Living the Dream

You would 100% laugh at me, if you knew how many times I've tried to write this blog post.

And whereas many people might cite feeling at a loss for words, my dilemma is rather opposite. The number of things I want to share is approximately infinity...times 10. But I haven't made a peep since this post. Why?

The long answer: I haven't quite figured out how to say everything in a way that makes sense without you staring at me like I'm talking 'bout aliens. I procrastinate on things I want to do because I'm forever in search of perfect timing.

Clutch answers, all around. Let's break this bizness down.

a)  Summer at Google: {a.k.a.} The best way I could've possibly imagined spending the last 3 months. b) My upcoming 3-month stay in France: {a.k.a.} A dream that found its way into the reality pile.

Life Gone BOLD - Summer 2013: I still can't really believe it. That sounds all sorts of cliché, but for me, it's absolutely true. The past three months have felt like a dream, and even now, I have to pinch myself to make sure I didn't imagine everything.

This past month has been filled to the brim with adventures both at Google and beyond. From Laguna Beach to San Francisco. From San Jose to Mountain View. From Santa Cruz to North Beach. From Lower Haight to Union Square. From Lake Tahoe to Napa to Marin County. From the Bay to Golden Gate Park to the office and back. 

In its entirety, the summer was amazing, but the last 12 weeks ended in a bang that caught me wildly and wonderfully off guard. It clicked. With work and with friends, the pieces fell into place. What place?

A place for which Google Maps has no directions. A place of natural fit, of rhythmic stride, and of truly incandescent happiness. 

My internship ended roughly 1 week ago now. But summing up my entire summer as simply an "internship" leaves much unseen. There was work and plenty of it. Oh my lanta, in the last few weeks, I believe I ate, slept, and breathed my work. But unlike most other 'work,' I've done in life, every ounce of effort and thought-wrangling was of my own choosing. I wanted to be there. I learned about security. I learned that charm goes a long way. I learned that making a friend is far more valuable to me than "networking."

I learned that the phrase "Follow the leader" is a total double entendre. I learned that no plans are too big. I learned that solutions are only possible if you've wrestled in the mud with the problem. I learned that there is beauty in iteration and perfection in uncertainty. I learned that the only thing I know certainly is that I certainly don't know everything. I learned that it really is all about the people. 

That barely scratches the surface, but I'll spare you nitty gritty deets.  For those who have asked, "Well, what happens now?"

Life happens now. And I couldn't say for sure, but it's looking like life is the game plan for tomorrow too.

Tits, man: What really happens now? Okay, okay you got me. Life really is happening now. And that inception is all sorts of batshiz cray. But tomorrow I leave at the ungodly hour of 4 a.m. to spend three months living in Nantes, France. I'll be studying abroad at the university there, taking classes all in French, and living with a host family. Currently, I'm what may only be defined as a "hot mess." Surrounded by a smattering of iced coffee, bathing suits, and boots that are made for walkin'. And pancakes...trust me, you don't wanna know.

We'll chat about France soon. If you're worried that's an empty promise, rest assured there's hope. I have a 28-hour series of planes, trains, and automobiles in front of me. And what will we do now?

Just keep on living the dream.

Golden State of Mind

Andddd we're back!

Where did we leave off? Ahh yes, the reminder that this is a summer of new things and experiences, of growing into myself and making new space for uncharted territory. That means discoveries not only in personal and professional growth but also other areas as well.

Particularly food.

[skip this, if you're not interested in my personal ramblings of becoming un-vegetarian]

This summer and my time at Google has been a completely different experience in a few ways. The beginning of summer 2013 marks the first time I've (intentionally) eaten meat in 4+ years. I became a pescatarian/vegetarian/sometimes vegan somewhere down the road in high school and wasn't unhappy in the least about my choice to do so. But upon deciding to study abroad in France this Fall, I began to think more about the situation. Renowned for its cuisine, France is historically known to consider meat a cultural and culinary staple. With this, I had a brief and fleeting thought: what if I started eating meat again?

In some ways, it would be practical, as it would be less of a hassle for both my host family and me personally in France. It would defray worries that I'd be missing out on a huge part of French life, and it would be an interesting way to try something new.  Based on insights from past students, I decided it would be far easier to eat a balanced diet (i.e. more than bread + cheese). Above all, I remembered that my decision to stop eating meat was just that--my decision. It was a personal choice that was right for me for a variety of different reasons.  And I promised myself that if I ever started wanting/craving meat again, I would eat it.

