Update on life

I haven't been very good at writing my blog. It's so busy that most of the time, I'm doing some type of work right up until I fall asleep. Either that or I'm out with friends or at a party.

A quick update on life:

- I've been super stressed about finding a job. I hope I find one on the west coast. Ideally, I'd like to find a role at my old company, but I'm still looking at other places too. I have interviews coming up in Seattle so I have to fly out there in a few weeks.

- Finals is in three weeks as well so all of my group projects and final papers are due.

- This will be the first thanksgiving where I will not be home with my family. Instead, I'm going to my classmate's apartment. I'm looking forward to it actually. There'll be around 15 of us there. I'm making cranberry sauce, mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and cinnamon rolls. I  might buy an apple pie from Trader Joe's.

- I'm going to South Africa in December with classmates. It should be fun! We're going ostrich-riding (yes, ostrich-riding) and penguin watching and spending some time at a safari. There'll also be some R&R as we soak up some sun at the beaches.

- I find out next week if I got into the school trip to Israel. There are 40 slots for the spring break trip next March. It's a lottery and I hope I get it. I think this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity. I don't think I'd ever feel safe or comfortable going to Israel if I wasn't going with 40+ people and with school. We're visiting tech companies in Tel Aviv and we'll meet a few of the Israeli government officials. We're also going to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. If I don't get picked for the lottery, I put South Korea as my 2nd choice. On the South Korea trip, we'll visit companies such as Samsung and go to the demilitarized zone. A CBS alum owns a 5-star hotel in Korea and is so gracious that he gives all of the students FREE hotel rooms so the trip is super cheap.

That's about it!

My 5 seconds of fame in Businessweek

Earlier in September, two of my classmates and I were interviewed by Businessweek. They were going across the country and doing short vidoes on all of the top MBA programs. The video just came out along with rankings and, for the first time ever, CBS dropped from 9th place to 14th. It's a blow to our school but it's one ranking and one point of time (as Braxton stated). To be honest, I contributed to the drop in ranking. I was honest in my survey about the school. I love CBS and it's a great school, but because it's a top MBA program, it needs to improve its academic program. Once we have a better core curriculum with better professors than the rankings will go up again.

In any case, here's the video from businessweek. Our interview starts at 46 seconds. We're always critical of ourselves, but I definitely don't like what I said. I feel like I sound stupid. LOL. I really liked what Matt said about being able to catch the subway downtown for an interview or coffee chat and then coming back to campus for class. It made me wish that I had said it instead. Haha.

Speed dating

I went speed dating today with my friends for the very first time.  We had a Google Offer from last year that we had never used. The location was Crema Restaurant in Chelsea. As a side note, I won't go back there. They tried to charge us a two drink minimum for being part of the event (which was not stated on the Google Offer).  When we asked the event planners, they said that there's no minimum. The restaurant was just trying to swindle us.

I went with 5 of my girlfriends, all who are classmates and Asians.  There were three tables set up so we all sat at one table together.  We were the "asian table from columbia business school".  Vi was at the head of the table so she gave the guys a heads up.  They all thought we were from the bay area too.  It's interesting how we've become such good friends and that most of us are from the west coast.  Perhaps that's why we're friends...commonality.  Just to clarify, Vi and I both have boyfriends and Becky, Sue and Kathryn are single.

It was over an hour and there were probably 15 guys.  The men had to rotate while the girls sat in the same spot.  All I can say is that I will never do speed dating again.  It is exhausting and I felt like the age range was too broad. Moreover, I've heard MANY times that the attractiveness and quality of the men aren't that great.  However, the women are usually very pretty.  Not to boast about my friends, but in general, I thought that all of the females at the event were quite pretty.  I think a good-looking guy should speed date because all of the girls will pick him.  In order for you to be matched with someone after the speed date, both the male and female participants have to list each other as one of their top 5 picks.  If one person lists someone and there's no reciprocation, then there's no match. It was funny because all of my girlfriends and I thought the same two guys were the best. If I wasn't in a relationship, then I may have picked one person. Then again, he reminds me of all the guys that I tend to date, which are incredibly social guys that all the girls like.  I'm still looking for an ugly, anti-social boyfriend. I'm curious to see if I would have better luck in relationships if I dated someone wasn't so social or well-liked by women.

