a shoebox pc by Joonho K. '20

before i know it, it’s halfway through summer: i started my internship on june fourth, it’s already july 17th, and i move back to mit late august 25th. 41 days are behind me with 41 days to go.

before i know it, this house i’m in already feels like home: i start to think for the first time how i’ll be quite sad leaving this place when i’m gone. the familiar arrangement of the couches on the living room floor. the google home that can turn on the tv and sing you songs and tell you the difference between llamas and alpacas. the pc running out of a shoebox built solely for vr. the chicken coop in the backyard. the housemates who i’ve come to know and befriend and laugh with. i get a taste of what old toons might have been like and smile.

of course, the buses for my commute are always late, i sometimes miss transfer buses for this reason, and the red line is -just- a little too far away to be comfortable. but honestly, the distance has been fine. i lived on the boston side of the river last summer, and it felt very different from now. busier. more people and more familiar faces. louder. but here in somerville, it’s serene, quiet, reflective.

before i know it, i know much more about software engineering than i did one month ago: i learned agile, i learned scala, i learned java, i learned aws, i learned docker, i learned maven, i learned spring, i learned git reset will take back my commits. i can’t say i know these well. but i’m shocked at how long the list seems.

i’m thankful for my manager, who is wonderful, and my team, much older, more experienced, nevertheless seeing potential in me and supporting me. it gives me a sense of motivation, a promise that i won’t let them down.

i’m thankful for my friends, the toons and the old toons and [supreme boyhouse eternal] and video games and the donuts i’m eating and the comics i’m buying and the walks i’m taking.

before i know it, i feel content: it’s a good summer.