#got breakfast bc dad got home early! had chinese for dinner!

[ii-zi]

No depressing vents/terrible medical updates tonight!!! I'm actually in a v good mood jsjsjs

[kelsey-pie-blog]

Fab Five San Fran trip!

(top left clockwise: Muir woods ; Golden Gate Bridge ; Muir woods ; Dream Valley ; Dropbox ft dinosaurs 🐱‍🐉)

Intro

Thanks to Stemettes and Deutsche Bank, me and 4 other ladies were flown out to San Francisco to attend Dreamforce 2017!

This blog post is going to be a run down of everything that happened, how awesome it was and how you could be flying off next year to attend a conference with Stemettes ✈️

(left to right: Gate B39 at Heathrow Terminal 2 ; Plane just before take off at Heathrow ; Luggage Claim at San Francisco airport)

Day 1- Travel

Got up much earlier than normal, like much earlier. Dragged my luggage downstairs, triple checked i had everything, proceed to run around the house headless making sure I had everything- especially since I wouldn’t be coming home after the trip I would be getting a train straight back to university in Birmingham. Then my dad eventually set off from the house and I waved goodbye until Christmas break.

The fact I was going to San Francisco with 7 people I had either never met or had barely spoken to was scary and it still hadn’t quite kicked in yet by this point. Stemettes had been so gracious and picked me as a winner and offered me such a wonderful opportunity to do things so many things outside of my comfort zone and throw me into a world of unknowns. I had been preparing for a long time now to make this trip work alongside keeping up with uni work and running a hackathon, AstonHack 2017 but I was ready for the challenge!

I elected to get the heathrow express since I would get a discount using my railcard and it was the quickest way out of heathrow upon my return. So my parents dropped me off- we actually ended up having to run for the train but I got it, found a seat, settled in and all was merry.

It really did take 15 minutes and before i knew it I was taking the lift up to the departures hall. I was anxious as I wanted to make a good first impression and I knew I’d be spending lots of time with these 4 ladies and the 3 chaperones during my week long trip. Once through the entrance I realised I had no idea where they were but I found them through the power of Whatsapp group chats and we started chatting away. 

Then we went off to go through check in- using the self service machines but being in a muddle because you couldn’t remember the flight numbers but we all came through unscathed eventually and when we reached departures we went to a restaurant to eat. This was the first chance to really sit down and ask them about who they were and how they ended up winning the competition so it was really interesting to hear. We all had a chance to wonder around duty free before we met up and headed to the gate. Yasmin and Charlotte even bought each of us some neck pillows! Then we headed to the gate which was one of the furthest ones away 😞 but we boarded with no issues, found our seats and before you know if we were flying through the air (bit of a Christmas reference there just bc it’s that time of year 🎄❄️☃️).

Our next stop was Vancouver around 9 hours away, they gave us a hot meal on the plane and a snack just before we landed. Our connection wasn’t that far away so we made our way through the terminal, following the lady who had kindly escorted us to the right place. We actually went though US customs in Vancouver- using a self-service machine to scan our passports and show our ESTAs as well as have a border checkpoint officer scan it and ask why we were going to San Francisco. Then we go into the departures lounge and was once again allowed to be free and I got something to eat since my body hates aeroplane food 🤢. Then we were soon off to the gate and boarding the next plane. I wanted to get some Tim Horton's but it just so happened that the one in the lounge, right next to our gate but closed for refurbishment 😭. I always had Toronto on the way back though so my hopes weren’t lost yet! This was a much smaller plane and the flight time was only around 2 hours. 

We landed in San Francisco fairly late at night so we went straight to get our luggage, where we nearly had issue with some luggage but it all was fine in the end, found out where the shuttle bus was and then we were off to the hotel, catching glimpses of San Francisco as we raced by. We all checked in 🏨 , had to play a game of hide and seek with the rooms for a bit but we eventually found them and I fell asleep straight away- ready for the week ahead of us.

(left to right: Muir woods ; Breakfast at cafe 😋 ; Alcatraz Island)

Day 2- Sightseeing

Breakfast we met up in the hotel lobby and tried to get a table at a place called the Pinecrest diner but it was so busy so we walked around and found another cafe to eat at before heading to the bus tour shop nearby. We got on the coach and it took us to:

> Alcatraz- we got to via a boat and we did the audio tour around the main prison building 🎧

> Muir Woods- drove over the golden gate bridge to get there 🚌

The bus then left Muir woods, headed down more windy windy roads and dropped us off at Sausalito- a little city on the shoreline just north of the golden gate bridge. We walked around the shops a little and found a weird shop which sold lots of random and funny gifts such as weirdly captioned gum packets, cowboy rubber ducks, the world’s smallest rubber turtle and even had a huge wall of Funkos. 