What orientation is like at Columbia Business School

One thing that I had always wanted to be while at CBS was a Peer Advisor (“PA”).  Although there are over 100+ clubs on-campus, I really wanted to be a part of the Peer Advising club. I was nervous because it was an application/interview process.  In general, it’s a highly selective program with a lot of interest from students.  Luckily, I was accepted!  Over 120 people applied and they took ~60 of us.  Being a peer advisor meant that you helped  lead orientation week for new students and you answer questions/give advice throughout the semester.  About 3 weeks ago, we had orientation week and it was THE best experience that I have ever had at school.  I cannot stress how much fun I had during that one week and how close that I got to my PA team. 

As a Peer Advisor, we’re assigned to a team of 7-8 people. Our PA team then gets a cluster and we get to come up with a cluster theme (ours was bandits), flare, room decorations, ice breakers, etc.  My team  consisted of “Hold-em up” Hayley, Sara “the Aggressor”,  Zach “Sneaky Keats”, “Under the radar” Niv, Magnus “the Magnum Menace”, ”Risky Business” Rahul,  “Room Raider” Rishita, and Matt “Mean Mug Jennings”.  We were assigned cluster B and came up with bandit names .  The picture below is our team.  

PA week starts with a weekend training (Fri-Sun). On Sunday, we decorated our “homeroom” which is essentially a classroom where our cluster met for 2 hours a day.  We each got to present to them a topic on academics, clubs, honor code, etc.  Rahul and I presented clubs. 

I think what I really enjoyed was meeting new people and bonding with Cluster B and my PA team.  One of my goals this year was to be more social and meet new people. During my first year, I kept hanging out with the same girls, who are my besties at school.  At the same time, I realized that I needed to meet more people.  Our cluster is amazing. Everyone is super nice. During orientation week, we played ice breakers so the cluster could get to know each other such as speed dating, never have I ever, etc.

Also, my PA team was SO MUCH FUN. We had the most inside jokes compared to all of the other PA teams. We’re all on groupme and we just joke back and forth on it.  Also, everyone is just crazy and ridiculous as you can see from our pictures below. 

The best event though had taken place on a Wednesday.  We had a very nice dinner at the Light House at Chelsea Piers and went bowling afterwards. Although it’s just not any ordinary bowling alley. Hardly anyone bowled and we just turned it into a dance party instead.  All of the clusters were there: Cluster A-H. If you add all the clusters, their respective PA teams and significant others, we  probably had ~500+ people. Needless to say, everyone was exhausted and hung over on Thursday morning. Yet, despite how tired we were, we were still cheering and smiling. Now, one thing about orientation week…every morning, students are greeted by PAs dressed in costumes.  We stand on the steps in front of Uris Hall (our business school building) yelling, screaming and dancing.  This was us on Thursday morning (check out YouTube video below) even after a night of partying and  drinking. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUp5iMKne7Q&feature=g-upl

Last day of work!!!!!!

I can't believe it. Today was my last day of work! Woohoo!!!!!  I was so excited last night that I couldn't fall asleep. It felt like Christmas.  Even though it was my last day, I was still fairly busy. It was tough to catch up with people and say good-bye because I was working right up until 6pm before our intern farewell event.

It's funny, at the beginning of the internship, everyone is gung ho and excited. Now, everyone is over it and wants the program to end.  Haha.  During happy hour, the other interns were asking each other if we would do this F/T. I personally thought that this was inappropriate to ask at this time since HR was at the event as well. I'm sure they would love to hear people hesitate or say no as they're going to be spending next week deciding who gets an offer or not. With that said, we're supposed to find out by Aug. 31 if we get an offer. The most likely feedback time will be early next week though. With the recent downturn in the banking industry and layoffs at work, they're cutting the number of offers this year.  It's going to be tough. I'm very curious to see the numbers and who gets an offer, who accepts and declines. Barclay just announced their numbers and it's 1/3 offers, 1/3 hold and 1/3 no offers.

All I know is that I'm looking forward to going back to school and doing orientation next week! We start Peer Advising training tomorrow so no rest for me, but I don't mind. The welcome reception for the incoming first years will be on Sunday night.  It's going to be a crazy week but a lot of fun to relive orientation week. I'm already losing my voice though! I can't believe that! I think my second year is going to be awesome.  Hopefully I figure out my full-time job and can relax about that.  I plan on doing a lot of travelling and enjoying time with friends in this last year.

