Visiting Washington

As Xu Lei wrote so well in this blog, Washington is a great city to visit, and well worth a trip for AutoCom interns.

I lived in Washington three times and enjoyed the area very much: once with the US Army, once working in the Capitol as press secretary for a U.S. Senator and once working in the General Motors Washington office.

Eileen and I enjoyed a fine visit to Washington early this month when the famous cherry blossoms were at their magnificent best. Here we are at the Jefferson Memorial; also a photo of the Washington Cathedral (often missed by tourists) with more spring blossoms.

Lei listed a lot of Washington’s attractions; I’ll be glad to tell more to interns who want to go there.

Jack Harned

Another new Face

Hey everybody,

My name is Susanne, 21, and I am going to be another intern at AutoCom starting in mid-August. I am really happy and excited to have the chance to join you guys for my internship. I am also sure that I will be able to learn a lot and get to know the field of communications very well.

Furthermore, I am thrilled to have the chance to experience the American way of life a second time and to reaffirm my positive impression as I have already spent a High-School year in the US.

Currently I am a student in my second year of an International Business degree in Cambridge, England. I spent my first year of studies in Berlin, the capitol of Germany –a really nice city.

Right now it is my last week of spring break from University, it is not that relaxing, though - I have a lot of assignments to write.

I just got together all necessary documents in order to start the process of the visa application. It is unbelievable but it is really hard to find a photographer in Cambridge who is able to take a picture according to the photo guidelines for an American visa.

Bianca and Lei have already been very helpful – I guess the main questioning is still coming up when it is time to get further guide and documents for the DS2019 form, housing etc. Thank you for your help in advance!

I am really looking forward to meet you all and cannot wait for the time to pass by until my departure! :)

I am sure I will have a great time with lots of knowledge and experience in Public Relations.

Susanne

Easter in Toronto

Toronto is a really "mulit-culti" city. You can find there nearly every nationality. Walking through the streets is lots of fun. I think with one breath you smell 5 different flavours...! I really recommend to walk along Queensstreet. There are a lot of nice shops and restaurants. Walk along that street and then just go North...after a few minutes you will reach China Town as well as Kensington Market. There are a lot of small shops and stands which sell nearly everything. And you also have Greek Town (eastern Toronto) and a "little Italy". If there is nice weather you should go to the lakeshore...and you will feel like beeing far far away from a big city (although it's just behind you).

Visting the CN-Tower is not the cheapest thing to do, but it's amazing. One ticket is about 24 Canadian$. But the floor of the observation desk (it's in a hight of 336m) is partly made out of glas...that's impressive! When you stand on that floor you just see all the "mini" cars driving below you. It's unbelievable. (But too much adrenalin for me ;) I just staied there for 2 seconds)

But I was wondering that you couldn't see any Easter stuff on the streets or in the shops. I didn't see at least one egg or Easter bunny. But it was a great Easter weekend anyway.

Hope you all had a good time on Easter...

Bianca

I ♡ DC

It was a great 6 days’ trip. 2 days on the way... about 9 hours drive~~~ No Speeding! We got a ticket on the way down there.

Attractions: Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, White House, World War II Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, Capitol, Arlington Cemetery (Change of Guard Ceremony, Kennedy Fire…), Pentagon (just a shot when we drove by), George Town (C&O Canal—we did an one-hour boat tour on it powered by mules J, Old Stone House, M Street, Shops)
Museums: National Gallery of Arts (Special Exhibition: Cezanne in Provence; Dada), Air and Space Museum, American Indian Museum, American History Museum, Freer Museum (Special Exhibition: Chinese and Japanese Arts)
Food: China Town! I ate Asian Food most of all these days: Chinese food in China Town, Middle East food near where I live, Vietnamese’s food in George Town, Korean Food in Arlington (There is a street at the Virginia side of the Potomac River aligned with Korean restaurants)
Nights:
--Kennedy Center (Free performances), I spent two nights there: radio theater- Pinocchio and George Mason University Symphony Orchestra.
--An NBA Game between Washington Wizards and Cleveland, Wizards won the game. I like it soooooooo much. Plan to catch for another one in Detroit.
--“Dawn of Death”, a horror movie in the hostel with a group of young people, which is better for such kind of a movie.
--“The Rock”, another one in the hostel with almost the same group.
Season Specialties:
--Flowers: Cherry Blossoms are just gone, but there are tulips and peach trees instead.
--Easter Egg Hunt: Organized by the hostel I lived in. I found 8 eggs: 3 with bunny chocolate, 3 with candies and 2 with 1 dollar! Not bad for my first egg hunt. ;P

Washington D.C. in Lei’s Eyes

FREE Entrance!

All the museums, monuments, cemeteries are free of charge. Besides, Kennedy Center offers free a concert every day!
Early birds get the worms!
You could pick up free tickets to go up the Washington monuments and to watch real money printing, but people began to queue up at about 5:30 AM, even you arrive at 6:30, there could be no ticket available.
Public Transportation!
Unlike Detroit, they have a relatively good public transportation. At least for tourists, you could reach the sightseeing easily.
Security Check and Policemen everywhere.
After 911, everywhere is on guard.
Hilltop Hostel
It is a cool place to stay. 2 minutes’ walk from metro. It was a big house actually with kitchen, wash machines, driers, living room with TV set and computers. Another great thing about hostel is you could met lots of young people there. I spent some part of my trip with them. A Korean guy cooked Bibimbap (mixed rice) for me. It was really good~~

I ♡ DC

By Lei

Back to Germany

Hey folks!!
It’s a week now that I’m back in Germany and slowly I get used to it. The first days were like being stopped from 70mph to 0mph in 3 seconds, but on the third day I was okay again and not too homesick for Detroit anymore.
Now I’m back in my college town Hannover, meet all my old friends and get ready for my final thesis. And of course – think back to my time in Detroit and all the great people I met. I arrived in the U.S. with low expectations and left with so many good memories, dear friends, lots of PR-experiences, three awfully heavy suitcases and hundreds of pictures. =)
I hope it won’t be too long until I see you again. Take care, enjoy spring!

Ilka