Expectations v/s Reality

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Expectations v/s Reality

A look at the silicon valley..

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The Valley of Dreams (and, expectations!)

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Silicon Valley, the word itself is enough to create a sense of excitement and a high standard of expectations in the mind of an aspiring entrepreneur. Same was the case with me. Having read about the magnificence and brilliance of the valley of start-ups in news articles and blogs, I had already started dreaming about my life here even before my flight took off. It would be an understatement to say that I had some huge expectations from this place. I had a lot of expectations, to be honest.

So finally, I am here! I am in Berkeley! I am in THE SILICON VALLEY BABYYY…!!!

How does it feel? Amazing! But is it like what I had expected it to be? Ummm.. Partly yes, partly no. First of all, I had this image of silicon valley as a place dominated by concrete structures and zero natural greenery. But as it turns out now, I was definitely wrong! This place somehow manages to maintain a great balance between technology and nature. This really amazed me. Next, I had this thought that people here would be too busy with their own projects and work that no one would care to give you a couple of minutes and have a conversation with you. But again, I was wrong at this as well. Everyone here is so open to interacting with each other and sharing their thoughts. Even top level professors are so humble to give their time to a fresher like me. As a student, this really inspires me to work even harder. Another fact to mention is the diversity of this place. Being from India, I had this visual of a place where I’ll only see Americans everywhere. But as it turns out, this place has an incredible diversity of people, who are from different parts of the world, like - India, China, Japan, Singapore, Korea, UK and many more.

Now coming to a point which was a little disturbing for me. California, as I had read was pretty famous for its spoiled teenagers and drug-addicts. But after coming here I actually realized how big of a problem this really is! It was not a good experience to watch homeless drunk people behaving weirdly in the middle of the roads, shouting at themselves, fighting with innocent strangers and threatening them. Also, I expected this place to be much more safer than what it turned out to be. The street where I live seems to be the favorite spot of thieves and goons. Every once in a while, I get this mail on my phone informing me about a robbery at the other end of my street. Being new to this place, it does scare me at times. Also, being about 9500 miles away from my family back in India, I do miss them at times. But, then the busy and exciting life in Berkeley takes over.

Now it’s almost 40 days since I’ve been here, and no doubt this seems like my home now! I love this place. Despite of some problems and issues that I’ve faced, I’ll still rate these days as one of the best I’ve ever had, and an experience that I’ll cherish throughout my life. In between all the craziness and excitement, there have been some reality checks! But what I’ve learned in this last month here in UCB is that this is how the life of an entrepreneur is! Yeah, I already feel like being an entrepreneur, working on different projects with different people from different parts of the world. Education has never seemed to be so fun!

I’m loving my time here! I’m sure this is just the start and there’s a lot more adventure yet to come in this journey of mine in the Silicon Valley!