The driver asked where we wanted to get dropped off and we had decided on Chinese for dinner so we did just that and it was great 🍜

(left to right: Moscone West Trailhead lobby ; Mark Benioff’s keynote ; Exploratoruim for EU Salesforce party)

Day 3- Dreamforce begins!

During the night Sharmin and Sofia had had some bug issues in their rooms and in the morning we left for another hotel. From the new hotel we called some cars to take us to the registration point to pick up our Dreamforce badges 📛.

We went to get our badges from the main building at Moscone West and got our first taste of what was to come for the rest of the week. As we entered the huge lobby it was all decorated with a woodland theme, with fake trees and the pillars of the building turned into tree trunks. There was a dj blasting out pop songs and people milling around everywhere and we danced our way through the line to register and pick up our badges.

Then we took a walk around Moscone West to see what was on offer here. There were a few areas in the main convention hall on the ground floor such as the Trailhead Zone, Admin Meadow, Developer Forest, AppExchange Den and Startup Valley. We went around the room and learned that we could scan our badges at nearly every stand or station with employees and volunteers throughout the event and earn free swag that we could collect at a later time. There was plenty of swag being handed out in the Developer Forest with external companies giving things away such as fidget spinners and usb ports in the shape of a stick man. 

We were meant to attend the Aston Kutcher talk but by the time we wanted to get in it was already full! So instead we went to pick up our free backpack and other stuff and then took a ride around the block on some Dreamforce rickshaw bikes 🚴. We squished ourselves into the seats and had a great time rolling around the block- even if one of the bikes did malfunction we made it in the end!

The next thing we did was file into Moscone Centre North for the CEO, Marc Benioff to listen to his keynote 🗣️. You can read the highlights from his talk here. It was interesting to hear more about Salesforce and how much he valued his Trailblazers and how inspirational they can be. He also mentioned the 4th industrial revolution and how  “the world is in the midst of a wave of innovation and technology that is radically changing our economies, our societies, and our daily lives”. 

We then headed back to the hotel for a bit to explore since it had a games room and a beautiful garden area (!!) and then later that night we all went out to Pier 15 for the Salesforce EU party. We arrived fairly early tho and ended up walking down the pier to the ferry terminal to get some food for dinner before heading back and the party was in fully swing. There was a lady doing acrobatics in a hanging hoop and the whole room was covered in exhibits as it was being held in an exploratorium so there was much to look at. There was also nibbles and drinks being handed out. The Stemettes led us around and we met some of their friends, some of whom used to work in London but then moved out to the USA.

(left to right: Michelle Obama keynote ; 1 Hacker Way- Facebook’s HQ ; AT&T Park) 

Day 4- Dreamforce Day 2- Michelle Obama & Facebook

Thanks to the new hotel, we were in the heart of Fisherman’s Wharf and for breakfast there was a iHop conveniently located right next door so this became our meeting points in the morning. We marvelled over the menu and at some of the weird breakfast food combinations such as eggs and sirloin tips but also how big some of the portions were for a stack of pancakes 😍🥞.

Then we hooped onto one of the scheduled coaches which was departing from a nearby hotel and we made our way into the city centre to queue for Michelle Obama’s keynote that morning. We joined a very long queue and at one point they closed the entrance saying it was full, but then after more waiting around we ended up getting let in, found some seats and hearing her talk about how children and young people are the future and they could go on to solve problems that we haven’t been able to solve; diversity everywhere and anywhere is key to success and finally you can do anything you want in this world, but you gotta work hard 💪.

Then we hopped in some cars to go visit the Facebook offices. We signed into the system in a little waiting area and a lady named Emmaka Porchea-Veneszee came and welcomed us. She took us to the food area to grab something to eat and explained what she did at Facebook. She was a briefing assistant to Mark Zuckerberg. She prepares him for each meeting and gives him all the background information about the people hes be talking to and tell him anything else he needs to know so he’s prepared. There was such a wide variety of food available- a huge buffet restaurant, a noodle shop, a bbq place and also a dessert shop just to name a few places, and it was all for free! She then walked us over to another building and we went to a meeting room and met another lady named Meghan Buonaiuto, and she talked to us about her role as a product manager and she let us ask her all kinds of questions like how she came into this role and what she did at college. Then aother lady came in, she was the Executive assistant to Mark Zuckerberg and she did’t have long so she just talked about her role, what it entailed and how she’d been at the company for over 6 years.

