2018 NSC Study Trip: Silicon Valley

Day 1 (9/12/2018)
The delegation arrived in KLIA at around 5:30 am, for their flight to San Francisco via Narita International Airport, Japan.

Upon arrival in San Francisco, they were greeted by Ms Joy Young. They began their tour of San Francisco with a trip to Pier 39, followed by a tour of the National Park Visitor Centre. This was followed by a trip to Ghirardelli Square. Their day came to a close with a trip up the Coit Tower.

Day 2 (10/12/2018)
The second day featured a trip to the Tesla Factory. The delegation went on a factory tour conducted by Adam, an employee at the Tesla Factory. Here, the delegation learnt about the processes of making a Tesla vehicle, and they were amazed at how humans and machines worked side-by-side to complete the vehicles according to high standards of quality on an assembly line.

Next, the delegation went to the Googleplex, Google’s main headquarter office. The delegation arrived just in time for lunch, so they had their meal at Google’s cafeteria with employees Pallavi Angampally and Nita Goyal. It was followed by a tour of the office, where the employees brought the delegation around to see how Google employees worked.

The last destination for the day was Stanford University. The delegation went to three different places in the university: the Stanford d. School, Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL) and Collaborative Haptics and Robotics in Medicine (CHARM) Lab. The d. school aims to gather creative minds together to solve a specific problem through design thinking. The part of the d. school that the delegation visited was the Extreme Affordability Lab, which aims to make an existing product become cheaper and accessible. At the VHIL, the delegation played with virtual reality, interacting with virtual things and people. At the CHARM Lab, they observed robots that are being studied and researched for various purposes, such as medicine and emergency rescues.

Day 3 (11/12/2018)
The delegation woke up extra early to catch the tour of UC Berkeley. The tour was conducted by KC, a student ambassador majoring in Chemistry who is currently in his 2nd year. The delegation enjoyed seeing the buildings and facilities around UC Berkeley. Irfan, one of the students, is keen on furthering his studies here as UC Berkeley offers the course that he is interested in.

The delegation did not have the chance to visit Facebook due to a last minute change of plans. However, they were able to learn about the techwoman tour in Malaysia, learning more about the techwoman mentees particularly from Tasmania and Rwanda as well as talking about their future aspirations.

Day 4 (12/12/2018)
The delegation headed to the Apple Park Visitor Centre to meet Hosai Omarkhil and her colleague. Unfortunately, the Apple Park was not open to the public, so they were only given the chance of a verbal tour.

The delegation went to Shoreline Park & Lake afterwards for lunch and a stroll. It was truly relaxing while they awaited to go to their next destination, the Computer History Museum.

There, the delegation witnessed various computer technologies and was amazed at how much humankind has progressed based on the featured technologies in the museum.

Before heading to the Juniper Networks headquarters, the delegation stopped by at the NASA Ames Research Centre Gift Shop. They did not have the time to visit the research centre itself, which was already closed anyway.

Upon reaching the Juniper Networks headquarters at Sunnyvale, the delegation met with Techwomen Myra, Shawne and Rebecca. The techwomen told a story each about their life and experiences. The delegation was inspired to hear about their stories.

Day 5 (13/12/2018)
The delegation commenced their day with a visit to the California Academy of Sciences. Their learning experience started off at the aquarium, where they learnt interesting characteristics about new fish species, such as biofluorescence.

Then, the delegation headed to the swamp area followed by the rainforest area. Next, they watched the expedition reef show in the planetarium. The delegation also visited the Gems and Minerals section before departing to Muir Woods.

At Muir Woods, the delegation was fortunate to have worn extra layers to buffer themselves from the cold winds. They strolled around the woods, enjoying the natural landscape and the fresh air.

A trip to San Francisco would not be complete without a scenic shot at the Golden Gate Bridge. The delegation then drove by the Presidio, Lombard Street and Pacific Heights. They stopped to take pictures at the Lyon Street Steps, from where you can see the whole city. They went to Chinatown later in the evening to buy some souvenirs.

Day 6 (14/12/2018)
A ten-minute walk brought the delegation to the Autodesk Gallery. At the Autodesk Gallery, they witnessed the world’s coolest innovations: they saw how Lego bricks were structured, a biome car, and the making of Avatar. They spent around 1 ½ hours at the gallery before going for lunch at a Halal restaurant called Oasis Grill.

The delegation had the chance to go to Facebook today. Because of the traffic, they took around 1 ½ hours to reach there. The delegation went on a tour of Facebook Main Street. According to the tour guide, Mark Zuckerberg would have a meeting and Q&A session with the employees there on Fridays, around 4:00 pm.

The delegation learnt that Facebook has an artist shop where employees can create anything that they want and print them out as 3D models or posters. They have several restaurants on the Main Street and they’re all free of charge that featured various cuisines, from Vietnamese to Mexican food.

The delegation had mixed feelings of the trip. They felt sad to leave San Francisco, yet they were already feeling homesick; they were excited to see their friends when school reopens, but they dreaded the upcoming school term.

After taking some pictures with their US guides and representatives, the delegation headed to the airport. Their flight took 16 hours 35 minutes, with a four-hour transit in Singapore before arriving in Malaysia.

The delegation would like to thank everyone involved in making their trip to the United States a reality. It will be an experience that will be remembered forever.