My “7 first” …. in 2021

This whole story starts on a cold January Friday night when over some coffee in one of Tirana’s coffee shops, one of my friends gave me the news that he was the MIP Fall Cohort winner. He was so excited and started describing the program, benefits, and the opportunity that he was getting into. It was at that very moment that he pushed me to apply. At first, I didn’t put too much effort into the application, such said I didn’t have any high hopes, but everything changed one month later when I received a confirmation email, saying “You are chosen for the second phase…”. That for me was the turning point, all the emotions flooded, I was feeling happy, nervous, excited, and scared at the same time. It was a great opportunity and the ball was in my court. I had only one thought in my mind, “to be prepared”. I could not let this chance slip away. Days passed, and there was not a single minute that my mind wasn’t thinking about it. After a difficult year like 2020, the sun shinned again and my dream became true…Boston is the city where Harvard, MIT, and Tufts Universities are located. The city where the most innovative start-ups are initiated, where Pfizer and much more research labs are located, the city of opportunities would be mine to concur.

First time in the United States

By the time I landed in Boston after a 15-hour long flight and 24 hours without sleep, still I could not stay home and rest, I had to go out to see everything, roam around, and meet new people. Walking around the streets and seeing the parks, and city architecture I was feeling like a child going to the zoo for the first time. I was also amazed also by so many friendly people who will greet you even if they didn’t know you.

First encounter with my roommates

One night laying down in my bed, tired because I’d been walking around the city all day, I hear the door knocking. I opened it and there he is, an Indian guy asking me to come down to meet and greet with other roommates. Downstairs I found David, a doctor from Ghana, Alex, a salsa teacher from Pennsylvania, and Inder an IT from India. That night we stayed up till morning talking to each other and sharing stories about our countries and culture.

First day at the office

Nervous, and scared, my palms are sweaty, a lot of questions in my mind. “Will I be able to do a professional job?” “Will the colleges be welcome?” “Will the job be as I dreamed?”
You may ask why I should be scared. Let me share some words about the company. Altaeros is a company that spun out of MIT as a start-up in 2010 and made the first autonomous aerostat. There are working about 24 engineers who graduated from MIT in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, aerodynamics, telecom networks, and software engineering. They all work together with the sole purpose to create this smart “big balloon” which can go 300m up in the sky and can lift up to 300kg of telecom devices to create this super tower. The wonderful part is that it can decide by itself in which direction to fly and the altitude, when to land, and how to land due to weather conditions. Now I believe that you can see why I, a Geoinformation engineer from Albania would be scared working with this amazing team. But emotion went off the moment I step into the office. Everyone was very hospitable, trying to make my first day as comfortable as possible

First week

Every day after work I could not stay home and rest while I knew there was so much for me to discover, so every day I was on the road walking, exploring the city. One day, while walking by Charles River, I see a group of people playing volleyball. I get close, watch for a while and then ask them if I can join. They gladly accepted and since that day we have been playing every week and sometimes even hanging out together after the game.

First swim in the ocean

One of the TO DO things on my list was to swim in the ocean. So, one day, my roommate and I decided to go to the beach. We went to this beach near the city, in the Atlantic Ocean. It was as I had dreamed it. A sandy beach, crowded with people staying, playing different games, and making beautiful sand castles. As soon as we arrived, I put my things down and run to the sea. The water was so cold but I did not mind because it was so beautiful.

First month

So, here I stand after one month of living in the US, working with an amazing team, learning new skills, meeting new people from different cultures, nationalities, religions, and professions, visiting new places, and making new friends. While making my dreams come true, I feel there are so many other things to achieve in this journey I started.  

©️ Enxhi Masha, MIP Fellow Internship 2021