The Big Apple

Over the weekend, I visited NYC with the Golisano Honors group (Golisano being the Computing college). We took tours of a few companies and got some time to spend exploring the city as well. We visited jetBlue, Google, and Coalfire, each being companies that are highly driven by technology and taking interns from RIT. It was a busy few days, but I got to stay in a really nice hotel and spent a lot of quality time with friends.

While the companies were not the most exciting thing ever, I still had a lot of fun. The company visits weren't bad, they just weren't particularly helpful. The jetBlue visit was based largely around the company itself, which was interesting, but not the most relevant for me at the moment. At Google, there were lots of fun things to see, but no one really talked at all about what people do as a Google employee. It seems like the actual content of a Google job is very illusive, which is a little bothersome. Nonetheless, it was a fun tour. Finally, Coalfire is a security company. So, while the presentations were very interesting, they don't make much sense for me as an HCC student (unless I were to minor in Csec or something). Furthermore, they were our last stop at the end of a long day and there weren't enough seats for everyone so it was a tiring experience.

On Saturday, I got to spend most of the day just wandering around the city. I did so with a friend of mine and we spent a majority of our time walking around window shopping. We went to the Nintendo store, a Starbucks, and a Barnes & Noble. Afterwards, we took a long walk down to Grand Central where we played in the Apple store for a half hour or so. Then, we walked to Central Park, got some food, and went to the zoo. The zoo was tons of fun and we enjoyed having a day to not worry about time obligations or homework.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience. I got to spend a lot of quality time with some friends that I hadn't been seeing much of lately and I got a nice weekend away from schoolwork and stress. We stayed in super nice hotel rooms, got lots of free food and knick knacks, and learnt a lot about the real world of computing. I'm very glad I decided to go.

Halfway Through the Semester

Hello all! At the moment, I reside in Rochester and I'm having a wonderful time. I've made lots of friends here and lots of exciting things are happening! For the time being, I'm a computing exploration student (meaning I'm undeclared computing). This means I get to try out all of the different majors for a semester or a year and then I can pick whichever suits my fancy. Recently, I think I might have come to some sort of a decision--don't hold me to that, though. I'm thinking that I will major in HCC, or Human Centered Computing. It's pretty much about how people interact with technology and making technology accessible and user-friendly for everyone. This link will probably explain it better than I could: https://www.rit.edu/programs/human-centered-computing-bs

Since I've been in college, a few things have happened. First of all, I went on a trip with Women in Computing (WiC) to Niagara Falls. Two of my close friends went as well and we all had so much fun. It was my first time going to the American side of the falls!

I also took a trip with my floor to a local farm and corn maze.

Shortly after, a friend from home visited and she let me stay at her lake house for the weekend.

This morning we got our first snow here in Rochester. It didn't stick, but it's still a little unnerving to have snow before Halloween. Otherwise, the weather has been gorgeous. It's just cool enough for a sweatshirt, which is just my kind of weather.

Overall, everything is going very well. I am looking into housing and course registration for next semester and next year, which will be quite the task, especially when I don't have a major. I might declare at the end of the semester, however, if I end up making a concrete decision by then. I am also thinking of applying to be an RA for next year to solve the housing issue. I am going to visit NYC next weekend with the Honors Computing kids to see some companies that are housed there, so I will have another update after that. Blessings, hope all is well at home!