I interned in San Francisco and was brainwashed
In late May of 2015, I landed in San Francisco with a pair of denim shorts, flip-flops, a Lenovo PC, and zero knowledge of the Bay Area.
Quintessential starry-eyed, East-Coast college freshman.
I was hungry to learn.
Eager to please.
I was shivering in my shorts and flip-flops and realizing that Mark Twain hadn’t simply been waxing poetic when he described the city.
"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”
-Mark Twain
Weather aside, I braved the wind tunnels on Day 1 and began exploring the city — something that quickly became a recurring trend for the rest of the summer.
Keys? Wallet? Phone?
There. Check.
Alright, where to?
There’s a great bakery in the Mission —
Or someone recommended that we check out The Haight —
We can also head over to the Castro —
How about we run the half marathon in July?!
It all happened.
Even on Day 1, there was a “We”.
I first came into San Francisco knowing nobody; how fascinating it was to me that people here were so happy to introduce themselves, provide assistance, and learn my background.
How amazing it was that people smiled on the streets and nobody wore black trenchcoats!
As the weeks progressed, the “we” expanded to include more and more faces and names.
More and more startups and ideas.
More and more steam and innovation.
More brainwashing.
My coworkers and city friends — and San Francisco — think in terms of the bigger picture. They make grandiose plans, set lofty goals, and speak in colorful sentences that project empires, IPOs, and affordable housing into the far future.
The East Coast calls this “being naive”.
Or “foolish”.
…maybe “impossible”?
Silicon Valley calls all of it “the Next Big Thing”.
In the past several months, I have learned to frame things in terms of possibility. I have seen the stagnant transformed into the actionable, and I have watched others transform the “impossible” into a very visceral reality.
Certainly, some of the work requires a leap of faith in order to first take off — but it isn’t naive and it isn’t foolish to believe in yourself and believe in the causes that you invest yourself in.
“It isn’t naive and it isn’t foolish to believe in yourself and believe in the causes that you invest yourself in.”
And it certainly isn’t impossible.
San Francisco has brainwashed me. Maybe it was something in the fog (or the sun?), but most likely it was the city’s culture of disruption and innovation that swept me off my feet. Definitely it is the influence of the individuals who mentored and challenged me that makes me the slightest bit hesitant to leave the real world — if San Francisco even identifies as the real world — and return to college.
I won’t miss the excitement; it’s something I intend to carry around with me, now that I know how to reproduce it.
I won’t miss the creativity; where there is a need and a cause and a passion, it will appear again.
I won’t miss this city with its overpriced coffee shops, hideously orange-clad baseball fans, blue bays, and hustling entrepreneurs egregiously— because I do intend on returning.
Twelve weeks have passed since I first came to San Francisco. I leave for the East Coast with a suitcase of free t-shirts, two pairs of jeans, 200 miles of running along the Embarcadero, and a newfound love for the Bay Area.
It’s been a hella good summer.
