No!” I fly into a panic and regret washes over me as I miss the turn into the office complex where the startup I will be working at for the next two months is located. Having already nervously circled the area three times, I run through my internal checklist of how to conduct myself for my first real office job. “Act mature, shake hands, seem professional, pretend like you know what the heck you’re doing.”

For the first two weeks of summer, I was at a loss of what to do. Burnt out from the stress of junior year, I hadn’t had time to line anything up, or figure out what I really wanted to do. I was extremely fortunate to secure a marketing internship at an eCommerce startup, figuring it would be good to get the experience, living in the Silicon Valley and all, but I had no idea what to expect.

My first day I hobbled into the elevator to the fourth floor in my new heels and what I considered business-y attire, a lengthy skirt and nice blouse. Two months later, I hopped down the four flights of stairs in a t-shirt, jeans, and flip-flops.

The atmosphere of the office could only be described as “chill.” Everything from the setting, people, and attitude down to the quirks embodied the word.

My first cursory glance through the office revealed a truly barren workspace. There was a complete absence of anything unessential to the functioning of an office. Instead of orderly desks, I was greeted by rows of long tables with a mixture of different office chairs scattered around.

What the space lacked in frivolous decorations, it made up for in technology. Each seat held a person poking their head above a shiny new Macbook or PC connected to multiple monitors. Nerf guns and styrofoam darts littered the office, perhaps the remnants of a great office war that pitted the accounting and coding teams against each other.

The sense of camaraderie in the office was palpable. People were constantly bouncing ideas off each other, and everyone acted as equals.  Even as a lowly intern, people took time out of their busy schedules to earnestly assist me in my struggles to combat accidental virus installations and the like.

During my first week at the office, I found myself invited into the conference room to watch live games of the World Cup projected from someone’s laptop. We simultaneously worked on our laptops and watched the game, all while enjoying the office’s ridiculous supply of snacks, which included at least 15 varieties of candy, chips, soda, and just about anything tasty you could dream of. Just the sheer amount of junk food made me eager to get to work each day.

Perhaps my favorite part of working at the startup was my diverse group of seatmates. To my right was my mentor, with whom I could hold a lengthy discussion about the merits of ‘90s pop music, and who treated me no differently even though I can barely be considered a “‘90s kid.”

Snappy Ukrainian dialogue would oftentimes drift over to my seat, and I simply had to roll my chair across a path among the desks to find myself in the midst of a discussion about the MH17 tragedy as it unfolded with my Ukrainian coder friends, who were to fly back to Kiev the next day. Their perspective combined with what was being reported in the media proved to be extremely interesting.

And as always, faithfully there to receive a hearty scratch behind the ear, or a playful belly rub, Huckleberry, my coworker’s labradoodle flopped at my feet or traversed the space with his tail wagging and on a mission to spread smiles all around.

What impressed me most about the startup experience was the drive the company had as a whole. While it wasn’t a huge corporation, they were extremely proud of the company and deeply invested in its success. The experience was short, but it was my little window into the startup world, and it showed me what can happen if you mix simple comforts of life into the workspace.