Living In Silicon Valley: What's That Like?

What's that, you say? Wireless charging! SO. COOL. #thankyoustarbucks.

Skipping town this week has made me realize just how unique and special the area I have called home for the past four years can be. There's always been buzz about this 'Silicon Valley' place, this mystical land from which our iStuff and Facebook stalking and #nofilter's originate. I'm here today to give you a peek into this weird universe – although as a college student here, of course my perspective might be different from, say, that of a startup founder or CS professor or hip barista or sustainable living entrepreneur:

Firstly. The weather. It's perfect year-round – sunshine and smiles and cakes baked out of glitter and butterflies, straight up no exaggeration whatsoever. We're close to a hike in the redwoods or up a mountain if we so desire, or can also alternately beach it up in Half Moon Bay or Santa Cruz. If nature's not your gig, then there's always a day in San Francisco or San Jose, or small town charm in Sausalito. The possibilities are endless, as are our credit card statements every month because cost of living = soul sucking money vacuum.

Every single conversation includes a startup idea or two (hundred). In fact, every other person you know has interned at / founded / pitched a startup or five. The other half of the people you know are employees of tech giants like Facebook, Twitter, and Google, which FUN FACT all have spectacular and free cafeterias and snack stations and all things good and holy. Google also has bikes. Which people steal sometimes, and leave all over the place. Jealous.

"Going to the store" is another way of saying "ordering from Google Express." The celebrities on campus are not the MVP of a gold-medal winning Olympic team or a Disney Channel actress, but Steve Jobs's son and Bill Gates's daughter. When discussing the implications of technology addiction, we're referring not to social media and iPads, but to virtual / augmented reality and The Next Big Thing. You have a minimum of four food delivery services on your smartphone, which you rotate based on who delivers from Chipotle, who's offering a promotion, and who could bring you toothpaste from Target. The only cars that rival Ubers and Lyfts ... are Teslas. Teslas everywhere.

If you have a formal interview out at a bank or really, any company, on the East Coast or Midwest or Normal City, USA and need to borrow a suit or dress shoes? SOL, my dear. Totally out of luck, because the only "professional wear" people have here are startup T-shirts, Yik Yak socks, and um ... jeans. When it gets real fancy. 
Grabbing gelato in (exorbitantly expensive) downtown Palo Alto? You might just run into Her Royal Highness, Marissa Mayer. Date night at the movie theatre in Mountain View? Mark Zuckerberg will very likely sit two seats down. Think he goes for the extra pumps of butter? Now you'll know!
People live and breathe TED Talks. Friends are often featured in Forbes or Business Insider, which can be pretty jarring the first time it happens because hello, were you not acting like an idiot two nights ago when you wanted to parkour your way to get chicken tenders? Secret geniuses, everyone, but often lacking common sense. It's probably because people converse so much in CS code, the brain waves got a bit ... disrupted.
Oh, disruptors. That's one heck of a buzzword. As is: design thinking, angel investors, VCs, and social innovation. These words are thrown about like confetti, and you'll definitely pick up on it if you grab a Mint Mojito coffee at Philz or a Tiger Spice Chai at Coupa Cafe, where many, many $$$$ meetings take place. Coupa is so important to Silicon Valley culture that it makes a split second cameo in the movie, The Social Network. So, Justin Timberlake status!
Checking your inbox can be a tricky process, because more often than not, you'll receive a long e-mail about this, that, or whatever new app someone developed, and they're begging you to 1) check out the beta site, and 2) perhaps be a part of a focus group? Coupa provided!
Indeed, this place is anything but normal. It's exciting, buzzing with energy, the breeding ground of young innovators who believe in changing the world ... aaaand, a population about to get a whole lot more lazy because so. many. delivery. apps.