Rooftop Luau

This past Saturday, Rahul (our classmate), Braxton and Morgan (one of Braxton's roommates) had a rooftop luau at Braxton's apartment. They have been looking forward to this for several weeks, but have also been very nervous. No one is actually allowed on the rooftop and 120+ people RSVP'd. They were afraid that the roof was going to collapse. Patrick, one of Braxton's roommates, was so worried that he decided to not be a part of it and actually left for his gf's place that day. I was pretty worried too. I had a feeling that they were going to get into a lot of trouble.

Well, first thing is that I got the night off from work! When I walked into their apt, they had leis all over the couches. It was cute! I picked up a lei and headed up to the rooftop. I must say, Rahul goes ALL OUT. Any party of his is going to be pure awesomeness. He gets really into it. He put a lot of time, effort and money into this. Not only did Rahul buy the leis, he also bought 4 feet tiki torches and taped them along the rooftop. He then had a ceremonial lighting and lit the torches, which provided very nice mood lighting for the event. The boys borrowed blow-up life rafts from friends to hold the beer and ice. Brilliant idea. I'll have to remember that because it's easy to deflate and store away when you're done with it. I, myself, have been wanting to be more social and found a ledge to sit on and was catching up with people.

The party was going really well...until the cops came. The luau started at 7pm and at 9:30pm on a Saturday night, the cops came because some people complained. I could not believe it. I did expect cops or the super around 11:30ish or midnight, but not at 9:30pm on a saturday night.  On top of that, we actually weren't loud at all. The music was so low that you didn't need to talk over it. No one was screaming or yelling. People were just talking. I was surprised that it was so tame actually. In any case, all ~70 people tried to cram into the guys' apartment, which definitely was too small.  We lost a lot of poeple because of that.  We tried to move the party to another rooftop that was 20 blocks away. I went with Braxton and a few other people to scope it out and it turned out that no one wanted to leave the apt and move to a new place.  So we went back to Braxton's apartment. I enjoyed the luau the most. I wish they didn't shut us down so early. Rahul also planned a hula dance too with his friends. He got to do it, but it was inside a cramped living room rather than on the roof. Oh well, at least the roof didn't collapse, which was everyone's biggest fear.

Here's a picture of Rahul in the life raft next to the beers. Even though it was such a short party, I felt really good afterwards. One of the shortest, but best parties that I've been to.

Last week of my internship!

It's my last week of the internship. I can't believe the end is near. I'm looking forward to starting Peer Advising and orientation. One good thing is that I will be ready for long hours at school after this summer.  My last day is on Thursday, August 16.  I do have to say that I'm bummed that I won't get to finish this project that I'm working on. It's a sell-side deal and I'll be uploading files to the data room. It's funny how I'm on the other side of the team now. In the end, I prefer the buy-side. But it's still cool to see how management presentations and data rooms get created. I wonder what I will do with all of my free time now...CLEAN. I'm never home, yet my apartment somehow turns into a disaster by the time the week ends. I will also catch up on sleep and see friends. The other interns are ready for this to end too. It makes you question why people take the job though when they're so desperately waiting until our last day. As a F/T employee, there is no end date until you quit.

In any case, my mood has improved a lot. I'm working less hours and actually got out early on Friday around ~9pm. I also didn't have to work super late this weekend. I'm glad the work load has gotten lighter. It's been a tough summer.

I start PA training on Friday and go through the weekend. Then orientation begins Monday. It's going to be great to re-live orientation. I remember how I felt last year when I started school. I was so nervous! I hope that I can be helpful for these 1st years. My second year is going to be GREAT. I'm really going to enjoy every moment of it. After orientation, I'm taking a block week class on Personal Leadership. It has incredible reviews, although I'm not really sure what the class is about. I think it'll be good for me. I did read in the syllabus that there is a lot of self reflection and learning about how to manage stress in the workplace, which I need.

Anyways, 4 days and counting!

Visit to the NYSE!

