I am part of a student organization on campus called Association for Woman in Communications (AWC). It’s wonderful to be part of a group of kick ass woman, who are passionate, talented and all aspired to be successful in the communications industry. AWC takes networking trips to tour agencies/departments and talk to professionals out in the real world, and in the spring we travel somewhere a bit farther. This year, as you can tell we flew out to Seattle!

To say I was excited was an understatement. Seattle is one of my most favorite places in the country.

Wake up call was 4 am on Wednesday to catch the badger bus that headed toward Milwaukee. Our Seattle bound flight was leaving at 7:30 in the morning so the ten of us had to get from Madison to Milwaukee pretty early. Of course I couldn’t fall asleep on the bus or the flight because ahhhh I was soon to be in Seattle.

Landed and on the ground we found our most adorable Airbnb, 19 Prospect St. I had never stayed in an Airbnb but was excited to try since I had heard great things about using them when traveling. Take a look at this cute house…

Although, yet again, I wasn’t able to sleep super well because this home lacked heating. During the day it was brisk but the sun shining in warmed the house slightly. At night we layered our clothes and cuddled under blankets. It worked for the short stay we had.

The view for sure made up for everything!

The meetings we attended were both that Thursday. First, Costco headquarters, where the ladies in charge of their social media and digital communications presented information to our group and answering our questions. They were wonderful. Working in-house, doing communications work within a particular company, definitely has its perks. The biggest perk in my eyes would being able to focus on one client. After their visit we returned to the middle of the city to visit the agency DNA. They work on many different clients serving them in multiple ways, providing creative advertising, media placement and account directors. The agency was hip, urban, open and creatively fueling. If I were to head into an agency setting I would want to look for somewhere like DNA.

Attending networking trips has been one of the most impactful and best experiences I have had academically. Getting out into the professional world to see the actual places people work and hear about what they do has taught me so much. I have discovered more about what I want to do and where I might go in the future. If you have the opportunity to do something similar, TAKE IT!

Not to mention the trips are fun. Getting to take a break from campus life and adventure someplace different with friends is another worthy experience.