Four rising College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) seniors — Joel Boucher, Matt Prindible, Larissa Andrejko and Steve Garguilo — recently concluded a summer working for Honeywell International in Bangalore, India. In this dispatch, Garguilo and Boucher recap their final days in India.
Steve Garguilo
There are so many things still left to say, and I really don't know where to begin. I know it's cliche at the end of an experience like this to say that I don't know where the time went or can't believe it's ending, but it really is true in this case. There are so many people I need to thank and so many more reflections I need to post as we finish up tomorrow with our last day, but there'll be time for me to think about that on a long trip home, and I'll be sure to include those things in my next entry.
For now, I just want to say how much I enjoyed my last few nights. Tuesday night was our last dinner with Dr. Petrick, and that was another nice time and enthralling discussion with some of her colleagues. Wednesday night was our last dinner with Eric, and we met up at the Hard Rock Cafe Bengalaru. That was definitely enjoyable. Then, Thursday was our last dinner with Sandesh and Tanu, the two people who have basically dedicated their lives the past 10 weeks to making sure that the lives of the four interns were comfortable. There have been some work and some meetings sprinkled in as well, making this week the typical whirlwind I've come to expect. It's hard imagining that it's going to end so abruptly now, and that I'm going to just pack up shop and basically return to a completely separate world. But I plan on keeping in touch with my new friends here and what's going on here, and will be excited to have the opportunity to come back at some future time.
Joel Boucher
I haven’t been able to keep this blog up to date for the last week. This is bad for you, my readers, but good for me. We have been meeting so many people and opening so many doors all over the place for future IST students to come participate in international internships. We met with Wipro, ITC Infotech, Covansys/CSC, and TCS — in short, some of the biggest IT names in India.
Where did 10 weeks go? Seriously, I can only remember about four weeks of this trip. Thanks to jet lag, I basically slept during week one. I remember weeks two and three, and I remember the last three weeks in one big blur that really seems like one week to me. So, I don’t know where the other weeks went. I have project work done, so I know that I was here and alive and doing stuff, but I don't remember really doing it. I guess time flies really does fly when you are having fun.
I never knew how lucky I was with this internship until now, the end. And I know that I don’t even realize the future opportunities that I am going to have presented because of this. I never thought I would meet so many people that have such influence on the India business market. I am just an intern; how did I meet with senior business leaders at the big companies?
I had a final wrap-up with my manager, Kishen, today. In case you are wondering, I did a good job this summer. Anyway, I enjoyed having him as my manager all summer. We talked, but I really never talked with him about his work and academic history before, so when he was telling me his story, I was amazed. He was one of the original five people that started Honeywell in India. Wow! I had him as my manager this summer? I knew he was important, but I didn't know that he has been here since the beginning. He has spent time all over Honeywell in lots of different areas of the company and in many different positions. He also has spent about six years in the United States working, and in other parts of the world traveling too. He has quite the diverse and interesting work history. Now he is a fellow engineer at Honeywell, so he basically does his own thing making sure projects move along, and gives his input and advice to people all over the company here.
I will have a post coming soon on some thoughts on my experiences at Honeywell and in India. But I still need some time to collect my thoughts and comment on them. So, do check back in the up coming weeks for some more content and reflections. Also, if you are interested about my trip to France, I will post some stuff during the next two weeks when I have some time. So, stay tuned.