Job & Moving to NYC

After months of speculation (and much anticipation on my part) I have officially been offered a job and appointed as a Consultant in Global Partnerships for the United Nations World Food Programme! The picture here is of the WFP logo outside our headquarters in Rome, Italy. There are offices all over the world, and I will be working in our office at the UN Headquarters in New York City. I am joining the New York team, which is very exciting! I am thrilled to be returning to the organization I interned for 3 years ago right after I graduated from FSU! I start work August 1st.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is an incredible organization that provides hunger relief around the world particularly during emergencies. WFP is the expert on getting food to people as soon as disaster hits, and has assisted in crises such as the Haiti earthquake, the 2005 Tsunami, and the dire situation in Sudan. I will be working specifically with our corporate partnerships division that establishes relationships with leading corporations to assist in WFP missions. Some of our current partners include TNT (international shipping), Vodafone (international cell phone provider), Unilever (consumer products), and YUM! Brands (Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell restaurant chains). Below is a picture of the UN headquarters – I’m not actually working in this building, I’m working in our office down the street :)



This is my first job out of grad school, and I could not be more excited about the opportunity! I move next week to New York City, and Nate and I will have some time to get to know the city and settle into our new apartment. We are living in Park Slope, Brooklyn, which is a fantastic area! We are near tons of shops and restaurants, well connected to the metro and just a few minutes from Manhattan. Our apartment is 2 bedrooms, wood floors, extra high ceilings, and brand new lighting and appliances! It is perfect! We are just a 5 minute walk to the metro, Prospect Park, and Atlantic Avenue (which has a Target!). It couldn’t be a better fit for us! Below is a picture of our apartment building and street – our building is the white brick building – and it’s a beautiful street!

Graduation!

Graduation! I am officially a graduate of Duke University. On Saturday May 15th I graduated with my Master's in Public Policy with a concentration in Global Policy. It was a great weekend - my family came together. My parents and grandmother came up from Florida, and my sister flew down from New York City. My boyfriend and I drove up the day before, as did my best friend Courtney and her boyfriend Jason. We had a great time celebrating with my family and friends in North Carolina too - my Uncle John and Aunt Karen, cousin Jill and husband Josh, cousin Justin and wife Sheri, bitty baby cousins Ezekiel, Sebastian, Annabel; cousin Katie, and friends Erica, Nikki, Jeremy, Kathy, Bill, Adrianne, and Melissa & David.

The graduation ceremony was really nice! This is one of my favorite pictures with my favorite people - my boyfriend, sister, and best friend:



And of course, I got a picture with my Nicholas James, my wonderful best friend in the program who's been by my side for 2 long years! He's off to DC and I'm off to NYC. He's also engaged and marrying Hannah, and they met in our program and she graduated too!



It was a really great weekend, I feel really blessed to have been surrounded by all my family and friends. Thanks everyone who made the weekend so special.

Graduation Trip to San Francisco

Hi All! I’m about to graduate, and to celebrate my boyfriend Nate and I went to San Francisco, California to celebrate. We were lucky to have a great friend to stay with – my friend and fellow volunteer from Tanzania, Al. Our first day we arrived around noon to his house in Oakland, just across the bay from San Fran. The three of us then headed off for a walk around Lake Merritt, a great suggestion from my friend Mary!



After that we cleaned up and headed out for a big night in San Fran! We had dinner at Café Aldano, a great restaurant recommended by my friend Jaime. We also had tickets to a performance of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra courtesy of my parents! They played several pieces, but the highlight was Brahms 2nd Symphony – it’s one of Nate’s favorites.



Our first full day in San Fran started with a drive down the Embarcadero. We parked in the Fisherman’s Warf and headed to Pier 39 which was lots of fun. We got to see the famous Sea Lions, who were napping and pushing each other in the water. One was barking and trying to wake the others up – he was annoying and reminded me of myself haha.



Next up was a trip to Boudin’s, the well-known bakery, for a bread bowl of clam chowder – you have to do it! Thanks again to Mary for the great suggestion! We next walked down North Beach towards Coit Tower. This tower has great views of San Fran and the bay. It was built in 1933 and used to serve as a lookout! Below is a picture of the view:



Next we hopped on a couple buses and headed to Union Square. We enjoyed a glass of wine in the park while listening to live music. We also had to take the Westin glass elevator to the top (32 floors) for a view of the square from above! We also took a cheesy picture in front of one of the 4 hearts that stand at each corner of the square:





Following Jaime’s advice, we hopped on the Powell-Hyde cable car for a ride up Nob Hill. After that we took the Red Fleet Boat Tour of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bride. We got a great picture on the back of the boat despite the wind!



