Monday, October 22, 2007
Mid-sem break has come and gone. It was a very restful four days for me though, the first time this semester I actually did not have to do any work and not feel guilty about it. And it was probably the first real break I had since the end of my internship. I was in NYC on thursday and friday to visit my parents, and did lots of shopping! Haha sales everywhere...it couldn't be helped :) We went up the Empire States Building too and the view from the 86th observatory was really fantastic. Too bad my camera died halfway. We also met with my cousin for dinner and it was really nice to catch up with him and to find out more about what he does right now. All in all, I had a good time there and it was a really refreshing break for me. The flight back to pittsburgh was very bad though and I hope the same thing doesn't happen again.
My parents were also in pittsburgh last weekend. I was really excited for them to be here because it's not really often that my parents come here for a visit (and it is most likely my dad's only chance to get to see the city too). I tried to bring them to places which I usually go to here and play a large part of my life here, but couldn't go with them to all the places because I had a final to study for. I hope they enjoyed their visit here :)
While waiting for my flight to take off on friday night, I managed to finish reading the book "Monkey Business". It's basically an account of the investment banking life by two ex-investment banking associates and having had the experience firsthand myself, albeit very briefly, over the summer, I could really identify with their stories and it was really amusing to read their perspectives haha. The classic example was that of one of the associates who had to write the first draft of the executive summary for a pitchbook. By the time the draft had been revised multiple times by the vice-president, senior vice-president and the managing director, the final version looked exactly like the original draft! Except with the addition of a few graphs. Which showed that all those multiple revisions were basically useless haha. Fortunately, I did not really get the chance to do pitchbooks over the summer; I was involved in live deals instead, which were even better. But I'm sure I'm going to get to do at least one in future haha. The book also reinforced the fact that many people don't actually know what banking actually is and how the life is actually like, and you really need to be in the industry to really know what banking life entails.
Speaking of which, I have accepted the offer. At least that's one thing off my mind, for now.
posted by vivien at 12:39 AM