I'M BACK!
haha. for those who dont know,
i was away at Silicon Valley from 4-13 june.
well it might have not been as fun as Mongolia would have,
nor did I learn as much as i would if i had went Germany,
but let's just say i got a little bit of both,
so perhaps i've got the best of both worlds. (:
at first i was rather uncertain,
cos it's like, you're going on a trip with ppl you dont exactly know,
not to mention i was suffering from not-being-able-to-go-Mongolia blues and everything.
but then it was a rather fun trip i would have to agree,
opened my mind abt a lot of things and very thought provoking.
so i'm really glad i went after all (:
the most valuable takeaways for me was perhaps the visits to
Sun Microsystems, Redhat, Electronic Arts, NBC, Universal & Warner Brothers Studio and Stamford University i would think.
(haha tt's just about everything minus a few tt i didnt really like i think)
it was a rather good exposure to the way the Americans do things,
certainly very different from the way Singaporeans does it, i think.
For one, they're really passionate about the things they do,
so much so that they dont treat their job as a job, but rather a form of enjoyment.
it's likely to do with their work environment too.
they're office is like so BIG and NICE!
esp the SUN micro one. it looks like a super prestigious school lah!
they hav such good staff welfare that they can work flexihours, can go eat/gym, or jus about anywhere during work hours!
to think these are the companies that make jus about the most profits in the world.
they value creative work.
their environment is about jus as innovative as we are efficient.
talking about efficiency, SIGH. let's not talk abt it.
oh the ppl there so friendly tt they can jus stop and chat with us while on the way to work de.
no they are not like Singaporeans who are ever so busy tt they jus zoom past in their high heels w/o ever stopping to take a look at you, esp when u are jus a bunch of students.
but the Americans do stop to talk you know.
and their work environment is so carefree and comfortable tat they can jus wear like, t-shirt & jeans to work.
perhaps being in comfortable clothes like creative juices flow (:
OH and they value talents, however young they might be.
so they are really nice to students!
OHHH the creator of JAVA came to speak to us @ Sun Micro!
COOL RIGHT? and we were given this special 'Rock The Code' t-shirt tt he designed!~
though it's kindof big for me lah. haha.
okok i shall start to write in order instead of sprouting stuff randomly.
makes it easier to read tt way (:
DAY 1we landed at the San Franciso airport
it was super colddddd.
X
iuLi almost lost her luggage. so scary.
we went to the
Intel museum and played with circuits a bit.
the lady was really friendly but was disappointed to know tt these circuits were a bit too easy for us.
i sort of floated ard the museum cos i was way to tired to play with anything.
maybe cos i was watching too many movies on the plane,
or i was jus JET-LAGGING LIKE MADDDD.
oh i forgot to mention. they gave nice pens (:
DAY 2SUN MIRCO!!!haha from my above description you would have realized it's a very cool place.
they were so supper nice to sponsor subway buffet for our lunch!
not to mention the free t-shirt and 2 thick books abt SV history.
Oracle had a nice office with a duck pond.
haha yupp.
DAY 3Electronic Arts!!! VERY COOL!~]
haha besides the fact tt they make cool games,
their compound is cool too!
and the value students.
and they offer good insights to US life + study!
oh and according to the ppl, the games they sell are cheap compared to wat's sold in spore!
but i dont really know the market price cos i dont play games :P
EA staff welfare rocks lah, they got like staff BBQ right in the middle of the courtyard!
(yes they bbq for lunch cos weather is cold anyway)
Challenge everything! + social skills impt (:
REDHAT!!they sponsored a really cool lunch and were super nice even though we're late!
(the bus driver got lost)
they didnt hav a big office in SF cos they're HQed in East USA
but nevertheless they still gave wonderful hospitality at a hotel function room!
thought red hat was super cool cos they are a very small company but competing with big players like Microsoft.
but after the super thought-provoking video where there were codes tt showed facts tt were true until proven otherwise. [those codes proven wrong were really inspiring]
and it was cool to know the diff between East & West! (though i think i saw tt in BSP)
i really think tt open source has a really cool standing!
AND it'll be really big in the near future.
WAY TO GO REDHAT! ((:
first they ignore you,
then they laugh at you,
then they firght you,
and then you win ((:
HP Labserm they have some really cool products but by tt time i was too tired to pay much attention :P
oh we toured their founders office! (haha yup, W. Hewlett & D. Packard)
and there was no one else in the office, perhaps they went for some staff outing?
