Learning the ropes of an internship is one thing, but becoming accustomed to a big city for the first time while starting an internship can make those first few days all the more nerve wracking.

After scoring two internships in New York City last summer, I couldn’t have been more excited – and then the realization of living alone in a city I didn’t know anything about terrified me. From the moment my plane landed at La Guardia, I was a nervous wreck until I made it through my first few days.

By the end of my time as a summer intern, though, I had the interning and city gag down pat. In fact, I couldn’t get enough, so I decided to come back to New York in January to intern again. With three different internships under my belt in one of the biggest cities in the world, here are some tips that helped me become a big city intern faster than I thought was possible. Read More »

[Post courtesy of out friends at StyleBakery.com. For more awesome fashion, style and beauty news, check them out!]

A few months ago, we shared our picks for adding more color to your beauty bags. Now the season is in full swing, and we can’t help but feel inspired by all of the colors blooming outdoors, being displayed in store windows and taking center stage at our local beauty counters. This is the perfect time of year to add more punches of color to your beauty routine, no matter how subtle. Find these colorful picks in stores right now.

MAC “Just A Pinch” Gel Blush is a seriously bold red color in its pot, but goes on smooth and sheer when applied to our cheeks and lips. This color looks great on all skintones and can be worn as light or amped up as you like. $18.50, nordstrom.com

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Ah, the Shy Guy: that rare specimen of man who you’ll never overhear  talking bragging about some meaningless hook-up. You won’t find him at parties or see him hamming it up for the ladies. He’s sweet, modest and avoids being the center of attention at ALL costs. Odds are, he’ll be the one sitting in the back of class, avoiding eye contact with the professor when he or she scans the room for a volunteer.

He’s pretty much adorable, really. Mysterious, intriguing, sensitive, endearing … a diamond in the rough (“the rough” being the obnoxious, masochistic guys that are just way too common in college). Shy guys are hot. Think Michael Cera. Mmmm.

No? Just me?

Anyhoodle. You’ve caught him glancing furtively in your direction on many (many) occasions. You’re interested. He’s interested. But the two of you both know there aren’t gonna be any suave, hey-baby-what’s-your-sign moves on his part. So, short of holding up a “Hey. You’re cute. I’d say yes if you asked me out” sign, how d’ya go about meeting/cracking open the shy guy? Read More »

There are a few normal things to do after you graduate:

1. Get a job.
2. Go to grad school.
3. Live at home and freak out about the future.

I don’t know about you, but none of these options sound very appealing to me. I prefer an option that is a bit outside the norm: travel.

That’s right. If you’re graduating, I’m here to convince you to put off getting a job and spend at least three weeks (and preferably more) in a new place or country. I went to India for five weeks right after I finished my post-grad fellowship, and it was one of the most amazing trips I’ve ever taken.

There are always reasons not to travel. It costs too much. It’s impossible to get that much time off. Your best friend won’t go with you. But those aren’t good reasons, and there are definitely ways around them all. If major post-grad travel is cost-prohibitive for you, consider doing a volunteer program in another country that will cover the costs of your airfare and lodging (surprisingly common).

If you already work a job and don’t have high hopes for getting time off, sit down and have an honest talk with your supervisor. If you seriously want to travel, your enthusiasm will come through, and as long as your supervisor isn’t a jerk, he or she should be willing to work with you to figure out how you can do it. Read More »

My recent Love Lists have had a theme. So when putting together this week’s list, I tried to keep to cohesive. Tried to keep a theme throughout, and then I thought: who needs a theme when all 5 things are so Love-List worthy? Isn’t luuuuurve a theme?

So this week’s theme is now renamed: 5 things Jill Loves this week that you should too. Because if you’ve learned anything by now, it’s that- well – I have pretty good taste. I don’t steer you wrong and I know what I’m talking about.

So here are this week’s 5 things I love that you should too.

The Perfect Spring Dress. Perfect for day (big camel bag, gold woven sandals, ivory shades and a cute scarf or headband) and perfect for night (nude or gold pumps/wedges, small metallic clutch, camel belt around the waist, gold bangles). The color just makes me happy. And ready for Chicago to warm up from its current 50 degree status since it’s – um – MAY.

Matt Kearny’s new song: Closer to Love. This little ditty will pair perfectly with your iPod,  a sunny day, iced coffee, and the perfect spring dress (see above).

Starbucks Vanilla Roobius Tea. Seriously heavenly. My mom told me about this God-send and if it’s one thing I learned (begrudgingly), it’s that she always seems to be right. About everything. Especially beverages. I tried it for the first time yesterday and this bad boy does not disappoint. To cut the cals, ask for one pump of syrup and pair it with soy or nonfat milk. It’s 100% pure summer bliss. That I am sipping on as we “speak.”

Real Life Twitter. The truth is ALWAYS funny. Really, I LOLed.

