Back in the groove
Aug 25, 06:42 PM by Eric Allen
Whew. After an awesome summer internship at Wesabe and an epic cross-country road trip, I’m finally back in the groove at RPI. I took four days to move in, but I got to spend a lot of that time with my girlfriend. Classes started today, and I’m already enjoying the semester! Sometimes I can’t believe how full my life is.
Only a few short months ago I started my internship at Wesabe, and boy was it an adventure! Writing Ruby for a hot Web2.0 startup in San Francisco? What could be a better experience for a college sophomore? I learned all kinds of stuff, from how to run a team to Ruby security vulnerabilities to good places to eat in San Francisco. My coworkers were a pretty cool bunch! I’m not sure dot-comming is what I want to do with my life, but Wesabe definitely gave me a taste of what it can be like.
After a week to catch my breath, I headed out on a four-day road trip with my friend Dan back to New York. We went from Oakland, CA to Laramie, WY to Bettendorf, IA to Pittsburgh, PA to Troy, NY. Check out the map to get an idea of the distances. The trip went without a hitch: Dan’s Honda Civic performed beautifully, and the two of us are still good friends! We kept an hour-by-hour blog live from the car with Dan’s Verizon card and my iPhone. The cost came out to just over $200 for each of us, which was almost exactly what we would’ve paid to fly, not to mention shipping all of the stuff I brought back. I’m not sure spending four days getting to school is worth it, but the adventure surely was.
I had no idea how much I missed home here at RPI. I have so many friends here! Everywhere I go, whether it’s errands, food, or class, I keep running into people and catching up. My room is awesome (and has air conditioning!), too. I enjoyed my life during the summer, but here I really feel like I’m in my element. I know I’ve had my ups and downs with RPI, but now that I’ve committed to this place it feels great. My clubs are in full swing, and we’ll be recruiting freshmen at the Activities Fair on Thursday. The classes I’m taking this semester are all pretty technical: Physics II, Data Structures and Algorithms, Computer Components and Operations, and Laboratory Introduction to Embedded Control. That last one is gonna be sooo fun. I love playing with embedded electronics, and the class uses one of my favorite processors: the 8051! I like my professors so far, and I have friends in every class. All I’m missing is time for lunch.
Life can take you on many paths, so I figure the best thing I can do is to enjoy the path I end up on. I’m sure enjoying this one!
