Monday, February 25, 2008

Are You Going...to San Francisco...?

Saturday began with a round of PhD talks at our hotel. We had a pretty nice breakfast and then went to hear six women speak about their research. There was even an undergraduate presenter and I have to say I was pretty impressed with her presentation. There were two Googlers on a panel and they also discussed the merits of doing graduate school and the different opportunities that existed in academia and industry. I feel more encouraged as the months go by that perhaps a PhD is not a death knell to a career in industry. Which is exciting! Eventually, I think I would like to pursue that.

At any rate, two hours after our delicious breakfast, we had an equally delicious lunch. Yes, Googlers seem to like their gourmet meals to also be quite frequent. Apart from the time I was asleep, I don't think I ever went for more than two hours without food in my mouth. However, it wasn't a bad thing, as we had quite an active afternoon.

We soon boarded buses bound for San Francisco. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the Golden Gate Bridge, although we did get a glimpse of the Bay Bridge through the window of the bus (photo thanks to Lauren Cairco):


On the way into San Francisco, we also passed by this eyesore:


The sign on the hill (which is hard to read unless you zoom right in) says:

South
San Francisco
The Industrial City

Who knew? The first thing Brittany and I noticed was the houses. They all look just the same.


When we got to San Francisco (specifically, the red light/Chinatown/Italian Town districts), we were introduced to a pretty neat game, called The Go Game. It's basically a scavenger hunt, but you get clues and missions via cell phones, and you prove you completed each challenge by taking photos and videos with a video camera. All in all, it was pretty cool, even though we got completely water-logged and it was in a pretty small part of San Francisco. I got a feel for the area though, it reminded me a bit of the West End or Davie Street in Vancouver. I'd definitely like to do a return trip, just to check it out and see more of the city.

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