After our boat ride we walked to Ghiradelli Square, but we were too full for ice cream sundae! Instead we just got back in our car and drove down the “Crookedest Street Ever” – Lombard! It really IS crooked and it is STEEP! I was glad Nate was driving! We drove back to Oakland and had dinner in Jack London Square at a restaurant recommended by Mary called Yoshi’s – awesome sushi! It was a great way to end the day!

Monday was Napa Valley! Unfortunately, it was raining in the morning so our tour of Beringer was a little more indoors (wine cellars) than outdoors (vineyards). It was still great and very informative and as a plus we got to taste 7 wines instead of 5! We learned a lot about different wine pairings and history. The barrels in the cellar I thought were particularly cool:



Next we had lunch at Cindy’s Backyard, a great recommendation from my mom. We did a quick tasting at Sutter Home before heading to Robert Mondavi in the afternoon. By that time the weather was nice, so we did a few wine tastings and walked around the vineyard:





We were pretty tired after Napa – we definitely want to go back again and get to see more wineries, and get a chance to get to Sonoma! We had dinner back in Oakland that night at Pizzaiolo, recommended by my friend Anton – and Al came with us! We had a great time.

Our last day was great, we started by walking the golden gate bridge! It was fun although the bridge is more red than golden!



After walking the bridge across AND back, we drove to Delfina’s for lunch (big thanks to Anton and Sandy for both recommending it!) We had the best pizza there! Next we drove through the Golden Gate Park and Alamo Square. You just have to take a picture in front of the Full House Victorian houses in the square! Nate’s picture is the funniest:



We continued driving towards the coast and down to Point Lobos. The view was amazing:





After that we followed a scenic drive through Percadero and Sea Cliff recommended by Jaime. The views were beautiful! We ended across the Golden Gate Bridge at a very cool lookout over the bay (thanks again Jaime!).



We continued on to Sausalito, a town my mom and dad love. It reminded me a little of the Amalfi Coast in Italy. It was very cute, and we had a nice glass of wine on the water and relaxed for a bit!



We then drove back into the city for a final cable car ride, which we had better seats for – at the front. The cable cars are classic – and everyone has to do at least one ride (we did two!). It dropped us off in Chinatown, which was fun to walk through. We also saw the Ferry Building after we passed through Chinatown. I really liked the cable car though, obviously:



We took the F street car up the Embarcadero back to Fisherman’s Warf. We had dinner at Greens restaurant, a vegetarian restaurant on the water recommended by my friend Sarah. We had dinner at sunset, which was the perfect time, and we got to see the Golden Gate Bridge as the sun set and as the night lights came on. Really beautiful:



In all, it was a wonderful but short trip, but we did as much as possible! We can’t wait to go back, it was a really great time. We had an even better trip thanks to awesome recommendations from all my friends! Up next: GRADUATION!

La Dolce Vita - Italy with Courtney

Courtney and I had a FABULOUS time in Italy! It was great to return to the World Food Programme – where I was able to present my applied Master’s Thesis on a fundraising strategy for a particular industry. Courtney really enjoyed the pastries our first day:



Returning to WFP was great and the presentation went really well! It was exciting to be back, and in a different capacity than when I was an intern:



Once my presentation finished, we headed to Orvieto, a small medieval town in the region of Umbria, just south of Toscana (Tuscany). The views were incredible:





Our last night we had dinner at Le Grotte del Funaro, a restaurant recommended by my mom’s best friend Gamin. It is carved out of a cave, and was a blast. We ended up dancing at a private party downstairs at an Italian grandmother’s birthday!



We returned to Rome and saw some more fun sights, including the Trevi Fountain (at night) and the Spanish steps - in full bloom, which I had not seen before, and of course, Bocca Della Verita (the mouth of truth) highlighted in the film Roman Holiday (one of my favorites, thanks to my Rach!):







We spent a lovely afternoon in Villa Borghese where we had a picnic lunch – prosciutto, cheese, bread, and olive dolce (sweet olives). We also went on a boat ride in Villa Borghethe parkse! We took turns rowing, but I mastered it and rowed for most of our time on the lake.





We also had an apertivo with WFP former interns – I was reunited with Cristiana, Emily, Cat, Federica, and Gabriella!



All in all, it was the perfect trip! It was wonderful to return to Italy where I lived for 7 months and to take my best friend, who is learning Italian, on her first trip to this amazing country. We couldn’t have asked for better weather, food, and friends!



This last photo I couldn't resist - it is quintessential Italy :)