San Francisco, After a New Beginning
Three weeks after joining a new company, I visited San Francisco. Now, a little over a month later, I want to look back on those few days. This is not meant to be a grand travel story. It is more a personal record of what it felt like to be in an unfamiliar city while beginning a new chapter in my work and life.
During my first one-on-one meeting after joining the company, she welcomed me and said she was glad I had joined. She also mentioned that I would soon have an overseas trip. The schedule came sooner than I had expected.
The flight, which took more than 13 hours, felt shorter than I thought it would. I left on a Sunday and arrived on a Sunday. Because of the time difference, it felt strangely as if I had gained an extra day.
After landing, I got into a car with the others and headed to the hotel. The view outside the window was a little different from the San Francisco I had imagined. Older buildings, unfamiliar streets, a gray sky. I had clearly arrived in a new city, but I did not feel excited right away.
After checking in, I went up to my room. The hallway leading to the elevator was narrow, and the room felt less quieter than I expected. Maybe because it was the first space I entered after such a long flight, every small sound and every unfamiliar detail seemed to stand out more clearly.
Outside the window, I could see the rooftop of the building next door. I stood there for a while, looking at the worn concrete floor and the unpolished view beyond it.
Am I really in San Francisco?
I wondered how the others who had come on this trip were feeling at that moment. A new company. A new role. A new city. More than my own sense of unfamiliarity, I found myself thinking about how the people traveling with me were experiencing this time.
That may have been the moment when this trip began to feel like more than just a visit to a new city. It started to feel like the first time I was learning my new role not only with my mind, but with my whole body.
I felt a little nervous, a little dizzy, and a little out of place. Still, I was curious about what kind of memory these few days in the city would become.
I put down my luggage and walked toward the bathroom to take a shower. I thought that once I washed off the long flight and the unfamiliarity of the day, it might finally begin to feel real that I had arrived.
Looking back now, my first day in San Francisco remains clearer in my memory not because of any grand scene, but because of the quiet air in that unfamiliar room and the view outside the window. It was the first city I encountered after changing jobs, and the first time I truly felt the weight of a new role. Starting with that first day, I want to slowly record the few days I spent in San Francisco.
