NYC: Week 1! (part 1)

Okay! So, brief intro. My name is Mal, but in cyberspace I'm known as One-Wing. I'm a 22-year-old from Wisconsin. After graduating from college with a degree in Digital Media Arts, I had been applying for jobs and internships all over the place, and I finally landed one - a Game Artist internship in New York City!

The details - The company is Shine Global, a non-profit that specializes in raising awareness about various social issues concerning children by creating documentary films - one which won an Emmy for "Best Documentary." This time, they're doing something new - partnering with Worldwide Biggies, an entertainment company that has the same co-founder, they're making a Flash game to go along with their latest documentary "The Harvest." The game is a simulation, where a player will play as one of the migrant worker children. The goal is to graduate high school while still keeping up with all the harvesting and migrating with the seasons.

My job is to design the characters for the game. There are two other Game Art interns which are in charge of background design. Personally, I think I have the more fun job! Tenatively we will have six girl characters and six boy characters - all Hispanic children between ages 11-16.

The only downside of this position is that it is unpaid. Luckily, a very kind couple who are related to some friends of my parents have allowed me to stay with them for the term of my internship. So that's where I am!

Now, to describe the events of my week.
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Monday, 9/27 - The day the adventure began! When I got up at 4:30 am, my heart was already pounding hard. Two hours later when we arrived at Minneapolis Airport, it was worse - I was so nervous that I was struggling to breathe right. I sent away my two check bags, said goodbye to my parents, and then went past security all by myself. But as I sat waiting for my first flight to arrive, my nerves began to calm down. I started to accept what was going to happen - and became confident that I could get through it.

And so I boarded my first flight! As it took off, a favorite song of mine called "Flying" played through my head. It made me very calm - and I remained calm as we flew all the way to Chicago and landed to let off some passengers and let more on. It wasn't until we arrived at Baltimore that I had to get off. I got myself a roast beef sandwich at an Arby's in the food court and then noticed that my next flight to LaGuardia airport was delayed for an hour. But I finally got on that and it wasn't long at all until I arrived - I was at NYC at last. I managed to find the lady I was staying with, Mrs. Crews (I had seen a picture of her, but she hadn't seen a picture of me) and all of my luggage...and so she drove me to their apartment, where I got settled in.

Tuesday, 9/28 - It was this day that I had my first meeting. At first, Mrs. Crews was going to come with me on the subway to make sure I was not late. However, she had a doctor's appointment that would keep her from arriving home in time - so instead she drove me there and gave me directions to take the subway back.

So I arrived a bit early and at last met Alex, the girl who had been in touch with me via email for so long and who had conducted my phone interview. I also met the game designer and the two other art interns. We watched a portion of "The Harvest" documentary, went over the game design outline and the work schedule, and finally each of the interns got their first assignments. I found out that because they had limited office space, I would only be able to come in one day a week, and then again for a meeting on Fridays. My first day would be Thursday, and my first assignment was to design two characters - one girl and one boy, age 12. Of course, I would be able to work on these even when I wasn't at the office. I was still a bit dissapointed that I wouldn't be able to come in that much though.

After the meeting, I chatted a bit more with the other interns as we walked to our various subway stations. I found out that they were both college grads also, and that one girl had been graduated an entire year without finding a job or even an internship until now! They had both gone to schools in NY so they weren't new to the place like me. We talked about how difficult it is for a new grad to get a job since everywhere wants someone with experience already. It was kind of nice to hear that I wasn't alone in feeling so helpless about job search. They also asked me about Wisconsin. Hehe, such an exotic land...

Anyway, eventually they went their separate ways so I was left alone to find my subway station, which was in Times Square. But as most of you may know, Times Square is not hard to find!! Flashing billboards and shiny skyscrapers line the streets. It was a lot to take in, but at the same time, not as overwhelming as I expected. The scarier part was finding the right subway to board... but once they announced that our next stop was 50th street, I knew I was on the right one and was relieved. What I didn't realize was that the ride ahead of me was going to be very long. After all, I was in midtown Manhatten and my stop was in the lower Bronx, across the Harlem river.

Nearly 50 minutes later, I got off only to board a bus and take that the rest of the way back to the apartment. Just my second day in NYC and already I had a big taste of the public transportation system. It was something I would have to get used to!

Wow, already so much writing and that's only my first two days. I think I'll write about the next few days later. In any case, thanks for reading! Hopefully you now have somewhat of an idea of what I'm up to here. :)