Sunday, August 21, 2011

My Summer.

I finally made my way back to Boulder after having the most incredible summer of my life. I honestly can't remember a summer in all my 22 years where I learned this much, changed this much, met as many wonderful people, and experienced some of the greatest moments of my life.

I don't even know where to begin on my crazy adventures so I'm just going to dive right in and see where this takes me.

For those of you who don't know, or who missed a step, I got an internship this summer in Las Vegas at the Ultimate Fighting Championship with the Public Relations department and I've never felt happier or luckier! It was an incredible opportunity for me and so much fun.

When I first got to Vegas, I was a nervous wreck (not surprising). I had just left everything I knew behind and moved into a one bedroom apartment with my dad where we were patiently waiting for the rest of the family to join us in a new house.
I was about to start a full time internship that I basically knew nothing about and I had to force myself to suck up all my nerves and take a risk. After a couple days of being there, my nerves eventually settled (save for those panicked moments I always get) and I started to feel like I fit right in with the team. I was lucky enough to be able to travel twice this summer with the PR team and met some really great people along the way.

3 weeks into my internship, I was joined by Chelsea Sullivan (aka DEUCES) which turned out to be the most amazing thing to happen to me all summer. This girl brought me back to life. All summer we got closer every day to the point where we were taking bathroom breaks together because we couldn't be apart for 3 minutes. Ok, that might be a bit of an exaggeration but you get the point. We were joined at the hip for 9+ hours a day, every day. They even stuck us in an office together where we spent our days talking and listening to music, sometimes crying, and figuring out our lives with each others support and advice. *Don't worry, we still got all our work - and then some done. ;)



We were lucky enough to get to work 5 or 6 events together this summer and we even got to travel to Pittsburgh together for UFC Live on Versus 4. We were an unstoppable duo -we complimented each other and balanced each other out. Chelsea is my soulmate and it only took 22 years and some fate to bring us together in Vegas at the UFC.







Then there was the rest of the amazing PR team. I don't think I could have asked for a more supportive and hardworking group of people. Each one of them taught me something new and challenged me to be better each day. These people became like a family you could count on in and out of the office, day in and day out. They had my back and it made me feel so lucky to be there.





I gained incredible experience and learned so much from this team. I met amazing people and loved every second of my internship at UFC.



Aside from the work aspect of the summer, my entire family just moved to Vegas. We finally sold our house in Colorado after a year of being on the market, and made the move official. At first it was really hard - there was 3 of us with another on the way, plus 3 animals living in a one bedroom apartment while we looked for a house. When my brother got out of school and joined us in Vegas I decided to move in with my sister for a while. It was the perfect opportunity for us to build up our relationship and get to know each other better. We had our differences at times but overall I feel like living with my sister was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm so glad that I did. I love Ashley very much and I'm so happy that the whole family is in one place again.





Well, kind of in one place. I'm back in Colorado and Connor's going back to Seattle soon. But it will be so much nicer to all have that central place again. I love living near my family because they are so special to me (and I'm the biggest homebody you've ever met). They've given me everything I have and are the people I know I can always rely on through thick and thin. I'm already missing my parents, brother and sister VERY much. It's going to be hard to settle in by myself!









And speaking of family, my GOD-family also lives in Vegas - sister's Courtney and Lindsey that I've known since the day I was born. My internship kept me so busy this summer, but half of my best memories from my 3 1/2 months in Vegas include these girls. Every time I needed a break (or a stiff cocktail...or an all male revue...what?) I could count on them. They're the girls in my life who always have been there and always will be there. I love them so much and was so grateful to have them close to me this summer.



As far as myself goes, I did a lot of changing this summer for the better. When I first left Colorado I was in such a weird place. I had zero self confidence, not very many good people in my life, I felt like no one needed me, and I was kind of just hiding in a shell of myself. It sucked. I didn't really process all of this until I moved to Vegas and had the chance to leave all of that behind and start over. I didn't know anyone or anything so I had nothing to lose. I used each day as an opportunity to learn more about myself and grow as a person and by the end of the summer I felt like a completely new Chelsea. But of course I can't take full credit for this - I had a lot of help from Chelsea Deuces and Mama Heidi who encouraged me to be confident in myself and to show people what I'm made of (which turns out to be more than I've ever given myself credit for).

I'm different now because I respect myself more. This summer has taught me to stop being passive aggressive and to have enough confidence in myself to know when something is not right. The balance between meeting new people and seeing old people's true colors (not "old people" but old people in my life - you get the point) showed me that I deserve to be surrounded by people who lift me up and don't bring me down. I deserve to have good friends and be happy and it's taken me a while to realize that. Coming back from this summer I am in such a different place than when I left and it feels great! There's no reason for me to hide anymore and I want to keep reminding myself of this every day.

Anyways, that's my summer experience in a nutshell. There's not enough hours in the day for me to count the ways it's been good to me. It's been the best summer of my life and I won't be forgetting all of the people I met and lessons I learned. Thank you for all of your support and to all of you who sent me letters and postcards and words of encouragement, I appreciate you more than you know. Now that my internship is over, I'll be back to blogging regularly and hopefully having a bunch of new and exciting experiences in my LAST semester of college (which starts tomorrow!!)

I hope each of your summers were as wonderful as mine :)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love you. This makes me miss you. And I didn't bring you back to life, I just reminded you that you that you hd one worth being you in <3