It was my dream to visit USA in the course of my study.  The industrial attachment was the best time for me to visit USA.  I started planning four months prior to my internship.

To be frank I did not know how to apply, where to apply and whom to contact for internship programs.  Thanks to the internet, I started browsing for any job opening/internship training in USA together with my friend, Riyaz.  After a long search for jobs that are compatible with my skills, I found a few companies.  One of the disadvantages was that most or many companies indicated that the internship program must last for more than eight months.  Some only offered their programs during the September/October period which is inconvenient for me.  In other cases, the stipend offered was very low.  I applied to several companies and some responded to my enquiry.  Only some companies matched our university schedule.  I was not very particular about the stipend, as my main aim was to visit the USA.  I only asked that the company give me the minimum stipend that would be sufficient for my basic expenses.

The companies, which responded to my mail were:

1. Nylon Designs
2. Siemens
3. Associated Blind
4. ISP Alliance

The above companies conducted interviews over the telephone.  Nylon Designs was the only company which responded before our university deadline.  The others responded a week or two after the deadline.  Though I received the invitation from Nylon Designs to join their company, the formalities involved were quite lengthy and time consuming.

1. First the company had to send me a special invitation with a copy to the U.S. embassy.
2. You cannot visit the U.S embassy directly.  One has to go through some agent like ACE GLOBAL.
3. After the completion of the forms by the agent, it was sent to the USA for the company's endorsement.  The documents were then forwarded to U.S embassy in Singapore.
4. All this above tasks took five to six weeks.  By this time, other college students had started their attachments in Singapore.
5. I contacted the university and informed them about the delay and my IA supervisor and the OPA were kind enough to give me encouragement by allowing me to join the Nylon Designs though they were late by three weeks.
6. After a lot of tension and daily follows-ups with my agent and my company, I was at last called for an interview by the U.S embassy.  At long last the visa was stamped on my passport.

I was also lucky that my parents rushed from India to see me and to send me off at the airport.  I was elated when I boarded my flight.  Even though the flight journey was 23 hrs with a transit at Japan, I was so happy I did not feel the tiredness.

At last I arrived at my dreamland.  I had arranged for my stay over in New York through my friend who was working there.  Since New York is extremely expensive, I could not afford to stay alone in a room.  Instead, I shared with four other people.

The seasonal change was an excitement for me, especially winter.  The season I went was the period of extreme snowfall with temperature dropping to -15 degrees.  I froze!  But the cold was a welcome change to the heat and humidity in Singapore.  Catching daily weather reports was essential because one had to plan one's entire day around them.  The first two months were very cold.  It was the coldest I have ever felt.  I had to commute to my office by bus and train and many a times the bus services were cancelled due to the heavy snow.

The cost of living in New York is very high and I must manage my monthly expenses carefully.  The public transportation is not as in Singapore.  They have very limited bus routes and long waiting time.  My office was about 40 kms from my place and I had to commute 1.30 hrs to get there.  Each journey from my house to the office cost US$6.50.  So in all, it came to about $13.00 per day.  The buses run regularly within the city but outside the city there is absolutely no public transportation to speak of.

My office is located in Manhattan near the NY stock market (Wall street), Empire State Building and the Times Square.  But work was only part of my life there.  I had to quickly adapt to the American way of life.

I was working at the technical department as a cold fusion web developer.  Later I started doing the database design and gradually was given two to three projects at the same time.  Within two months they had so much confidence in me that they made me a project leader since I was experienced in visual basic coding.  The staff were very co-operative and helpful, especially my technical director James Curran and business director Steve Grushcow.  During the last month of my stay I was made the project manager for another project and they asked me to extend my stay at their expense.  So my stay was extended by two weeks.  During this time, I attended many meetings and was in a position to make decisions on my own and many of my ideas were accepted by the management.

The working environment was very informal.  Everyone was on first-name basis with almost everyone else.  At first, I felt a little rude calling the more senior staff by their names, even after they insisted that I do so.  But later, I realized that they felt uncomfortable when I used their titles.  So, I quickly switched.  The staff went out of their way to welcome me.  They even gave me a surprise birthday party in my office and all the preparations went on without my knowledge.  They bought a big cake, snacks, and other goodies.  We had a great time!

The few things that formed my first impression of America were the open friendliness of the people I met and the informal atmosphere at work.  Everyone greeted each other with "Hi, how are you?"  Initially that really threw me off guard, "Why do they keep asking me how I am when they've just met me?"  I realized it was just a greeting and nothing more.  There were a million other little phrases and mannerisms I had to get used to along the way.

There are many places to visit in, and around New York.  Some of the notable ones are the world famous museums in New York, Liberty Statue, Empire State Building, World Trade Center, Chinatown, etc.  One can even visit places like Washington D.C and other neighboring states.

There weren't many opportunities to get bored as there were so many things to do.  People I knew hardly stayed home during weekends.  They were usually out to various places or sporting activities.  There were literally hundreds of fun places to visit.

Overall, this industrial attachment was one of the best periods in my life where I had a chance to work in a different country with an entirely different culture.  I was exposed to various aspects of life and I learnt how to handle things on my own.  This IA has provided me with a wealth of experience.

In conclusion, I would like to express my gratitude to a few people.  Without Mrs Loh and the staff in OPA; my supervisor Dr Nitin Indurkhya, and the staff in the School of Computer Engineering; all my colleagues at Nylon Designs and my parents, my IA program would not have been so fruitful and enjoyable.  I am deeply indebted to them for making my dream come true.