Oh, Googleplex

Here it is, the long awaited post about my visit to Google! Well, it may not be long awaited but I like to think it is. I am not really certain where to begin. There is so much I must share that I will inevitably forget to talk about while writing this.
I suppose I will start with the trip from The Cupertino Inn to Google:
Excitement hung in the air as we clambered into the white limo only to discover that we were missing the youngest member of our team, who most likely had fallen asleep. Once he joined us the limo took off for the Googleplex and the Dartmouth team began to play and take an excessive number of pictures, of which one is featured below.


The limo pulled into Google and we exited on a red carpet to a shower of glitter, applause, and overall admiration. The winning teams had arrived!
Wait.
Scratch that, now rewind:
We exited on concrete to discover the Minnesota team standing about looking forgotten. We joined the Minnesota team and were promptly forgotten as well. Where was our welcome? Where was our red carpet? Why didn't we have acrobats prancing about to entertain us? Or at the very least a sign with an arrow to tell us where to go?
In the absence of any real guidance my Dartmouth team soon discovered the many single-gear Google bikes just waiting to be ridden by us. Leaving behind the other schools we rode the baby blue bikes with bright orange flags to our hearts content. Or at least until we decided it was time to follow the migrating herd of college students. Unfortunately the moving herd had no clue where it was going and the migration soon spiraled out of control, as most college student migrations do, ending with two security guards asking us to please not take pictures near the T-Rex or around any of the buildings. Here is a picture of all of the members of the team who were able to make it to California. I am scared to post the picture of the T-Rex though. . . I don't want to be looking over my shoulder for Google for the rest of my life.


Left to Right: Yoon-Ki (aka Peter aka Spidey), Me, Danny, Tim, Mandy, Jen, Stephanie, Jess (in front)

Completely enclosed by buildings, the Dartmouth team again left the other teams to head back to the bikes where we ran into someone holding a 3D Campus winners sign. We had been found! The bikes would have to wait.
We were given brown Google tee shirts that declared to anyone standing behind us that we were Supermodel(er)s 2007. Cute. After much milling about or just standing still, the people in charge finally decided to feed my famished friends who had flown in from Hanover that day. Our first taste of the Google cuisine consisted of cheese sticks (perhaps sticks of cheese sounds more appealing), chips, and animal crackers. I could see why Google is famed for its food, my teammates ate everything in sight. Our hunger momentarily sated we divided up into groups to go on tours of the Google campus. They tried to split teams up in order to facilitate socializing. Silly Google. I joined group 3 with several other Dartmouth students despite clearly having said the number 2 aloud as we counted off.
I must say that the tour was a decided success. How could it not have been when there was a mini kitchen every 5 minutes fully stocked with fresh strawberries and mini bags of peanut M & M's? Google provides for every need of its employees then goes above and beyond the call of duty by giving them at least 3 different kinds of water to choose from. In addition to several mini kitchens and many cafes at which to eat, Google also comes fully equipped with laundry rooms, two swimming pools (the small exercise kind with a faux current to swim against) and a lifeguard, a basket ball court, IM sports teams, more than one gym, personal trainers, a doctor, a masseuse, a hair dresser, ATMs, post offices, shuttle services, and last but not least wheatgrass. Seeing how well provided for Google employees are at the Googleplex was somewhat intimidating. It felt like a college for grown ups who are supposed to be in the real world. Conclusion: Google is not the real world. It is a tiny utopian work environment hidden in the depths of Mountain View across from my high school movie theater peopled by masses of casually dressed overgrown college students.
After our tour we were fed ice cream before dinner because we were away from our parents and could do whatever we wanted. Half of the Dartmouth team eventually slouched to the couch hidden beneath the stairs so that we could avoid all strenuous social contact. Soon we heard our Google bikes calling and drifted outside to heed that call. Handles in hand and pedals underfoot we took to the sidewalks and raised Google hell on our single gear beasts of burden. We rode in circles and figure eights until our curiosity beckoned us to twice make a loop around the block of unused brown grass just next to the Googleplex.



Deciding I should at least pretend to be social I returned to the ice cream and chatted up three Stanford students until they quickly turned the subject away from general conversation to specific people they knew. I did not know those people so was content to turn my back and stare blankly at two of my teammates while they asked what I can only conjecture may have been intelligent questions of one of the Google workers.
Dinner! I rejoined my biking friends at the largest of Google's dining places to learn that they had been scolded for taking the bikes and leaving Google supervision. Free time is only free if in the clutches/sights of a Googler. Dinner was satisfying.
Once safely stowed back in one of our rooms at the Cupertino Inn, the Dartmouth team made valiant efforts to avoid interacting with the other teams. While occasionally foiled on this front, we did finally succeed in shutting ourselves in one rather toasty hotel room so that we could watch When Harry Met Sally in Google peace. We later discovered on the last day of our trip when most of us opened up to the group at large, that they thought we were all in the 90 degree room doing coke. “After all,” Google employee said, “I know how stressful those Ivy Leagues can be.” (I may be paraphrasing). I was also asked that night if Dartmouth was like a cult because no one but the people from Dartmouth knew where New Hampshire was. Their loss. Only people who know where NH is may join our cult. All others may go to Harvard or Stanford.
And so concludes our first day at the Googleplex. Now I must go to bed to please my sleepy eyes but I will pick up on this narration tomorrow. All picture credits in this post go to Stephanie except for the first one.


We are just adorable. Mandy is hiding behind Tim.