What a whirlwind the past eight weeks have been! As I wrap up my time here, I’m looking back on a journey that evolved much faster than I ever anticipated. My internship just finished on a high note: I completed the major projects my boss and I laid out at the start, and I’m still processing this, but he offered me a permanent position with the company! One of my biggest dreams was to get hired by my internship host, but I didn't think it would happen this quickly. The role will be fully remote, allowing me to keep working while I finish up "uni" back home (that's what they call college down here).
The final week was a bittersweet mix of professional wins and personal goodbyes. It was tough saying farewell to my run club friends and selling the bike I’d used to explore all over Melbourne. To cap it all off, I squeezed in a few last-minute "must-dos": a farewell camping trip with the other interns, surfing at Phillip Island, and hiking in the Yarra Ranges.
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We even had a classic "intern" moment driving to the beach, holding the surfboards on top of the car because we didn’t have any straps. Now, I’ve traded the Melbourne city lights and GitHub commits for the glaciers of New Zealand. I just finished taking on the Routeburn Track, one of the country’s "Great Walks."
Moving from a world of code and constant social connection to the silence of insane glacial landscapes is a culture shock in itself. I’m not sure how going back to the US or returning to the classroom will go, but I’m looking forward to seeing friends, so I think that will help with reentry. If there’s anything I've learned here in Australia and New Zealand, it's that you just never know the path you're going to take or what you’ll experience or how it's going to make you feel. To anyone, especially CS majors or those who might feel held back by personal loss, who is on the fence about going abroad: just go!
I came here to honor my mom’s memory and her belief in the transformative power of international experience. I’m leaving with a global community, a career, and the realization that living the adventure someone else dreamed for you is the best way to start dreaming for yourself.