First Week at Venture Outdoors

I could feel my stomach tying itself in a knot as I sat in the rickety light-rail train from the suburbs to downtown Pittsburgh. Twenty-seven minutes later and I had stepped off at my train stop, which lies next to the river. I survived the train ride without any fainting or throwing up, so I'd consider that a good start. For the next 15 minutes, I strutted down the dusty road in shoes that were a size too small until I came across two large brick buildings called "Riverside Corporate Center." Awesome. Except I was an hour early. After wasting 50 minutes walking around the industrial streets, I finally decided that I should head up to the office.

                                                   

I took the elevator up and was met with a large green wall, decorated with a kayak, a bicycle, hiking boots, and rope. Having a pretty good idea that I was in the right place, I rang the doorbell and was greeted by one of the staff. I quickly realized that my pencil skirt, nice tank top blouse, and cardigan were probably too formal, as most people were dressed in jeans and t-shirts. Note taken.

Fortunately, I arrived right before the full-office meeting started.  I got to hear about some of Venture Outdoor's overarching projects. Venture Outdoors is a non-profit organization that seeks to reconnect the people of Pittsburgh to the great outdoors. They run the city's kayaking program, have multiple bike riding and hiking programs, and also put on fun events such as "Happy Hour Paddle" and "Tyke Hikes."

After the meeting, my mentor graciously took me out to lunch. After lunch, we returned to the office where I started out on my first task: submitting Venture Outdoor events into online calendars that can help tourists find local activities to do. My second day was similar, as I spent all of my time inputting events into the online calendars. While it was tedious work (mostly copying and pasting and filling out the same form 50 times), it was important work. By making Venture Outdoors more visible on online tourist sites, people will hopefully be more likely to attend the awesome events that Venture Outdoors organizes.

Overall, it was a nice and easy start to the internship. I am excited to see what the rest of the summer holds!