I think the highlight of my entire internship this summer was our visit to the NYSE exchange.  After business hours, they opened up the floor to the all the DB interns.  There were appetizers and cocktails.  Now, this whole summer, I NEVER had a drink at the evening receptions because I always have to go back to work afterwards.  Well, I finally decided to break that rule.  Needless to say...lesson learned.  As soon as I got back to the office, I was hit with a ton of urgent work and I had to try to mentally force myself to be sober. It was tough. Haha.  I have to admit though, I only had one glass of wine, but my tolerance has gone down significantly this summer. 

The NYSE was really cool! I only had an hour there because I had to get back to the office.  I wish I could've taken it in more though. The lights and atmosphere was unbelievable.  The best part, of course, was taking a picture in the balcony where they ring the opening/closing bell.  We each got to keep a photo that was framed for us!  What surprised me is that it's not as high off the floor as you think it is.  It's only one flight of stairs above the floor.  Also, the NYSE seemed small in general.  But it was the best part of my internship!

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Days gone by...

I officially have 2 weeks left of my internship and it's been quite a ride. Needless to say, all I do now is think about drinking. Is that bad? I just can't believe that I've survived 8 weeks. It feels like months have passed. The days are just a blur. Everything blends together because I'm at the office all day every day. To not have a weekend off makes you lose track of time. I have no idea what day of the week it is. All I know is that I try to get off work in time to make the car line which stops at 1am. If I make the car line, then I know I got out early.

To be honest, my hours have improved since I started my new rotation.  I now get off some time between the hours of 12:30am and 2:00am.  It's funny, but the outside world doesn't seem real. I forget about what's going on...birthdays, bills, etc. The only thing I try to do is laundry every week and to pay my rent on time. Thank goodness for automatic credit card payments. I probably would be behind in paying bills if I didn't have that. Although, it would be easier to stay connected to the world if my company didn't restrict all social media and email-related websites. 

I heard/noticed some interesting things lately. Two different people have told me that they set their alarm for 6am every morning so they can check their emails and then they go back to sleep and wake up at 8am.  The reason is because MDs start working at 5am and usually start to send out emails. I also work with this guy who is really nice and calm. He's incredibly busy but never seems to lose his cool.  I admire that.  What's concerning though is that when he types, I notice his hands shake.  I wonder if it's from this job... The other intern in my group has been complaining about his wrists. They hurt and we do a lot of typing/modeling. He doesn't have time to go to the doctor either. I feel really bad for him. 

I wonder if I have an ulcer. I'm pretty sure that I've lost weight, but it could be muscle loss because I'm not working out. Many times I feel lightheaded from lack of sleep. People say you get used to this though. I guess it's true. Last week, I only got 3 hours of sleep per day.  When Friday came, I finally slept 7 hours and I felt worse. It would have been better if I continued to sleep for only 3 hours a night because then I'm just napping and the exhaustion doesn't hit me as hard. Speaking of which, it's time for bed. 

Life as a banker

I'm three weeks into my internship and it has definitely been very busy.  The bank reminds me of D&T a lot.  In many ways that's great because it doesn't seem completely new to me.  The resources are just as vast and available.  I send stuff to India at night to help process so it's ready in the morning.  We have a presentation department to assist with all of the formatting of powerpoints and creation of excel charts.


In the past few weeks, I've worked on a debt financing, debt amendment and M&A sell side pitch.  I was hoping to go to the bakeoff, but only three people are allowed.  That would've been amazing experience to see the pitch.  It's so different being on the sell-side.  My mind is definitely in buy-side mode.

The team has been great.  Everyone is really friendly and they seem to be very close.  They enjoy going out together.  It's a lot of fun when we're able to get away from the office and grab some drinks.  It was crazy but some of the analysts had a going away party because they just finished their program at the bank.  All the team members contributed money to send them off and we had $1700 to spend at the bar.  We used up that cash reserve in an hour.

The lifestyle is pretty tough.  I'm in between 9am - 9:30am and I don't usually leave until around midnight or later. The latest that I've worked is until 3:30am so no overnighters yet! At least we get to take black cars home at night.  It's quite the commute from my apartment to the office! I've also worked most weekends since I've started so I'm pretty exhausted. I think that people build stamina and get used to the hours over time.  It's easier though because usually the other team members are still in the office with me so I'm not by myself.  I try to go to the gyms on the weekend. I'm hoping to add another day (maybe Friday?).

