We all say this every term but it is surprising how fast time went by although I am ready for it to end.  I enjoyed the change of scenery and leaving Waterloo for the first time in 3 years but it was always difficult to set up social gatherings since transportation isn’t very easy and people are decently spread out.  That being said I was excited to meet my parents for Christmas and get some of the tourist exploration done that I had yet to experience during my 4 month stay in California.

My parents arrived in California on the 16^th but were spending their time in LA and San Diego before making their way up to San Francisco for the 23^rd of December.  While they were seeing things in southern California, I was finishing up my time at Apple.

Monday brought excitement in the form of a bowling afternoon out for the team at work.  WE went to a bowling alley for a few hours, which included food and beer, and bowling, this was a good way to make the day fly by and was also pretty enjoyable.

Tuesday night my team took me out to a Korean all you can eat BBQ place, which was basically a meatetarians heaven.  I had never been to a Korean bbq place before so the concept of cooking your own food at the table is new to me.  It was delicious and I definitely filled me to the brim with meat.

That night we were talking about  going to a karaoke place and so wince we were out of time, a few of us decided that the next night would be a good time to go.  So we planned for an after work excursion to a local Asian karaoke place.

I had been to a similar place when we went to Beijing where you go to your own private room and have food delivered to you.  I don’t mind this kind much, but I was very disappointed to find out that the place did not serve alcohol.  To me, karaoke is synonymous with having a few drinks and then singing your heart out to a room full of strangers, but this was quite a bit more tame.  I had a good time and I think my coworkers did too.

And with that my last day of the internship was upon me.  I really enjoyed getting an insight into how Apple does things and it was interesting to see another perspective from the one I learned at RIM.  It was a little sad having to say goodbye to everyone but there is a decent possibility that I will be back in the bay area for my next co-op in September 2012.

The next day was the day that my parents would be arriving at my apartment and so I had to make room for their bed which I needed to fit into my mess of a room.  I also need to start gathering the things I was going to take home with me.  It took me most of the morning to clean up my stuff and by the time I was done, it was 4pm which signaled the start of the Leaf game.  My roommate and I were both adorning our Leafs jerseys and one of his friends came over to watch the game and was also wearing his.  Near the end of the first period my parents showed up who were also all wearing their Leafs jerseys.  So by the time the second period rolled around there were 5 people in Leafs jerseys sitting in my California apartment.

The Leafs ended up winning the game and shortly after the end of that one my parents and I left for the Sharks vs LA Kings game in San Jose.  All three of us were wearing our Leafs Jerseys and when the out of town scores were announced we cheered loudly for the Leafs win over the Islanders.

Upon returning from the game we tried to figure out what we were going to do for the next few days.  My sister’s boyfriend has been doing his residency in LA for a few months and was going to be driving home around the same time .  So him and my sister had driven up to San Francisco for a night there.  We decided to go up to Napa Valley for Christmas and found a hot springs resort that was not booked.  Most of the places we tried were booked and so this was one of few that we could get a last minute reservation.

To be continued

My last weekend in California while 1) still working and 2) before my parents arrived, did not have anything special planned as people have started to return home or prepare to return home.   Prior to the weekend Apple had one of their famous beer bashes which I had yet to experience, since I was in Kelowna during the first one that term.  It was a Toys for Tots beer bash and everyone was expected to bring a toy to the tree.  The other special part of this beer bash is that their was going to be a special musical guest presented by iTunes.  When we went to the cafeteria at lunch there was a grand piano and a limited band set up so we were guessing who the special musical guest might be.  Turns out that Tony Bennet was the voice that would provide the background music for the festivities.   I enjoyed the free beer and food and returned to work for the rest of the work day, which went by very quickly.

Friday rolled around and I still didn’t really have a plan for the evening until I read a Facebook post from my friends who was celebrating his birthday that night.  I jumped on a bus and headed up to northern Santa Clara for dinner and some drinks.  We ended up at a hookah bar which I did not participate in but still enjoyed the company.  There were no buses home at that point so I decided to walk the hour home rather than pay for a cab.  It wasn’t that cold outside so the walk wasn’t too bad.

On Saturday I tried to get some of my Christmas shopping done and was successful in getting the one that I had set out to get.  The rest of Saturday was spent watching movies with the roommates.  On Sunday I worked on my work report a little bit and then the roommates and I went to the grocery store for some groceries and I ended up picking up a pretty large steak.  I kind of knew that our apartment complex had a BBQ but I never really asked about it or attempted to ever cook anything.  I should have done it earlier as that steaks was really good and not that expensive.  I can’t believe I waited until the end of the term I order to take advantage of the BBQ, although I have one in Waterloo and the winter weather will not stop me from cooking delicious meats.

With that weekend coming to a close I had 4 days of work left and then my parents arrival on the Friday.  They  had flown in a week earlier and were touring LA and San Diego before coming to the bay area to spend Christmas with me.