The Contrast: Summer 2011 and Summer 2012

Summer 2011
I don't know if I have mentioned this in my previous blog, but I really did not want to return to GE for another summer internship for this year (2012, before senior year). The co-op coordinator there, Ben Nagaraj(sp?) emailed me whether I wanted to return to GE for another rotation. I told him no, I was going to South Africa instead. I had an amazing summer last time in Cincinnati, summer of 2011. Living with 5 other guys in a whole house to ourselves, with our own aspiring french style chef Richard, drink mixologist Jeff, chill dude from Cali (Weston), company man David, and my good friend Steven. We had such an amazing time. One of the greatest/craziest/fun summers I have ever had. Thinking back.....just wow.....feels like a dream. Here are some of the memories:

1. Rock climbing
Boy did I climb a lot of walls that spring and summer. Almost every day after work, I would meet up with Morris at Rock Quest to climb walls. At first, it was ridiculously hard. so much pain in my fingers, my forearms. But yeah, that was definitely my sport of the summer.

2. 18 mile kayak trip
We went kayaking a few times during the summer. It was so much fun, and so cheap compared to kayaking in the east coast, Delaware River. Once, we had a house kayaking outing for 18 miles. What an amazing day that was.

3. personal chef/mixologist
We were so lucky. Almost every week Richard would cook us some fancy meal, usually I don't even know what they are called. Some French fancy stuff. This was followed by drink tasting with Jeff. Oh man I didnt realize how complicated a mixing can be. I wish I tried to keep track and learn the names of the drinks, but there were so many. I ddin't know half the stuff I was drinking. And because I didn't know what they were, what was in it, (I would forget even tho Jeff would always explain) I would get drunk because it was too hard to calculate alcohol content. Even Henry and Lawrence drove down from Chicago to party with us. and haha, that time we tried to walk into white castle drive thru.

4. shooting fireworks on the rooftop
This was pretty crazy too. I think Jeff bought some in Indiana. So on 4th of July, we climbed out of our bathroom window to a porch/rooftop area and shot fireworks. There were tree branches over us, and a lot of it would bounce right back down to us. What a great night.

5. Driving
I probably drove about 5400 miles of long distance solo driving on the 98 camry. Went back and forth few times among Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington DC, New Jersey, and Cincinnati. I still love driving.

This summer was amazing. I thought I would have a lot of free time because I'm just working and not at school, but no. I was always hitting the gym/climbing/studying chinese after work during weekdays, parties/drinking/kayaking/driving. HOWEVER, I did not want to go back to Cincinnati, especially back to GE. I was only lucky I was able to be in a house with such amazing guys, and there probably won't be another summer like it. I really did not working in the corporate environment. Everyday as I enter the office building, I could not wait to get out. The things I did seemed so minuscule and unimportant. Of course, I was only an intern, but from what I've seen of what other engineers do, its not that much different. What each person does is so minuscule for what it takes to run an entire jet engine company. If I worked there as full time, from the very first day of work I would look forward to the day I retire, and this is no good. Even though I had one of the most amazing summers outside work, I think I really should pursue a career that I will find fulfilling.

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Summer 2012
So, this summer, I decided to do something completely random, completely out of the ordinary for an engineer. Now that my original plan of entering the working world as an engineer has been darkened(?), I needed to find where my interest lay. I won't be able to do this if I just keep doing things within a limited scope. I decided to push the boundary. I went to South Africa in a rural village to learn about the field of development, at the crucial summer when you are supposed to get that internship that can lead you to job after graduating. Most people that went with me in the program are students who are studying international studies or policies and at least have some what of an interest in this field. When I talked to them, I just straight up told them:

"unlike you guys, I actually am not interested in development work at work."

"whatt?? why are you here?"

"hold on, let me explain.  All I know is engineering, so I wanted to push my boundaries and try something random. I've never even thought about development work, and I thought I should at least give it a chance and see if I like it."

These conversations would often be followed by comments like, I give you a lot of respect for that. Most of us have at least been thinking about pursuing this, but for you to do this completely random, I give you props.

So I spent 2 months in rural South Africa with no internet, no running water, no paved roads. It was definitely an amazing one of a kind experience, and I will probably dedicate another blog post just about this. Here are some pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151001470437019.425237.727342018&type=1&l=5be2afeca7


This was followed by my bicycle trip from Chicago to New York. I actually did it! My very first blog post entry was about my musings at the library about Charlie the cyclist, and I actually carried out my dream! I will make another post about that, but wow, what an experience. I arrived home 3 days before classes started back in Northwestern, so I barely got any time to rest before flying right back to Chicago. What a weird feeling that was, after spending so much time and energy to get home in 24 days and I fly right back to where I started in an afternoon. Ridiculous.

So far, I think I've spent my summers very productive, in very eye opening ways. I'm so glad I went to GE because now I know how much I don't like that kind of work. This past summer, was of course, such an eye opener. More than anything, I am learning about myself. I think this is very important. That is probably the biggest takeaway from my college experience. Before coming to NU, my life I have must been blinding following what the world around me told me to do. Now, I know more and more what I desire, so I can act accordingly. So far with all my travels, I am continuing to realize that the entire world is there for me to explore, and I should take all my opportunities to do so.