Tracy-Shane-Trips

So today was pretty amazing! This morning, Shane sent a LinkedIn message to a recruiter at Arrowhead, and she actually responded. She told Shane to go by the office, ring the bell, and tell Elle, the receptionist, that Aida says it was ok to let us in. And it worked. Shane got a chance to talk to one of the Community Engineers, Ashe, who took him on a little tour of the office. There’s the Helldiver statue on the right. Shane was really impressed with the layout and said a few times what a cool place that would be to work.

In the same building is Electronic Arts, and since we were already “in the building,” we went up to the 9th floor, where the girls there also let us in. They said to look around the lobby, and there were some cool items there as well. The reason you see a Darth Vader is that EA made two Star Wars games: Star Wars Battlefront II (2017) Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (2023), and the upcoming 2026 Star Wars Zero Company. Shane says their Star Wars games are the most popular “Star Wars” games ever made.

After that, we left that area and went to get some lunch. Shane got a pepperoni pizza with hot honey, and I had a slice. In the park where we ate, there was this big chair, so Shane climbed up for a photo. He’s so cool when he’s not being a teenager. Today’s weather was just perfect.

We dropped the pizza off at the hotel and went walking along the water to Mojang. Along the way, we saw this amazing view. By the time we got to Mojang, it was 305pm and we missed the open house for the day. We were hot and tired, so we went back to the room to cool off and regroup. We are planning to go there again tomorrow and to Embark, where we will need to take the car since it’s pretty far. I’m glad we got the car so we have options.

We went out again at 7, and it was much cooler. We walked all around Gamla Stan, which was gorgeous. Old cobblestone streets and buildings. Gamla Stan is the old city, with cobbled streets and colorful 17th- and 18th-century buildings. We saw the Royal Palace, which is actually the king’s official residence. There were streets all coming together in central squares, and Shane said the squares reminded him of Italy, with cool cafes, old-looking pubs, and people all sitting at tables, watching and drinking.

We also saw this guy marching in front of the palace. Wonder how many times a day he gets to do that?

As we were heading back to the hotel for the evening, we passed by the Nobel Prize Museum. I didn’t even know there was such a thing. They closed at 7 pm, so I’m going to have Shane come back with me to see the inside tomorrow. The Nobel Prize Museum (formerly the Nobel Museum [Swedish: Nobelprismuseet]) is located in the former Stock Exchange Building (Börshuset) on the north side of the square Stortorget in Gamla Stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. The Nobel Prize Museum showcases information about the Nobel Prize and its laureates, as well as the founder of the prize, Alfred Nobel (1833–1896). The museum’s permanent display includes many artifacts donated by Nobel Laureates, presented together with personal life stories.[

So tomorrow off to check out Embark and back to Mojang, and then we’ll see if I can coax Shane back to the museums. Hope you all had a great day. See you tomorrow, Tracy