As the summer semester is moving forward, my internship is off to a great start!

On Monday, I finished a final image for a TravelSkoot promotion. When designing anything, it's always helpful to get someone else's opinion. The creative director was eager to help and offer ideas on how to refine my icon. I had been working on different design concepts for so long that I needed to step back and get advice on what was working, and what wasn't. Later at our weekly group meeting, we discussed what was happening on the site and upcoming events. These meetings are always beneficial for me because it gives me the opportunity to voice my opinions and ideas, and also get to here other group members thoughts. It's a good way for me to start entering the corporate aspect of my internship and getting me more comfortable with meetings and conferences.

I started Wednesday morning off by meeting with my group leader. She is always interested in how I feel at my internship and provides me great projects to work on. This internship is a hands-on learning experience for me where I directly am involved in designing. The website is in the process of releasing an iPhone application, and I will be working on creating an advertisement. All of these projects I'm working on are great portfolio pieces that are active designs that I can reference. Having a well rounded portfolio is crucial in graphic design, so the work I will leave with is an awesome benefit on its own, even set aside from experiences gained.

We also had our other group meeting that afternoon in which we brainstormed ideas on ways to attract more users to the site. We came up with the idea to create polls for specific cities, and then from the winners create a "best in..." skoot. I personally got to come up with what categories to create polls for our first city, Philadelphia. I was responsible for making the skoots on best Philly cheesesteaks, bars, music venues, and parks, in Philadelphia.

Another amazing benefit I get as an NBC intern is the chance to take part in cool contests they offer. Currently, I am applying to be accepted as a participant in the "Reel Intern Contest." Interns who are selected will be put into groups that will come up with a short video promoting what it means being an NBC intern. This would be a great opportunity to offer my feelings on the intern program, and allow me an opportunity to tell other perspective students why to apply to NBC.

Also, working here at Chelsea Market leaves plenty of room for celebrity run ins! On Thursday I got to meet Rachel Ray while she walking to the Food Network Studios. All last week a new movie starring Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton and Rachel McAdams, was filming here and I got to meet actor Patrick Wilson. Who knows who else I'll run into!

I will keep you posted on my busy schedule and all the great happenings here at my internship in New York City. Until then, continue soaking up the summer sun!

Best wishes, Laura.

Check out the skoots I made for the "Best in Philadelphia," at www.TravelSkoot.com under "Recently Added Skoots." Keep coming back to the TravelSkoot site to check out the Philly polls and see the ads I created for them!