I haven’t been actively involved with campus recruiting since I joined VMWare, mainly because the timing never really worked out. With Aish and me doing long distance till Oct 2013, and then being busy through 2014 with figuring out her job, parents visiting, there was never really a chance to get involved. This year too has been a complete whirlwind of activity with us buying a new condo and setting up the furniture in the new place. Even so, it came to pass that VMware’s Columbia recruiting event was scheduled for the last week of October and since we had finished all the major work that needed to be done in the apartment, I decided to take the trip to New York, NY.
The plan was to fly out to JFK on the day Tuesday, do the interview sessions on Wednesday and Thursday and then Aish would join me the next day for the personal / pleasure leg of the trip. We spent one day walking through Strawberry Fields, the Bow Bridge and the Bethesda statue in Central Park. We spent the night at Gaurav and Elissa’s in the lower east part of Manhattan. They were absolutely great hosts and Gaurav cooked some really delicious meals while we were there. All in all, it was great fun catching up with them.
Over the next couple of days, we also caught up with a few other friends from Columbia. Vishal had just dropped off Vasu and his kid to the airport for a flight to India so he was able to come up to the “Top of the Rock” with us. Its always great catching up with him, and we chatted for a good 2 hours or so. The weather was just fabulous; some of the best weather I have ever experienced in the city.
Taking the subway everywhere brought back nostalgic memories of many rides taken at odd hours of the night during the time we were studying there. I think being a student in the city teaches you so much; it teaches you to be resilient to failure, to be street smart, to manage money. Most of all, I think it gives you a perspective on life that is broad and helps you appreciate the simpler things in life that we sometimes take for granted (large bathrooms ;-)). I strongly feel everyone should spend a few years living in the city just to experience the vibrance of cultures and interact with people from all over the world.
On the last day, we had a chance to wander around Columbia a bit, visited our old apartments where we lived during school years. We also went down to the classroom where we took our first and only class together 🙂 All in all, it was quite a memorable trip to the Big Apple.
Pupin 325: Where we took our first class together