Then Emmaka took us on a tour of this new building we were in. She walked us past a clear glass cube in the middle of some desks where we all excited as we could glance Mark Zuckerberg in the middle of a meeting. She led us up to the roof of the building and it was so beautiful- it was a park landscape with foliage and deckchairs and it was so peaceful. There was also a juice bar where some of us tried smoothie shots and their Veterans Day smoothies that were available. When she led us back downstairs she left us with man for a few minutes and she came back out of a room with goody bags for each of us. There was a water bottle, a shirt and even a baseball cap which you can see if you look at the ed of my post for bonus content 😉

Then we headed back in the Uber and to make the most of our time we chose to go to Westfield shopping centre. We split up, walked around in groups and also popped into Sephora across the road and took it all in as we don’t have any stores in the UK yet 😭

Later that night some of us went to Dreamfest- a concert at AT&T Park starring Alicia Keys 💃 and Lenny Kravitz  🎤 and was supporting the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals. We had a great time singing along to New York and also eating the free snacks such as hotdogs, fries and coke cola.

(top to bottom: Equality summit keynote ; Dream Valley entrance archway with Saleforce mascots ;  Executive summit equality panel [with Anne-Marie second from right 💁]) 

Day 5- Dreamforce Day 3- Equality Summit

> iHop breakfast- enjoyed some more pancakes again 😋

> Hotel Nikko- Anne-Marie was part of a equality panel with executives only in the crowd. She mentioned what Stemettes was and then the fab five and we stood up to quickly say who we were. Afterwards some of the executives came up to us, i got asked multiple times if I was the one at university, but it was really nice to know that they actually listened to us and were genuinely interested in what Stemettes was and why we were there.

> Walk to Moscone West 🚶‍♀️- We talked to some of the executives and asked them about their jobs, why them came to Dreamforce and they asked me about how I was doing at uni, what I studied and also what my plans for the future were. I took a lot from these conversations as between them I got may words of wisdom.

> 2nd Equality panel in Moscone West floor 2- I continued to talk to other executives. I talked to one guy who worked in a company in London who were looking for people studying computer science and I learned more about his company and connected with him on LinkedIn later!

> Panda express 🐼 for lunch- Went back to Westfield as it was nearby and I enjoyed as much orange chicken whilst I could 😋.

> Natalie Portman’s equality chat- Interesting to heard about her career so far and her academic achievements and what working in the entertainment industry has taught her over so many years.

> Equality summit keynote- got some pictures with the Salesforce mascots 📷 and listened to Laurene Powell Jobs, will.i.am and artist JR for their views on raising awareness of equality all around us and hearing personal stories, particularly the ones from JR about being punished for art pieces he has performed in certain countries.

> CEO Mark Benioff- got a picture with him after the talk! 📷

> Dinner- delicious chicken burger from a place near Moscone West 

(left to right: Bloomberg offices tour ; Golden Gate Bridge ; Dream Valley carousel)

Day 6- Dreamforce Day 4- Last day & Bloomberg

> Carousel 🎠- free ride because we were with Dreamforce

> Customer success expo - walked around and picked up some goodies, also completed my quest to win some more free swag!

> Bloomberg- We were treated to an office visit as they were just around the corner from Dreamforce. The lady taking us on a tour gave us information about the current work space and how it’s all used as their office was fairly small but they utilised it well. They showed us some of their current projects and how the Bloomberg software worked over some lunch. We also asked them questions about how they got to their current role and it was refreshing to hear some of their advice about climbing up in the professional ladder starting from college.

> prize pick up for the quest!- We all picked up a free item, I went for an Astro plushie, others went for a laptop case or Astro keychain.

> pier 39 seals- we visited and took some pictures with them. They did smell reaaaaally bad though but they were all so cute flipping and flopping and screeching everywhere.

> golden gate 🌉- we visited a landing area close to the bridge and took loads of pictures. Unfortunately the area became very foggy just as we arrived but 30 minutes later it was clearer and we got some amazing pictures.

(left to right: Slack reception’s sofa + name badge ; Lombard Street ; Heathrow terminal 2 baggage claim)

Day 7- Checking Out, Slack & Dropbox

In the morning we got up earlier than usual to get a shower in and to triple checked we had everything packed. Once we had checked out we went to a special place called the Pinecrest diner. We tried to go to this place on the second day but it was too busy and we have so many people it was going to be a long wait but when we arrived there was a large table free and we sat down almost immediately! I had the corned beef hash brown and it was delicious- I’ve tried to recreate the dish in my flat since coming back but to no avail. 

