This is for Dr. G!!! Hehe
Cupertino / San Francisco
weekend 3a very wacky fridayWith internship being over and all... it was only natural to glug down my mixed feelings. And it was only natural to not do it alone. What proceeded was a longgg wait at Eureka (2 out of 2, man), many very sweet grape and pineapple drinks at Campbell's Khartoum, a dash to The Vesper which I mistook for "The Viper" and where I lost and found my phone, a trip back to Khartoum and more pineapple drinks, getting firmly than gently(?) kicked out of Khartoum, stealing a lightbulb and drinking gigantic mules at Katie Bloom's (I hope the manager is not reading this), and an unsuccessful Lyft ride. Oh yah and some random FaceTime's :) Overall............. 10/10 night, it went crazy!!! What a way to dip out. weird or normal?...okay well after the bars, I haven't dipped out quite yet. At this point, it's Saturday, and I hit up the Magical Bridge Playground in Palo Alto to check out the ~*accessible features*~ and while doing so, stumbled upon this really lovely tree that was super climbable, perchable, and lovable. I don't know y'all, there's something about the trees in California that hits different. Anyway, after giving the tree a good pat, I grabbed some morning grub at a very California-sounding bakery... the Midwife and the Baker. Like, what? My americano and croissants were alright.
Afterwards, JP and I made a perilous trek (not really, it just felt really long) to Carmel for some fun beach stuff. (Tangent thought, but do you think people in Carmel pronounce "caramel" like "Carmel"?) What we actually came upon was a $10.75 fee to drive through a road-park-forest-well-Google-Maps-told-me-to-go-there place, a very rich-looking foggy lil beach town, many weird multi-way stop sign intersections, several loud anti-Newsom protesters, and a nice patio in front of a church. We ended up driving back through Monterey and stopped by this really awesome beach with beautiful weather and no crabs (thank the heavens) and sorta strong waves. Aside from me squishing JP's head and JP squishing bull whip kelp, look at that sky!!! and the sand!!! Of the three weekend beaches, this was the best one. After hitting a used bookstore that sold decent yet expensive used books (summary of books bought: Asian mystique, tipping points, Native American history, life), we made the trek back to San Jose and ate saggy Chick-fil-A chickens (well mine was, at least) in my beloved rental Elantra. After not having a great appetite throughout most of this trip west, this was one of the more filling meals. Though, the sandwich and milkshake and fries still made me feel pretty eh afterwards, as most fast food does. Throughout this weekend were many open discussions on weird vs normal people, prig theory, the supposed monotony of adulthood, work-life balance, friendship criteria, and a lot of other random shiz. I guess most of my thoughts either remain scattered, unspoken abstractions in my brain or as simply just theories, so it's nice to think through and develop them with a likeminded theorizer. Anywayyy I then went back to the hotel and proceeded to pack up and pass out. More reflections to come at a later time...
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Something I've been enjoying is the California air. It's pretty ironic, since the sky is usually hazy and ashy because of wildfires or super foggy. Maybe it's because of the dryness versus the humidity in Jersey? Either way, the air feels fresher to my nose. And my lungs.
I went to a lookout point one day after work, as I realized my time here was dwindling. I sort of caught the sunset? not really? But I walked up and down some hills and reached a nice vantage point. It was refreshing to stroll outside and enjoy myself, to not think about work. I actually like the hills here a lot. They're sprawling everywhere and feature lots of dry grass and some trees. It doesn't seem that glamorous or amazing, but to me, I'm attracted to them. They feel kind of separate from the otherwise corporate, bougie landscape of Cupertino and the Bay Area in general. As I was typing this up, I was reminded of another time I went out to enjoy nature. Back in October (I think it was Halloween day), I went on a hike with my parents. At that time, I felt extremely lost at work and dismayed after falling out with friends. Music is something I care for and indulge in at all times, so I distinctly remember "Landslide" being the track on rotation. I guess it spoke to my brain in some way. Or maybe it's just a good song. Anyway, I'm re-listening to the song now and it definitely hits different. It feels less sad and more hopeful. My early months of internship were really rough, and although I am relieved to finally finish up, I am also glad to say that things did get better... even when it felt like they never would. The past year was challenging, frustrating, rewarding, and just a lot. Tomorrow is my last day and I don't know how I'll take it once I hand in my badge at 5pm. Coming to California felt unreal, but I did not expect leaving to evoke the same feeling. I am going to miss it here. Not Apple per se, but just here. I presented my intern preso (=presentation) today and... it was fine.
