Did you all watch the Grammy’s a couple of weeks ago? Billie Elish essentially won it all. How about Justin Bieber’s musical comeback on Saturday Night Live?  Oh, and did you see UNC v. Duke basketball game? How about the experimentation happening with online dating using artificial intelligence. 

Finally, a job exists where it’s ok, actually, it’s encouraged, to be aware of these things. Too many times have people been made fun of for Keeping up with the Kardashians. I’ll admit, I did stop paying attention to trends for a bit because of the #haters. But you see, when I realized that I wanted to be a strategist I also realized that it’s important for me to be “in-the-know.”  After all, the biggest part of being a creative strategist is understanding people. If I want to do my future job well I have to know what people like and what they don’t like. And if I don’t know it’s my responsibility to find out. A lot of cultural questions can be answered by paying attention to what’s popular.

When it comes to trends and pop culture my curiosity has been reborn. I have lots of questions. With that being said, I want to work on broadening my pop knowledge every day, so if you have a hilarious meme, a cool new tune, or even a tech tidbit please send it my way.  

No, this is isn’t a story about how at peace I felt without access to the outside world, although it definitely was very peaceful. Rather, I’m going to tell you about my time as a Geology minor in Big Bend, Texas through pictures. And let’s clear up one thing…. Geology is not “rocks for jocks” smh. 

It all started when I enrolled myself in GEOL 221- Geology of North America. The class was split into groups. The first half of the semester was spent learning about Big Bend’s geological history and the geological gaps in its history. Each group was given the task to come up with their own research project based on what we had learned.  My group’s research question was, “Is there evidence of Rio Grande Rifting in Big Bend National Park?”. We spent the week of spring break camping in the desert of Texas. Given geological maps of the desert, we were asked to plan out an entire research day dedicated to each of our groups’ research questions. The second half of the semester was spent conducting and synthesizing our research. If you’ve read this far, you are probably ready to see some pictures. So here they are.

(Scroll to the bottom for our final poster) 

PC: Gabri Mannino, shot on an iPhone

This is a picture I took sitting in the front seat on our way into the National Park. Half of my class is in the van pictured. The van rides were some of the most memorable moments of this trip. We played games and listened to podcasts about the earth. Most importantly we all became closer and that made the trip extra enjoyable.

PC: Gabri Mannino, shot on an iPhone

This is a picture I took looking out from the window of the Van. 

PC: Gabri Mannino, shot on an iPhone

This picture was taken while I was sitting on a mountain behind our campsite overlooking the Rio Grande River. 

PC: David Greenawald

Dr. Kevin Stewart is explaining the geology of the area we were about to visit. 

PC: David Greenawald

Following our Professor Dr. Kevin Stewart to Boquillas Canyon.

PC: Gabri Mannino, shot on an iPhone 

This a picture of me taking the strike and dip of a fault surface using a Brunton Compass. The stripes going up and down on the surface are called slicken lines. Slicken lines show the direction of motion of the fault surface.  

PC: Hailey Galit

While this doesn’t look steep from the angle it was taken, this is my friend Abby Fancher and I climbing up a gigantic landslide. One of the research groups needed to collect data from the top so we all climbed. Our lives would flash before our eyes each time we stepped on a rock that wobbled ever so slightly. Shout out to David Greenawald, our TA, who stuck by our sides and got us back down safely.

Final Research Poster presented at the 16th Annual Anadarko Student Research Symposium- 2018

Today, I want to tell you how my journey to Chapel Hill taught me about making decisions for personal growth. 

My parents were raised in an extremely family-oriented culture. By default, they raised me the same way. I lived upstairs from my grandparents’ house until I was five years old. My family was always at the top of my mind. School was also extremely important to me, it was the only thing I felt that I was good at (but that topic is for another day). When the time came to apply to college the choice to me was clear, a university that was close to home. Sure going to college in a different city sounded cool, but my family was in Greenville. The university near me had a good honors college program that I could apply to and It gave me the option to live at home, or at least be close to home. It made sense to my parents too since when they were growing up the concept of moving away for college was foreign. So that’s what I did I applied to the Honors College at ECU. 

I was talking to a friend of mine one day during the senior application process and he asked me what schools I was applying to. I said “I’m applying to ECU,  they have a good program for what I want to study”- at that point it was Geology. He encouraged me to apply to other schools because according to him “it would be good for me to branch out.” I took his advice and decided to pick another school that stood out to me. I applied to UNC-Chapel Hill. 

I sent in both of my applications and waited for a response. First, I received an acceptance letter from ECU. Then, received a letter saying that I was waitlisted for ECU’s Honors College. I still had not heard from UNC. I started to get anxious and realized that if I didn’t get accepted, I would be kind of upset. It was a weird and unexpected feeling considering I had a pretty set plan. Then finally the letter came…on Connect Carolina. I got in. I was in pure shock and excitement…. but now I had to make a really big decision. Do I go to ECU and stay with my family who is the most important thing to me, or do I take a chance and move to Chapel Hill? Based on stories that I had heard from former students I knew that I would be a good fit for UNC. After weeks of back and forth, it was time to make a decision. 

