The remainder of my final week at work was uneventful. I got to help on some cool things, and had no trouble finishing up. The tubing trip was really the highlight of the week. We all had to wake up really early and get to the office around 7am (which is EXTREMELY early for a bunch of software engineers working at a startup that usually roll in around 10am). They had breakfast for us as usual, and then we had ~2 hours of a bus ride to the American River. We got to the river around 10:30am, and the 70-80 or so of us there promptly started adjusting to the cold water temperature.
At first, there was a fair amount of effort on our part to get down the river. The current wasn't too strong where we started, presumably to make it easier for people to get situated in their tubes. After that initial part, the river did the rest of the work. It was one of the most relaxing things I've probably ever done. I did not want to suffer the consequences of being in the sun for 5 hours straight, so my friends and I applies copious amounts of sunscreen before getting in the water, and then again at lunch.
People organized themselves in various flotillas that congregated around floating coolers with drinks and snacks. Our packed lunches floated down the river in giant tubes with the operations people alongside us. There were some tiny rapids along the way, and some people wound up swimming in the river if they weren't careful. Luckily, I never did. To be safe, though, I decided to leave my camera at the apartment, so sorry for the lack of pictures here.
Lunch was fantastic, even if it was packed. I had a pastrami and pepper-jack sandwich with fruit, chips, cookies, and lemonade. We stopped to eat right around the middle of the trip, which was good for everyone to reapply sunscreen. I was determined not to burn since I already did that once this summer and it was painful. Afterwards, we continued along the river, where I was even in front for a little bit.
Eventually we made it back to the busses. Everyone was exhausted and pretty much passed out on the bus. I had a nice surprise waiting for me, though - while tubing, I received a call from Apple about a potential job opportunity. After some followup, I have a phone interview scheduled for later this week. Hopefully all goes well; I'm already getting nervous about it.
Saturday I woke up early to finish packing. I was sad to go and say bye to all my friends. I knew time could fly by, but never this quickly. On the way to the airport, I turned in my badge, bike, and keys. We drove away, and I hope I'm able to make it back there some day in some capacity.
I wasn't flying straight home, though. My flight was going to Seattle where I was visiting a friend from school who had just visited me last weekend. He was interning at Microsoft for the summer, and was going to show me around. He picked me up at the airport that afternoon, and we headed straight for Seattle to do some exploring:
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| Heading to Pike's Place Market |
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| Space Needle |
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| The original Starbuck Coffee shop |
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| Where we sat to eat delicious peroshkis for lunch |
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| This bridge floats since the water is too deep to build columns |
On Sunday we took a tour of the Boeing factory in Kirkland. You're not allowed to even bring cell phones on the tour, so we left our cameras at home. We regretted it since you can take pictures from the parking lot. The tour was pretty cool, and we go to see the floors of the aircrafts actually being made. It was on a Sunday, though, so there weren't too many people working. The coolest thing we found out was that certain airplanes are manufactured on a "moving-line," which basically means they are constructed as the airplane moves throughout the building (think moving assembly line).
The weekend there was great, and Monday morning I was back at the airport for my 5 hours flight back east. I didn't realize right away that I did not have a confirmed seat - I forgot to check in online. Luckily I realized this before the gate agent showed up, and was the first person in line to ask for a seat. I was pretty scared for a while, so much so that I was too nervous to go find something to eat. The next flight leaving was 12 hours later, and I did not want to be on the red-eye. It all worked out, though, and I got to sit next to a woman flying to Mumbai to teach art at an international school for 2 years, and on my other side was a man who runs his own software company in Boston.
I watched a couple movies on my laptop, but was always eager to get off the plane. My dad met me at baggage claim where we waited for my luggage (for quite a while, actually). We finally made it to the car and drove back, seeing this on the way:
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| Mt. Rainier during takeoff from Seattle |
I guess there isn't much left to say. I had an amazing summer, one that I will certainly remember fondly for the rest of my life. All I can do now is get ready for senior year, and hope that I'll end up somewhere I enjoy even half as much after graduation. There's plenty of work to do in the meantime, though. Thanks for listening - we know return you to your regularly scheduled internet time wasting activities.
