That aside, it has been a very fulfilling summer and I have no regrets at all taking up the internship, even if it means sacrificing a bit of my social life and time spent with family and friends. I had my first taste of what banking life is like, the work that they do and the skills that can be learned and I guess after being through it, I can now understand why bankers put in long hours and why they still go back during weekends to work even if it means sacrificing their social life. I would say that most people think that banking is a very glamorous job and it really is not, and most outside banking don't really understand what it is like to really be in it. Even I have a hard time explaining to my family/friends the long hours put in (though I must admit the interns stayed up way longer than full-timers).
I went into this internship wanting to learn more about what banking is like and know more people (to put it in broad terms) and I would say that I have gotten more than what I bargained for. I would say that the best part of this internship was the people. The Singapore team is very small but that's what makes us really close. I really bonded with the other interns as well and I kindda miss our daily lunches/dinners/banters, all the nicknames haha, "second shifts" and all that craziness past midnight. The hardest part about this whole experience was obviously the hours and lack of social life. The first two weeks was really tough, but I started to get used to it, though not compeletely. I guess this is something I will have to deal with if I want to go to banking full time. Having to balance your life and managing your time properly is really not easy.
The past two weeks have been a blur, with all the evaluations and offer decisions. It felt a bit overwhelming when the VPs and directors started coming to talk to me and ask me about how I like my time there. And I have been thinking about whether I want to do banking, but I guess this whole experience has been too intense that I barely have had time to catch my breath and reflect properly. I guess I really need time off (but school starts next week and I will be very busy again).
Anyhow, I guess it is time to move on to another phase of my life - my last year in college. It will be a blur and a very bittersweet experience. I am quite looking forward to it, but at the same time, I don't really want to graduate and work you know. I will be a TA again, this time in math finance, so it should be quite fun. There will be interviews to go through again, this time for full-time and not internships, and decisions to be made regarding my future..hoping I can postpone that as long as possible. My parents are planning to visit me as well this sem cos they will be travelling to US for a week. But after working for 10 weeks, I am not quite sure whether going for classes will ever be the same again. That being said, we had a joke about a certain Mr Chua emailing me work to do and him still working even after I have finished classes for the day haha.
Time to pack, even though I really don't want to pack at all. Can't believe that summer is already over and I don't really want to leave home at all!