I am a very happy chap today!!! Just moved into my home for the next 2.5 months in Hong Kong and honestly, I like it. For starters, there's wireless broadband in my room...WOOHOO! Though I had to pay like 400 HKD for it. Secondly, there's cable in my room!!! WOOHOO! haha...World Cup, here I come.
The hotel which I am staying is called Bishop Lei and its located in the Mid-Levels of Hong Kong island, kinda like an expat upper-class residential area. Its set amidst the lush green hills of Hong Kong island and I can see the fog covered top of Victoria Peak from my room. Which is kinda refreshing and relaxing. I heard that if I got assigned the other side of the hotel, I would have a sweeping view of Victoria Harbour, but alas. All interns are usually assigned the hilly view. =p
Did some grocery shopping and bought a ton of junk food. Potato chips and cup noodles mainly. Hey, a man gotta sustain himself through the World Cup fever right? Also bought loads of cereal and milk. Can't let my tummy go hungry when I go to work in the mornings. Short post today. Feeling abit lethargic.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Testing 1 2 3...Testing 1 2 3
After a hiatus of more than 3 months, here I am. Back blogging.
So much has transpired over the past 3 months that I don't even know where to begin with. Hmmm...For starters, here I am, all alone in Hong Kong serving my internship. LOL. Feeling a myriad of emotions all at once. Excitement over my 1st day of work on Monday, trepidation of failing to leave up to the expectations of my firm, loneliness of living so far away from my loved ones, not to mention injustice, fear, anxiousness, and you've got a pretty messed up being.
I gotta pull myself together. I need to. I have to. Work's starting on Monday and I must perform at my zenith.
Was speaking to a friend from NYU (Stern Business School) who is also in Hong Kong for her internship and realised that all her Singaporean friends in NYU are also in Hong Kong for their internships. Lemme count...2 in Lehman, 1 in Morgan Stanley, 1 in Deutsche, 1 in JPMorgan and herself in UBS. And guess what? All in i-banking. Earning twice my pay for doing more or less the same job. grrrrrr. Life's a bitch and I've gotta live with it. WTF.
Was telling Brat last night about the injustice and we agreed that we've gotta work doubly hard from now on, and ensure that our kids will enjoy the chance to attend one of the Ivy Leagues in the States. I wouldn't want to deny my kids the opportunity that their father never got. My friend was telling me that all-in-all, it cost about SGD 80,000 per year for her NYU experience.
Hahahaha...I was thinking aloud to myself, "at 80,000 per year, even if my parents sold away our HDB flat to support my 4 year of education in New York, we would still be 100,000 short." Damn it. I love my university. I truly do. SMU has given me opportunities than I could ever dream possible. Coming to Hong Kong on an internship, working in a bulge-bracket investment bank. Not many of my peers from Singapore universities get to have the opportunity.
BUT, this is my whole exact fucking point. So what if you have a 3.9 GPA in SMU, been the founder/president/captain of clubs in SMU, the darling of all the deans. Attend an interview attended by Singaporean candidates from Wharton, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Stern, Sloan...blah blah...and you will get my point. All the top jobs would invariably drift towards them. Leaving zilch for local undergrads.
I'm just eating sour grapes. For the obscene amount of money that those Singaporean students pay to attend all these Ivy League universities, I guess its a form of return on their investment. However, I would like to stress that in no way, am I less capable than them. Not in a million years. Throw me an Ivy League undergrad anyday and I'll tear them apart. ROARRRRRRRR!
So much has transpired over the past 3 months that I don't even know where to begin with. Hmmm...For starters, here I am, all alone in Hong Kong serving my internship. LOL. Feeling a myriad of emotions all at once. Excitement over my 1st day of work on Monday, trepidation of failing to leave up to the expectations of my firm, loneliness of living so far away from my loved ones, not to mention injustice, fear, anxiousness, and you've got a pretty messed up being.
I gotta pull myself together. I need to. I have to. Work's starting on Monday and I must perform at my zenith.
Was speaking to a friend from NYU (Stern Business School) who is also in Hong Kong for her internship and realised that all her Singaporean friends in NYU are also in Hong Kong for their internships. Lemme count...2 in Lehman, 1 in Morgan Stanley, 1 in Deutsche, 1 in JPMorgan and herself in UBS. And guess what? All in i-banking. Earning twice my pay for doing more or less the same job. grrrrrr. Life's a bitch and I've gotta live with it. WTF.
Was telling Brat last night about the injustice and we agreed that we've gotta work doubly hard from now on, and ensure that our kids will enjoy the chance to attend one of the Ivy Leagues in the States. I wouldn't want to deny my kids the opportunity that their father never got. My friend was telling me that all-in-all, it cost about SGD 80,000 per year for her NYU experience.
Hahahaha...I was thinking aloud to myself, "at 80,000 per year, even if my parents sold away our HDB flat to support my 4 year of education in New York, we would still be 100,000 short." Damn it. I love my university. I truly do. SMU has given me opportunities than I could ever dream possible. Coming to Hong Kong on an internship, working in a bulge-bracket investment bank. Not many of my peers from Singapore universities get to have the opportunity.
BUT, this is my whole exact fucking point. So what if you have a 3.9 GPA in SMU, been the founder/president/captain of clubs in SMU, the darling of all the deans. Attend an interview attended by Singaporean candidates from Wharton, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Stern, Sloan...blah blah...and you will get my point. All the top jobs would invariably drift towards them. Leaving zilch for local undergrads.
I'm just eating sour grapes. For the obscene amount of money that those Singaporean students pay to attend all these Ivy League universities, I guess its a form of return on their investment. However, I would like to stress that in no way, am I less capable than them. Not in a million years. Throw me an Ivy League undergrad anyday and I'll tear them apart. ROARRRRRRRR!
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