Heeding the advice of the first cohort’s alumni speakers, I took time off from coding. Okay, it probably wasn’t necessary yet but I wasn’t in the right mindset at this point. I was homesick and lonely and still not on the right time schedule. I spent the day mostly in bed. Until finally deciding to walk to Whole Foods for groceries and do laundry.

I think my friend Tuan had invited me out but my plan was to work all day Sunday so I stayed in. Looking back, I wish I had been a bit more social. The first weekend is pretty much the only time there is to get out into the city and experience a huge part of what drew me to the MakerSquare program – Austin’s night life! Live music, barbecues and nice  people are all alluring aspects of Austin that I completely ignored that first weekend.

Advice: If you’re attending an out-of-state bootcamp, give yourself at least a week to get used to the city and your new surroundings. A month would be even better, honestly.