Hi Readers,
I am taking a break from my homework on noise processes. Because even though I've spent 5 hours on it, I have made nil progress. As in, I still have no idea how to approach the problem. Blah. The white board in lab is littered with my equations, each of which hit a dead end. Nope, no idea.
So here's one interesting note about how I eat here at Stanford. Most of the dinners that I eat during the week are free. This is because Silicon Valley companies and startups love to flood Stanford with info sessions, each of which comes with free food. At the U of I, it was (comparatively) very hard to eat for free; if you did get free food, there was a 99% chance it was pizza.
This is not true of Stanford. Here, our info sessions have a smorgasbord of food. In a short span of 2 months, I've seen the following appear at info sessions: Thai, Mediterranean, Chinese, Mexican, American (sandwiches), Italian, pizza, and burgers. Most of the time, you can stuff your face and not have to worry about the food running out for other people. It is quite a luxury. But there is an art to free-food hopping!
Though the frequency of the sessions have been dying out as the recruitment cycle slowly comes to an end, throughout the first month and a half of classes, you could predictably count on at least 2 meals a day. There was always a lunch session at noon, followed by 2 afternoon/evening sessions at 5pm and 6:30pm. There would be a million emails sent out about the sessions, so everyone on the mailing list knew about them.
There are two types of people that hit up these sessions. The first type is people who actually want a job or internship. These flood to the high-profile companies such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, etc. The second type is people who want free food. These flood to the lowest-profile companies they can find, where there is always guaranteed to be food no matter how late you walk in. I am a type 2, and as many type 2s, I hate going to a type 1 situation because the food will always run out super quickly. Then you're stuck between a rock (staying and being hungry) and a hard place (loudly shuffling out of the room during the presentation to dirty looks from people).
Here are some tips and basic etiquette for free food:
1. Leave your dignity at the door. If you're still hungry after one plate, stand up during the presentation and get some more immediately! Since grad students are characterized by bosons and not fermions, you will notice that you will create a domino "bunching" effect as others will see your audaciousness and copy you. Better yet, load up on a huge plate of food your first round. Just don't accidentally spill it everywhere. And if you do spill, CLEAN IT UP.
2. Free food "etiquette" dictates that if the food is almost out, you should take less and leave some for others. Please feel free to blatantly ignore this rule, since you will never see it applied to yourself when the person in front of you takes the rest of the food and leaves you pissed off and hungry.
3. For type 1 companies, get there 10 minutes early. For type 2 companies, get there on time. The earliest you should leave a session can be determined by applying the minimum function to "halfway through the allotted time" and "first person leaves the room."
4. If the food is discrete and fungible (sandwiches, burritos), feel free to wrap some up and take it to go if it is convenient to do so. Again, check your dignity at the door. Food is your priority, and the dirty looks you are getting from other grad students are actually tinged with admiration because they wish they had the balls to do what you just did. Company reps actually admire students who do this, because it shows they are not afraid of making themselves look bad in pursuit of a goal. (Being serious here - I've gotten compliments before).
5. If there are lots of food leftover and you are not in a rush, stay until the end of the session and take the rest of the food trays home. If you go to the session moderator and ask confidently whether you can take it home, there's a 99% chance they will say yes. Voila - that's more free food to tide you over when you can't find any free food for the day.
That's all for now. This was actually one of the most fun blog posts I've written in awhile. And I'm completely serious with these 5 rules. If you want to eat freely and well, commit these rules to heart.
-FCDH
I am taking a break from my homework on noise processes. Because even though I've spent 5 hours on it, I have made nil progress. As in, I still have no idea how to approach the problem. Blah. The white board in lab is littered with my equations, each of which hit a dead end. Nope, no idea.
So here's one interesting note about how I eat here at Stanford. Most of the dinners that I eat during the week are free. This is because Silicon Valley companies and startups love to flood Stanford with info sessions, each of which comes with free food. At the U of I, it was (comparatively) very hard to eat for free; if you did get free food, there was a 99% chance it was pizza.
This is not true of Stanford. Here, our info sessions have a smorgasbord of food. In a short span of 2 months, I've seen the following appear at info sessions: Thai, Mediterranean, Chinese, Mexican, American (sandwiches), Italian, pizza, and burgers. Most of the time, you can stuff your face and not have to worry about the food running out for other people. It is quite a luxury. But there is an art to free-food hopping!
Though the frequency of the sessions have been dying out as the recruitment cycle slowly comes to an end, throughout the first month and a half of classes, you could predictably count on at least 2 meals a day. There was always a lunch session at noon, followed by 2 afternoon/evening sessions at 5pm and 6:30pm. There would be a million emails sent out about the sessions, so everyone on the mailing list knew about them.
There are two types of people that hit up these sessions. The first type is people who actually want a job or internship. These flood to the high-profile companies such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, etc. The second type is people who want free food. These flood to the lowest-profile companies they can find, where there is always guaranteed to be food no matter how late you walk in. I am a type 2, and as many type 2s, I hate going to a type 1 situation because the food will always run out super quickly. Then you're stuck between a rock (staying and being hungry) and a hard place (loudly shuffling out of the room during the presentation to dirty looks from people).
Here are some tips and basic etiquette for free food:
1. Leave your dignity at the door. If you're still hungry after one plate, stand up during the presentation and get some more immediately! Since grad students are characterized by bosons and not fermions, you will notice that you will create a domino "bunching" effect as others will see your audaciousness and copy you. Better yet, load up on a huge plate of food your first round. Just don't accidentally spill it everywhere. And if you do spill, CLEAN IT UP.
2. Free food "etiquette" dictates that if the food is almost out, you should take less and leave some for others. Please feel free to blatantly ignore this rule, since you will never see it applied to yourself when the person in front of you takes the rest of the food and leaves you pissed off and hungry.
3. For type 1 companies, get there 10 minutes early. For type 2 companies, get there on time. The earliest you should leave a session can be determined by applying the minimum function to "halfway through the allotted time" and "first person leaves the room."
4. If the food is discrete and fungible (sandwiches, burritos), feel free to wrap some up and take it to go if it is convenient to do so. Again, check your dignity at the door. Food is your priority, and the dirty looks you are getting from other grad students are actually tinged with admiration because they wish they had the balls to do what you just did. Company reps actually admire students who do this, because it shows they are not afraid of making themselves look bad in pursuit of a goal. (Being serious here - I've gotten compliments before).
5. If there are lots of food leftover and you are not in a rush, stay until the end of the session and take the rest of the food trays home. If you go to the session moderator and ask confidently whether you can take it home, there's a 99% chance they will say yes. Voila - that's more free food to tide you over when you can't find any free food for the day.
That's all for now. This was actually one of the most fun blog posts I've written in awhile. And I'm completely serious with these 5 rules. If you want to eat freely and well, commit these rules to heart.
-FCDH
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1. Leave your dignity at the door. If you're still hungry after one plate, stand up during the presentation and get some more immediately! Since grad students are characterized by bosons and not fermions, you will notice that you will create a domino "bunching" effect as others will see your audaciousness and copy you. Better yet, load up on a huge plate of food your first round. Just don't accidentally spill it everywhere. And if you do spill, CLEAN IT UP.
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