It's just crazy because I made a lot of major content changes and stuff in the past couple of days... so it was overwhelming to change it and reshape it. But the presentation went well and I managed to say everything I wanted to say within the timeframe. I think a switch just flips when I'm about to present something and I go full sicko mode. I even can't remember what I said or how I did it... Post-presentation, I am a mix of relieved and another feeling I can't find a word for. This feeling is the feeling of realizing that something you thought was never-ending is finally coming to an end. So often I felt like the internship would never ever end; sometimes, I never saw the light even though I knew my internship was finite. Other times, I strongly felt the monotonous routine of waking up, sitting all day, eating, and then sleeping. It's just so crazy to me that this is all over in a couple of days. It's finally ending. I won't have to wake up to vendor emails or prepare for design reviews. What the heck? So yah. The biggest hurdle was overcome... or more like, my last impact as an intern trying to look good for a full time job was made. I guess it feels good? Or maybe not, if I'm questioning it. Or maybe not, if I don't want to return. Tomorrow's hurdle is presenting packU (=internal lecture from packaging team) with JP, but I see that as less of a hurdle and more of a fun thing. tl;dr, the ending of this yearlong internship feels unreal. weekend 2the gins and the catsMy weekend 2 was the last in-person weekend for Yasir and Jon. After Jon's intern presentation on Friday, his newly knee-split Apple tablet, and his escort out of the office, we interns hit up Redwood City for some drankz and other shenanz. We went to an appropriately-named, bougie cocktail bar, Nighthawk (which reminded me of Nightwing). I ordered a surprisingly large Spanish gin & tonic, JP got this mermaid drink, Jon drank a very smokey cocktail, and Yasir watched all of us become giggly and slightly incoherent (me, at least). After waiting longer than we should have for hibachi, we proceeded to down stir fry, low-quality sushi, and 2.5 bottles of sake. It was pretty cool. On Saturday, Jon and Yasir dipped out to their homes and JP and I were left to our own devices. We ended up hitting the beach, which was unsurprisingly yet unpleasantly chilly, after stopping first for some pie and sandwiches. At the beach, I proceeded to feed the sea gulls the remaining half of my ham salami sandwich and also proceeded to enter the ocean with JP while feeling the pincers of crabs on our feet. Yikey. We ended our Saturday at Los Gatos, hung around downtown for like 15 minutes (in the sun! which casually decided to reappear), and then split ways so I could attend a meeting that was inevitably postponed. Bummer. I ended up hitting the local Goodwill and Trader Joe's to make myself feel... productive? I guess. I got this cute lil green sweater vest and some frozen gnocchi. the orbs and the fountainsJP and I Tesla'd over to Stanford after getting brunch (which turned into lunch) at Los Gatos, where one strawberry smoothie costed $7. We arrived at Stanford and wow... was it beautiful. Truthfully, the whole campus kind of feels like a beautiful bubble, but maybe that's the case for a lot of elite, private schools. The weather was quite dope on a rope (translation = the weather was nice) and we enjoyed entering the fountains and hugging the gigantic orbs on campus. The trees on campus were also very sturdy and climbable. Definitely good trees to climb and read a book on. Anyway, we managed to enter a (engineering?) building, the fallback plan being that we were actually Stanford research fellows who went to undergrad at outside schools but came to Stanford to do research on who knows what. No one ever really questioned us so... we never got the chance to test that out. But that would've been interesting. Upon further consideration, we should've and could've flexed our Apple badges.
