My 1st Day at Nautica

5am. Wow, not used to that. But that's how it had to be since the train leaves at 6:54am from Hamilton to get to New York. Still doesn't feel like I'm actually on the east coast & since I'm from the central time zone, it's really 4am.

Showering always wakes me up, but the problem is once I'm in the shower I never want to get out. I can get my showers done in like 10 minutes, but the hot water & steam keeps me from leaving. But not today, no, because I can't be late. I don't even know what to wear! I need to use every precious minute on that Wednesday morning to make sure all the details are just right: hair, make up, clothes, accessories, everything. I have this preconceived idea of what New Yorkers are like & I'm sure I'll stick out like a sore thumb if I'm not properly dressed. I decided on my darkest skinny jeans and a black top. Simple but nothing crazy or too over the top for my first day, plus I can dress it up with accessories. I'll base the rest of my choices after I see what the other women at the office are wearing.

I'm dressed. Next on my list is coffee. I have always loved the smell of coffee. I never really started drinking it until I came to college though & even then I started off slow with the fancy Starbucks with the flavors & whipped cream on top. It wasn't until I moved into the Sigma Kappa house that I really started drinking coffee, & even now I use a french vanilla creamer & sugar. I like sweet.

I guess I should explain where I'm staying before I start mentioning the "we" & "them" "they." I don't need everyone getting confused. One of my alumna from the sorority is the Director of Planning & Distributing for Nautica. Yes, it's how I got the interview with Nautica in the first place, but I'm not ashamed of that. After all, it's not what you know, it's who you know. So, I'm staying with her & her family which consists of her husband who works from home, her son & daughter, a cat, & a dog. They're all very nice & I know we'll get along this summer.

We left the house at 6:30am that morning. I had to buy tickets for the next 3 days, so we left early to get it all taken care of. $90 for 3 days. The cost of living is high out here, I was told that, but what other choice do I have? With a swipe of my card I was ready to board the NJ Transit. Hamilton to NYC. The train is on time which surprises me, but I guess when thousands of people take the train every day for work & school it has to be. The two story train cars are nicer than the Amtrak cars back in Illinois. It's kind of pathetic. It's also an express train, so we're flying down the tracks, & I'm also going into the city backwards. I'm guessing the trains never turn around but it's not something that's going to bother me.

Once again, I find myself people watching. There are men in business suits & women dressed for the office wearing sneakers. It looks funny of course, but it's understandable. Women who commute don't want to walk from NY Penn Station to wherever there jobs are in the city. That's pure insanity & painful when it comes to blisters. It's a good thing I have on flats for my first day. I'm not exactly sure how far my office is from Penn Station. I was also so nervous that I forgot I'm staring at people & someone makes eye contact with me. Woops, I had to focus on something else. There was no better time to check all of my emails & Facebook. There was nothing exciting to read into that morning on Facebook & no emails that required a response. Well, it was after 7am eastern time & 6am central time, so I decided to text my boyfriend. I knew he was already at work, but it never hurt to try to get a few messages in before my day started. I wasn't for sure if I would have the chance to talk to him during the day & truth be told, I was really missing him. I always miss him when we're apart. It's like part of the day is missing when I can't see him. It sounds completely cheesy & cliche but I don't care.

All of the sudden, the train is in a dark tunnel. We're going under the Hudson River! I guess that was the reason my ears popped. It made me wonder where the world would be without amazing engineering. This was cool. Before I knew it, New York Penn Station. I was about to see what the Big Apple was all about as soon as me & the other however many hundred people got off the train & up the escalator.

It was a gorgeous morning. The sun was bright & the temperature was still only in the high 60's. I could already tell that walking to the office was going to be something I enjoyed. The buildings were tall. It is a city after all & the taxi drivers definitely aren't afraid of gunning it at the last minute to make the light if they need to. After being in Carbondale & walking out in front of whoever in the cross walks or streets whenever I want to, I'm going to have to learn to look both ways before I cross the streets in NYC. That's all I need my mom to hear. "Hey mom, I got hit by a taxi on my way to work today." She'd be thrilled & I would most definitely be coming home. But back to my walk to the office. My alumna & I came out of the train station on 7th Ave, aka, Fashion Ave. Well, that's fitting. The Fashion Institute of Technology, FIT, is on 7th Ave & I walked past it on my first day. Who would of thought a small town girl like me would have an internship in the Fashion Capital of the United States?

It's about a 15 minute walk to the office from Penn Station. On the way there, I walked through the flower district where the shops all have tons of fresh flowers & plans on the sidewalks for sale. I inherited my love for flowers from my maternal grandma, which is something I'll always remember & thank her for. Roses, Gerber daisies, tulips, orchids, & my all time favorite lilies line the sidewalks. It smells amazing & it's just like the movies, except better because I can smell everything.

There are mini farmers markets & stands selling breakfast items on just about every corner. There is also an old church that has been renovated into a little shop & outdoor market. The way buildings were constructed hundreds of years ago are just breath taking with all the intricate details. I wish I had time to take pictures that morning, but there was no time. Hurry, hurry, hurry. No time to stop & smell the roses, literally.