I think the bank has a great culture though especially for women.  I had a women's lunch and dinner with senior bankers and got to hear their story of what it's like to be a woman on wall street.  I've also had the opportunity to meet several senior MDs.  In July, they're going to send one intern to represent our class to London to sit on a panel with the CEO of the bank.  Isn't that crazy??  I can tell you this, it's not going to be me.  I don't plan on nominating myself.  Although I would love a free trip to London and to have that opportunity, I think there are several candidates in our intern class who would ask the CEO good questions.

 I have two more weeks left in my group and then I rotate in M&A.  So there's more to come soon!

P.S.

It's great to get paid!  I love the fact that I can order dinner on seamless and eat real food besides pasta, sandwiches and pizza while in school.

Roosevelt Island

Today, I went to Roosevelt Island with Becky and Carrie.  Carrie's goal is to visit all the islands while we're in NYC.  I don't know what Roosevelt Island is for, but it has really nice views of Manhattan.  The ferry is free during the summer so that was a plus!

There must have been some type of event on the island because there were a lot of weird people in costumes around.  We saw some guys dressed up in medieval times with swords in hand waiting for some sort of fight to begin.

The girls and I also got on the swings in the playground. It was funny because only adults were playing the swings.  I haven't swung since I was kid and it was actually quite exhilarating!

Dolly Parton Sighting!

I just saw Dolly Parton at the UCLA hospital!  Winnie, Chanson and I were waiting for the elevator and when the doors opened, it was Dolly Parton! I'm usually terrible at recognizing celebrities and I never remember their names.  But Dolly Parton is someone that you would recognize no matter where you are.  I had to try really hard not to stare at her face. It wasn't a pretty sight...I don't think those plastic surgeries were a good idea.

My first year at CBS

I just finished my first year at Columbia! I took my last exam yesterday.  I definitely was checked out when I sat for Game Theory.  I'll have to remember to choose classes with only final papers due in the last class next year.  :)

I'm now in Upstate New York with Braxton visiting his parents.  I think there are only 500 people who live in the town.  He showed me around, but it was only 1-2 blocks long.  Lol. It has a huge lake and it's very quiet.  It's really nice to be away from the city.  After we get back to NYC, Paula will be in town for the weekend and then I fly home for Mother's Day! 

Last week of classes!

Well, I finished up my last week of classes finally.  I can't believe I'm done with my first year!  It has gone by so quickly.  A year ago, I was fretting over this decision to move to NYC and go to business school.  Now I'm worrying about my upcoming internship and getting a full-time job.

To celebrate, my cluster went on a booze cruise.  The weather wasn't that great, but we saw the Statue of Liberty.  I've seen it on another boat cruise during the day, but it's just as magnificent at night.  It's torch glows like it really is on fire.  It's quite amazing.   

I have one final exam left to go and I can't wait.  Viv is coming into town on Friday so I'm excited to see her.  I'm also looking forward to going home next week!!!

LA

I just got back from a weekend in LA.  It was a short, but memorable trip.  Winnie had her baby shower on Saturday at a restaurant in Santa Monica.  It was really nice to be there.  We sat outside since the weather was nice.  I saw her mom, brother and friends from her wedding.  It was almost like a reunion. I had a great time and it was just so relaxing. After the baby shower, Carol and I did some shopping in the afternoon and we met up with Winnie, Chanson, and Bonnie in the evening for dinner.  We were doing an early celebration of Carol's birthday since I was in town.  We went to this cute restaurant called The Little Next Door.  It was just great being around my good friends.  My trip made me miss the west coast a lot.  I'm looking forward to my trip home after school gets out.

CBS Peer Advisor

Great news! I found out today that I've been selected to be a Peer Adviser ("PA").  I'm super excited about this role.  There were somewhere around 150+ applicants and only 65 spots so I'm fortunate that I got picked.  I had a really good orientation experience and it was a lot of fun.  The PAs looked like they had a great time and really seemed to have a good bond with each other.  I'm hoping that I'll have just as good of a time and get to meet more people by putting myself out there.  I think this will push me to do things outside of my comfort zone and it's an opportunity for me to work on building my relationships with others.

