I survived my first week of classes! My weekend has started J I can get very used to
only having class on Monday and Tuesday! All the classrooms here are painted
bright colors and some even have bright-colored carpet. So much better than the
drab Wartburg walls.
Yesterday I had class from 8:30-3. Not terrible at all. My
first class is called Retail Environment. It’s essentially a class dealing with
various retail channels, both domestically and globally. Throughout the 10
weeks we will be doing in-depth research about a specific channel. My second
class yesterday was Brand Management Strategies. It’s very consumer behavior
based—stuff I absolutely love!! The main project for that class is a group
project where we create our own brand and compare it to major competitors in
that field analyzing how we’re going to be successful. It sounds super fun!
Today I had my other two classes. My first one was
Merchandise Math. It took the teacher literally an hour to finally get started,
and when we did it was literally all rounding. Like 3rd grade math
rounding…whole numbers, percents, and dollars. But I have a feeling it’s going
to get really hard really fast. The teacher said “math is like learning to ride
a bike.” Uhmmm I don’t think Eric and I agree on this one!! ;-) My other class
today was Concepts in Trend Forecasting. It’s much more interesting than it
sounds! Our major project is to compile information and decipher if it’s a
trend or a norm and to kind of analyze it. It sounds fun, but very
time-consuming.
I am a working woman!! I will be working at the Gap at the
Grove—a suuuper nice outdoor mall. This Gap is one of the four largest in the
world and has a special experimental program called Project LA. I don’t know
many details, but I know it’s a way more laid-back store because of it. The
store is also HUGE! It has literally every Gap department ever created…but
under one roof. There are around 200 employees there. I’m excited!! I go for
orientation on Thursday.
I got called out on being from the Midwest because of my
accent so many times this week, it’s not funny!! Crazy thing is, I don’t hear
an accent from people here. I also got told I wasn’t from here because I’m “too
nice” and “smile a lot.” Not quite sure how to take that one!
A few things I learned this week/weekend:
- ·
It’s possible to become a “local” at a LA bar.
The girls I was with Saturday night are frequent customers, and we got the
owner’s number and vice versa plus a free round. We didn’t’ complain!
- ·
They make us have a special card to do laundry. Like
I need one more thing to keep track of!! I’d much rather walk down the hall
with my quarters!
- ·
Yay for having a Keurig again! I was literally
dying without a coffee maker! They have “complimentary coffee until 11” in the
lobby of our building, but half the time it’s not even out and when it is, it’s
gone. Not good!!
- ·
Grocery shopping is a total different experience
when you actually have to walk home with the bags. No more waiting to go once a
month and loading my car up!!
Staples Center and LA Live are literally two blocks kiddy-corner from my apartment building
My school is the long white building in the background--right across the street!
City view from my balcony!
