Monday, January 26, 2009

Highlights of the Trip

by Jordan Kamikawa

Looking back, the trip as a whole was an amazing experience. However, in short, I'm going to tell you about some of the meetings and places that really stood out to me.

Meetings:

The Smoking Gun
The comradery and cohesiveness that the 3-person staff displayed here really was impressive. In addition to their hard-working ethic and commitment to accuracy, I got the sense that all three of them really loved what they do everyday.

The Onion
This meeting was not only humorous, but also gave an in-depth look into a publication that is not afraid to push the envelope. I really admired how they are able to tackle tough issues, and still be funny while doing it. 

Saatchi and Saatchi
This company really displayed a positive attitude towards advertising. One of the key aspects to their company is a term called "Lovemarks," which refers to elevating a brand to a high level of respect and endearment. Also, they embrace creativity in their work, and try to always think "outside the box."

The Associated Press
This was an extremely organized and professional meeting. Not only did they have two very inspiring speakers, but also gave us a full tour of their facility, which included a sit-during a newsroom meeting.

Food:

ESPN Zone in NY
It was just a cool experience to sit in on what seemed to be the ultimate food and sports restaurant. Not only did they have massive screens streaming live sports, but the food and atmosphere were excellent.

Virgil's BBQ
This renowned barbeque restaurant was a treat to visit. The pulled-pork sandwich, which I had, was juicy and full of flavor. 

Sushi Aoi
This little place in DC was pretty authentic as far as sushi is concerned. I work at a sushi restaurant back home and was thoroughly impressed with this place, which was pretty inexpensive as well. 

Old Ebbitt's Grill
This is supposedly the oldest bar in DC, which has been visited by a slew of famous historical figures, such as former presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt. The look of the whole place was very elegant, and the food was delicious.

Museums:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
This museum was ridiculously enormous. We went considerably fast through most of the exhibits, which still took about 3 hours. There was much more we weren't able to see, due to renovation. The sections of particular interest to me were the Egyptian, Greek, and Armor exhibits. 

The National Holocaust Museum
This museum was very powerful and hit me hard. I never really knew about the holocaust in that much detail before, and just seeing some of the unjust and inhumane ways the people were treated really got to me. 

2 comments:

  1. Great choices, Jordan.
    I feel like we experienced so many things, hence our long list, and although I loved it all, it's nice to find a few experiences you may never forget. I also saw The Smoking Gun and The Onion to be favorites as well. You talked about how they must love their jobs, I agree, how could you not when you basically have pure freedom and are not necessarily tied down. It’s like playing football or hockey… or any sport for that matter, and getting paid to do it. I appreciate that both have their own style and clearly both are unique from any other publication. Also, it must be nice to have such a huge network of readers online. The Smoking Gun doesn’t have a choice but honestly, it might be a benefit to them to start online because readers don’t know it any other way.
    As for restaurants I would agree with Old Ebbitt’s Grill. For the fancy atmosphere and it’s somewhat historic nature, I feel like the food was very reasonably priced and of course, it was delicious. At first it was weird being seated in the atrium just outside the main part of the restaurant, but honestly, we had the best view so I certainly wasn’t complaining.
    One thing I appreciated about our dining experiences is that we experienced a great variety. Yes, it was expensive to pay for basically all of our meals, but it was worth it to branch out and not eat McDonald’s and five dollar foot longs for three weeks.
    As for the museums, Holocaust was by far my favorite, hands down considering I blogged about my experience. I honestly wish I had a greater appreciation for art, but there’s something about the Holocaust museum that’s unmatched to any other museum I have and will ever experience. Read my blog titled “United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: Bearing Witness” if you want to know more about it.

    -Erica Schrader

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  2. Jordan this is a very good list of things that we went to over the trip. I would say that for me I loved going to the ESPN Zone with and see all of those TV's and the ribs that I got were the best I had ever had. I also enjoy sushi so that sushi resturant we went to was so good and I would totally go there again. The most dissapointing food experiance i had was that thai resturant down the street. It was the first time I had ever had bad thai food.
    I also agree with your meeting choices as well for me on that list the top one would have to be The Onion because they were so funny. I love to make people laugh so to see them having a good time while doing their job was pretty cool. One meeting I would add to the list would have to be the PR meeting that was pretty informational and we went through a PR class so it was interesting to see what they had to say.
    I loved the Holocaust Museum as well and to see what the Jewish people went through was just aweful but to hear the survivors stories was incredable.
    I loved this trip and hand a great time.

    Patrick Kenney

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