Admissions Blog: Marni

October 18, 2009

Fall Break and Back Again…

Unfortunately, fall break has come to a close but it was definitely not wasted. Luckily or unluckily, depending how you look at it, I started my fall break a bit earlier than most. As I mentioned before, I attended the SWE Conference in Long Beach, CA so I played hooky on the Thursday and Friday before break. It was all legal and excused by professors of course. So the lucky part was that I had an extended fall break and the unlucky part is that I have makeup tests and catching up to do with material I missed in lecture. It was so worth it though.

The main event of the SWE Conference for our contingent was the job fair. There were so many companies there, hundreds even! Some noteworthy ones were Boeing, Microsoft, General Electric, and even Disney! I was pretty nervous beforehand to be talking to representatives from all these top companies, but it turned out to be fine. I even was asked to interview with a company called Honeywell! It was definitely a new experience for me but it opened my eyes to all the career options there are for engineers. As corny as it sounds, it got me excited about my future and what I could be doing with my life.

Now, we were all business at the job fair but we weren’t about to leave sunny California without a little play. In our downtime we checked out the beach there. Boy was that water cold! I’m so used to warm Hawaii waters that it was quite a shock to feel the ice cold water from the other side of the Pacific.

We also had all day Saturday free so a few of my friends who go to college in California drove up to hang out and took us to see LA and its attractions. First stop was the Kodak and Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. We got to see the stars on the Walk of Fame as well as the handprints of the Harry Potter cast! There were even the handprints of Meryl Streep, Hugh Jackman, and Frank Sinatra! Then we made a stop at the Santa Monica Pier to see some of that beach and do a little shopping and ended our day at the Griffith Observatory and got a nice view of the city nightlife.

When I finally made it back to Portland, I had the travel bug so I made plans with one of my housemates to visit friends in Tacoma. We rode the train together and I met up with two of my friends in Seattle so that we could do some shopping in the city. We just roamed around downtown Seattle and stopped by the Pike Place Market. The next day I took the bus back to Tacoma with my friend, checked out her college campus, and just hung out with her and a few of her friends. It was a nice relaxing trip after the hustle and bustle of California. Finally, I caught the train back to Portland and I’ve been relaxing ever since. I know I’ve got tests to study for and homework to do, but I’m just trying to squeeze out whatever remnants are left from my nearly gone fall break. Until next time!