So gradually and somewhat cautiously, I started reintroducing meat into my diet upon arriving at Google, while keeping in mind my own commitment to health, ethics, and sustainability. To be honest, it's been beyond easy at Google, where I'm able to just take a tiny piece of meat alongside other food at meals. On top of being extremely well-prepared in a culinary sense, the meat is typically locally raised and oftentimes organic. My thoughts? The experiment has been interesting, but I still don't crave meat. I have to remind myself to eat it, and I still have a hard time stomaching really fatty/greasy meets (lamb, corned beef, bacon, prosciutto, pepperoni, etc.). Poultry has been a bit easier, but still--I don't crave it. Nonetheless, the food I've tried has been wonderful.

Like this sunny side egg and spicy carnitas with marinated cabbage as a savory breakfast entree. But honestly, my favorite meals have still looked more like this:

Giant bowls of fruit + granola + etc.

I've only just begun exploring San Francisco, but I'm already smitten with what I have encountered. There's so much to learn and so much to see, and despite having lived in California most of my life, San Francisco is still unmapped. Unlike many of my other trips to big cities on the East Coast, my travels and San Francisco have been all spontaneity.  Now more than ever, I'm learning just how much I can enjoy myself when I let life run its course. This doesn't mean being stupid or completely forsaking plans--it simply means knowing that things will work out the way they should.

I'm still figuring out San Francisco's different neighborhoods, but I've explored a modest amount with the other interns. A few weekends ago, we decided to go to the North Beach Festival (arguably the best festival in SF), which is a part of series of neighborhood street festivals held throughout the summer. The festival contained tons and tons of booths selling everything from chili covered garlic fries to antique hair combs, in addition to live music and overall merriment.

We ended up eating at Giordano Bros. From the street, we noticed a sign that claimed an "all in one" sandwich. Intrigued, we walked in and spontaneously opted to eat lunch there. I was skeptical. REAL skeptical. In my head, I whined, wondering how cheese, meat, a fried egg, french fries, and coleslaw ALL stacked between two slices of bread could possibly be appetizing much less edible.

But to my shock, it blew. my. mind.

Excuse me?  Fo realz.

Later on, we ended up finding our way to Washington Square Park and enjoying the rare glimpses of San Francisco sun. Believe me when I say that I was clinging to that pictured cappuccino for dear life (and warmth) while we were parked in the park. Weather or not (hehe), it was a lovely day--filled with silly conversations and midday naps. The little things.

After finishing our coffee (...and naps) at the park, the group of us Googlers decided to head down to Fisherman's Wharf for dinner. If my body thought the park was cold, it certainly did not appreciate that I chose to wear only a light cotton dress. 60 degrees minus 15 degree wind chill = bad news bears. 

As for this weekend, I'd love to share what I'm doing! Except I have no idea what I'm doing. And that, my friends, is the beauty of letting life take you on its very own wild ride.

Stories a'plenty. Shenanigans in abundance. Smiles all around.

Oh, and Summer, you have an open invitation to stay.

Learning to Grow Again

Warning: this blog post may contain everything from internship happenings to meaning-of-life tangents. Ayyy carumba. How do you feel about a life chat? Ready or not, we're heading in that direction...all aboard!

Week 3 of my internship streaked by in a blur, and looking back at my last post, it seems like so much has happened since then. This feeling speaks to a curious realization about this summer:

For the first time in a long while, I feel like I'm growing again. Wait wait wait, I should clarify. Dad, I'm still the same height as when you last saw me. Unless the measuring tape counts personality, I'm still blissfully stationed at 5'9ish. We won't talk about how many inches the sass adds.

Where were we? Oh right, GROWTH.

Both intellectually and personally, I've begun to see that this summer is serving as a much-needed catalyst of growth. I have learned things--oftentimes through littlest things enshrined in subtleties--that have drawn me one step closer to seeing the world in its full right. Contrary to how I felt about my internship last summer, I don't feel like a robot slugging through spreadsheets ; instead, I feel like a very-much-alive part of an intricate process, and silly as it may be, there is great room for impact. Sure, work can still be work, but I'm also learning that work is much more about how to work too.

Don't get me wrong--this past year at Georgetown was monumental in terms of learning too. But I definitely hit points where I worried that I had allowed even my ever-busy life to be clouded by stagnation in actual learning. While I still dearly miss DC and all that it encompasses, this decision to be right here, right now feels so, well...right. (Eloquence, I know.) And whether or not I realized that from the get-go, the daily surprises of this summer never cease to remind me that life has a funny way of working itself out.

I've been steadily working on my project, which requires a fair amount of meetings with other Googlers. Though some dread meetings, I will admit that I sort of secretly love them. I thrive off of interactions with people, and meeting such brilliant minds and voices only seems to amplify that feeling of excitement. In fact, I'd venture to guess that the different perspectives gained from these meetings stand at the root of my newfound growth.

It's not success in the conventional form of the word, but my discussions with other Googlers (particularly interns) have made me reevaluate even the most firmly entrenched preconceived notions. It's starkly humbling and incredibly empowering all at once.

