If you have not read about my mid-summer internship experience at Google, please stop here and read this post first, or else this post might not make sense since this is a continuation of my first post.
The first half of my internship went really well and once we finished training and orientation, we started to dive right into the role and it was really overwhelming in the beginning. With everything, however, as time went on, it became very manageable – especially after I utilized all of my resources to ask for best practices.
Here are a few highlights from the remaining weeks of my internship:
Week 7: Yosemite
A couple of friends and I planned a trip to Yosemite National Park and I would definitely recommend it if you are ever on the West Coast. The Park is massive with lots of things to do from beginner to advanced trails that offer stunning views of the Park – irrespective of where you hike. Because Yosemite is such a popular destination, we could not find a cabin close to the Park and ended up staying at a town a few hours from the Park called June Lake. While I personally would not recommend staying in the June Lake area if all you want to do is visit Yosemite, if you have a few days to spare I would definitely recommend staying at June Lake that way you can spend a day exploring the June Lake area and then spend the rest of your day(s) exploring Yosemite.
Week 8: MTV African Intern Dinner & Pool Party
Week 8 was a lazy week! After spending 2+ solid months living in NorCal and exploring the area, I just wanted to spend that weekend at home and catch up on the Physics class I was taking over the summer. When I was still taking the course, I kept asking myself why I thought taking Physics during the summer was a good idea but thankfully the course was really manageable and my Professor was extremely nice – which always helps!
During this weekend, one of my roommates, Nnenna, worked with the African employee resource group at Google and planned a sendoff dinner for the African interns who were leaving around that time. The dinner was held at Coconuts Caribbean, clearly a Caribbean restaurant, and the food was amazing! I was so upset I did not find out about that place sooner but I am actually glad I found it later on because I would have eaten there every blessed day – that is how good the food was!
After the dinner, a couple of interns and FTEs wanted to head up to San Francisco to continue the celebration and since no one had to work the following day, we decided why not! After driving about 45 minutes up to San Fran and listening to mediocre music and literally freezing to death (SF is incredibly cold!), I soon realized that going out was a terrible idea. Thankfully, I went with my roommates and we made the best of it. The following day, Nnenna, received a text from one of the guys stating the cost of the drinks from the previous day. We were all a bit confused because none of us had anything to drink and the overall damage was around $600! 600 good dollars for drinks! I just laughed when I received that text because I was not sure if the drinks were created with gold or what but we all refused to pay. Long story short, we learned our lesson and made sure to clarify whenever we were invited to head up to San Fran for another outing.
The following day, we had a small pool party with some of the sales interns within our start date and just relaxed by our community pool. The pool party was just a great ole time with lots of BBQ and swimming and for once I did absolutely no work and just lounged by the pool.
Week 9: YouTube, Escape the Room, and Lake Tahoe
Ahhh week nine! Week Nine of as jammed packed with fun activities! During the middle of the week, an intern from our cohort, Jason, planned a trip for us to visit YouTube and got the chance to hear from a lot of great people. I immediately fell in love with YouTube, probably because of the food, but because it was such a great environment. They had a big ole slide in one of the offices, a DJ booth on the other, and a place to make fresh juices and smoothies – it was just great!
Later on in the week, our team went to Escape the Room and grabbed dinner at a Japanese Steakhouse afterwards. Prior to this summer, Escape the Room had been on my to-do list for the longest time but due to conflicts, etc. I never really got the chance to participate. I am glad my first Escape the Room adventure was with my team – the whole event was just extremely funny because we spent so much time on little things that turned out not to matter at all! All the same, it was a good time.
On Friday of Week 9, a group of us planned a trip to Lake Tahoe because apparently it is an absolute must to visit Lake Tahoe when you are on the West Coast. We drove the few hours to our reserved cabin and spent the entire weekend hiking, enjoying stunning views of various lakes, and visiting Emerald Bay & Pope Beach. I took a lot pictures during this weekend, however, I do not think the pictures does this place justice. It is honestly a must-see and I am not even exaggerating!
Week 10: Academy of the Sciences Adult Night & Manager’s Dinner
As our internship was coming to an end, we did a lot of group outings and it was a great opportunity to get to know other interns outside of the office area. For one of the outings we went to the California Academy of Sciences for their NightLife event and it was surprisingly good. I was a bit skeptical about the whole plan but it was essentially an adult museum.
During the weekend of Week 10, our manager and her fiance hosted us over their place and they cooked a Cuban dinner for us. The food was absolutely delicious and we played several rounds of Scattergories – let’s just say it is not my forte as I got really creative with my answers!
Week 11: Wrap Up
Week 11 was extremely busy! Since the internship was ending, our entire intern cohort was busy focusing on our deliverables and the second to last day we had our last team lunch and visited the CX Lab. Personally, I did not want to leave the West Coast. I literally fell in love with Northern California and I have been looking at flight tickets ever since I got back to the East Coast with hopes of returning back to the West Coast.
As always, please see below for a few pictures from the second half of my internship and leave comments/send me an email: sincerelysamuella@gmail.com with any questions or concerns!
P.S. – The pictures below are not very high quality due to compression issues. To view some of the pictures in high quality, please view them on my Instagram: www.instagram.com/sincerelysamuella
Stay adventurous, dear friends, and always remember to stay golden. All ways, always.
Sincerely,
Samuella
[…] Pray: As a young, Christian lady, I am a firm believer in “what is meant for you will not pass you by.” After facing a myriad of rejection for scholarships and internships, I have come to really believe that if God really wants you to be at a particular place, He will make it happen. Some people call this luck and playing their cards right but I believe God placed me at Google for me to learn a very important lesson: there is always room for improvement. You can read more about this lesson here and here. […]