The OU Experience: Arrival & Day 1

Hey Y'all!

So I arrived in Oklahoma yesterday and had quite the trip up. I left Halifax at 6:30am on a flight to Newark which gave me my first far off glimpse off NYC and it was beautiful! On my list to travel to for sure. From there I flew to Houston and of my god is it ever hot and humid there. The airport was pretty far from the actual city so I didn't get to see too much. I did end up meeting a woman from Jersey there though who was super sweet. We rode the shuttle together to the terminal where our flight was leaving. She works retail and sells a lot of baby things (strollers, carriers, etc.) to large companies like Target and Wal-Mart across the states and Canada. She even has a friend from Jersey who was born in Cape Breton! Small world. So from there I headed to OKC on another flight, picked up my luggage, and took a shuttle to the university in Norman. The driver was such a sweet heart and so friendly and nice. Told me all the places I need to visit while I'm here including baseball games at the stadium here at the university, the Cowboy Museum, clubs and restaurants in Bricktown (in OKC), a local festival with blue grass music and watermelons in a town not too far from here, and everything in between. When I asked him if he was from Oklahoma, he told me "I'm Okie bred, an Okie head, and soon to be an Okie dead" haha he was hilarious, definitely showed wonderful southern hospitality. I asked him how big the population was and the area within Norman, Moore, OKC, and another town is supposed to be about 1.1 million which I didn't expect. Everything is really close here and there are bike lanes which is great since we get one! And all I can say about the weather is hot. Like, step into a furnace hot. The wind is cool(ish) which is nice but it is ridiculously humid and is going to take some time to get used to for sure, not that I'm complaining!

So after the drive from the airport I got dropped off at Walker Tower where the Housing and Food Service office is and met up with Dot Flowers, my internship coordinator, and the other intern Kelsey who is from Chandler, Arizona. The campus is huge. And gorgeous. And huge! I don't know if I'll ever learn where everything is in the 8 weeks I'm here. There is a monster football stadium, a baseball stadium, a huge soccer field, and a huge indoor basketball court. There are two pools on campus: one just for the students living in Traditions Square (us!) and then one that is open for all of the campus. Then we got into our apartment which is really nice (a few pictures below) and took it easy for the night. I found out we'll be working Monday to Friday, 8-5, and each Friday we work on our project for the month of June. I also got a nice treat bag from the university with some snacks and other stuff. Besides that just unpacked, ate, and went to bed. Long day traveling for 12 hours!

My first official day was today. Kelsey and I had a food handlers course we went to in the morning then came back and rode our bikes to Walker Tower. Haven't rode a bike in I don't know how long, so it was an interesting experience consisting of several close calls nearly crashing into things and moving into oncoming traffic. But we finally made it safely, and my day mainly consisted of paper work. Lots and lots of paperwork! I got to meet a bunch of the managers in the Housing and Food Service department, got to check out the interns office (yah, our own office!), travelled a bit on campus, and got introduced to what we'll be doing for the next two months and our first project. We are working with one of the on campus dining spots ("The Flying Cow Cafe") to make a Fitter Foods menu. It sounds like it'll be really interesting and we get to work with marketing department later on and promote it across the campus which I'm looking forward to.

We got to eat at two spots today as well. "Crossroads" which is a nice deli sort of deal with a bunch of panini's, sandwiches, fries, and all kinds of other stuff. Then for dinner we went to the huge dining hall called Couch Restaurants which is on a menu rotation for the summer but was still delicious. But there are literally a million places on campus to check out and I'm sure I'll have my favorites picked by the end of the summer!

Later on in the next few weeks we'll be traveling to the border of Texas and to OKC to visit US Foods and the Bio-station which should be cool and nice to travel the state a bit. We essentially get to spend time in every department with all the different managers (purchasing, payroll, concessions, catering, starbucks, community experience, etc.) so lots to do! Tomorrow we are going on a "manager scavenger hunt" all across campus and going to a meeting for annual purchasing. Right now it's currently looking a bit stormy out there and we have a little bit of thunder and lightening going on. One of the first things I saw when I got into the apartment was tornado shelter information haha looks like it'll be an interesting two months and I'll keep you guys updated as best I can :)

Y'all have a nice day (as I've been told everywhere I go)