I got swamped with exams the week after I made my last post, and the next thing I know, it's been about one and a half months. This post will serve as an update of what has been going on in my life during that time!

School/career

After 34 applications, 20 rejections, and x interviews I didn't keep track of, I accepted an offer from Capital One for a Technology Development Program internship in Plano, TX. Although the location was not my first choice, I'm still incredibly excited for my first software engineering job!

Society of Women Engineers (SWE)

At the end of February, SWE hosted a high school camp during Girl Day. The camp attendees were given the task to create kinetic art, incorporating an Arduino-controlled element. The experience was definitely enjoyable for both the attendees and the volunteers. All the groups ended up with very creative kinetic art pieces, and I had a great time providing help with the Arduino. Overall, our Outreach Chair in charge of the camp did a phenomenal job of organizing the event. Last week she was elected as FY18 VP Outreach, and I'm looking forward to seeing where SWE Outreach goes!

Speaking of elections, I ran for VP Corporate last week and ultimately lost. Although I would have loved to serve in the role, I have no complaints about the result. (Plus, I got to wear one of the two dresses with pockets that I own!)  I've decided to not pursue a non-elected chair position, as I believe that the opportunity should be given to other people to grow as a leader in SWE. It's a bit bittersweet, but I'm looking forward to being able to channel the extra time into other passions.

 

Women in Biomedical Engineering (WBME)

Despite decreasing my involvement in SWE, I'm still keeping at the women in engineering initiatives by serving as next year's president of Women in Biomedical Engineering! The site visit and networking event with local pharmaceutical company XBiotech was my last event that I organized as VP External, and we're starting to wrap up the year with our final Chocolate Chat tomorrow and our annual Lunch with Faculty next Friday.

 

Visiting XBiotech's new manufacturing facility!

Texas 4000

The time commitment for Texas 4000 has definitely increased. First, there have been more volunteer events; I volunteered last Saturday for the LBJ Ride, this Saturday for Lampasas Hillacious, and today for Texas 4000's own Hope Day. I still don't quite have my 25 hours of volunteering yet (only 14.75 done and 3 signed up for). I unfortunately took a nap and missed the last volunteer sign-up opening. The wait list life is real, but I guess it's okay because I actually got both of my volunteering opportunities this weekend because people could no longer make their shift.

Morning shift for Lampasas Hillacious

Second, our required weekly one-hour workouts began the week after spring break. I've been having to wake up at 5 am once a week to get to campus in time for a workout beginning at 7 am. I was incredibly sore after the first two sessions, but I'm very very slowly getting stronger.

Food

I tried out two new food places; I know, a sad amount for someone who is a wannabe foodie on Instagram. (In my defense, I actually took a month-long break from the social media platform but just re-downloaded the app yesterday. Follow me here!) I ate In-N-Out for the first time on the day of Explore UT and decided that the limp nature of the fries were not to my liking. As a side note, I've also decided I'm not too big a fan of the parmesan fries at Hopdoddy.

The second place I went to was Spiderhouse Cafe - not really a place you go to for the food, but I decided to lump it into this category. I went with six other people from WBME for a low-attendance social. We enjoyed ourselves anyway, and it was nice to get to know people better in a small group setting. Unfortunately, I will likely not be returning soon because of their outdoor smoking policy.

In contrast to trying out new food places, I found out a week ago that my favorite restaurant Daito has closed. I'm still incredibly devastated. Where do I go now to find handmade udon in Austin?

Movies & Books

I watched two movies in theaters: Lego Batman and Beauty and the Beast. Lego Batman was fun. I watched it with part of The Nerd Herd over spring break; we were probably the oldest people who were not there with their children. Watching Beauty and the Beast was a family outing. Despite my father initially declining the invitation to watch it with the rest of us in favor of staying at home and watching kdramas, we went ahead and bought him a ticket, and he felt obligated to come along. My mother was not impressed by Emma Watson's acting at all, but she liked Gaston. I too enjoyed Gaston's performance the most, but overall I didn't feel much for the movie. Beauty and the Beast was never one of my favorite Disney movies growing up.

On the small screen, I'm forcing my boyfriend to watch my favorite cheesy rom-com Hong Kong drama Outbound Love with me. It's only fair because he got me hooked on Mr. Robot; we're finding time to finish up Season 2 before the next season comes out.

Another thing the boyfriend and I have been working on together is reading Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. He bought the book during our trip to BookPeople during spring break. I keep on wanting to go back to the store, but I know that I won't buy anything. My life is basically a constant challenge between my desire to avoid physical clutter and my love of paper. (Honestly I spend too much time looking at pictures of people's desks and notes.)

That concludes my updates! Until next time.

If you'd like to learn more about Texas 4000 and why I'm riding from Austin to Anchorage, Alaska in Summer 2018, please check out my rider page here and consider making a donation if you are able to!