Daniel Radcliffe

I was really bummed out because Daniel Radcliffe is shooting his new film, "Kill Your Darlings," at Columbia!  He was spotted right outside of Havemeyer, which is next door to the business school.  I was in class when the other students saw him!!!  During happy hour though, my friends and I tried to get a glimpse of him.  He was filming in one of the very old historic rooms in Havemeyer so we decided to try to peek into the classroom windows.  We found a stairwell that has a window that looks directly into their window.  We couldn't see anything though because they had pulled the drapes closed.  All we could see was a camera light and shadows of people moving around.

When we left happy hour, we tried to get another glimpse, but security had roped off the area.  We did see a bunch of the cast members come outside around 11pm for a short refreshment break. They were all dressed in suits from the 1940s.  I'd like to believe that Daniel Radcliffe was one of the members getting coffee during the break, but it was really hard to tell them apart in the dark and they were standing far away.

The movie is about a murder that takes place at Columbia University in 1944.  I'm hoping to see him around more if it's centered around CU. I never saw celebrities growing up in San Francisco so it's really exciting to have the opportunity to spot them here in NYC.

Spring Gala 2012

This past Saturday, we had our spring gala at Cipriani on Wall Street.  It was SO much fun!  The girls came over and I curled all of our hair.  We got dressed up and went to Chuan's for a small Cluster E pre-game.  Cipriani is a really nice venue.  This event was much better than Fall Ball because there were no lines for food or alcohol, the dance floor was bigger, and there was a second level where you could watch everyone on the first floor.  It was just fun getting dressed up and seeing how handsome all of the guys look in their tuxes and suits and how beautiful all of the girls were in their dresses.  It's interesting.  Since I've been living here, I now have been to a couple of events where many of the guys wore tuxedos.  Back in SF, I don't think our events are nearly as formal.  I never see guys wear tuxedos.  I do they think they look great in them though! Here are some pics from the night.

Amazing Race and Taj Mahal - India

Helloooo from Agra, home of the Taj Mahal! The Taj Mahal is so impressive. It's my favorite part of the tour.  On top of seeing the Taj Mahal today, we also saw the filming of the tv show, Amazing Race.  I think it's in a different country though because none of the contestants spoke any English. Still, it was really cool to watch them film it. We actually first saw the contestants running in the Agra Fort and I guess they ended up at the Taj Mahal afterwards. The challenge for the contestants was to build a puzzle of the Taj Mahal.  I tried to get into the camera shot. I walked up behind one of the girls who was sitting on the ground building the puzzle and stood directly behind her. I knew that the camera was filming her and would get me in the background..  But they quickly asked me to move.  Lol. Here are some pictures of the Taj Mahal and Amazing Race. Enjoy!

Jaipur, India

Hello from Jaipur! We arrived at the wedding location and it has been a very interesting trip so far. We first landed in Delhi, which is either very foggy or smoggy. We saw a stray dog, which apparently is common here. Driving on the streets is chaotic. There are roads and dividing lines, but no one follows them. They make up their own rules and honk a lot.   When our driver pulled up to the hotel, armed guards had to check the trunk. 

Today, we flew into jaipur and will spend the next three days here. The airport is quite hectic. There were armed guards that checked your ID and itinerary before they would even let you into the airport itself.  At the check-in counter, ppl kept cutting in front of us saying that they were late for their flight. I think we were next in line for 45 minutes. Our plane also had some seats that were missing back rests! It was just a seat cushion. Lol!

When we got to Jaipur, Prashant's friends picked us up and took us to his house. During our car ride, we saw camels and cows randomly walking the streets. Another car also kinda hit ours and cracked the side mirror. The driver didn't get mad. No one stopped and everyone kept going their own way. PG's (PG =Prashant G.)  friends laughed and said it was normal. It happens all the time. His friends also bought us Indian beers that taste like Heineken. The beer bottles are 650 ml each and we just openly drank them during the car ride.

When we got to PG's house, we got traditional henna tattoos on our hands. We then ate a lot of Indian food including freshly made naan bread. The food was really good, but spicy too. We're now back at the hotel waiting for the bonfire go start. Tomorrow we're going shopping for Indian outfits for the wedding. Tomorrow evening is the engagement party. It's been quite an interesting trip, but I'm having fun.