Safe and Sound

Hello Friends!

My adventure to Seattle started in the wee hours of the morning this past Sunday, when my awesome dad chose to drive me to Newark airport - even when Microsoft would pay for my taxi fare there - to help me with my luggage (thanks Daddy!).

Having only caught a few hours of sleep the previous night, I slept throughout the entire five-hour flight to Seattle. To my dismay, when I woke up, I realized that I had left a temperate mid-70s Jersey only to arrive at a cold, raining Seattle.

Fast-forward past a swift, hiccup-free baggage claim and a thirty-minute cab ride to my new home for the next 12 weeks: 16544 NE 37th Street #V1064, Redmond WA 98052 (yes, please do write)! I'll be sharing this apartment with three other Microsoft interns, but for now I'm the only resident (a private yet somewhat lonely situation).

Being the wide-eyed, bushy-tailed freshman that I am, my new abode is an unfurnished one (a fact I found out quite recently). With the rain postponing my plans to buy a bike, it looked like I would have a solitary day in the apartment; however, through my ever-connected mommy, God sent two angels to save the day.

After spending one hour unpacking and the other hour going back and forth between reading Learning WPF in 24 Hours (for internship) and Pride and Prejudice (for pleasure), I ventured out into the great unknown city of Redmond and walked thirty minutes to the local grocery store Safeway. Just as I arrived at Safeway at around 4pm and was wondering how I would bring bags of groceries back home, I received a call from an Auntie Marilyn - the wife of a brother of a woman who's husband my mom calls "the Chinese Billy Graham". My day really picks up when Auntie Marilyn and her husband Uncle Peter offer to pick me up from the Safeway, drive me and my bags of groceries back to my apartment, and treat me out to dinner.

After helping my bring in the groceries, Auntie Marilyn took one look at my empty apartment and immediately began rattling off a list of items that she would give me for the summer. So, after enjoying a nice meal at a local Chinese restaurant and learning more about this kind, elderly couple from a local Chinese church, they drove me to their own home and began loading their car with everything from a microwave, table, and chairs to furnish my kitchen to Cerane wrap, sandwich boxes, and toilet paper.

Once we arrived back my new home, I thought the day's adventure concluded. However, it really only had just begun. We spent the next hour or so driving around the Microsoft campus, getting lost, laughing at the GPS shortcomings, and looping back and forth between Microsoft and my apartment complex - all in an effort to try to figure the best route for me to get to Microsoft's Building 92 (where I would have my first day's New Employee Orientation; with over a hundred buildings, it really was quite the challenge!). In the end, we came to the mutual agreement that taxi-ing the first day would be best and I bid a sad farewell to them around 9pm.

Though I've only known this couple for a day, I already hold them in the highest regard and in close friendship. Introducing me to another church family living in my apartment complex that offered to not only drive me to church but also take me on their grocery runs, showing me all around Redmond, and pointing out all the grocery stores and Chinese restaurants, they truly opened their arms and kindness to me and turned my first rainy day into a bright, cheerful memory of fun and friendship.

To speed up this narrative, today was my first day of work! For sitting through a day's worth of orientation, I earned a Microsoft shoulder bag and my very own Microsoft photo ID. Although orientation was not the most exciting affair, I had the opportunity to meet some of the other 300-some interns starting their Microsoft experience with me (this summer, there'll be over one thousand interns working at Redmond alone!).

After work, I also purchased a bike (my new best friend) and rode home. After settling back in, I decided to explore the apartment complex a bit more and stumbled upon the "Clubhouse" - a pool, gym, and (best yet) lounge with free wifi access (from which I'm writing to you right now).

This afternoon, I also heard from two college friends (my Harvard roommate Meredith and my Chinese classmate Michelle) planning on spending a few days in Seattle and was excited to write back and begin planning weekend escapades with them. Another nice surprise, I just found out that one of my roommates is arriving tonight! (Originally, I thought I'd be alone for this first week.)

So, I'll conclude this lengthy post with a AACF tradition - "Rose, Thorn, and Bud": I'm thankful to God for the wonderful and timely companionship of Uncle Peter and Aunt Marilyn; I'm still adjusting to the Seattle weather (though a Microsoft HR person promises that it does get better); and I'm excited yet nervous to build relationships with my fellow interns.

Tomorrow, I'll meet my manager, mentors, and team members and find out more about the project that I'll be working on (all I know now is that I'm working for the Windows 8 Device Drivers team). I'm most nervous about doing well on my project, so I'll spend some time tonight doing my recommended readings.

Thanks for staying with me and being invested in how I'm doing - I've been really encouraged by the supportive emails and messages I've gotten from y'all. I hope all is well with you and your family, and I'll update you (in a more succinct manner) soon about how I'm doing. Until then, God bless!

- Ruth