Then we walked over to the Slack offices 💻 where we met a lady who took us on a tour- I especially loved the names of the meetings rooms as they were emojis. We settled in a room and met with three developers who talked about their roles and gave us a little demonstration of their current work. Also they talked about how they got to where they are now. One lady came out of college with a degree in recreation and is interested in physics but she got into coding and makes slackbots now- she demoed a slackbot that would alert everyone in the channel that there was emergency in the office so they would know.

Our next stop of the day was Dropbox. We walked to their offices and had a tour from a lady who worked in the business department. She was very nice and explained the different areas of the building, showing us ‘The Mint’ which is their chill room with games, instruments and many beanbags, also their library which was very quiet and relaxing, their dinosaur display in one of the corridors and also their shiny panda mascot. We also had the chance to sit down with two more employees, a developer and also a product manager who let us ask them loads of questions. We also managed to get a crepe as every Friday they have crepes in their cafe for free and we picked a Friday to visit 😋! 

🌼🌻l🚗l🌼🌳 🌼 On the way back from Dropbox to the hotel we visited 

🌳 🌼🌻l🚗l🌼🌻 Lombard street. It was a sloping road where it  zigzagged

🌼🌻l🚗l🌼🌻 🌳 and had loads of pretty flowers and trees surrounding it.

🌻🌳🌻l🚗l🌼🌻 Directly opposite was also a steep road which presented us 

🌼🌻l🚗l🌼🌳 🌼 with a magnificent view of uptown San Francisco. We then 

🌳 🌼🌻l🚗l🌼🌻 headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage.

(Top left clockwise: San Fran airport ; heathrow arrivals corridor ; Marylebone station entrance 🚄 ; Marylebone station departure boards ; Heathrow Terminal 2 arrivals exit 👑)

When we got to San Francisco airport we checked in, went through security and then grabbed a bite to eat at a Japanese restaurant 🍛After a little wander we made our way to the gate and had a smooth take off for Toronto  ✈️.

By the time we reached Toronto airport it was early morning and we were all very sleepy. We went through security and border control again and back out to the departure lounge and waited for the gate to open. I could see Tim Hortons from the gate but the queue was as far as my sleepy eyes could see so I had to pass 😢. The plane was delayed for a while and some of our party had to go back through security again but they made it back with time to spare and we took off. As soon as we were in the air I went to the back section of the plane and as the plane was fairly empty, I took up my own row, laid down fully and made the most of the space. When i woke up at one point I found a breakfast tray above me but I mostly spent my time dozing off, so I was ready and energised to rush for my train to Birmingham once we landed.

At landing back at heathrow T2 I immediately turned on my mobile data and used it to check on train updates for my train back to Birmingham, leaving in just over an hour. Managed to make my train in time thanks to my luggage arriving very quickly, no delays on the Heathrow Express and a very friendly Uber driver and my day ended with me falling asleep straight away into my bed 💤.

Reflection

From this trip I’ve met so many inspirational people, especially women, that have made me so much more inspired to work even harder and that if I do that I really can get anywhere I want. Even though at university I’m just one of a handful of women on my Computer Science course right now, it doesn’t have to be like that in the future 👩‍💻.

It’s also made me more open to the idea of helping inspire others. During the week I was so honoured that so many women at these companies were willing to take time out of their busy schedules to take us around their offices and talk to us about their jobs and their path to success.

The only reason I was able to enter this competition was because of the Student to Stemette programme run by Stemettes. I signed up by chance, I was looking for summer work experience opportunities in my first year at university and came across the page, thought it sounded interesting so i signed up and I’m so glad I did. From the first meeting with my Sherpa (shout out to Neha who works in Deutsche Bank in Birmingham whoop whoop 🎉🎉) she taught me things about the world of work that I just couldn’t learn at university. She shared stories of her time working at the bank and also her beginnings as a electronics student.

If you live in or near Birmingham or London you should absolutely sign up for the scheme- there’s literally nothing to lose! You get to attend meetings with your assigned Sherpa (the mentor), you get free swag, amazing advice about working within the STEM industry and sometimes even work experience opportunities with Stemettes who organise all kinds of events all over the country!

But until next time ✌️

(fab five standing in front of a pretty sign at the entrance to Dream Valley 💁)

Check out all the pretty photos from my google photos album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/0AH6mOE9Kx6pW4P42

Bonus stuff

Check out all the swag i managed to collect below from the whole trip- the Stemettes told us to leave plenty of room for it and I’m very glad I left a lot of room for all mine!