It’s summertime, but the weather here in Seattle has me fooled some days! I’m four weeks into my internship at Microsoft’s main campus in Redmond, WA, and even though there is, unforgivably, rain in June, I’m loving every moment of it.
I’m living in a really sweet apartment in the University District in Seattle (named for University of Washington). It puts me just outside of the city’s downtown, so there are plenty of awesome things to do! My entire building is filled with Microsoft interns, so it’s been neat hanging out with everyone after the work day is over.
The common area in my apartment… not too shabby!
The first view of where I’m living this summer… Fancy!
What it looks like today, nice and sunny!
Seattle is a ton of fun, with plenty of sites to see. Just in one day, I walked through downtown to the famous Pike’s Place market, walked along the Puget Sound, and visited the Space Needle. Tons of hiking, camping, rafting and rafting trips have been going on that I haven’t even gotten around to! As mentioned before though, it’s not quite the same as summer back down in So Cal. Rain, overcast weather, and no nice sandy beaches (that I’ve heard of… maybe I’ll find one one of these days). I’m making due, though! And hitting the beach will be first on my agenda come the end of my internship.
Me with my brother on top of the Space Needle!
And that’s just the stuff outside my internship, which is awesome in of itself. I’m working for the team that writes the program that detects and removes malware as a developer, and it’s been a blast. Because this program gets packaged in many Microsoft Security products, such as Windows Defender and Microsoft Security Essentials, we have millions and millions of customers who depend on our program to keep their systems safe and usable. And because I’ve been exploring the field of security through both my research and the classes I’ve been taking, this is right up my alley! I could not be happier with my work.
Also, Microsoft has recruiters that work with individual campuses, and they keep in touch with interns throughout the summer. USC’s just recently held a USC-only bowling event for Microsoft employees, and so that was awesome catching up with friends that I normally see back in LA (and even meeting a few new ones)!
Well, that’s all I got for now. I’m sure there’s plenty of more fun to be had before the end of the summer (probably a little rain too), so see you next time. Soak up some rays for me!
