361.10222 2009-05-04T02:38:52Z 2009-05-04T02:49:16Z

On one of first truly glorious sun-drenched weekends in Philadelphia, my friend Emily and I went to play Philly-themed miniature golf. About a million another people had the same idea of us, but we let the over-eager eight-year-olds step in...

Nikki Gleason Me by the Liberty Bell! Emily by the Art Museum It's finals time. I have spent far too many late nights at the TECH Center, and am ridiculously grateful for its 24-hour Starbucks. I've got a lot to accomplish in the next two weeks, and also have the orientation for my capstone class, Senior Seminar, this coming week. I have seen and created way too many Powerpoints this semester, but for the most part the work is interesting. Like for my Research Methodology class, we had to research past studies and create our own study on student travel motivations-- why students travel where they do and what they do on vacation. But other things, like learning the time value of money for my Finance final on Thursday....not so fun. ]]> tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/sthm/NikkiGleason//361.10015 2009-04-17T18:33:11Z 2009-04-21T14:28:04Z

Cake has always been a big part of my life. I always looked forward to cakes on my birthday because my mom always put so much time into making them beautiful. One year, I had a cake decorated to look...

Nikki Gleason I think I'm going to take advantage of the beautiful weather and play Philly-themed mini golf tomorrow. This weekend is also setup and orientation in preparation for the Alter Hall grand opening on Monday. My Event Management class has been helping to plan with our professor, who owns an event management company. It's been a really awesome experience, giving us a chance to explore all sorts of details, and we're pumped to see it come together on Monday. Take a look yourself-- CNBC will be covering the event live at several times. ]]> tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/sthm/NikkiGleason//361.9748 2009-03-29T18:07:31Z 2009-03-29T18:21:47Z

It's a really good thing that daffodils and crocuses are pushing through the dirt because something about Spring Break makes teachers realize that they should start piling on the work. Those flowers definitely are soothing. Which is great considering that...

Nikki Gleason It's a really good thing that daffodils and crocuses are pushing through the dirt because something about Spring Break makes teachers realize that they should start piling on the work. Those flowers definitely are soothing. Which is great considering that midterms, other tests, myriad group projects, etc. are not really the most relaxing. Last week was Fall registration time. I cannot believe that I actually scheduled classes for my SENIOR YEAR of college. Unbelievable. College really has gone so fast. Next year I'm taking Legal Issues in Tourism and Hospitality, Destination and Event Management, Organizational Management in T & H, Senior Professional Development Seminar, and last but not least, an arts class for my Core that somehow I haven't taken in the last three years. Friday night I was lucky enough to see Idina Menzel at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Delaware! Idina originated the roles of Maureen in "RENT" and Elphaba in "Wicked" and she's since been in other stuff and also has a couple of albums out of her own stuff. I'm sort of a musical theatre geek, and so it was an overwhelmingly wonderful experience. Last night I went with my mom and one of her friends to the high school musical near my hometown. My mom's friend is a teacher and a bunch of her students were in the show. "Thoroughly Modern Millie" was the show and it was gerat-- lots of tap dancing and crazy plot twists. A thoroughly entertaning distraction. tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/sthm/NikkiGleason//361.9577 2009-03-18T17:42:33Z 2009-03-18T18:05:39Z

Otherwise known as the anxiously-anticipated legendary Spring Break! This year I was lucky enough to head to sunny Puerto Rico with my friend Emily who spent the fall there studying abroad. We stayed with one of her friends, and enjoyed...

Nikki Gleason This picture was taken when Emily and I were sitting on this little nook area in between some higher tower pieces. There weren't a lot of people there, and it was incredibly peaceful to have the whole ocean laid out in front of you. Towards the end of the week, we went to a smaller island called Vieques. It involved a turbulent ferry ride but was so worth it. We were in search of a black sand beach, and trekked through paths that hadn't been traveled in some time, walked by rocks as tall as a house that had been worn away by water, and saw hermit crabs and lizards... and then, we got this: There was no one there except for us to start out with. Later, two snorkelers came to shore and they had been capturing lobsters, squid, and octopi from the bottom of the sea for their dinners. We talked to one of the guys, and he took out of his bag this octopus that oozed and sucked over our hands. It reminded me that one of the best parts about travelling is having the opportunity to leave the beaten path-- you'll see things that are less popular but just as incredible and talk to the local people who can teach you more about the culture of a place than any guidebook. ]]> tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/sthm/NikkiGleason//361.9301 2009-02-26T20:32:04Z 2009-02-26T20:39:58Z

Even when you're not having fun. As long as you have massive amounts of work to do, those deadlines just all of a sudden... WHAM! are in the next two days. Not that I'm not interested with what I'm doing....

Nikki Gleason Even when you're not having fun. As long as you have massive amounts of work to do, those deadlines just all of a sudden... WHAM! are in the next two days. Not that I'm not interested with what I'm doing. I've got a project on how international tourism affects world peace. I know a lot more than I thought I ever could about financial stuff. I am helping to plan the ribbon cutting ceremony for Temple's new building, Alter Hall. My homework has been to interview industry professionals, go to professional organization meetings, start a Google AdWords campaign for a local business, and talk about how great a destination Philadelphia is (which I firmly believe) There's just a lot of it to do. So I've gotten pretty good at procrastinating, too. A friend and I went to Long Beach Island one Tuesday night, just to get out of Philadelphia. Nothing was open, but there is something lovely about a beach in the winter on a clear night, punctuated by all those stars you miss out on when you're in the city. My sister talked me into standing in line for far too long to meet Kate, from 'Jon and Kate plus 8' (Yes, I know. Judge all you want.). And I baked a ton of cookies and sent some to my friends in Spain, where I spent the fall (and where, by the way, classes were not nearly as hard). But it's fun. It's interesting. My teachers are so passionate, which really helps. Annndd spring break is in a week and I'm going to Puerto Rico. :) tag:blogs.targetx.com,2009:/sthm/NikkiGleason//361.8983 2009-02-06T17:33:54Z 2009-02-06T18:01:35Z

It's quite possible that Temple University is the only school that doesn't ever close. It closed once my freshman year because of a truly gigantic blizzard and that was the first time in like twenty years (or some crazy period...

Nikki Gleason A snowman built by my friend Emily on the ledge of her apartment window. His name is Pedro, in all his brief Center City glory. (He has since melted, pobrecito.) And so as I've been stomping through all this snow, I've been tackling six classes, four of which are heavily based in finance and marketing...business terms I was terrified of but am actually handling quite well. My other two are an event management class and a class that satisfies Race and Society, a core requirement. My Event Management professor actually has an global event managing company, and is a really dynamic guy, so that class is fantastic. I've got a pretty intriguing roster this semester over all. Snow by the Bell Tower]]>