"She ate HOW many free meals in 5 days?!"

I am not sure I really anticipated how quickly this moment would be upon me. I am now a short 5 days away from leaving my California apartment, lifestyle, and friends to return home to Boulder for school this fall. As expected, my final weeks here have accelerated with activities as I try to fit all my favorite experiences into my schedule for one last time.

The fun started last weekend when my parents came into town to visit. While I joined the American workforce to complete an 8 hours of engineering on Friday, my retired parents lived like vacationers around my apartment complex. While I fully believe that my parents deserve every moment of happiness in their retirement, I must admit that a little pang of jealousy hit me as I was forced to go to work while they enjoyed my beautiful city for a day! Haha. However, I quickly turned that jealousy into inspiration, as I realized that working hard for many years will hopefully afford me a similar retired lifestyle one day. Friday night had many exciting activities lined up to celebrate my dad’s (belated) birthday! We started with a walk on La Jolla Shores beach. That evening, there was a bonfire on the beach provided by Qualcomm for the 500 interns here this summer. While I chatted with some of my intern friends and made s’mores on the campfire, my parents went on a walk towards the Cove. When they returned we snapped a few quick pictures (which you can see at right). After that, we jumped in my car and headed to Little Italy in downtown San Diego. After enjoying a spectacular Italian dinner at a restaurant Café Zuchhero, I had a special treat ready for my parents. I work with an interned named Marina, who has been performing at a local comedy club for the past 3 years. The National Comedy Theater has shows based entirely on improvised comedy, similar to the TV show “Who’s Line is it Anyway?”. Essentially, the “improv” comedians take suggestions from the audience and make it funny. My friend Marina gave us 2 complimentary tickets, and I bought the third student ticket. Thus, my parents and I laughed until our bellies hurt at a local comedy club for only $12 !

Saturday, we relaxed by my apartment pool and my parents grilled an absolutely delicious dinner for Anne and me that night. The dinner consisted of marinated “soyaki” chicken and about every grilled vegetable on the planet. This dinner reminded how wonderful it used to be when my parents cooked dinner for me! I am not sure I was ever appreciative enough for how lucky I was to have a tasty meal prepared for me each night! My parents took off for Sun City West to visit my dad’s parents Sunday morning.

Last week at worked proved to be a record breaking “free food” week. I received a total of 4 free lunches, 2 free dinners, 1 free ice cream sundae, and 1 free chocolate moose cake!!! Friday at work was a big highlight for me. You may remember that last year, while I was a Qualcomm intern in Boulder, I traveled to San Diego with the other Boulder interns for an “intern weekend” to see Qualcomm headquarters. Now, as a San Diego intern, I had the treat of watching the Qualcomm interns around the U.S. fly into San Diego this Friday for their "intern weekend". For intern weekend, we all got to hear the CEO Paul Jacobs speak about Qualcomm. This is always very exciting, as I find Paul Jacobs to be a very inspirational speaker. I also had my last QWISE Board Meeting, where I was given a card, t-shirt, and chocolate moose cake to thank me for my work this summer. That evening, I also attended the visiting Boulder interns in a bowling alley downtown. Qualcomm provided free dinner and drinks, in addition to unlimited bowling. It was great to hang out with some of my Boulder friends again!

Now I find myself peering into the near future. One week. A short 5 days. That’s all. It is very unsettling for me to think about moving out so soon, but I understand that I have many exciting opportunities waiting to meet me in Boulder too! Sending my love from California.