Madison
The first day that I arrived in Seattle I was awestruck by the grandness of the architecture, and I was incredibly impressed with the totality of the technology. Everything is within walking distance including the well-known Pike Place Market, Space Needle, and parks galore.
Over the weekend, us interns moved in and helped each other with bags, boxes, and advice. Many of us had traveled a great distance in order to get here literally and figuratively. We as the team of Amazon Future Engineers have been planning for our first day for over a year since we all won the Amazon Future Engineer scholarship and internship.
From the moment that us interns met each other out in front of the building (before even entering through the doors) we had established a bond and a friendship that I am sure will last. We started by taking a walk through downtown Seattle, did some shopping for dorm supplies, and made plans for the upcoming days.
Magical Technology
My new laptop and monitor had just arrived, and they are top of the line. It was waiting for me in my Amazon hub locker -- safe and secure within our intern apartment/dorm complex. When we went to retrieve our laptops from the Amazon hub lockers, the locker doors popped open as if it were magic from the future.
The Amazon Community
On day one of my internship, I went to the corporate building and was provided with my identification badge. I then went to the Amazon Spheres and saw the huge plant wall and the bird’s nest. I felt that I was truly in the Amazon. It’s the perfect working environment that is quite frankly unsurpassed.
While I truly enjoy my job, it was the sense of community that impressed me the most. We all pulled together to help each other get started with our work, and afterward, we celebrated by breaking bread and sharing a meal together. Besides the food, we also played Connect Four, Chess, and pool. We shared good conversations about school, books, movies, and life. I even found a friend from Carneige Mellon University (Pennslyvania) who enjoys watching the Queen’s Gambit and playing chess into the late night hours as much as I do. It was the perfect ending to the perfect first day :)
We cooked, ate, cleaned, and laughed together. Now, we will continue to work together pursuing our computer science passions. What continues to connect us is the powerful bond that we formed together and that we are all part of a special community.
Although today was the first day of our internship, I expect that all of our days will be like day 1. This is because we are always going to be curious, learning, and moving forward continually raising the bar of excellence. The only thing that I like more than embarking on this wonderful journey is doing it with such wonderful people!!
As soon as I arrived at the Cornish Commons, I observed that many of the girls were walking up to each other and asking the question, “Are you an Amazon Future Engineer?” Although a few students said no and explained that they were instead art students from the Cornish Commons, there were more yays than nays.
As I was attempting to open the door to my apartment I had luggage, a new laptop computer, and my keys which made it very difficult to gain entry. As fate would have it, that was when a neighbor approached me and asked the obvious question if I like her was an AFE. That was when I met the most wonderful neighbor in the Cornish Commons. She opened the door for me, helped me put my things away in my room, and get settled in. Afterward, we headed out to the nearby Shake Shack for a meal together. We then took a leisurely walk downtown. As Rick said in Casablanca, this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
She is a student in an Ivy League college who had just recently arrived in Seattle as I did. Although we were both a bit naïve, we quickly caught on to the customs and the ways. We soon were able to consider ourselves experienced in navigating the highways and byways of the city! We immediately became very close and decided that we were going to explore all of the unknowns of Seattle together in our quest to find the elusive Kraken xD. The first thing that we explored was the Space Needle. Afterward, we attended a get-together party among the interns.
Every day seemed like a new beginning filled with joy, excitement, and wonder! As we set out on our journey of discovery, it was so much easier because we were both learning and experiencing Seattle for the first time together. Having someone at your side through thick and thin makes every day more enjoyable and every new discovery that much more special. By the end of our internship, we both gained a lot of knowledge and experience that we otherwise would not have had.
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