From Newark to Orlando
I didn’t know any EY interns who would be on this flight, so I just wore an EY t-shirt, hoping that someone would recognize and talk to me so we could hang out while waiting for the flight. My wish came true, this guy TH from the New York Office came by and said hi – we kept each other company all the way from that point until we checked in.
Luckily, there were no delays, so I was able to get there at around 4pm (general registration closes at 5pm). When we arrived at the airport, we followed the instruction provided in the email sent to us a few days prior to the trip. Very detailed and very accurate. Then we were greeted by a person holding the EY welcome board, giving us more information on EY Meer Shuttle to the hotel.
The Meer Shuttle is organized by EY and doesn’t require a reservation. It runs until 4.30 PM only; after that, you would need to book a reservation for another shuttle. That meant we were one of the last ones that get to do this type of shuttle, everyone else after would have to book a spot on the bus. A bit less hassle for us – I’m very glad.
Arrive @ Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
When we got off the bus, many EY staffs welcomed us with super cheerful smiles and hellos. I heard earlier in the day they were even doing some fun dances. Then, we were led into the registration room, which had many tables set up like an assembly line. We would walk from one station to another, so they could check us in, give us merch, hand us lanyards, and send us room keys and directions to the rooms. Everything was done very efficiently!
Dinner and General Session
After checking out my room and meeting my roommate, I headed to the ballroom for the dinner session. We were all assigned to different tables and we could find that information in EY Virtual Event app. Our table had around 9 people – 8 interns and 1 manager. Initially, I couldn’t recognize the manager and asked him how was his internship… Then he answered that he has been working here for 4 years and I answered back that I have only been here for 2 months… I think by this point, he recognized that I mistook him as an intern, so he made it clear that he was a manager. That was also when I came to realize that everyone is categorized by lanyard colors: yellow = staff, grey/black = interns. Interesting.
My roommate
She is from Syracuse, but she works in the Atlanta office. She is in Tax. She told me about the pool and how she got to travel often for work. She also showed me how diverse her closet was – gym, business professional, business casual, fancy, and casual – since she was not sure what to wear for the conference and I thought that was quite smart. I clearly over-packed my business clothes though, we shall see.
Trang "Tee" Nguyen 