Day 1

It is just past nine thirty. I am exhausted, and this is the first minute I've had to myself since seven fifteen this morning. It was a great day, but it was a long day, too. It was a day that got me started thinking about the future, about what my options really are. So, let's start at the beginning, shall we?

I arrived at the McCormick building (well, one of many buildings, really. They practically have an empire there in Hunt Valley!) at twenty after eight. After meeting up with my mentor, we walked upstairs to the sensory department. My mentor was sweet enough to bring breakfast in my honor and host a little meet and greet so I could get to know the other people I would be working with. It was here that I met the summer intern, Breanne. She's from Penn State and will be interning all summer. She was super warm and welcoming from the minute I met her. Having her there immediately put me at ease. I would not be completely alone!

My mentor brought this really delicious bread from Wegmans, as well as the sweetest raspberries I've had all season, and a variety of yogurts. I should have taken this as foreshadowing. There is ALWAYS something to eat at McCormick. In fact, the first thing that, Darlene, one of the women I met today, said to me was that she hoped I wasn't trying to fit into a gown or anything because they eat a LOT there. I laughed, enjoying her humor, but also slightly worried about the Prom dress hanging up at home. :)

After breakfast, I helped clean up the kitchen until it was time for Breanne and me to go to a series of PUGs in another building. PUGs are these groups where people who have used a McCormick product and recipe at home are brought in to talk about how the process went. They talk about their likes, dislikes, what modifications they made, etc. Today's PUGs were all about this French beef dish that 8 women made for their families using a special not-yet-released McCormick spice packet. Four McCormick employees, Breanne, and I all sat behind a window watching and listening to Paddy, another employee, guide the conversation with the women about the meal they made. It was actually really cool because we sat behind a window that we could see out of, but they couldn't see into.

I really enjoyed listening to the women explain what they'd done. It was neat to think that they had tested a product that hasn't hit the shelves yet, and, what's more, that we could compare their responses and see trends amongst the general public. I have never experienced anything where I dealt with real results from real people, so this was awesome.

Since our PUGs lasted til lunch time, they ordered some pizza for us to eat for lunch. And even though it hadn't been that long since I'd eaten breakfast, that pizza smelt so good when it came in. I gobbled some up as soon as I could.

When the PUGs were finished, we headed back to our home base, where we went to my mentor's office to hear a telephone conference. This particular conference was about investigating people's feelings towards what they are eating. McCormick is looking to study why people choose what they choose to consume, and how they can develop more products that people will enjoy. This was something I'd never thought of before, so it was all really really interesting.

After this my mentor assigned Breanne and me a project. Our job is to focus on why Milennials (people 21-34 years old) pin things on Pinterest. We're slated to give a presentation on our findings next Friday, so we spent a couple of hours working on it today.

We decided to create a survey to send to people we know who fit this age-range, asking them about their Pinterest use and their cooking skills. After we get the approval from my mentor tomorrow, we'll send out the survey and wait to get the results. Once we receive our results, we'll make a powerpoint about our findings and what we think McCormick can do to maximize its effectiveness on Pinterest.

Unfortunately, we lost track of time working on our survey and missed a meeting with Simply Asia that we were supposed to attend with my mentor. Thankfully, she understood, and was very kind about the whole mishap. But, I don't want to let that kind of slip up happen again.

At four o'clock, we attended a meeting regarding something we'll be doing on Wednesday. Wednesday will be a little different. I won't be needed until 11am, but I'll need to stay at McCormick until 8pm. We're running three focus groups that day with Milennials to discuss their cooking journey, or something like that. In the focus groups we'll be talking to these people about various different food-related things and then debriefing about it on Thursday. That should be a very long day as well, but I'm really looking forward to it.

Take a look at the treat that was waiting for me when I returned from PUGing.

Stephanie (who is in charge of food prep for test panels) saved some of the Aloha Paradise bars she made as a treat for panel-members today. My piece was actually about twice this size, but by the time I got around to taking the picture, well.....what can I say?

I also was lucky enough take home some more swag on my way out.

I get the feeling that they are very generous here. :) But hey, I'm not complaining.

On my way home I had a lot of time to think about my day. I've never worked in a corporate environment before. And despite all of the interesting things I learned, I couldn't help but feel very...structured. Yes, I know that I shouldn't have been surprised, but lately I've felt so free, what with the end of APs, and the coming of graduation, and so to have to be working at 100% all day was really kind of hard.

At five o'clock, we were technically finished for the day, but Breanne and I still wanted to work on the survey. We stayed a little late, but it wasn't too much.

By the time I got home I had 45 minutes or so to get ready for Zumba. I was tired, but it was the last class of this session, so it seemed silly not to go. After that, I had some frozen yogurt for dinner, came home and took a shower (because I was not going to sit around in my Zumba-sweat) and then sat down to write this entry.

Before, I used to wonder if it would be possible to have a job and just write books on the side. But, honestly, I'm not sure that I'd be able to do it. It's late, and I still have to read an article for a meeting tomorrow, as well as work on my research paper for the RSP. As an adult, how would I have time to hold a full-time job and write books? I don't know. What I do know is that I am so ready to hit the hay. Best rest up for tomorrow!