Boba was the obvious food of choice after a long day of walking around campus, so we scooped up Boba Guys, a bamboo-based straw to show our materials team at work, no printed receipt, and went to this bay-lookout-park-place. It was really beautiful there and it was interesting to see both vast savannah-looking hills and water from the bay........ and then also buildings and industrialization on the other side. It just made me think about humans and what we've done to the earth... But that's a whole other thing. At the end of the day, the park was very captivating. The day was concluded with black miso ramen in Santa Clara and a parting of ways. The weekend was relaxing, but I definitely felt the underlying stress of my last week and my impending internship presentation. We definitely missed the boys, but I was glad to hear they were both safesies at home. As of right now, only 5 more days in California, whaaaaaaaaa. It has been a really hectic week... I think knowing that I have only 2 weeks in person (= 3.85% of my internship) makes me want to do more. But then I also need to balance enjoying my last 2 weeks of work and enjoying California with doing productive, in-person work. Knowing me and since being here, I've already overexerted myself. Regardless, I'm really glad and grateful to be here. In-person work and mingling with my co-workers and getting coffee every morning at the cafe or Philz has been really fulfilling. It's nice to feel slightly independent and I appreciate the little things, like buying wine from Trader Joe's or doing laundry on my own (lol).
As a tangent, something I've really enjoyed about California is the flora (and fauna? the birds are prettier, I guess). Seeing so many flowers on trees, bushes, and grass patches has been so pleasant. I like how they are so vibrant and colorful - I've seen tons of pinks, purples, blues, and yellows. Colorful flowers area a lot more common here versus New Jersey. Here's a cute lil snippet of flowers right by the office; it's a joy to pass by these & other flowers every day. weekend 1the bayOn my first day of rest, the squad rolled out to San Francisco, the wondrous SF. I'm the type of person to plan, but we decided to wing the day. I was also way too lazy to plan anything out. We started out with a nice drive (thanks Yasir) to the bay and then walked out to the piers. From there, we feasted on some grub and scoot scooted around the city. After I insisted on grabbing Blue Bottle, we drove past Dolores Park and encountered what we thought was some weird spinny ritual (which turned out to be aerial yoga? acrobatic yoga?). After JP and Jon raced each other up a flight of stairs (or was it 3?), we went to Baker Beach for like 5 minutes and then drove across the bridge to the Marin Headlands. Our friend Karl snatched almost all of our masks and I entered the Japantown Daiso to retrieve the last 4-pack of masks... which happened to feature Rilakkuma and bread. We additionally tasted some exotic Hi-Chew flavors. I then taught the guys how to play Contact (target word = crazy) as we waited a little too long for Korean bbq and then we ended our day with what I thought would be takoyaki and what turned out to be taiyaki (red bean taiyaki and milk-sesame soft serve, to be specific). A wonderful day... and then I passed the heck out. By the way, Karl is the name of the fog that moistly hugs SF. the beachMiddle-aged Korean women on my mom's favorite website told me to hit up the Santa Cruz boardwalk, and that's what I did. But before that, Jon, JP, and I headed to the beach in Aptos to take a chilling dunk in the Pacific (note: the waves were way more ferocious than they seemed). After getting a little too much seawater in my eyes, we attempted to feast on drive-in burgers and malted milkshakes by a concrete ship before being turned off by the smell of fish and brine. After munching on our food back at the drive-in and talking about drinking games, we hit up the Monterey Aquarium for a fun fifty dollars and flamboyant cuttlefish, arguably the coolest life there. Convinced by the advertisement on the parking stub, we had a chocolate martini, a blue sardine, and a cocktail, among other drinks. After realizing the chocolate martini was not a part of the happy hour, we headed further south and contemplated another dip in the ocean. We decided against that and instead paid eight dollars to ride The Big Dipper (or Little Dipper? idk) at the Santa Cruz boardwalk and Jon's screams made me scream or maybe my screams made Jon scream? JP just didn't scream. I then had some eh "coconut shrimp" and a really sweet pineapple drink, but it was okay because I was with the duds. Craving a late night snack per usual, we attempted boba near the hotel, but much to our dismay, Google Maps had the incorrect closing time. We bid farewell and went home to prepare for the Monday grind.
