Things to do at Stanford

Originally Posted: July 24, 2011

I don’t know how to use a strikethrough in the title of a post. Otherwise I should have named this post: ‘Things to do I should have done at Stanford’. Stanford is a super cool place. You work hard, you party harder and then you work the hardest.

This is how my story went. I worked hard for a couple of weeks in the beginning, had a couple of nice parties and outings next week and then, I worked harder as each day passed. Everyday, I thought I had discovered my limits, but they seemed to expand each day. But after 10 weeks  of nice work, I have a list of things which I should have done, but couldn’t do. It was largely due to my laziness when I had no work, and was due to work otherwise. I will also include a few things I did, just because I could not use a strikethrough in the title.

I did:

• Have a view of Stanford from the Hoover tower. this must have been the most awesome sites I saw at Stanford. Look at one of the  picturs attached and you will get a feel of why I say so. You can see how Stanford in itself is such a beautiful place.
• Roam around the Stanford Shopping Center. Don’t mistake it for something like SCOOPS in IITD. It is a very large place with showrooms of the most expensive brands in the world. You have Apple, Guchhi, etc, etc…. And I said, just roam, don’t buy anything…
• Visit the Alcatraz in San Francisco. Alcatraz was once a prison, but the cruise to Alcatraz in a ship and then

roaming about the place can be an awesome experience. The audio tour of the prison cells is ranked one of the best in the world and indeed it is… I loved the place and the breeze and the company….

• Go over the Golden Gate bridge in San francisco. Golden gate Bridge is one of the most awesome places for site seeing. The cold breeze, the panoramic view of the pacific and lots of people combine to give you an awesome experience.
• Stay in the Cavallo Point hotel which is just below the Golden Gate bridge and adjacent to the ocean shore. It might be quite expensive for you unless someone sponsors you. in my case, someone did. But this place, by its very description, makes me feel excited. See how pleased I was to see the Golden Gate Bridge, and now I got to stay just beneath it alongside the shore with awesome food.
• Visit a beach. Any beach with some volleyball, football,frisbie can be a great experience. The  one we visited was one of the less crowded ones. Needless to say, lots of free food and drinks sponsored by my Professor added to our experience of a perfect outing.
• Buy a bike(bicycle) . A bus ride here costs you $2 and you might have to transfer in some case, making it $4. So, a return journey costing $4-$8 everyday can be expensive and you will not be able to explore the place around so easily. I rented a bike for $50 for the summer and enjoyed freedom of movement throughout my intern.

I guess I have described all the nice experiences I had. Here are the ones I missed on. So, let us list all of them in ascending order of importance… the last one is the most important:

• Visit the cantor Art’s museum at Stanford. It is free for Stanford affiliates. Besides it is said it’s good. So a visit is worth a try.
• Watch a movie at the Stanford Theatre. It is artistic and its inexpensive. But it shows old age classics. But no one could get you a movie in such a place for $5.
• Visit facebook headquarters. I didn’t, because I visited VMWare before FB and found it boring. So, I assumed FB would be boring as well.
• Roam around Googleplex(Google’s office).
• Roam about the Stanford campus. It will be real fun to discover the various facets of it.
• Visit Las Vegas. It is unimportant to me, mainly because I am not 21 yet. You need to be 21 to enter a bar or a casino in US. So, why else do you go to Vegas?
• Ask someone in Google to invite you for a lunch. I was hesitant too do so and I missed out. I would

have loved the place, I know.

• Visit Los Angeles. With Disneyland, Universal Studios and Madame Tassauds, it is one of the favorite destinations for anyone who comes to California.
• Have a girlfriend(for boys)/boyfriend(for girls). Remember all of the above will be double fun if you have a girlfriend along or at least girl-half-friend, otherwise you will end up feeling jealous everytime you see a couple walking past you, hands in hands, and the cold breeze teasing you evenmore.

I guess that is it from me now… I will add more to a second post if I am reminded of something.