DAY 4STANDFORD UNIVERSITY!!!!this nice Singaporean lady studying phD in Stanford brought us around.
maybe cos Standford is a private uni or smth, it jus looked very different from S'pore universities.
erm, let's jus say it's not wad i have in mind bah.
it's much smaller, and more homely,
and the students jus wear t-shirt & jeans cycling around the campus,
which gave me the impression tt they are very relaxed and true enough,
the lady said getting INTO Stanford is tough, but once you get in, it's super relax le!
and Singaporeans have the 3rd largest population out of the international students..
hmmm.. i really think studying/working in the US is SUPER GOOD!
it's fun and relaxed. super unlike S'pore!
Stanford is super diff from the SMU i wanna go to lah.
SMU seems super commercialized.
even the buildings is like a commercial building.
then again, they hav their own adv + dis bah (:
OH i bought a Stanford t-shirt [yup Stanford merchandise] (:
The Tech Museum.well, it's like S'pore Science Centre.
there's this glow-in-the-dark Albert Einsten shirt tt yuting showed me tt i realise i shld have bought :(
DAY 5Gilroy Factory Oulet.
well, let's jus say it's super diff from wad i had in mind.
it's super big, separated into diff one-story blocks with big carparks in the middle,
has strange black buildings out of no where,
roads tt one has to cross 3 traffic lights to get to the other side,
restaurants tt are super separated from the shops.
HAIZ. even though i know land is not the issue,
i jus dont see why cant they jus lump everything into a 10-story building with restaurants build into it.
oh but we discovered tt 'IN AND OUT BURGER' is good!
too bad they only have 3 choice of burgers: hamburger, cheeseburger, double cheese burger. and they only serve beef.
tt's bad cos our friends had to go to Mac's to eat,
which turned out to be a terrible mistake cos they got lost and USA's Mac is terrible.
well, lost of ppl got lost too.
it's all Gilroy's fault.
why does the layout has to be so confusing and so spaced out?
ppl come here shopping also will get lost + very tired from all tt unnecessary walking.
DAY 6 + 7well let's lump these 2 days tgt cos they are basically the same - both very funn!
well, we got a tour of the
NBC, where we got an insight into how a lot of variety shows are made,
including the news, talk shows, etc.
and at
Warner Brothers Studio,
we saw the sets where alot of sitcoms and movies are made!
REALLY COOL + our tourguide was great (:
Universal Studios!!!haha nope we didnt see the fire but we saw the ruins though!
it still smelt of burnt wood though it has been days aft the fire.
oh and i'm glad we stuck with our itinerary and didnt go to disneyland, yup.
it's a pity we didnt have time to tour the whole the studio though.
esp BackDraft. but it's alright cos there'll be another chance!
and OH. think disney california would be great too!
shall go back to US if got the chance. [esp now recession :P ]
studying/working there would be FUNN (:
oh but u'll have to bear with long air flights & jetlagging.
lucky we took SIA lah. haha.
RANDOM points to sum it all up:
San Francisco is...
tram rides = cable car
waving @ taxidrivers + other passenagers or jus abt everyone u see
super HILLY!
climbing up roads angled 45degrees!
(haha yup SUPER STEEP! i wondered how the cars get parked there lah.
later one never park properly domino effect HOW?)
the CHEESECAKE FACTORY!
gigantic sanfrans gaints jackets + hats EVERYWHERE
nice sun, nice breeze
the no-so-golden gate bridge
(i personally think the Oakland bay bridge is nicer :P )
generally nice & friendly ppl
"it's fine!' hotel service
self-made waffles for breakfast
(YUP there was this waffle machine!)
ice-cold bus-stop benches suitable for sit-the-longest competitions
violence, shot outs at night
scary grandmas lecturing kids on stealing?!
busy fire dept
magic-school-buses
early morning joggers
little public transport
(cos cars are CHEAP)
cheap houses - bungalows cos as much as my 4-room HDB flat!
roads tt are perpendicular to each other
lots of highways
relaxed environment
excellent employee welfare
nice temperate flowers
small shopping centres
(either Americans dont like to shop like S'poreans do,
or they are suffering becos of recession)
coke everyday - too sweet and too much gas
overcooked oily fries with unshaved potato skin
Dr Pepper tt taste like herbal tea
earthquakes! cos near San Andres Fault
graffiti = art/vandalism (subjective)
good shopping! (haha some stuff cheap compared to Spore)
plastic cutlery everywhere - no wonder they say US is a huge contributor global warming
expensive big-zized food tt may not taste nice
(the nicer food tt we eat is all Asian de lor, ok maybe except in&out's)
hard to find fruits
hilly golden fields with gazing cattle!
