More Ann Arbor Observations
Today I went to a Google info session. Mainly to score a free shirt and pizza. The coolest thing to happen was that the guy had me pick a random number from 1 to 80. I picked 65, which just happened to be my number. I thought he was going to ask me a trivia question so I could win a prize, but apparently I picked the winner. Myself. They made me pick another guy though. So no prize for me, just another shirt. That’s cool, I like free Google shirts. If I get enough I’ll set up a “Google Week” where I wear nothing but Google shirts (and my normal jeans).
Waiting for the bus back to my apartment, I encountered a huge group of engineering freshmen straight out of their first programming test. It was really nostalgic hearing people freak out about data types and assignment operators. Apparently they had a test for Engineering 101, which is C++ programming. Ah, to be a freshman again. Also worth noting was that there were girls in the group. As in, plural. Enjoy it while it lasts, guys. (I’m not a misogynist or anything, just a realist. I wish there were more girls in engineering, but the cold hard truth is there aren’t)
I think I’ve finally discovered what it means to be immersed in an academic setting. I went to an organizing meeting for a social computing group at the university. We exchanged some really cool ideas and for once my attention was kept for an entire meeting! This usually never happens. I’ve also found myself starting random intellectual conversations with people. It’s all very cool and something that never happened in my undergrad years.
I’ve also found myself waking up early in the morning and not being able to sleep because I was thinking. Just thinking of ideas and possibilities that would keep me awake. This has happened before when I first started exploring opportunities in web development, but it’s happening again. Which is sort of understandable, I guess. There’s so many ideas that are bouncing around in my head; from course readings to conversations to my work at the library.
In short, I’m enjoying the academic atmosphere that this campus has to offer.