Monday, July 13, 2009
my life as a summer intern: part 4
This past weekend marked the halfway point of my internship and so much has happened since my last post. I'll attempt to recap the highlights:
1. Mid-summer review at VLB
On Tuesday of July 4th week, my manager and I sat down with a guy from HR to do a mid-summer evaluation. My manager, being my manager, had actually sat me down the day before my official evaluation to tell me exactly what he thought I was doing well and how I could improve. I was a little nervous that he was going to come down hard on me but instead, he had a lot of good, positive feedback for me and even put a good spin on what I could improve on. I know that he likes me a lot and appreciates my efforts and work ethic so far. His positive affirmation is comforting since I have felt the freedom to be myself at work and not put up a front to look like some kind of arrogant hot shot or something. My manager did encourage me to be even more assertive, ask even more questions, and stick my nose into even more things that are going on around me. In all seriousness, he told me to ask a ton of questions because this is the one time in my career that I can be stupid and get away with it. Personally, I think that is best career advice I've heard so far. I'm thankful everyday for how much my manager supports me and encourages me.
2. July 4th Party
I had my first and only 3 day weekend of the summer and it was sooo nice. A short week and an extra day on the weekend makes such a difference! It actually wasn't too eventful aside from our 4th of July plans. Daniel's roommate's girlfriend, Carly, and her roommates hosted a little party/get-together at their apartment, complete with a pot-luck dinner and 2 kind of sangaria. I didn't know that many people there but it was fun to listen to Texas country and meet some new faces (who were mostly from Texas) and talk about life in NYC. Later on in the evening, we headed over to the Hudson to watch the fireworks show. Apparently, a planned arrival at 8 pm was way too late for a 9:30 show because the whole street all along the Hudson was packed with people - some of whom looked like they had been there for several hours. Our group of about 12 people followed a crowd of other people who were trying to make their way onto a hill in a construction zone. People were scaling a fence to get to the hill and others tried to get around it by stepping around the corner, which was about 15 feet above ground, and crawling along the fence a few feet to get to solid ground. We were among the latter group. Almost as soon as we got to the top of the hill with the rest of the masses and got excited about our view, several men with badges and flashlights came and told everyone that we needed to leave because we were trespassing. It was equally difficult to get down the hill and out of the zone as it was to get up. I felt like I was rock-climbing in a sundress and flip flops and despite Daniel's assistance, my ankle was slightly bruised by a rock that fell on it when I slipped and slid down the hill about a foot or so. By the time we made our way out of the zone, Daniel and I had basically lost the rest of the group and more police cars had showed up to make people leave. In the end, Daniel and I ended up watching the show from the street through the chain link fence surrounding the construction zone. Even so, I enjoyed the show and now have a crazy story to tell if people ever ask about my first Independence Day in NYC.
3. Brooklyn Pizza Party
Last Sunday night after church, I somehow got ropped into some plans to go all the way to Brooklyn to eat at this famous pizza place under the Booklyn bridge. I was really uncertain at first because it was far away from home and I always get nervous about the prospect of not getting enough sleep for work. However, I'm really glad I went because it ended up being a rather large group of people - about 15 or so - and I got to meet some friends of people in my summer intern community group who were visiting NYC for the weekend. We actually ended up eating at a different pizza place because the one we had originally planned on had a 1.5 hours wait (on a Sunday night!!). Even so, I had some great conversations on the train ride into Brooklyn and I really appreciated that time to just hang out and have fun with my new friends who I treasure so much. I hope to have more face time with them before they have to leave NYC at the end of the month :/
4. Intern Happy Hour
Last week, I decided that I was not getting enough face time with the other 14 interns in our division. So, after discussing things with another intern who lives in my building, I decided to take things into my own hands by inviting all 14 of them to brewery a few blocks away from work. In my mind, a coffee shop could have done the trick but here, you have to consider that New Yorkers only like to socialize over beer. I was a little surprised over the positive feedback I got leading up to the end of day. Some of the other interns were really excited about hanging out, all were appreciative that I took the initiative to plan it and the ones who couldn't make it urged me to plan another one. Out of 15 interns, almost half showed up and my sweet boyfriend also made his way to the bar to meet some of the people I've been spending time with this summer. I was glad for the opportunity to learn about some of the projects they've been working on becuase it seems like all of our experiences are vastly different from each other's.
5. Final presentation update
Like I mentioned earlier, I have to do a group presentation to our division's senior managment with 3 other interns on a pre-determined topic. I wouldn't say I'm nervous yet but I have to admit I'm a little anxious. Our topic is extremely broad and vague at the same time and somehow we have to narrow all the material that's out there down to a 20-25 minute presentation. Not only that, but our team has to know enough about the topics we discuss to endure a 10 minute Q&A session where the senior managers will probably grill us to death. Last week, my team made good progress by interviewing about 8 people from different areas within our division to get a sense of the current financial and political landscape. Even so, the narrowing down process has been the hardest part since it seems like everyone has a different idea about what's important (depending on their background or day-to-day activities). I'm hoping we can make good progress this week.