(tt explains the abundance of beef)
full of chinese + HongKongers + Japanese
(Asian food is the BEST)
less emphasis on grades
BIG - long dist between up&downtown
cloud-free skies
windy!
fisherman's wharf cool with clam chowder soup - but dont let the seagulls get it.
rackfulls of postcards
(we bought so much tt i think the salesperson will faint if she sees another one. haha)
oscillating traffic lights!~
8pm and still very bright
confusing coins tt became ok aft a while - cos dimes are smaller than nickels
(i'm proud to announce tt i'm left with only 4 coins!
i think Geraldine got like 80 0.o)
wind-blown slanting trees tt need wood to support
undrinkable tap water :(
easy to get lost (haha Gilroy's is anyway)
passionate abt jobs! esp the busdrivers!
(they recieve US$120 per hour for OT can)
Los Angeles is...
bad traffic
cheap strawberries! YUM!
movies extras get paid US$15 per hour! 0.o
rain a week in a year if i'm not wrong? (at least North California)
Hollywood + Burbank
Beverly Hills
nice buffet!
street long of souvenir shops!
unreasonable shop vendors
multi-talented bus driver + karaoke singer + magician + foot masseur + tourguide
The People on the Trip are...
Mafia crazy- at least Benjamin is anyway
snores at 80 decibels
$.$
boy-crazy: Green VS White
HIGH!
(omg lah this bunch of Sec 2-4s are highly energetic!
or maybe it's the senior high life tt's draining our lives away..)
idiots to think tt i'm in Sec 2 -.- [haha jkjk]
stocks up food like chipmunks do!
DHS-ppl look-alikes
(there's Taxy & Sebastian anyway, and Natalie and Ray HAHA)
[oh and Taxy wants to avoid Sebastian]
noisy
late
shopaholics!
tourguide's petphrase: "move faster!" & "group photo!"
roll-calling like guides do
burst into giggles at "29!!!"
teacher tt looks like a student,
who is always wearing his favorite Stanford jacket
ping! (:
Gary is waffle guy + birthday boy + emo kid
and shops at different shops thinking of different gfs
and couldnt buy anything at a guys shop
and spammed 1300+ photos?
and loves to take random candid shots of ppl
and found his new love
and expresses it explicitly (read his MSN nick)
the other bday boy got smashed with bday cake
and is obsessed with Victoria's Secrets
'Eileen'
zui kueh?
girl with the cute little brother
firece girl who plays cheat with the brother
the guai1 gf with the #1 bf
ppl who borrow my book
too serious VS childish/playful
pillow fight 'world cup'
ultra quiet ppl
potentially lost
spills orange juice on the bus!!!
(curse those ppl who spill orange juice on my bag #!^#&%@&^@&)
good at badmouthing
super good with languages
muggers
jukeboxes on the go!
massive sabo session
random mass convos
lots of love stories!~
E + JY
G = NAT
[ OMG i'm so happy for VAL! ]
...
haha i'll definitely miss you guys!
but no worries, i have a feeling we'll definitely meet again! (:
someone pls pass me the contact list.
and the photos.
THANKS!
(oh btw, gathering pending! )
Traveling with Geraldine is...
non-stop laughter
(if she laugh i'll laugh de! really!
dont make her laugh, if not cant stop de)
no worries abt not enough cash
hearing her sleeptalk - "DUCKTOURS!" *points*
VAL always topic of discussion!
[haha but now Gary change target liao,
so maybe NAT is going to be topic of discussion]
oh sometimes Esther + GX is topic of discussion
making sure she isnt missing
(must turn back to check every 10 steps) - worse than Esther!!
bearing with her GONGness, BLURness & FORGETFULness
[to the extend tt i can strangle her le!]
helping her pick up stuff she dropped
counting her pocketful of coins
totally clueless abt hagging the price
looking at her chattering teeth every morning
enjoying her animated imitations
peeling skin :(
someone to take care of me when i tear
[ tearing is a BAD experience ]
diff hairstyle everyday
she gets bullied by Gary
but now he too occupied with someone else so i think it's ok bah.
(:
haha sorry abt some phrasings.
lazy to go change but u guys get the idea right?
wah this is such a LOONG post.
i type until my hand pain liao. haha.
learnt lots of things.
realised tt Asia is rising! (i'm glad i took BSP)
and it's impt to know languages!
i'm determined to work on my Canto!
and learn Jap in the future.
also, it's impt to do what you love, or love what you do! (:
urgh.
i'm sick of fast food & coke & waffles & plane food.
i'll definately miss the Californian weather!
it made me think tt Singapore's weather is really warm..
some exclamations:
THE WORLD IS SMALL!
haha USA is cool, just a diff cool from China. yup.
and 7 hours on the bus is always more welcomed than 15 hours on the plane >.<
haha to sum it up,
i'm glad i went on this trip lah.
true enough, like Mr Gi said,
there were lots of interesting characters!
learnt a lot about US too.
yupp. it was a GREAT experience!
worth my 10plus days of not doing homework.
which reminds me, there's like a PILE of work waiting for me to complete.
and i havent been practicing guitar.
ARRGGHH.