A Few of My Favorite Things

I'm sitting on MBAOver30's couch watching him nurse a case of malaria (as he calls it) which is really just a good old fashioned hangover (as anyone else would call it).  I'm in Philly for a wedding and I dragged him to the outdoor ceremony and reception on this especially humid day.  I find it amusing that he thought drinking from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. was a good life choice at his age. Old men should know better.
 My stay here in my old town is a short one.  Tomorrow I head back to Chicago after an 11 week internship at Google.  There's no way I can get into the details of all 11 weeks so how about I give the Cliff's notes in the top 11 things about my Google internship.

11. Location, location, location.  I love New York City. It's the happiest place on earth.  This summer I was all over the 5 boroughs (well 4 of the 5 boroughs, Staten Island just ain't happening).  I did ball games, concerts, boat cruises, races, a polo match, the US Open and more. Best of all I broke in a new pair of 5" wedge sandals walking to work every morning.

10. Discounted gym membership. I vowed to get my fitness game on point this summer and Google made it easy to do.  Employment has its perks and that included a discounted and subsidized gym membership at one of the nicest fitness clubs in NYC.  Although the fitness instructors were evil, sadistic, torture masters I made good use of that membership all summer.

9. Discounted everything.  Free entry to museums, discounted movie passes, store and restaurant discounts.  Everywhere I went was at least 15% off with a flash of my Google badge

8. Intern boat cruise. Google put all 200+ of the NY interns (both grad and undergrad) on a big boat, opened the bar, brought out the food, blasted the music and cruised us around the Hudson River.  It was a roaring 20s themed event which I swore I wasn't going to dress up for, but somehow I wound up in a flapper dress with long beads.

7. Intern scavenger hunt winner!! On the first day of my internship I joined two Stanford MBAs on a search of the NYC offices.  We didn't find everything, but we had the best pictures so winners we were declared.

6. I built my first model.  And by golly that thing works! I built it all from the formulas to the input page.  For someone who has never taken a finance or modeling class this is huge.

5. Google Glass! All of the interns were obsessed with getting their hands on Google Glass all summer and whenever we did the occasion was commemorated with a picture.  Many full-time Googlers were accosted for their Glass.

4. Free massage!! Nooglers start their time at Google with 60 free massage points which I used for a one hour traditional massage that was simply divine.  I only remember the first 10 minutes of it because I fell asleep when the masseuse hit my trapezius muscle.

3. FREEDOM!! Sometimes I worked from my desk. Sometimes I worked from the library.  Other days I worked from the loft and others from 5 Boroughs Bistro.

2. 5 Boroughs Bistro.  Actually the radio in 5 Burroughs Bistro.  For three days straight the music was set on mid 90s - early 2000s R&B.  I damn near fell out of my seat when Jagged Edge's "He Can't Love You" came on, but all bets were completely off when they played R Kelly's "Sex Me." It was like listening to the soundtrack of my high school and undergrad years.  We're talking Mary J Blige's "You Are Everything," Monica's "Before You Walk Out My Life," 702's "Get it Together." I can't, I just can't.

1. Free food! Free breakfast, free lunch, free snacks, free dinner. And this isn't the crappy cafeteria food from your old job.  There were multiple cafes serving a different menu everyday.  The omelet station at Water Tower on Tuesdays gave me life for the first five weeks of my internship.  The cheesecake was scrumptious.  Don't get me started on the cheese bar in the Market Cafe.  Manchego, fontina, Nettle Meadow Kunik cheese, fresh grapes and strawberries, fig jam, crackers, little pieces of toast...LOVE! And 5 Boroughs Bistro had more than just good music.  The deli sammiches were always freshly made and toasted. The smoothie bar made me happy on many occasions. And just when I thought the food couldn't make me any happier, the Hemisphere's cafe served fried chicken and waffles on my last day. Score!

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship and now I'm heading back to Chicago before setting off to enjoy the last 4 weeks of my summer break on a beach.