6. Red Cat Date Night
Wow, this title sounds really spicy =]. Daniel made dinner reservations for us at this amazing restaurant in Chelsea called the Red Cat. It was a really neat looking restaurant and had hints of red scattered in various places. I had a really cool looking (and tasting) zucchini appetizer with a nice piece of salmon as an entree. I'm not very good at ingredients but they did such a great job with mixing flavors to create picture perfect dishes. It was so tasty but more than that, I was so glad for the opportunity to catch up with Daniel and exchange stories about work and friends and life. It's so strange to think that we are both working on Wall Street and for the first time in 2 years, I am finally starting to understand things about Daniel's life here I just couldn't grasp before. I know what it feels like to work 11 hour days (not good), to never feel like you have enough of an evening before another day starts, and to look forward to the weekends in such a different way than in college.
7. Day Trip to the Beach
On Saturday, Daniel planned a little getaway for us - a day trip to the beach! We woke up early in the morning and met at the train station to take an early morning train to one of the Jersey beaches. I was wide awake on the way up but Daniel definitely wasn't.
The train ride was pretty long (about 1.5 hours), Daniel was trying to sleep, so I got a little bored. So, I snapped a few pictures. Maybe I snapped too many because Daniel wasn't having fun anymore. This next pic made us both laugh aloud for awhile:
When we actually got there, the beach was so much fun and soooo relaxing. We spent the whole morning just laying out, talking, and listening to the sound of the waves. It felt so good to feel the sun like a blanket - the morning was exactly what I'd been looking forward to all winter.
After a few hours of doing basically nothing, Daniel and I ate lunch outside a nice little Japanese restaurant. We had a delicious sushi roll as an appetizer and then stuffed ourselves with a meal of chicken, fried rice, and noodles.
After lunch, we went back to the beach and found a spot to lay our towels. By that point, the beach had gotten pretty crowded with families so it wasn't quite as nice and relaxing but I still appreciated our time. From the few 'tools' we had collected during the day, we attempted to make a sand castle which required several trips to the chilly ocean for water. It ended up looking more like a sand city since we didn't have anything bigger than a cup, and we completed it with shells and gummy bears on top. It was fun to get our hands dirty and play with the clay like sand.
In the late afternoon, a storm started to blow in so we escaped New Jersey a little early for a night out in Manhattan. It was a short trip but I really was thankful for a day with no agenda or schedule and an opportunity to spend time with my best friend.
1. Mid-summer review at VLB
On Tuesday of July 4th week, my manager and I sat down with a guy from HR to do a mid-summer evaluation. My manager, being my manager, had actually sat me down the day before my official evaluation to tell me exactly what he thought I was doing well and how I could improve. I was a little nervous that he was going to come down hard on me but instead, he had a lot of good, positive feedback for me and even put a good spin on what I could improve on. I know that he likes me a lot and appreciates my efforts and work ethic so far. His positive affirmation is comforting since I have felt the freedom to be myself at work and not put up a front to look like some kind of arrogant hot shot or something. My manager did encourage me to be even more assertive, ask even more questions, and stick my nose into even more things that are going on around me. In all seriousness, he told me to ask a ton of questions because this is the one time in my career that I can be stupid and get away with it. Personally, I think that is best career advice I've heard so far. I'm thankful everyday for how much my manager supports me and encourages me.
2. July 4th Party
I had my first and only 3 day weekend of the summer and it was sooo nice. A short week and an extra day on the weekend makes such a difference! It actually wasn't too eventful aside from our 4th of July plans. Daniel's roommate's girlfriend, Carly, and her roommates hosted a little party/get-together at their apartment, complete with a pot-luck dinner and 2 kind of sangaria. I didn't know that many people there but it was fun to listen to Texas country and meet some new faces (who were mostly from Texas) and talk about life in NYC. Later on in the evening, we headed over to the Hudson to watch the fireworks show. Apparently, a planned arrival at 8 pm was way too late for a 9:30 show because the whole street all along the Hudson was packed with people - some of whom looked like they had been there for several hours. Our group of about 12 people followed a crowd of other people who were trying to make their way onto a hill in a construction zone. People were scaling a fence to get to the hill and others tried to get around it by stepping around the corner, which was about 15 feet above ground, and crawling along the fence a few feet to get to solid ground. We were among the latter group. Almost as soon as we got to the top of the hill with the rest of the masses and got excited about our view, several men with badges and flashlights came and told everyone that we needed to leave because we were trespassing. It was equally difficult to get down the hill and out of the zone as it was to get up. I felt like I was rock-climbing in a sundress and flip flops and despite Daniel's assistance, my ankle was slightly bruised by a rock that fell on it when I slipped and slid down the hill about a foot or so. By the time we made our way out of the zone, Daniel and I had basically lost the rest of the group and more police cars had showed up to make people leave. In the end, Daniel and I ended up watching the show from the street through the chain link fence surrounding the construction zone. Even so, I enjoyed the show and now have a crazy story to tell if people ever ask about my first Independence Day in NYC.