Outside of work-work, I've spent plenty of time exploring everything from Google's campus to the city of San Francisco itself. Unlike some others at work, I typically spend at least half of every day in a different building. My frequent meetings around campus motivate me to wander through random buildings, stumbling upon random nooks and crannies that remain grey to others' eyes. As an ardent lover of wandering exploration, this freedom is supreme. Coupled with an almond milk latte or mint-infused water, these workplace explorations make me bonkers happy...and productive!

I spend much of my work day doing this, interspersing meetings with mentor lunches or project brainstorms in a café. Since my day requires a commute and includes meals on campus, a generous portion of my weekdays are spent either at 'the office' or relaxing and catching up at home. 

Oh and let's not forget the weekends. The weekends? Well, they're a whole 'nother story. :)

In favor of not making this post a half marathon, we'll save part 2 - San Francisco, food, & fun with friends for the next post. Ya dig?

This Googler Almost Gets It

Hey there, friends!

Week 2 has been awesome so far. Now that I've begun working on my projects, meetings are trickling onto my calendar like it's nobody's business. Of course, I've also had plenty of time to explore and have fun (per my boss' explicit instructions).

After working on projects most of the morning yesterday, I went to lunch with a group of my coworkers. My manager was out of office, and the other guy on our team was in a meeting; as a result, our lunch group ended up being all women. I didn't think about it much at the time, but later on, I realized how interesting and unique that is! Google seems to do a great job of putting women in the workplace, but even so, my team is a bit of an anomaly. We're majority women! Lunch was great, and conversation was no less vibrant. Discussion ranged from just about every subject to the moon and back.

Later, I decided on a change of scenery and moved to a different side of campus to kickstart the second half of my work. Interestingly, I'm most productive when not in a traditional desk/cubicle environment, so I left my desk to hunt for a new spot. I wandered around the founders' buildings (where Larry & Sergey sit) until I found a comfy nook outside. Equipped with a fizzy Hint water (infused with strawberry + kiwi), I settled back into work. Google Docs + Google Calendar + Gmail = my LIFE...if they weren't already. ;)

Around 5:30 p.m., I breaked and headed to one of the gyms on main campus. On the agenda?

Kickboxing!

I've tried kickboxing once or twice at a gym near home in California, but I was excited to try it again and mix up my routine. While I'm a yoga addict at heart, other activities keep things fresh & exciting. Verdict?

I. LOVE. KICKBOXING.

Nevermind the fact that my kickboxing skills are beyond laughable. I smile like a complete goober when I throw a jab, and you don't even want to know what I look like when we do back-kicks.

To finish the party: one HUGH JASS sandwich. Arguably one of my favorite meals so far.

Acme Multigrain bread. Organic chicken breast. Avocado spread. Pesto. Portabella Mushrooms. Arugula. Lettuce. Tomato. Red Onions. Dijon Mustard. Pickkkkkkles. Salt. Pepper. Love!

And a ridiculous pickle. No joke!

I have bunches more to tell ya'll, but in the interest of not being a zombie tomorrow, I'm headed to bed! I'm participating in GoogleServe tomorrow, which is a community service program, and I want to be well-rested for our projects.

A bientot (see you soon) :)

Sunday in San Jose

Sunday in San Jose... Looks a little something like this :)

Summer, I missed you too.

Google Week 2, let's go!

The Internship: Week 1 as a (Real) Google Intern

Please note that all viewpoints and anecdotes are purely my own and are not to be interpreted as that of the official company in any sense.  So that whole schtick about a blog post yesterday? Yeah, not a thing. But hey, I'm here now, and that's all that matters, right?

Bueno.

On Tuesday, I officially started at Google as a BOLD Intern. To break it down for ya'll, Google offers a few different types of internships for students: undergraduate engineering internships, grad student internships, and an undergraduate program called the "BOLD." (This stands for Building Opportunities for Leadership & Development). Essentially, this internship program focuses on the sales, general, and administrative side of the company, rather than just the engineering/computer science part with which most people typically associate with Google. To be an intern in the BOLD program, you don't have to be a business major, but there are many who are.

While my official start date was on Tuesday, I spent the first few days in an extremely comprehensive orientation, instead of starting work right off the bat. We discussed everything from company protocol to outlines of our individual projects to the basics of being a Noogler, or "New-Googler." As I've mentioned before, I can't go into detail regarding the specifics of what we learned, as Google has a very strict policy on confidentiality. I know that a lot of people raise an eyebrow when they hear this, but in my opinion, it's  pretty logical. Google's mission is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." For the company to do that successfully, it must gain the trust of its users and consequently, maintain an appropriate level of both privacy and security. As an employee, I'm loyal to this mission and wouldn't want to do anything to jeopardize its execution :)

Done with housekeeping? Onwards!