Both schools had pros and both schools had cons. My parents encouraged me to choose what felt right. While I wanted to be around my family, deep down I thought “my friend is right, branching out would be good for me, being around new people, living on my own and being exposed to new perspectives would help me grow as a person.” I also thought “the decision to stay in Greenville would be driven by my family, not myself” which is neither a good or bad thing, but was a thought that was going through my head. 

I chose UNC. And I chose it for myself (after all, it is only two hours away which is a decent distance from home). I have grown immensely during my time here and I’m grateful that I was given the opportunity to make that decision. 

I found that sometimes it’s okay to put yourself first as long as you aren’t hurting anyone in the process and as long as it’s towards something good. 

The Super Bowl. The only day of the year in which people don’t ask their hopper to skip the ads. The only year when thousands of tv watchers don’t sprint to the bathroom during a commercial break. This year I was able to watch the first half of the game because I had to work on a class group project. So I did what any advertising major would do.

In the next couple of days, I spent my free time Googling Super Bowl ads and Facetiming my best friend, and former Tar Heel, Honora Reilly to discuss the highs, the lows, and the in-betweens. For my blog today I’m going to share with you all a few of our favorites and our initial reactions to them. 

First, naturally, #babynut. An interesting take on baby Yoda? Second, Bud Light Seltzer. Is Post Malone going to start a comedic acting career? Third, Audi. I guess we will never let that song go (I’m not mad at it though). The Google “Loretta” ad had EVERYONE crying, hands down. I thought Google did a good job appealing to an older generation. Digital assistants seem to be very intuitive and a good form of technology for a non-technological generation. Fourth Doritos’ “Cool Ranch.” A well-executed attempt at bridging generations by including Lil Nas X, his song Old Town Road, and Sam Elliott. Fifth, Sodastream’s “Sodastream Discovers Water On Mars: Fresh Sparkling Water In Seconds.” Extremely long title, but we thought this one was silly in a good way. We love a dad joke!

 

Chick-fil-A’s dipping sauce is arguably the best part of the Chick-fil-A experience and I had to learn that the hard way. 

In my sophomore year of college I signed up for a 24-hour marketing case competition, (intense? Tell me about it.) called Crash Campaign. It’s actually part of the reason why I want to work in advertising. I loved the experience so much that the next year I decided to apply to Crash Campaign’s planning committee. I was on the events and sponsorship team, so essentially I helped manage the budget, plan the logistics of the event, and gain sponsorships. I learned an important lesson throughout this planning process. 

Our main goal as the events and sponsorship team is to make it possible for everyone to have a great time and not feel like they are missing anything. 

You see when you’re planning an event for over 80 people, and specifically, when you are planning catering, there’s a lot to think about. One of those things, which may seem obvious, is making sure everyone has something to eat. Everyone.

For dinner on the first night of the competition, we catered chick fil a. All the participants were thrilled, and we were excited too because all of our hard work was paying off. But then I heard a comment. “Awh man there’s no sauce!?” And that’s when I learned the true importance of paying attention to detail and to never stop improving. We had sandwiches, we had salads for vegetarians and vegans, we had chips and cookies. Unfortunately, we did forget the sauce. More often than not, it’s the small things that make a big difference. The next year, I joined the planning committee again. We made a note of all the things that went well the year before and all the things we could improve on (like the sauce). And let me tell you, we did not forget the sauce.

My name is Gabri. I was born in Brooklyn, New York. Right after my 9th birthday, my parents decided it was time to move to North Carolina. The move was rough, I missed my cousins and my Nonni. I had a hard time making friends at first. My classmates would introduce themselves to me and ask where I was from, I’d say “New York” and they would respond with “What?! Really?” This was awesome because my 9-year-old self finally found something that other 9-year-olds thought was cool (can’t say that it still has the same effect though). As the years went on I started to wonder, for how much longer could I claim to be a New Yorker…. 

 I’ve heard that there is a list you can check off to see how “New York” you are. The first thing on that list is “Do you get cold?” Well… when I open the weather app in the morning, if the temperature is anything below 65 degrees I grab a sweater, but hey, sometimes there’s a breeze outside, you’ve gotta be prepared. No, I’ve never been to a Yankee game, but my family is a soccer family so I don’t think that counts. I vaguely remember visiting the Statue of Liberty as a child and I do not own an “I heart NY” t-shirt. Giving myself a point for that one. I’ve heard that New Yorkers hate Times Square. I love it. But, I want to work in advertising and Times Square inspires me. Adding another point. I know for a fact that New York-style pizza is the best style of pizza. Lastly, New Yorkers are always in a rush, and I get frustrated when people in front of me are walking slow. I’m going to give myself two points there.  

So am I too many years removed? Or do I have enough points to pass? I think I am going to claim New York, even if it doesn’t claim me.