_Her Story.
"I had found a summer internship at a company up in Oceanside that I was pretty excited about. June came and went, with no start date from the company. I was getting really frustrated when I received a call from a manager at Solar Turbines. He wanted to give me a phone interview for an intern position. I was a little bit confused because I never applied there, but I decided to do the interview just to brush up on my interviewing skills. 30 minutes later, I was offered the job. It was a good opportunity and since the other company was dragging their feet, I accepted.
From the moment I got there, Gabe seemed to take an interest in me, and I didn’t really mind it. He would follow me to the factory floor (although I’m not sure if it was to hang out with me or see the turbine engines) and come over to talk occasionally. I think his big move happened when he invited me to see his band play, but unfortunately I was busy finishing my Senior Design Project and couldn’t make it. I could see he was a bit crushed, but I really had to finish my paper! He didn’t give up, and eventually threw me a going away party. I almost didn’t show up since I didn’t really know it was a party for me and I didn’t want to go alone. I begged my roommate and a couple of friends, but no one could make it. I decided to take a chance and go, since I knew other interns would be there too.
At his house, he played the accordion for me and I guess that was the moment I was like, “Wow. This guy may be the nerdiest guy I know. I kinda like it.” Fast forward countless adventures, including a 6 month stint traveling Southeast Asia together, I know he will always be my partner. He’s my soul mate."
His Story.
"Ah, the summer of '06. I was coming out of a very draining school year of senior projects, and working half time as an intern for an aerospace company. I was also preparing myself for an even more intense school year writing my thesis as a grad student. Leading up to that summer I was debating between two options, and little did I know at the time it may have been the most important decision of my life.
Option 1 was to take an internship at Solar Turbines, literally next door to my old job (I took a long lunch and walked over for my interview) and option 2 was to go to South America for the summer with a good buddy of mine. I flipped a coin(1), and chose Solar Turbines.
I gotta tell ya, my first month in to Solar Turbines I was wishing I'd gone to South America. I shared a cube with two other interns from UCSD, and our manager only gave us enough work for one person. I think I spent longer writing an excel macro to help decide whose turn it was to work, than I did actually working. Sometimes the loser would have to watch the hallway while the other two raced Sudoku. We did manage to make a giant origami ball out of folded post-its, so I guess we did accomplish something.
A few weeks in, a cute new intern started. She was from that rich chick school! But she's an engineer? I thought all USD girls were liberal arts majors, just going to college so they could meet their rich future husband and live the rest of life as a trophy wife.
Stephanie, as I soon find out, is not a typical USD girl. In fact, she is almost intimidatingly sharp, but uses it mainly to crack sarcastic jokes at my expense. But I still find it hilarious and I am intrigued. I find myself wandering by her cube more and more often to pry in her beez. I eventually learn how to sling a small percentage of her wit back at her, and I realize I'm actually having office conversations that I'm not actively trying to get out of being in.
Comments
Post a Comment