Hello again. I must start off by adding in what I accidentally missed out from last weeks blog.

We had another field trip this time to Transocean’s Training Centre. We got a tour of what their engineers would be trained on. I found it really exciting as my Dad worked for Transocean for 25 years and he would have trained on this equipment in the training office in Aberdeen. There was a games room which the boys liked a lot, it was the equipment for the most senior engineers and it was worth over $1Million. The tour was interesting and I could really relate to it from having my Dad go on about for years.

During the week there was a girls lunch organized where Cara, Mallory, Lizzie and Myself went for Italian for lunch. It was really good to catch up, it was great to see Mallory again having worked with her for four weeks previous.

As part of my work to gather the information about presentations I had a meeting with June Cormack who works for part of wood group known as ODL. This was a great visit as she met my Dad a year ago when in Houston on business. It was great to hear another Scottish voice, we chatted after the business part was out of the way and she gave some very helpful tips about living here.

Now to what I have been up to this week being, Week 6.

I haven’t really mentioned about how I like working in this new office, yes the air conditioning gets cold at times but their health initiative is what I really like, twice a day (or at least when I can, meeting dependent) I walk a track around the inside of the office which works out to be a mile, so by the end of my working day I have had some exercise of at least two miles walking. I have got right into it and I have now brought my trainers into work like everyone else seems to do.

Working in this office means it is easier to coordinate lunch. I love eating at a different cuisine each and every day. This is thanks to a new found friend Will Lim! He takes us to lunch each day; I am still amazed that there are still places we haven’t even been to yet. We all really appreciate his kindness in taking us under his wing and telling us loads about the area, Wood Group amongst many other things.

I attended a joined up thinking meeting which let me understand the business further. Although I didn’t have anything to say at the meeting apart from my name, department and company I got a lot from the meeting, it allowed me to see business from the perspectives of a lot of different people from different groups within the business.

 I visited Carlos and was given my new project which seems as if it was perfectly tailored to me. I have to do a strategic business plan for Wood Group PSN globally about a future project. It is really exciting and pulls on my knowledge and experience with building business plans. I am really enjoying the project and it is making my working days just fly right past me. I get in at 8am and before I know it, it’s 5pm and time to go back to the apartment.

All of the interns visited Ideas which is a creative agency who work with Microsoft, Sony, HP and the Wood Group. They are the people who created the interactive globe on the Wood Group website, click here to see it in action. It was a really enjoyable visit with lunch included. We got a tour of the office, it was an interesting visit with lots to see and the presentations about what they do was very insightful and gave me a great understanding of how they work. (pictured below at idea)

On a social note we went to an American Football Match. It was a preseason match but still the atmosphere was wonderful, we were sitting in one of the highest points of the Reliant Stadium which seats over 71,000. In the last quarter we moved to the bottom level of the stadium to get seats two rows from the front and saw the Texans win against the New York Jets. (pictured below pitch side)

This week we also went to the Texas Road House this time in Houston, we all really enjoyed it the first time in Austin at the weekend so we returned earlier than originally planned.

Back in Scotland I volunteer at Glenrothes YMCA/YWCA and before I left to come to Houston they were telling me of people who used the Glenrothes YMCA who now use the Katy Family YMCA in Houston. When they told me this, knowing that Houston is the 4^th largest US city they thought I would never be able to go and see them. They were wrong; Katy Family YMCA is only a 15 minute drive from my work. I visited and I was blown away by their amazing facilities! Indoor and outdoor pools, gym with personal trainers, dance studios, gym halls, outdoor sports courts, free wifi, childcare, the list could go on. I have taken notes and perhaps we can push for it to be copied in Glenrothes? I have enjoyed looking at their branding of the Katy Family Y as this is the project I was working on back in my home town, it has given me new ideas for the branding and marketing which I am looking forward to going home and sharing with everyone.

Today (Friday) I am taking the guys to the Airport so they can head to Vegas. I’m sure we will all hear about it loads on their return. Lizzie, Chris and I have plans for this week too, they don’t compare to Vegas but I am most certainly looking forward to a relaxing weekend!