3. Brooklyn Pizza Party
Last Sunday night after church, I somehow got ropped into some plans to go all the way to Brooklyn to eat at this famous pizza place under the Booklyn bridge. I was really uncertain at first because it was far away from home and I always get nervous about the prospect of not getting enough sleep for work. However, I'm really glad I went because it ended up being a rather large group of people - about 15 or so - and I got to meet some friends of people in my summer intern community group who were visiting NYC for the weekend. We actually ended up eating at a different pizza place because the one we had originally planned on had a 1.5 hours wait (on a Sunday night!!). Even so, I had some great conversations on the train ride into Brooklyn and I really appreciated that time to just hang out and have fun with my new friends who I treasure so much. I hope to have more face time with them before they have to leave NYC at the end of the month :/
4. Intern Happy Hour
Last week, I decided that I was not getting enough face time with the other 14 interns in our division. So, after discussing things with another intern who lives in my building, I decided to take things into my own hands by inviting all 14 of them to brewery a few blocks away from work. In my mind, a coffee shop could have done the trick but here, you have to consider that New Yorkers only like to socialize over beer. I was a little surprised over the positive feedback I got leading up to the end of day. Some of the other interns were really excited about hanging out, all were appreciative that I took the initiative to plan it and the ones who couldn't make it urged me to plan another one. Out of 15 interns, almost half showed up and my sweet boyfriend also made his way to the bar to meet some of the people I've been spending time with this summer. I was glad for the opportunity to learn about some of the projects they've been working on becuase it seems like all of our experiences are vastly different from each other's.
5. Final presentation update
Like I mentioned earlier, I have to do a group presentation to our division's senior managment with 3 other interns on a pre-determined topic. I wouldn't say I'm nervous yet but I have to admit I'm a little anxious. Our topic is extremely broad and vague at the same time and somehow we have to narrow all the material that's out there down to a 20-25 minute presentation. Not only that, but our team has to know enough about the topics we discuss to endure a 10 minute Q&A session where the senior managers will probably grill us to death. Last week, my team made good progress by interviewing about 8 people from different areas within our division to get a sense of the current financial and political landscape. Even so, the narrowing down process has been the hardest part since it seems like everyone has a different idea about what's important (depending on their background or day-to-day activities). I'm hoping we can make good progress this week.
6. Red Cat Date Night
Wow, this title sounds really spicy =]. Daniel made dinner reservations for us at this amazing restaurant in Chelsea called the Red Cat. It was a really neat looking restaurant and had hints of red scattered in various places. I had a really cool looking (and tasting) zucchini appetizer with a nice piece of salmon as an entree. I'm not very good at ingredients but they did such a great job with mixing flavors to create picture perfect dishes. It was so tasty but more than that, I was so glad for the opportunity to catch up with Daniel and exchange stories about work and friends and life. It's so strange to think that we are both working on Wall Street and for the first time in 2 years, I am finally starting to understand things about Daniel's life here I just couldn't grasp before. I know what it feels like to work 11 hour days (not good), to never feel like you have enough of an evening before another day starts, and to look forward to the weekends in such a different way than in college.
7. Day Trip to the Beach
On Saturday, Daniel planned a little getaway for us - a day trip to the beach! We woke up early in the morning and met at the train station to take an early morning train to one of the Jersey beaches. I was wide awake on the way up but Daniel definitely wasn't.
The train ride was pretty long (about 1.5 hours), Daniel was trying to sleep, so I got a little bored. So, I snapped a few pictures. Maybe I snapped too many because Daniel wasn't having fun anymore. This next pic made us both laugh aloud for awhile:
When we actually got there, the beach was so much fun and soooo relaxing. We spent the whole morning just laying out, talking, and listening to the sound of the waves. It felt so good to feel the sun like a blanket - the morning was exactly what I'd been looking forward to all winter.
After a few hours of doing basically nothing, Daniel and I ate lunch outside a nice little Japanese restaurant. We had a delicious sushi roll as an appetizer and then stuffed ourselves with a meal of chicken, fried rice, and noodles.
After lunch, we went back to the beach and found a spot to lay our towels. By that point, the beach had gotten pretty crowded with families so it wasn't quite as nice and relaxing but I still appreciated our time. From the few 'tools' we had collected during the day, we attempted to make a sand castle which required several trips to the chilly ocean for water. It ended up looking more like a sand city since we didn't have anything bigger than a cup, and we completed it with shells and gummy bears on top. It was fun to get our hands dirty and play with the clay like sand.
In the late afternoon, a storm started to blow in so we escaped New Jersey a little early for a night out in Manhattan. It was a short trip but I really was thankful for a day with no agenda or schedule and an opportunity to spend time with my best friend.
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