After getting home from Brussels there were at least one good thing waiting for me at home, a delivery slip saying that my DSL-modem had arrived! Finally I could start really using the net again, as opposed to just doing the most basic things over my 3G cellphone-connection. And then on Tuesday some guys showed up to install a wall-mounted oven in my bathroom as the floor-heating was broken when I moved in. About time I say, as winter is just around the corner and a ground-level apartment without gets really chilly along the floors, so now I've gotten everything in the apartment in order, just in time for the Wednesday arrival of Øystein and Carina from Gründerskolen, who will be staying at my place over the weekend during the Gründerskolen Fall Seminar, the completion of my days as a student!
Entries in category: Grunderskolen SF'06
And then, all of a sudden on this Sunday morning, summer was over and people started going home to Norway, so it was also the time for goodbyes. My flight were scheduled very early on Monday morning, so to have an easier time getting to the airport then we arranged it so that I drove Carina to the airport when she left at noon on Sunday. In return I got to keep the car for an extra day so I could take myself comfortably to the airport the next morning.
When she had left I went home and started packing up all my own stuff, and despite having bought an extra 120 liter suitcase I almost couldn't fit everything! It must have been those 30 new t-shirts I've gotten myself...
After a weekend of complete relaxing that let me get back on top after an intensive summer there was only this last week left of my stay in California. Since there was still plenty I had not gotten to see in the Bay area I made a decent attempt at stopping by quite a few of those I still had left. I was originally planning to do a longer trip as well since we had an entire week off, then either to L.A., Yosemite, Mexico or Canada, but circumstances forced me to abandon such plans so I ended up just driving around the Bay area instead.
This last week at work Marthe and I have started wrapping up our final tasks, while Arthur has come down with a stomach bug and have been staying home since last Wednesday. Since we will be going home quite soon I have also taken every chance I get to talk to get to know some new people, and this Thursday Dave came up to San Mateo to meet me for lunch as he was interested in talking about Searchforceand other things. He is one of the gentlemen I met at the Norwegian Club of SF last week, and works with the Merrill-Lynch Investment bank.
With our final examination and the delivery of our business plan due this Tuesday, and after prioritizing most of last week to new experiences and parties, it was really about time to put in some serious work on the plan so we could get it ready in time. So Sunday morning at 10a.m, just after a short detour to drop of mine and Øysteins rented diving equipment, the Automaton Industries team met up in the offices of PeerMe to finish up the plan that we have been working on all summer.
After an excessive amount of partying lately it has been getting increasingly harder to get up and go to work in the mornings, but I had to get up this Friday too since summer is almost over and there was going to be a goodbye lunch with the entire company for all of us interns, so I managed to get up and go to work this last day of the week as well. When the day started nearing noon all the employees were rounded up and for once we went out with everyone present, but found that the first choice of restaurant for our lunch had been closed, so we ended up going to the Persian restaurant Shalizaar instead. We ordered served a variety of Kabobs and other really good Persian-style food, plus we got to have some fun with Samir with his glass of "doogh", a very peculiar tasting Persian drink made from yogurt, water, mint, salt and pepper served on ice...
Unlike most Tuesdays, Arthur, Marthe and myself didn't have today off to study as our internship company Searchforce was having a booth at the annual Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose. In addition to us almost half the company (4 people) went with us so that we could pitch our product to visitors and maybe also locate some potential corporate partners. To "help out" during the conference the company had also hired a booth-babe, one Australian girl who was visiting the states to see her boyfriend. The conference was pretty fun with lots of interesting companies attending, plenty of more or less useful give-aways and even a few games as well, so even while I didn't go to any of the sessions I had a good time there. However that was nothing compared to what came next... and I'm not talking about this weeks lecture, which actually finished up around 6p.m after a volunteer group did their business plan presentation early for a bit of feedback from the group.
After putting in a lot of long hours towards studying lately, this week looks like it might become the complete opposite and maybe the most intensive week of parties so far this summer.
It all started out last Friday when Øystein called me just after I got back from work and asked if I wanted to join him and some of the other PeerMe people at Cascals for finger food and drinks. When I got over there a few of the others had been sitting there for a while already, and some others were just coming. We ended up spending six straight hours there, drinking the bar empty of our chosen brand of wine and enjoying various kinds of tapas for a final tab of more than $400 USD (!), which Tom picked up himself, as he always does whenever we go out with him.
While still keeping the focus on our studies, outside of the working hours Arthur and I have also spent quite a few hours in front of the TV. We have just been lazy while watching Arthurs newly bought DVD's with full seasons of The Sopranos and Allò Allò. However to get some variety we did go to the San Jose IMAX theater today to catch Superman Returns since it was closed last time around, and it was a totally awesome way to see a movie! The really large screen lets you get into the movie in a whole new way, despite some annoying blurring along the edges of the screen caused by the conversion to the larger format (which you don't get with real IMAX movies btw). I was a bit disappointed however that there was no 3D equipment in this theater, but since less than 20 minutes of the movie would have been in 3D it didn't change the experience which I can totally recommend! It's just too bad that the IMAX theater in Oslo has been shut down...
Until now we have mostly been spending the summer going on various trips and events in smaller groups, but that changed this week with a Wine&Cheese party first, and then a Tapas-night tool Then in between this and the pressure from our work and studies which is really building up now, we also found the time to see some movies, visit Gloria and to go clubbing in San Francisco!
