DAY three and it could be said a more serious one. I went to the gym across the road at six: absolutely incredible. They had a machine for almost every single muscle in the body, and about 50 treadmills and bikes just crammed in, and that was just the first floor. There were four of them.
Another excellent breakfast followed and then we drove through a sunlit San Francisco to the Academy of Science: kind of like the Melbourne Museum, but more science based.
A few of us joined in the Tai Chi that was happening in the gardens out the front, and although conscious of our unco-ordination, we found the experience surprisingly effective in both relaxing us and waking us up. We then played a bit of down ball before the academy opened.
The first exhibit we went to inside was the indoor rainforest.
The academy has literally created a large dome with a full rainforest environment living inside it, which was quite spectacular.
After that we saw the exhibits on sustainability, and learned a lot about global warming and humanity’s contribution to it through heightened energy usage and waste creation, and also about the depletion of natural resources.
We then had lunch in a crepe shop where we were served by a really cool Italian man who even offered to refund a half-finished meal. And then back on the bus to go to Genentech.
Genentech is a global pharmaceutical company based in San Fran that researches, manufactures and sells products to wholesalers round the globe. We were extremely lucky to even make it in the gates, let alone be spoken to by three young up-and-coming men and women from four different fields that work cohesively to bring about the company’s phenomenal success: management, research, manufacturing and marketing. These people all told us a great deal of their stories and how they got to be a part of Genentech, which were all very different, and also shared with them some advice about how to tackle the world of careers.
Again, seeking critical aid was a common theme, as was perseverance and the importance of ''never stopping learning''.
We then got a tour of the research facilities of Genentech from a 20 year professor, a luxury extended to a rare few.
We learnt about the complicated process involved in researching a cure for cancer, the incredibly convoluted logistics but also the way the company is pioneering ways to solve these problems and working towards a cure.
For dinner we returned to Mel’s Diner, a different one this time.
We only realised today that our ''culturally rich culinary experience'' was actually a franchise with five stores in the Bay Area alone. How disappointing.
Going to Stanford University tomorrow, which was what the whole trip is centred around, so should be interesting to see how it goes.
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