Anyway, I have only had one lesson so far for my Financial Engineering class, but I think I am going to like the class and learn a lot from it. It's supposed to be the last class in the Computational Finance sequence and the capstone class for masters students, so I guess this would be my most difficult class this semester. It is really quite eye-opening to take the class with the graduate students because even though we are supposed to be well-equipped with the necessary prerequisites, but we obviously do not have so much real-world knowledge or work experience. The class is mainly about designing and pricing derivative securities and pitching those exotic securities to clients. We are supposed to work in groups as the structured product team of an investment bank and solve cases. The professor wants the seven of us BSCF students to be in one group, but we are divided into two sections, and I was placed into the section with 3 BSCF students. It is going to be challenging to "compete" against masters students, but exciting at the same time. I guess the most significant thing about this class for me is that it seems that we are going to be doing a lot of structuring when solving the cases and I have always wanted to know what structuring is about and actually considered it as the alternative career to banking.
Weather-wise, it has been really cold, windy and rainy this past week. No more hot weather sadly. I guess we barely noticed that fall was slowly creeping up on us, with the day getting darker earlier and the leaves turning red, because of the hot weather which was so reminiscent of summer. But now that the cold is here, I just realized that we are actually well on our way in fall and about to go into winter already because the trees are starting to shed their leaves! It's really fast isn't it that soon, it's going to be Thanksgiving then Christmas? I have had to remind myself to bring my camera to take pictures of the school in fall with the trees covered in glorious red leaves, but my camera died for no reason, even though it was full-batt =( I think it's time for me to get a new camera. Oh well.
You know, sometimes, I do question myself whether I have made the right decision by graduating a year earlier. At times, I have regretted my decision about graduating next year because I like college so much and I'm not sure about being ready to go into the workforce just yet. A few people keep reminding me of the long hours and lack of sleep that await me when I actually start working and I'm quite scared about them. And I feel really sad when everyone tells me to enjoy my last year in school and tells me that I am going to miss my school years, because I don't think I have been enjoying and cherishing my last year as much as I want to.
Leaving college and beginning my career also means another milestone, a new beginning in the journey of my life. It means that I am really an adult, a working adult, and no longer sheltered by school. In college, most of the concerns would be doing well in school and taking care of myself here, but once I start working, I would have to think about my job security, how I am going to manage my pay, how much to save and my career advancement. I will have to make decisions that are going to have more serious repercussions on my life. Suddenly, it seems like a much bigger world out there and I feel so small, so insecure.
As they say, ignorance is bliss, and it feels good to feel ignorant, sort of, when in college. But I cannot just stay in my comfort zone all the time. And with many things in life, I wouldn't know whether my decision to graduate early is for the better or for worse. All I can do is to trust and to have faith.