One Last Post Before We All Say Goodbye…

It’s been a bittersweet week here at Gotham. Monday was the last day for two of the winter interns, and today is my last day. Wednesday, Isabella left to return home to England. In a week, I’ll be returning home to the Midwest.

But let me backtrack a little bit.

On Monday,  there were sweets all around: mini cupcakes, chocolate, more chocolate…so much chocolate to celebrate the last week. Love all around the office. The Gotham girls all went out after leaving Gotham for a quick cup of coffee…that wasn’t really all that quick. We ended up laughing about the last three months we’ve had and some of the absurd things we’ve all said or done around Gotham Headquarters for about an hour. On Wednesday, we were all part of Isabella’s sweet and sappy “Goodbye, New York” Facebook post (which I totally didn’t tear up at, what are you talking about?) before she boarded her plane. Tonight, Pamina and I are going to see a show on Broadway and say cheers to everything we’ve accomplished over the last three months and all the friends–the family–we’ve made at Gotham while we’ve been here.

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Gotham’s all about writing. And so now this is the part where I say that we winter interns are onto the next chapters of our lives, wherever our fancy Gotham pens lead us. I’ve learned a lo,t over the last three months, and I’ll carry it all with me to the next part of my book (maybe literally–maybe you’ll catch me on a best-seller list one day).

 

Cheers.

 

With love,

Kirsten (and Isabella and Pamina)

Big New World

After a few long hours of strugglebussing with the other interns and a rough internet connection to get this blog up and running…welcome to the 14^th floor.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around being here myself, honestly. I come from a very small town in Iowa where there isn’t a whole lot nearby over three stories tall (other than the occasional grain bin). Everything here is so big! Being on the 14^th floor—even though that isn’t the highest floor of this building—is really disorienting to me. Just to give you a taste of what I’m talking about…

…these are the tallest buildings in my hometown. Not a whole lot taller than the cars in the photo, if you think about it. Like I said, being on the 14^th floor is really disorienting at first…

…but the view is phenomenal.

It’s not just the buildings here that are bigger. Everything here seems bigger. The people here are larger than large. The way they move about the city, the way they act, talk, think are on a completely different level than what I’ve ever been exposed to. Sure, I’ve met people from New York before. But I’ve never been surrounded by New Yorkers, dropped into a vat full of them and mixed around with them and all of their stories. They’re intense and I love it. I’m soaking up every story I can.

It’s also very different working here than any other place I’ve been in before based solely on the kind of work here. It’s in an office! I’m definitely not used to that either. My first job was working in a nursing home kitchen for four years, and my most recent job was stacking boxes onto pallets at a warehouse to be shipped out to different stores around the Midwest. Sitting down on the job feels very foreign. But what’s also great is being immersed in a community of people who love words and who are fostering a love of words in others. It’s something I’ve always been enthusiastic about seeing back in the English and Creative Writing departments at my school, and I’m very happy to see it here as well. (Also, Gotham is conveniently located just a couple blocks away from The New York Times offices—even more words to be happy about.)

All in all…I’m just happy to be here. I’m excited to be hearing stories from people with experiences totally different from mine, and what better place to come to for stories than a place that specializes in storytelling? Bring it on, New York City. Bring it on.

-Kirsten