Hi everyone!

I hope you’re all enjoying your summer – I know I am!  It’s been a little while since I last posted, so I’ll give a quick update of what I’ve been up to for the last couple months.

Just after finals, I went on an awesome trip to Convict Lake in Mammoth with recently graduated VSA, Kelly.  We stayed in a cabin near the lake instead of camping because it’s still pretty chilly up there in May; there was even still snow on the ground in some places.  We went on two great hikes, and even went to visit a mining town that was suddenly abandoned in the 1930s.  There are a lot of artifacts leftover in the town that give a snapshot of what life was like there, like half-full bottles on the bar in the saloon and drying laundry and dirty dishes in some of the houses.

Convict Lake, where we stayed on our trip.

Convict Lake, where we stayed on our trip.

Parker Lake, our second hike of the trip.

Parker Lake, our second hike of the trip.

The schoolhouse in Bodie, abandoned with books laid out on the desks and writing on the chalkboard.

The schoolhouse in Bodie, abandoned with books laid out on the desks and writing on the chalkboard.

Pretty soon after the trip, I drove up to Seattle to begin my internship with Amazon.com! You might remember that in an earlier post, I mentioned that I’d be working for the Advertising Media Group.  However, last minute, I switched and joined the Seller Performance organization at Amazon.  My team deals with how the company manages the accounts of the third-party sellers on the Amazon Marketplace.  While I can’t get into specifics, the project I’ve been working on all summer is aimed at streamlining one of the many processes by which the company interacts with sellers financially.  I’ve really enjoyed my time here so far.  I know I’m making meaningful contributions that will help my team even after I leave, and I may have the opportunity to learn a new language, Ruby on Rails, during the next phase of my project!

Another thing that’s been really fun this summer is that I’ve been living with my brother and sister-in-law.  I don’t get to see them very much since they moved to Seattle, so spending time with them (and their dogs) this summer has been amazing.  They’ve been showing me the city by taking me on hikes, going with me to restaurants, and showing me various Seattle landmarks.  Here’s a great picture that my brother took on one of our hikes:

The summer is going by so fast, but despite what the title of this post may suggest, I can’t wait to get back to campus and enjoy my senior year!

[author title=”Author” author_id=””] Button Text
ellen-2017

ellen-2017

Computer Science and Physics, Class of 2017, Learn more on her profile here!