MixMyGranola. We’ve talked about this before, but I am so in love with it I can’t shut up about it. You can make your OWN granola from start to finish. A healthy blend for breakfast (think fruit, nuts and organic base) and a “late night mix” for when healthy is not the first thing on your mind (peanut butter balls, choc chips and gummy bears anyone?). It comes in a cute canister with the name of your special blend on it, in addition to the exact nutrition info! It’s perf for gifts and ever more perfect for a gift to yourself. After all, you deserve it. Why? Because you’re you.

Summer break has arrived!! (Sorry to those of you still studying for exams. You’ll enjoy that sweet taste of freedom soon.) No more studying or exams or long nights writing papers, but summer isn’t quite the freedom fest it used to be. Now you have jobs and internships taking up most of your tanning time. So, to help you make the most of the little time you will have to bask in the sunshine, use my book reviews as your summer reading list! I promise not to disappoint.

Now, I love my fiction, but sometimes I just get a hankering for a real fact-filled, non-fiction book. I was watching MTV Canada one day saw Rodrigo Bascunan, the author of a fantastic book called “Enter the Babylon System,” being interviewed. On a whim, I decided to get it from the library (if MTV likes him, then he must be bad ass, right?) and boy was I impressed!

Now, before you go grab this book yourself and stare blankly at the cover thinking “WTF is this sh*t?” let me explain something: the book is about guns.

Yeah, I know that you probably have no interest in guns, their history, or their evolution, but hear met out; the  book was seriously great. Read More »

Ever since the great iPhone purchase of 2008 (and, more recently, the great music-obliterating hard drive crash of 2009) I have become completely obsessed with podcasts. It doesn’t help that the iTunes store is one of the more addictive things in this world, and shows you all sorts of great podcasts you might like based on what you have already subscribed to.

You can find a podcast for anything! Want to learn Spanish? Try Coffee Break Spanish! Dig indie music? IndieFeed!  Can’t get enough of LOST? The Lost Podcast is for you!  There are more topics than I could ever name in one short article, but trust me: if you’re interested in it, it’s out there.

There are several factors that make me predisposed to podcast lovin’. I enjoy walking absurdly long distances. I live in a city where long public transportation rides are de rigeur, and some days my poor shoulder just cannot bear the weight of another book. Even were these not true, I would probably still be on the bandwagon. Podcasts are fun, they’re informative, and best of all: they’re free! Yeah baby – I said free!

A rundown on my favorites: Read More »

Put down the diet pills!

Michael Douglas wants to legalize Marijuana!

Want to accessorize like a star?

The future according to Star Trek.

Rihanna and Jay-Z bond over sushi.

Love after graduation, is it possible?

It’s been a tough week, but we survived it without catching the swine flu! That’s probably because we used that pandemic as the perfect excuse to skip class and spend the day doing more productive things (and avoiding strangers’ sneezes): we learned som new make up techniques, hit up Forever 21, and watched lots of TV. Too bad Miss California and Kim Kardashian were taking over the airwaves.

We  spent the rest of the week thinking about being an independent woman and wondered if we were just being too picky to find that right guy to sweep us off our feet. When that got too depressing we started thinking about the end of the semester instead. There’s still so much left to do before we move out! We have to get ready for graduation, get real jobs or get ready to transfer to a new school (beware if you’re switching to NYU, though; we got some bad news about their financial aid package).

All this stress really made us miss high school, where we would be getting ready for prom right about now. Which is why we are putting the books away for the night and grabbing a drink. Don’t worry, it’s just one.

Yay for May!

The April showers are (or should be) over, and it’s time for summer kick in. I can’t WAIT to be done with my exams (only one more… and 10 Red Bulls to go) and on the plane ride home.

The month of May is chock full of great things, and I am more than excited to get this party going. While we’re all winding down and getting ready to finish up the school year, don’t forget to enjoy all the fun things to do and celebrate this month:

1) It’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month! (Yeah, I know, try saying that 10 times fast.) As an ABC (American-Born-Chinese), this celebration is near and dear to my heart. Even if you’re not Asian, you can still join us in celebrating this awesome holiday by making some scrumptious Chinese food, and I don’t mean the kind by General Tso. Laugh it up with my fellow Asian Russell Peters, probably the funniest guy alive, and watch this PSA too, brought to you by Dat Phan, another hilarious Asian comedian and stereotypical crazy cab driver.

2) At only 50 calories a cup, who doesn’t love those lovely red heart-shaped fruits we call strawberries? It’s National Strawberry Month, believe it or not (yes, even fruits get to have parties in their honor). It’s also National Salad Month! Throw a garden party and combine the two to make this Chinois Strawberry and Goat Cheese Salad, or this Arugula and Strawberry Salad. Speaking of strawberries, has anyone ever heard of strawberry meth? Sounds….tasty?
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