There’s something oddly isolating, fun, nerve-wracking about moving somewhere new. It’s been a solid 8 years since I last had to do this when I moved from Melbourne to Queensland, then to Perth in my last year of training.
This time, it’s the added complexity of another country. To be fair, California is not THAT different to Melbourne, but it’s just the little things. I didn’t know where the local grocery store was, or what things to tip for or even get used to the light switches! It’s always the little things that seem so foreign
So far, I’ve moved into the apartment, gotten some visa related paperwork done, set up a bunch of Stanford accounts, done 2 rounds of groceries, bought some little things that I needed and… bought a bike!
Believe it or not, this was the first time I ever used Facebook Marketplace. All in all, it seems like the “new way” (I’m sure it’s actually old now) to basically have a decentralised garage sale. I have to say, some people are really not keen on reply even when you offer a quick sale! I just wanted something cheap since I’m here for 3 months and most likely, it’ll get stolen anyway if it’s too nice and shiny 😂
I also wanted one that was second hand since new bikes either require assembling or need a bike store to do it. I wasn’t going to do that! In the end, the person who responded the quickest actually had a really nice and shiny bike that was outside my price range. I’d set it at $200 USD since I figured just public transport would cost me $100/month if I used it to commute to the university and even then, a bike would take 15mins vs the 35. Their bike was originally priced at $300, discounted to $250, but after 2 messages, they agreed to $200.
Turns out, it was some who worked at Stanford Hospital and was moving back to Europe! I felt a bit bad haggling with another medic, but then again, the bike had been sitting there for a while…
I’m sure next week will start to get busier, but I have to say I’ve really enjoyed having very little but small tasks to do this week. It’s refreshing not really having any deadlines or mission critical things to get through.
I also didn’t expect Palo Alto to be so much like suburbia? In my head if you had Meta, Google, Apple all in this close proximity, it’d be skyscrapers and big city vibes, but in Palo Alto, it very much is suburban with offices for each of those companies spread out by a few miles.
I am excited to learn that Google offers tours of the Googleplex and I’m sure Apple will have something similar. I’d love to see the campuses of where some of the most influential tech in the world is created…
Anyway, that’s all for this week! Let me know if you have a preference for when you’d like to receive this email!