Tuesday May 26th- Wednesday May 27th

So Tuesday was the beginning of the work week due to Memorial Day on Monday. It was a packed overwhelming start of the week though. I met with Tierza in the morning to work on the Leadership In Action Curriculum and that was the beginning of my meetings for the day. I then next met with Bradley Wilson (Student Media Coordinator). He told me about he was originally a corporate worker and then how he transferred in at the University and is now in higher education being the coordinator of a million dollar student organization. In their media center they have a 24-hour radio broadcast (they bring in a live band every Friday), a daily student ran paper, a weekly African American paper, yearbook staff, and a journal book. This office is made up of about 120 students throughout the school year. I next met with Eileen Marin (Assistant Director for Student Government Advising). She had informed me how her office position had just been made about a year ago and the challenges she had faced during her first year in the position and how she thought this upcoming year was going to go. Before coming to NCSU she had been Greek Life staff at Virginia Tech. Therefore, she told be about the difficulty that VT went through after the shootings and how it affected the campus as well as herself. In the afternoon I met with Lisa LaBarbera (Associate Director for East Campus Housing). I really enjoyed this interview session. I learned about how much of a hierarchy there is to a big campus when it comes to Residential Life and Housing. She took me around the entire campus and showed me the differences amongst their dorms. I also learned about Associate Directors, RD's and then RA's. She also talked to me about graduate programs and how the best way to get a free graduate education is to go for a graduate residential assistant ship (pay for school, housing, food, and usually money as well). She was a fun lady to meet and also gave me some good ideas as to what to do while I am out here. The rest of the work day I worked on the Leadership In Action Curriculum. Then I finally I was able to go the big Gym on campus... so they have pretty much everything here... a rock wall, fencing, about 6 basketball courts, 2 pools, racket ball courts, indoor track, about 6 different weight rooms, lots of machines to work out on, archery, work out classes, and so yeah pretty much everything! I really am hoping to try archery!

So Today (Wednesday) I was basically in meetings all day long... which were interesting. The University of Kentucky was visiting because they have been doing lots of research about Student Centers and thought/were really impressed with NCSU and especially the CSLEPS office. Therefore I sat in on the combined meeting between their service office and CSLEPS. I really took away some information about how colleges exchange information and also the University of Kentucky talked about how they do this thing called a Leadership Summit in the fall. Basically they bring in all their student officers of organizations and it is a Friday Saturday retreat kind of thing where they have their leaders bring forth issues that they are wanting to address and focus on for the year and more into the future. After we got done with this meeting I finally had my formal meeting with Adam Cully (CSLEPS Assistant Director). Adam told me of his career path and how really his main focus is to impact and empower students/influence their lives (hmmm sounded awfully familiar to what I want to do). Within the office though Adam works with Alternative Break Trips, Leadership education and the Service-Leadership Consultants. More so though Adam is just a fun guy that had many great ideas and keeps lots of energy in the office at all times... not that there is not a lot of energy in there already! Then in the afternoon I had my final meeting for the day. I went to a Student Affairs Programmers Meeting with Tierza. Here I got a look at how the different student affairs offices try to collaborate and work together when planning events so that no single dates get overbooked as well as collaboration to work even more closely together now that the state budget is really getting tight. It was a little boring but I got something out of it though. So far though this week has been packed but insightful... I only wonder how I am supposed to get the curriculum revised when it seems that all I am ever doing is talking and meeting with people????? Eventually it will happen I guess!

Mailing address

Opps I forgot to publish this in my last blog... well just incase any of you are wanting to send me anything here is my address:

MAILING ADDRESS:* Mail sent through the US MAIL / POST OFFICE should be addressed as follows
Natalie Wetterauer
2730 Wolf Village Way, 1800
Raleigh, NC 27607

Packages sent via a delivery service such as FedEx or UPS should be addressed as follows
Natalie Wetterauer / Summer Intern
2730 Wolf Village Way Wolf Village Apartments
Raleigh, NC 27607

Downtown Raleigh

So for those of you who dont know NCSU is located on the inner but outter part of Raleigh. So I figured that I needed to see actual Raleigh... that meant going downtown! Also one thing I need to add is that there are so many trees out here which means one can barely see the next subdivision let along anything that is a distance away like one can back in Illinois! So it made it interesting driving into the city... one second I was on the interstate and the next I was off the ramp and onto a street that happened to be downtown... seriously I am not lying! Thankfully I have met Scott that lives down the hall from me, and he happens to work downtown at the Democratic building and also is a student at NCSU, so I had a tour guide who knew where to take me and show me around the "sites". Let me tell you the sites are slim pickings! Haha there were only 3 what I would consider skyscrapers, and then other than that really no other big buildings minus the capital building and a few other maybe 15-20 story buildings! I kept poking fun at how "big" the city was! Nothing compared to Springfield. Even the Governor's mansion just seemed like a regular big home... nothing huge and white like our's. It was fun though poking fun at how small the downtown was and I am still shocked by the size of it.

Well I finally took some pictures today so here are a few...

The Governor's Manson

First Week @ NCSU

Hey Everyone!

So here it has been officially my first business week out here at NCSU and its been exciting, scary, terrifying, overwhelming, but really fun as well. Alyssa and I drove out here on Monday, May 18th and of course we happened to drive about 100 miles out of our way... oops! We recovered though and found Winston Salem, NC, to stay with her friend Michelle and Lisa from her Costa Rica Study abroad program. On Tuesday I met my mentor Tierza Watts. She is a extremely energetic person, that knows so much information and I believe will be a great mentor. She gave me a campus tour on Tuesday afternoon and oh my goodness, NCSU is huge! I can always find someone outside or someone in the halls. During the regular school year they have over 30,000 undergraduates, and including staff and grad students there are over 40,000 people on this campus! Fortunately for my sake there is only about 4,000 or more people taking summer courses. Wednesday was my first day of work... but in my opinion I didn't really work too much just met more people in the office and went over the goals that they want me to accomplish this summer. I also moved into my apartment on Wednesday. I will be trying to take pictures this weekend so you can see everything. Thursday I had to be up really early and take Alyssa back to the airport so she could get home and continue to work, so that made it for a tiring long day. I made it though and at work I started working on their leadership curriculum and took the Meyers' Briggs test again. After work came the fun part of trying to find a grocery store... I eventually found one due to Walker's help from work. Then of course I had to put everything away and do a few more things around the apartment. For a little bit of fun I went to Walker's apartment that night because he invited me over to meet some people since he was having a welcome back party since he studied abroad in Ecuador last semester. It was fun getting to meet some new people.

Well its my last day of work for this week and then of course I get Monday off since it is Memorial day. So my goal is to get to downtown Raleigh this weekend and perhaps see the capital and what the actual city is like. If the weather is nice maybe I will make a day trip to the beach on Monday as well. Well I hope you enjoyed my first post and I will be trying to keep everyone updated on how things are going along with pictures. Talk to everyone soon!