Day 1

I meant to take a picture of me heading out the door on Day 1, but by the time I got my butt packed and ready to go, there wasn't much time. Plus, I could just envision roommate soulmate H's groans if she knew I had dropped everything to take a blog picture.

I rode the GBus (shuttles provided by Google) to work and arrived a few minutes prior to 9 a.m. and headed straight to the designated building for check-in. Upon receiving my nametag and getting my security badge, I began "Noogler Orientation." We crunched through a few hours of technicalities, with a few breaks for coffee + snaxxx in the micro kitchen. What's a micro-kitchen, you may ask? Well, a micro-kitchen is Google's answer to a company mandate that says food must be within ~150 ft of employees at all times. Pretty cool, right? This provides employees with plenty of refreshments throughout the day and allows for what Google calls "casual collisions" between two or more employees. These collisions are essentially spontaneous conversations that foster creativity and bursts of innovation through interaction with other Googlers.

Around noon, we took our lunch break, with some people splitting up to go to different cafés. I made my way to a cafe with a few friends, which specializes in Asian food. Offerings included fresh crab sushi handrolls, maki rolls, wasabi seared albacore, pho, ramen, and a few different kinds of vegetables.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon in a second part of orientation with our BOLD team. To wrap up the first day, we were then paired in teams for a campus-wide scavenger hunt. In addition to learning more about the Googleplex, we ended up with our fair share of silly pictures and stories. Post-wrap up and dinner, I made my way to the GBus with the rest of returns and headed home for the night. We kept things low-key, in preparation for...

Day 2

Orientation continued to Day 2 but was this time focused especially on the BOLD program. We spent a majority of the time going over the specifics of what we should expect with regards to our teams, logging hours, project management, and workflow exercises. Again, this was pretty in depth, so I'll spare you the nitty gritty details! The day concluded with a BOLD program mixer and dinner at a nearby café.

Day 3

Of all the days, Day 3 was by far the biggest whirlwind. We finished our BOLD orientation with a "dos and do nots" in the workplace, along with a Q&A session with a panel of Googlers. We spent a lot of time discussing the more detailed aspects of the workplace, including diversity groups like Women@Google. We visited a café on main campus for lunch and shortly thereafter, our team managers met us for the end of orientation. All interns individually spent some time getting acquainted with their managers. Since I met with my manager on Monday, I was already acquainted with my team, but I really enjoyed getting to spend more time with them.. From there, the interns reunited to get our Noogler beanies (COOLEST HAT EVER) prior to TGIF. TGIF?

Yep! Well, Thank Goodness It's Friday (TGIF)....on a Thursday. In essence, TGIF is a chance for Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to address the entire company on the topical issues of the week. It's a great showing of both corporate transparency and light-hearted celebration for the end of the week, and honestly, it may have been one of my favorite parts of orientation. I found myself filled  with a rather inexplicable sense of content at this gathering. Sitting five feet away from two of the most brilliant men in the tech world, I felt both incredibly humbled and honored. And proud--but not of myself. I felt an overwhelming sense of pride in the company whose values are strikingly like to my own. Proud to be a part of something that awe-inspiring.

Last but not least though, we (the interns) hopped on a shuttle for one last event of the day--The Internship! Well, the movie I mean. Dressed appropriately in our Noogler hats, backpacks, and shirts, we attended a screening of The Internship starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. The movie was entertainingly ironic, if nothing else, as a real-life intern.

(security guard took the photo...)

Based on my experience thus far, I would say the actual environment is NOT competitive in a cutthroat sense whatsoever, contrary to what the movie depicts. In nearly every instance I've encountered, it's been almost the opposite. There has been an overwhelming atmosphere of collaboration and positivity. It's true that you don't need a suit to be serious. Call it constructive, or just call it Googley. :)

And finally...

Day 4 - TODAY!

Today was the first day that interns spent in full with their managers. My day included an early morning video conference with my host and then a variety of research in preparation for my project.  I met with a few of my other team members and spent plenty of time familiarizing myself with both the people and place of my office. Since I arrived at work pretty early, I caught an earlier shuttle home. I haven't slept much the past few nights thanks to an awkward combination of adrenaline + exhaustion, so I'm dealing with a slight cold now. In true Friday style, I'm relaxing at 'home' in San Jose and listening to a good dose of Youth Lagoon. Straight chillin', if you will. In other breaking news: as of five seconds ago, I've decided that I'm voting my couch Sexiest Man Alive of 2013.

I'm not 100% sure what the weekend will bring, and I'm rather enjoying not knowing. That's totally unlike me. And also totally welcome right now. :)

Next week, I hit the ground running on my project. Background research, focus groups, storyboarding, and corresponding with a multitude of different Google teams make the bare agenda, but as for the rest?

Well, I'll just have to Google it.