Overall, the weekend was a 10/10 experience. p.s. i miss you jolan Going into the office - fully and completely - last week was overwhelming. Grasping new bearings and learning how to be around people is a whole thing. Talking through all I needed to get done with my manager stressed me out. I hate carrying things into the weekend, or non-work times in general, so I tried my best not to think about my growing to-do list.
That being said - it's Tuesday night and I can already say I feel much better. I forgot how lovely it is to have micro interactions with people. I also forgot how being in another physical space can really exhilarate you. Silent (and time zone adjusted) hours at home dragged on and on and it felt so difficult to be productive. Here, in a space with resources I need and with intelligent, passionate people, I feel much more inclined to do work. I never thought I would experience something like meeting folks whom I work closely with in person after a year over the screen. I can understand body language and feel out personalities and observe office life and see people's shoes for the first time. That's wild. I am so grateful for such a dope crew of interns. It feels so exceptionally amazing to have people who can relate to you and your struggles of being an intern, being an Apple intern, working in packaging, working remotely in packaging, etc. I feel such a close bond to my intern friends because there's just so much we struggle with together... I mean, in addition to them being really fun. I'm about to be really dramatic here, but I don't think there will be other people who will truly ever understand what it was like to be a remote packaging intern except for them. In addition to the social aspect, I've been 100% amazed by Apple facilities. These are places I've literally only seen in Keynotes and press releases. To actually walk around Apple Park and stand under the rainbow... wild. Apple campus is also reflective of the beautiful California nature that surrounds it. I've come to really love the flora and fauna here as well as the weather! Navigating my specific satellite office was initially difficult, but I've come to understand it a little better. Caffe Macs has been wonderful. Time is moving a-swiftly... I've been making progress, little by little, on my intern presentation. This week will be over before I know it... and then I'll have one more week to go. I've really enjoyed being here so far, but to be frank, I'm relieved that's almost over. But for now, I'll enjoy this experience as much as I can. Thank you to everyone who made this possible. Strolling through the airport, forgetting to push my bins all the way to the rollers at security check, laying over in middle America, getting a rental car, missing the turn into the hotel, checking into the hotel, getting lost in the parking garage, spending money(!!) - it all felt like a dream. One of adulthood, I guess. But the thing is... it wasn't a dream. This is real life. I still can't believe I'm in Pacific Time like a majority of my coworkers. I hope my brain swaps from Eastern Time promptly. No more meetings into the night.
I didn't sleep at all on the flights. I haven't slept since arriving. I'm running on pure sugar, caffeine, and boba (all vices, for sure)... and genuine excitement to start working in person. I'm tired, jet lagged, but so so pumped. I met some of my remote intern friends in person for the first time today and it was great. I never thought I'd be in a situation in which I meet people and interact with them through video chat and then actually meet them. Like... am I super different in real life? Are they? Was the WebEx vibe check accuratE??? How tall is everyone? Anyway, I am so grateful to be here... and on my company's pay. I'm excited to good work in the office and to explore this part of the States. Living in a hotel by myself is also a pleasure. Tata! Probably no Apple campus pictures, but there will be other fun Min content, per usual. (Bonus pic - chicken soup at 5:45am, courtesy of my mom. Thank you and love you!!) Eyyoooooo you thought the blog was dead after Hawaii??? No!!!
Haha, but yah, I'm headed to Cupertino for the last 2 weeks of my internship and will finally behold Apple Park in all of it's glory and walk in the literal footsteps of Tim Cook.................. Very wild, very excited. I've been looking forward to this since my internship began in September 2020. I actually didn't think it would ever happen (re: our lovely friend, coronavirus). Stay tuned for whatever pics of Apple campus I can throw up here w/ permission & personal weekend road trips! Or just chilling in my hotel, who knows!!!?? |
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