Apr 23, 2016
Chicago... I'm so happy to see you!!! Learned so much, but there is nothing like sleeping in your own bed. #welcomehome #chicago #travelingdiva #landthatplane
seen from Malaysia
seen from Saudi Arabia
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from T1
seen from China
seen from China
seen from South Africa
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Mexico
seen from China
seen from China
seen from T1
seen from Malaysia
Chicago... I'm so happy to see you!!! Learned so much, but there is nothing like sleeping in your own bed. #welcomehome #chicago #travelingdiva #landthatplane
Desayuno: Huevos y papas y guacamole y piña y té. Cooked by my roommates. I was working 🙈😋 #PuraVida #SeeSomeWorld #TravelingDiva (at Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica)
Burn The Road Up!
The title says it all. I woke up Friday morning around 6:50am and came back home around 11ish….
San Fran Exploratorium…
Today was my first ‘long-distance’ drive in Cali! I used an app called Relay Rides (which is awesome) to find a very nice car to get around in while I’m here. I didn’t have too much traffic to deal with and made it to The Pier way before I needed to be there. This was cool because I didn’t have to rush and could actively use ParkMe to find parking! (everyone knows I love to find a deal). After I parked, I realized I was in Chinatown and that it was only 56 degrees outside o_O #burr. After being all touristy and taking pictures all the way down Broadway, I finally made it down to The Pier where I would meet other fellows in my program. I went to Starbucks to charge my phone, since apps drain your battery drastically, and to get something hot to drink. I ordered some Tea Latte with pumps of Cinnamon Dolce (or something like that) and it was great!
Anyway, I was in San Francisco for an event with my Fellows Program (which is in my list of things to blog about) and we went to the Exploratorium. This place was SO COOL! It is really a nerd’s paradise. Imagine if Steve Jobs was the writer of a Physics curriculum. Everything was hands on and came with simplistic explanations to describe the science behind it. I used this time to walk around and get to know some of the other fellows since this was my first time meeting them. Everyone was really cool and I wish I was able to connect with them more this summer; however, they were very welcoming and I was still able to exchange info with quite a few people to connect later. I met another computer scientist, which is always a win, and he will be in Grad School in the fall so I’m going to try to get him into NSBE :)
HUB Oakland
After I left the Exploratorium, the fellow that is a computer scientist and the man that help runs the fellows program rode with me over to HUB Oakland in order to attend the Black Girls Code Countdown Mixer. I was excited because this was my first BGC event since they haven’t come to NC just yet. While I was there, I had to do some work for my internship, but I was able to connect with one of the founders of HUB Oakland (who is the bomb.com) and several other women in and out of technology. I was doing some work when I heard someone shout how happy they were that their code finally worked. Of course it’s still kind of rare to see black women code so I had to ask her what she was up to. The conversation lasted for about 10 minutes and we talked about our background and what we were doing in life. She was building a very cool app and introduced me to Hacker School which is a cool program out of Brooklyn, NY!
After I talked to her and the co-founder of HUB Oakland, I got back to work, but after a while, more women came in to support Black Girls Code. I heard one lady say ‘I need a female that makes beats’. Before I knew it I’m like ‘I know someone!’ lol and I hooked her up with my Sorority Sister Lauren! Once I finished doing work, I joined the table and just took in the knowledge of the women around me. They all have varying backgrounds which made the conversation even better. As we were all wrapping up and getting ready to go, I realized that the person sitting across from me the entire time actually follows my DJ account and used to listen to my radio show! She and I used to tweet back and forth about stuff. Crazy right??? I think it was…
Before we all left, we took photos with our “I love Black Girls Code because…" papers which, I was hype to see posted on their FB/Twitter. It was cool getting to meet more people behind the scenes for Black Girls Code. Can’t wait for lunch with Kimberly next week!!
San Jose
Once I left HUB Oakland, it was time to head back to the South Bay and meet up with some of my friends in San Jose! I was excited because I hadn’t seen them since the NSBE conference and I wanted to suck up some of their knowledge (they’re both PhD candidates, Google Scholars, GEM Fellows, etc etc lol) We met up at this spot downtown San Jose called Iguanas Tequeria which is famous for their 5-pound, 17-inch burrito o_O. It was great catching up with them and meeting some of their Google Scholar friends (and a Google Intern who isn’t a Google Scholar, but she’s a PhD student too). Prior to me finding parking, I got a little lost and ran into San Jose State University. I was very surprised that they their library was named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but I thought it was very cool! I also passed by Adobe and the technology museum!! My friend told me that they have a nice event on the first Thursday of every month so guess who’s going next Thursday ;-)
I had a VERY eventful day! So much that I actually left things out of this post!
As anyone can see, as long as I have a charged phone with a GPS, I can rent a car and get around with ease.
Be Blessed! Dream Big! Live Life!
KB