Tag Archives: moving

High Reward, High Risk: Moving is Still Hard

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Over this summer, I had the great opportunity to work at a Fortune 500 tech company in Silicon Valley. Being from Wisconsin, I was uncertain as to several things:

  • How far is Cupertino from San Francisco?
  • How does one go about long-distance apartment hunting?
  • How exactly was I going to get around?

The answers to these questions, unfortunately, were not what I’d hoped for, but instead what I had kind of feared would be the case. San Francisco was too far away to be plausible for visits except on the weekends, long-distance apartment hunting was stranger and more difficult than I had ever anticipated, and getting around ended up being a nightmare. But even more unexpected was that despite all these (and more) issues, my internship experience was one of the most rewarding I’ve ever encountered.

But before I talk about the internship, I’ll tell you something. Moving, on your own, without your parents, is HARD. Since I found out that I would be interning in April, I had to scramble to find a place to stay. I knew very few people in the Bay Area, but the people I did know were absolutely wonderful, and asked around for me. Nothing really came of that.

It came to a point at the end of April where I realized that nobody was going to do this for me. I had to go outside of my nice little comfort zone at Scripps and rely on only myself. That was a frightening epiphany, but also a freeing one. It wasn’t just that nobody could help me- I was completely independent in this pursuit of an apartment! Of course, I didn’t realize it at the time, but looking for an apartment without any help was one of the first steps I took to realizing my own independence.

Finally, I felt that I had it all settled. I had contacted a woman through Craigslist, and it looked like we would get along. She sent me pictures of my room, was in contact for about two weeks, and said she would hold the place for me until I got there with no back pay. I was excited- she had two cats, and lived near some of my friends in Los Gatos.

Then a week, and then two, went by and I heard nothing from her. I emailed her four or five times asking what had happened, called her, and she finally got back to me two weeks before I was scheduled to leave school. She had found somebody else, she said, that was willing to pay more than what I had agreed to. She sent my check back and didn’t apologize. I never heard from her again.

Then the real panic started. I had nowhere to live. I asked all of my friends, everybody I knew at Harvey Mudd (who sends a lot of people to Google and other Silicon Valley corporations) if they knew somebody looking for a roommate. One last desperate status on Facebook finally got me a break; a friend of a friend of a friend was looking for somebody to move in until September. I would be living with two men I didn’t know for the low, low price of $1200/month. It was the best rent I could find on such short notice. Fine, I said. I’ll take it.

And thus my summer-long adventure began. It was already replete with panic and what felt like a giant misstep. I didn’t know where I was going, or who I’d live with, or what the company was like. All I knew was that it was a great and fortuitous opportunity, one I couldn’t pass up, that would hopefully kickstart my career.

The New “First Day”

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In four weeks I’ll be starting my new internship. That’s really not a very long time. I’ve already gone through the process of applying, interviewing, and finding housing. I have one final step: preparing for my first day.

The way I look at it, the first day at a new job can be very similar to the first day at a new school. First of all, you need to know the basics. What time should you be there? (For me: 8:30am) How long will you be there? (8 hours) What should you wear? Ah, there’s a question. Some summer jobs have nearly zero dress code (e.g. working for Google or Apple, working in retail, or nannying). Some internships are fairly casual and interns can get away with dark jeans and a nice blouse (e.g. management positions at a clothing store). Some require more than that. Something at the top of my to-do list is to contact my soon-to-be supervisors and ask about the dress code. Will it be business casual (meaning slacks or a skirt paired with a nicer top) or will I need to buy a suit? Are open-toed shoes okay? (It will be over 80 degrees and incredibly humid, but the office will more than likely be air-conditioned.)

Next, I’ll need to know what to expect at my first day. There are five other interns working with me and I anticipate that we will spend June 1st taking a tour of the office, meeting other employees, and getting situated at our new workstations. I wonder if I’ll have my own cubicle or desk – I will probably be sharing a space with at least one other intern, kind of like elementary school.

Finally, I will learn what my daily duties will entail. In junior high and high school, there was a clear schedule: two hours of class, then a break, two more hours followed by lunch, then at least two more hours. I don’t expect to get a definite schedule, but I am sure I’ll have some sort of routine. For example, I’ll step off the metro, walk to the office, greet the front desk staff, quickly check my e-mail, and then go to a morning staff meeting. I have always been a planner, and a very visual person. I need to be able to picture myself going through my day.

I have a few things to do before I leave for Washington. I need to figure out what’s important to have with me for the summer and start shipping boxes. I also need to get in touch with my supervisor and start getting a feel for how my first day – and the ten weeks following – will go.