The entrance to my office building has glass doors & gold handles. It's very simple, but classy too. In the elevator I discover that there are 10 floors in 11 W 19th Street. Tory Burch has an office in my building which I find pretty cool until a few women who work there walk into the elevator. Skirts, heels, full make up. I feel out of place & my office is 2 floors below theirs which means I have to squeeze past them to leave the elevator. More glass doors wait before entering the Nautica offices. There are 2 couches & a little set up of mannequins under a cabana; Nautica's current window display set up in all their stores. I walk through another door & see the partitioned rows of desks. My alumna who works there, takes me to her own personal office. It's decorated in sea shells & lighthouses which is of course the Nautica theme.

The woman I'm interning for wasn't going to be in that day, so I was waiting for the other 2 girls I would be working for to get there. The assistant womens buyer arrives first. She's young & only a year out of college. She finishes giving me the tour around the office & introducing me to people whose names I'm sure I won't remember. The assistant buyer is wearing a short gray dress with wedges & gold jewelry. She's not too overly done up, which I'm happy to see because I don't want to have to rock heels to work for the whole summer. The associate womens buyer arrives shortly after. She's very petite & dressed in cropped dress pants & a cute ruffle tank with heels. I think I'm going to have to step up my wardrobe picks for tomorrow.

Since my computer isn't set up for me yet, I'm assigned to start doing tears of trends that I think the womens division could use to incorporate for the summer 2011 development. The designs for spring 2011 are already under way & almost complete. I'll be working on the buy for spring 2011 with the rest of the division this summer. I'm nervous as what I should pull from the stacks of magazines & Women's Wear Dailys, WWDs, that are sitting on my desk. Chambray is catching my eye in about every magazine, so I pull those.

In the midst of my tears, the girls tell me that I'm going to take a camera & do some competitive shopping for the online trend journal. They want me to go to Old Navy, Banana Republic, J. Crew, & any where else that I want & take pictures of the store fronts & then go in & take notes on what's being promoted, what's on sale, & how/if their window displays are telling the same story as what's inside the store. I was told to take my time & explore for an hour & a half. My first day & I'm already roaming the streets of NYC on my own. This should be interesting.

I make my way to 5th Ave to start my competitive shopping. I went to all the stores I was assigned & took pictures & notes. I even snapped a few shots of women on the street who were wearing trends that are popular right now. Finally, my people watching skills are put to a good use! But the stores in NYC compared to the stores in the midwest are so different. Of course, New Yorkers are different. They live, eat, breathe, sleep, & most definitely shop differently. Never the less, the stores are fabulous! If I wasn't on a tight budget, I would have done a little competitive shopping of my own.



On my way back, I see more old buildings & churches that I'm sure no one notices on a regular basis. I think they stick out so much to me because I'm clearly not from New York. I like that I can appreciate the little things right now. It makes it worth while & I guess it's part of the experience. As I get closer to the office, I realize I'm getting back a bit early & maybe I can explore a little bit more. I continue walking north on 5th Ave. There are so many different kinds of shops & stores & restaurants, & each has it's own elements & environment that makes it stand out.









It took me a while to realize what I was looking at next, but then it hit me. Empire State Building. I wasn't standing right next to it by any means, but it was close enough for me to take a quick picture. I'm sure I looked like a tourist, but who cares, I'll never see these people again anyways. I will have to take a day to go into NYC just to sight see. I've never been to the east coast before so I might as well take advantage of it! Seeing & going up to the viewing deck on the Empire State Building is on my list of things to see along with the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, & all the other top tourist sights in NYC.

I ended up walking all the way down to Madison Square Park. It was here that I decided I should snap a few more pictures for myself & return back to the office for my lunch outing with the 2 girls in my division. There a a lot of little parks like this in NYC. It's funny how you can go blocks & blocks of just buildings & businesses & cars & then all of the sudden, a park. I'm also happy to return to the office because it's about 90 degrees outside & the air is muggy in the city. Humidity is not something I enjoy.

Back at Nautica, the girls decide we're going to go to lunch in a mini attempt to let me see more of the Big Apple. We grabbed salads at Medina, which is a little sandwich, wrap, & salad restaurant on the way to Union Park. We found a table in the shade & the 20 questions started. By now I don't mind the questions, so I gladly answer & talk to the girls while we all eat our lunch.

My next task at work was going through the Nautica Compass book & taking an inventory of what Summer 2010 product samples are in the show room & which ones are missing. One of the things I like about this task is about an hour of quiet all by myself. Even though I hadn't done much during my first day at Nautica, I guess I was feeling a little overwhelmed & not to mention tired. My body & brain were still adjusting to my 5 am wake up call.


5pm rolls around & it's time to head home. It's been a long day & I'm ready for some dinner & bed. Instead of walking back to Penn Station, we take the subway. It was an interesting first experience, but nothing that was completely shocking. It's not creepy either like they show in the movies. I'm sure it might be late at night, but around 5pm it isn't bad because everyone is heading home from work.

Once again on the train, I'm people watching & eavesdropping. Two women in the aisle over discover that they know the same person. One woman is a sister & the other works with her brother at AIG. It's about then that the train comes to a stop, the lights go out, & the AC shuts off. There was no power on the train. After sitting on the train with no air for 45 minutes, someone comes on the intercom saying the train has broken down & everyone should begin filing towards the front car in order to get off & board another train. 40 minutes & a short walk down a few railroad ties later, I'm standing on the platform in Rahway waiting for the train that's coming to save us all. It's still hot & several people are on the phone with NJ Transit complaining about the poor service they have encountered. I find it funny that even though these people are yelling at the customer service representative, they're still going to take the train into the city every day for work.

I made it through my first day at Nautica. This was the start to my summer on the east coast.