Not Just Here for the Food
By Atom Wang
As a first day ice-breaking activity, we dove into an escape room challenge! Our group got assigned a horror-themed room—definitely not for the faint-hearted and rated one of the most difficult. It was intense, brain-bending, and we were (proudly?) the last team to escape. But with the room located in a beautiful upscale mall, the post-escape stroll made it all worth it.
We made a trip to the Golden Gate Bridge together, and early May couldn’t have treated us better—clear blue skies, cool winds, and iconic views. Just remember to layer up—it gets really windy. It turned into a fun bonding moment as we all tried to yell over the wind just to hold a conversation.
We headed out to the Giants game at Oracle Park. The stadium was super nice—right by the water with a park and pier nearby. The game was alright, but the best part was just hanging out and chatting with alumni.
We got to sit in Netflix’s circular conference room—super cool design that made it easy to engage, since everyone’s the same distance from the speaker. Honestly though, it turned into more of a snack run… their kitchen setup is way too good.
Had lunch at Meta’s buffet plaza—yep, it’s really a plaza with a bunch of food spots, all free and seriously good. We hit the noodle shop (they even had Thai tea—super authentic), and there’s a full-on ice cream buffet too. Hard not to love it.
Atom is a rising junior from Beijing, China majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering. She’s into data analytics, especially in healthcare and human biology, and loves building cool things with AI agents. At Duke’s Pearson Lab, she’s helping create a tool that finds patterns in EEG signals in real time, and at Duke Hospital, she’s diving into a 100-million-patient database to study how GLP-1 might protect the heart and brain. She’s excited about programs like Duke in Silicon Valley as a way to turn tech ideas into real-world health solutions. In her free time, Atom’s usually exploring new music, listening to audiobooks, or planning beach trips where she can snorkel.
