My Wild Weekend in Arizona

 

This is a long overdue post but a few weeks ago I took a road trip to Arizona with an organization I joined, AIESEC, for their regional conference known as West Coast Fall RoKs 2013.

First off, "AIESEC is the global youth network impacting the world throughleadership development experiences. AIESEC has been facilitating youth leadership activities as well as international internships & volunteer experiences for over 65 years, developing a global learning environment across 124 countries & territories."

In my own words, AIESEC focuses on global exchange to give students a valuable experience to travel and volunteer/intern abroad. As AIESEC members, we are responsible for receiving and sending out students to help give them an enriching life experience. We are the largest student run organization in the world, and some of our many responsibilities include convincing companies to hire interns from foreign countries to help their business, recruit students who want to volunteer/intern abroad specific to their major and location, match students from other countries to companies' specific job descriptions, find housing and making the intern feel at home here in the U.S., managing multiple budgets to fit certain needs, etc. We do have a professional side of AIESEC which practices real life business and leadership skills, but as a club, we are like a family. We want to work towards a common goal: peace and fulfillment of human's potential. 

The conference over weekend with AIESEC was definitely memories to cherish for a lifetime. It was cool because we got to connect with AIESEC chapters from other schools such as SLO, ASU, UCD, SDSU, and Cornell so I feel like my network has expanded at such a greater scale. I even roomed with a student from Germany who is part of the AIESEC chapter there! It's so inspiring to see how AIESEC brings together the youth to give students a chance to enhance their business and leadership skills and really make a difference in people's lives; that is just awesome. The topics we learned during the retreat was very technical specific to AIESEC, but it was enriching and inspiring to say the least. For me specifically, I spent 5 hours learning how to sell AIESEC to companies and how things needed to get done after the contract is signed, etc. What was also pretty cool about this this retreat was I think I found one of my passions in life and that is with Sales/Marketing. Practicing how to sell AIESEC to companies and the process behind everything lets me sort of visualize a career in that sort of field. I'm definitely interested in the psychology behind of what makes people do what do in a business aspect so West Coast RoKs allowed me to have this opportunity. I partnered up with next semester's president Imran to my first sales meeting with a guy from Juniper Networks and I just found out how the power of communication really is. Even if I don't pursue a career in Sales, it's a great skill to have regardless of your major and I find it quite enjoyable thus far. 

This blog post was a bit lengthy, but in short, I'm glad I joined this wonderful organization. I hope that with AIESEC, I can change people's lives and one day go on my own exchange. 

Jamba Juice Tips, Stereotypes, & Funny Things to Say

Some insight from an ex Jamba Juice employee

Tips & Tricks:

1) Look online for coupons before heading to Jamba Juice. There are always going to be promotions or coupons on the web.

2) Become a Jamba Insider! Not only do they give you email regarding special promotions, your next 16oz smoothie can be bought at a discounted price for only $2! You can show the employee from your mobile device so this coupon can be reused (illegally) until the expiration date. Even when the expiration date is around the corner, the internet has plenty of opportunities for success (make another email address and become a Jamba Insider again, and repeat)

3) Ask for promotions. Sometimes there are deals going on that you might not be aware about. It doesn't hurt to ask!

4) Fill out the surveys they occasionally hand you after you purchase your order. They are called Jamtrak surveys where the customer can fill out to judge the store's performance and usually result in a Buy 1 Get 1 free coupon next time you roll up into another Jamba Juice. If they don't give you one, go ahead and ask for a Jamtrak survey if they see any lying around, it doesn't hurt to ask!

5) Always, always, always ask for a receipt. Sometimes there are occasional coupons/deals at the very bottom.

6) Buy Gift Cards from Costco. There are always deals of buying a $50 Jamba Juice Gift Card for $35 or something like that (I'm making these prices up of course) If you're a frequent sipper, why wouldn't you want to invest your money?

7) Split your smoothies. Go ahead and buy a Large size smoothie and ask to have the smoothie split it into two cups. You'll get two 16oz smoothies for the price of a Large! 

8) Ask for extra. Anytime you request for almost anything extra, the Jamba Team Members are supposed to put it in a bigger cup. If you ask for extra ice, they'll upsize your cup. Extra strawberries, extra sherbet, extra whatever they are supposed to upsize it for you (If I were you, I would ask the cashier right then and there to upsize the cup because sometimes people forget and or they are new) This doesn't apply for like Extra Peanut Butter for example because, that extra peanut butter or an extra boost won't have any significant effect to the smoothie size. I would, for the most part, recommend asking for extra ice. Asking for extra fruits or sherbet costs an additional 50 cents, you might as well upsize your drink to begin with if you do get extra fruits/sherbet.

9) Jamba Juice has a 100% Goodness Gurantee. If you don't like your drink for whatever reason, you can bring it back up to them so they can get you a new one. If it's too watery, not blended well enough, not filled up all the way, etc. People mess up and that's okay. Kindly let the employees know why you want a new drink and they'll be happy to make it for you. Just don't be a douchebag about it and abuse this rule.

10) Ask for it Thick, Thin, or Chunky (if you want). It's all preference, but the thicker the smoothie, that basically means it'll be harder to sip than your usual smoothie. If you want it thin, the smoothie will be more of a liquid than a smoothie. If you want it chunky, the smoothie would have some fruit bits as you sip it. 

Stereotypes: 

This is really funny because these stereotypes are actually the trends I witness on a daily basis every time I come into work. I'm not trying to be racist haha. These customers might say somthing like...

Indians: Fresh squeezed orange carrot juice with no ice

Mexicans: 2 Mango and Strawberry  (Notice how I didn't say the full names)

Little Kids: "Can I get a White Gummi please? " "Can I get a Sour Patch Kids?" "Can I get something from the Secret Menu?"

Middle Aged: "What's healthy here?" "Can I get one of your Fruit and Veggie Smoothies and add an Antioxident, Daily Vitamin and a C & Zinc Boost in there?"

Elderly: "Hi, can I get a Jamba Juice please, make it light."

Asian Parents: "Can I get 3 Power smoothies all split in two cups each to go?"

Funny: 

If you ever want to troll any Jamba Juice store try a couple of these lines and see their reaction. Make sure to look super disappointed when they tell you you can't have these things. 

1) Can I get a Strawberry Wild with an extra wild please?

2) Can I get 5 Jamba Juices please?

3) Can I get a Turkey Sausage and Cheese wrap with no Sausage?

4) Can I get a Smokehouse Chicken flatbread without the corn?

5) Can you hook it up with a drink?

6) Can I get 5 water cups with mostly ice please? (-__-)

7) Can I get a Screaming ORGASSMM?

8) Can I get a Pink Gummi?

9) Can I get a Mango a Go Go, make it heavy? 

10) Can I get a Stoner's Delight?

Hope you guys found this useful or at least entertaining to read! Thanks! 

Theatre: Monologue - Hitch

I've always been into theatre but I was never exactly super skilled in it, But just because I'm not an expert doesn't mean I can't love it. I love having a chance to perform on stage or behind the camera because acting forces me out of reality and I can develop into a whole new character that I must embrace. Luckily, I was the last one that had the chance to add into an acting class at SJSU and I would like to share with you guys the monologue I had to perform! This is the opening scene of the movie, Hitch (which is a really really good movie btw).