3 min read
Finally it's actually Friday. As such, we had a real TGIF meeting/video conference at the end of the day. This was for only my larger team which is responsible for social infrastructure engineering and spans multiple offices. Rather than discussing work though, it was mainly just a social hour (okay, more like 30 minutes, but still...).
Unfortunately, Google does not serve dinner on Fridays so there was no feast at Hemispheres tonight. Instead, the NYC part of the team decided to go see Mad Max: Fury Road in 3D courtesy of Google and invited me to go. I hadn't been to see a movie -- let alone a 3D movie -- in a while, so I agreed to go.
We all took the subway there and thankfully I had my MetroCard handy so I didn't have to buy one at the machine. The subway dropped us off right next to the movie theater. I've never seen such a huge movie theater in my life. We had to take 2 escalators just to get to the right area and another one up for the bathrooms. The movie was supposed to start at 5:05 I thought, but since I haven't been in so long I forgot it actually starts 20 minutes later than the time says just because of previews.
The movie itself was pretty good. I've never seen a Mad Max movie but I like action movies with fighting and explosions rather than boring romantic comedies and chick flicks. It was nice to go out with the team and have some fun on a Friday night instead of just sitting in the office studying like I would have done had I not been invited. I also got free popcorn out of the deal, which was a plus.
Afterwards, I walked 10 blocks back to my apartment, first stopping at a conveniently placed CVS on the way to get a small bit of food for the long weekend. Unfortunately, Google also doesn't serve food on weekends or corporate holidays. On the other hand, I can take a much deserved break after surviving Noogler orientation week -- although I probably will head to the office anyway to hang out because it beats sitting in a small apartment all holiday weekend.
No relevant photo for today, but here's a picture of the silhouette portraits from 5BB (Five Borough Bistro)
Overall, I think I'm going to like spending the next 3 months here. NYC is bustling but then again so is UConn between classes. As for work, it doesn't feel like work just yet (since it actually isn't until I have an official project). I really like being at Google since they don't only just care that you get your job done like a regular company but they also care about their employees' happiness and growth. They even have a ton of courses, programs, and other resources dedicated to increase your knowledge and well-being. For example, I'm enrolling in a series of courses to increase mindfulness and emotional intelligence which I believe would be of great value to my personal development and well-being.
I'm actually happy to get up in the morning and go to work. Every day is interesting in some way and there's always something going on here. I'm excited to see what the next week holds in store for me.