Adventures of An Intern - Weeks 1-3

I thought was nervous packing up my car and driving to Arizona, but I confess it was nothing CLOSE to the anxiety I felt about coming to Texas. I very carefully planned to arrive in Houston the day before work started, because I couldn't handle the thought of hanging around staring at the walls. Going through huge changes in my life essentially makes me question every decision I've ever made, and long for normalcy. Luckily, my first weekend of work was also our family reunion in Nauvoo.

Keep in mind that any kind of intense emotion, good or bad, makes me cry. I've been looking forward to this family reunion since we started planning it a year and a half ago, and especially with all the changes lately, I couldn't wait to be with my favorite people. In spite of a very rough start, including a canceled flight (and the guy in front of me was missing his own wedding because of it so . . . I really didn't have a good story), flying into a completely different city and paying $800 for a rental car, it was a perfect weekend. I've included a bunch of my favorite pictures, but it's a safe bet that at any given time during the weekend, I was crying. These people that make up my family . . . I could never say enough good about them.

I cried embarrassingly as I drove away to another week of work. I'm really enjoying my project so far - it's the perfect combination of analytics and process improvement, although it's still taking some time to get my feet underneath me. My team is fantastic and really kind. It's been an interesting experience working in a company as big as Chevron, and with an intern program that's really well defined. Lots of fun lunch and learns and great networking.

Catherine got my name for Christmas, so a week ago I got my gift - a weekend in San Antonio!! It was absolutely amazing. She had written out an itinerary for every day, with a few options on how we could change things. We ate amazing food (including one meal VERY high up in the air), walked through beautiful areas of the city and parks, and even knocked another item off my 30 Before 30 list. It was so much fun to spend the weekend with Catherine - she is such an incredible woman, and such a great example to me.

Overall, my first few weeks here have been very challenging, both emotionally and intellectually. This internship is going to be very challenging, but I'm grateful for another growth opportunity to learn and be a big girl. :) More to come on future adventures!