S01E01 — VOST : How to become a New-Yorker in a month
Here I am New York City! Let’s face it, you’re pretty impressive with all your huge buildings and wide streets, but I will tame you!
Here is a little summary in 140 characters of the first days in NYC and at Havas New York. What a week! So many changes at the same time. I didn’t think the language would be a barrier, but it’s not as easy as I had hoped. But you get used to it I guess, and everybody is very patient and kind! (Except this guy at the coffee shop who did not understand me when I was ordering a tea — I mean a teaaaaaaaa 😁). But except for this irrelevant instance, everybody is very friendly and welcoming.
Day 1 — Saturday: 7pm = The jet lag will not get me
After a eight hour flight and two-hour taxi ride, it’s still 6 o’clock and the sun is shining in NYC. “Don’t go straight to bed or it’s gonna be hard forever” my friends told me, so I grabbed my tourist guide and went for a walk. 6kms later, I’ve got everything needed for breakfast and a chopped salad for dinner. I tried hard not to go to bed too early, but at 9 o’clock I fell asleep like a stone.
Day 2 — Sunday: 20km walk in the city
It’s 5 o’clock in the morning when I wake up… eyes wide open! What can I do? Let’s do like New Yorkers: go to the gym! So after few exercises, time for a little walk in Manhattan to find the best way to go to work. It’s just a 20-minute walk with 2 turns, but I succeed to get lost. 💪
I finally find the building and keep walking all day through the city. At the end of the day I had walked a semi-marathon (small victory).
Day 3 — Monday: Back to school
Clothes ready — backpack ready — mind ready — LET’S DO IT!
After a presentation of the agency, I met my amazing coach Dorothy and her partner Julian. They’re creative directors and work on a lot of different brands from the same group. They mostly do commercials which is very interesting to me as I don’t usually do a lot of TV spots back home. I met the teams around us, everybody is very nice and welcoming even if they have trouble pronouncing my name: I’ve become Morgot, Marco or Mango. I hesitate to change my name for the month. When I was traveling in Australia and I had the same problem, people used to call me Marge (like Marge Simpson) which was pretty cool.
Day 4: Tuesday: This tweet will surprise you
It’s pretty hard to get creatives to complete timesheets . We all know that is important… but there’s always something else to do. Havas NY has found the ultimate way to encourage people to do it… you don’t have access to Internet until they are completed, and of course it works! (but shhhhhh don’t tell this to BETC, please!)
Day 5: Wouah
I work on different briefs with my coach, and it’s very interesting but also a little difficult as I don’t know yet how social media is used in America or what is the sense of humor is here, but I participated in several creative reviews and I’m beginning to understand how it works. Creatives are pretty impressive — they go in a bunch of directions and they know how to tell stories.
I can’t wait to keep going through this experience and keep learning new things.
