Seattle

I'm working on my third week of my internship here in Seattle, and so far, it's been overall good. It started okay but as I've gotten to better understand the structure here and interacted with everyone, I'm growing accustomed to everything. It takes 2 wks to make a habit, so I suppose it's a habit now. After working a cube job for the 3rd summer, I think I'm reaffirming my desire to not work in a cube when I graduate. I'd like to do consulting, but who knows if that's going to happen. I sure do hope so!

So since I barely have time to write, since I work from 8 to 5 and then get home and am exhausted, I'll make lists.

Weeks at Work: 2, working on 3rd
Living: with my brother in Belltown
Commute: walk to work, 1.15 miles (or 20-25mins each way)
Hours: wake at 7, work at 8, lunch, off at 5, gym at 5:30, dinner at 7, bed by 11 (ideal)
Watching: Better off Ted
Funny/Interesting Company Names I've Come Across here in Commercial Banking

• Erection Company
• First & Goal
• Fluke Electronics
• Kompact Kar Kompany
• Motorvation
• Tacoma Screw Product
• Core Oncology
• Cougar Holding
• Concentric Solutions

Books Read:

• Freakonomics by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt
• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
• Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
• reading, Sula by Toni Morrison

Seen/Done:

• Seattle Mariners Game
• Fremont's Summer Solstice Festival
• Seattle Gay Pride Parade
• Transformers
• RENT, the Broadway musical

Purchased:

• Mizuno Inspire 5 Running Shoes
• Washington Cherries for $2/lb
• UT Football season tickets + OU: $245
• Old Navy Flipflops: $2

Cuisines Had:

• Sushi (x2)
• Japanese
  
• Indian
• Hong Kong Style
• American
• (expensive) Classy Seafood
• Fish & Chips
• Pizza

Cuisines to be Had:

• Thai
• Ethiopian
• Vietnamese
• Greek

Things Planning to do:

• see Death Cab for Cutie (July 18/19) and/or The Fray (Aug 6)
  
• Harry Potter (July 15, in imax on July 29)
  
• Vancouver (x2 or x3)
  
• Meet up with Dave
• Ride the Seattle Duck Tour (while PLARS-ing)
• Chicago for Mortar Board conference (July 23-25)
• Run in a 10k in Seattle

OK, those are the only lists I can think of right now. I'll think of more later and update/change. If you have any suggestions for me if you're familiar with Seattle, pls let me know!!

(You can see photos of Seattle on my Facebook Seattle album. I'm too lazy to upload them here on blogger.)

Edit [7.8.09]
Food Eaten: Korean, Mediterranean
Tickets Bought: Death Cab for Cutie
Starting: Beginner Rowing classes Mon, Wed, Sat.
Overheard in the Elevator: "He's using his yuppie food stamps.. aka. $20 dollar bills."
Mariners Games: 2, lost both times- once in the company's suite right over home plate
Reading: Finished Sula, now reading Dreams From My Father, by Barack Obama
To Do: not meet up with Dave (scheduling issues)

Eurotrip

Music: We Made You- Eminem
Mood: Bumming

I apologize to all my readers (the whole handful) for not updating for more than three weeks. After going to Europe and having a blast, I've been sitting at home, wasting time, watching youtube, uploading photos on facebook, and just wasting time. It's been horrible. I hate waking up late and wasting time all day on the internet. Going to Europe and having limited internet access made me realize how I really don't need to depend on the internet. Yes, it provides me with email and gives me the ability to connect with others (and pay my bills online), but other than that, I have lately realized that the internet is a HUGE waste of time. I spent 3 weeks without the internet while in Europe, survived, and left with an understanding that I can better spend my time doing other things than constantly being plugged in. (The irony in all of this is that I type this revelation all while being logged into facebook with iTunes playing in the background and the nightly news playing on my TV. I admit, it's hard to escape, but when you do get a chance to escape, savour it!)

So let me get back on topic and talk about my three week trip to Europe. It was my first time in Europe, so be prepared for a pretty long blog entry that I've been putting off since I landed back in Houston last Thursday.

I left Houston on Tuesday, May 12th and landed in London on Wednesday, May 13th in the morning. The reason I even got the idea to go to Europe was because my mom had a 3 week business trip in London. She flew out the same day but on British Airways, and I was on Continental (because I wanted the miles on Continental rather than for American Airlines). Her flight landed a bit earlier than mine but was in Heathrow Terminal 5 and I landed in Terminal 4. Because there's no efficient way to transfer between Terminal 5 and 4, we decided it would be best to meet at the hotel. Fortunately, I'd consider myself a pretty efficient and seasoned traveler, so I charged up an Oyster card and hopped on the Picidilly Tube line for Hammersmith, where our hotel was. My mom got through immigration an hour before I did and was wondering where I was, but luckily, she ran into me when I was walking out of the tube station.

London, overall, was pretty amazing. I reminded a lot of Hong Kong. Like A LOT! I suppose that makes sense because Britain colonized Hong Kong for so long... the double decker busses, the funny spelling of some words (which has rubbed off on me... favourite, colour, behaviour), driving on the wrong side of the road and the driver's seat is on the wrong side as well. The Oyster card is very similar to the Octopus card in Hong Kong excpet that you can't use the Oyster to pay at McDonalds or 7-11 and using the Tube is a lot more expensive than using Hong Kong's MTR.

So rather than recap day-by-day of what I did in London, I'll simply make a list my likes and dislikes of the city.
London Likes:
- Museums are free
- Tube is easy to use
- Tesco, Mark and Spencer, and other on the go stores are EVERYWHERE
- English is spoken!
- The Victoria and Albert Museum
- The British Museum (home to the Rosetta Stone, Black Obelisk, among other things)
- The Natural History Museum
- Fish and Chips
- Pubs! (They're everywhere.. more pubs than there are starbucks and mcdonalds)
- Cider (Apple and Pear Cider, Bulmers and Mangers)
- Pasties (I got sick of them after a while, but they were still enjoyable)
- H&M! (there were about 3 in Oxford Circus
- strong jaw lines ;-)
- the weather (a lot cooler than Houston!!)
- cheap cell phones (I bought a pay as you go phone for 5 pounds! and paid about 4 pence to call interntionaly and about 15 pence to make local calls... and now I can use that GSM phone anywhere if I just get a SIM card)
- Leicester Square- so close to Chinatown, Picadilly Circus, Covent Garden, and the West End
- West End- for plays and musicals! (I saw Spring Awakening!!!!)
- Probably the highest per capita concentration of Bentley's, Aston Martin's, and Land Rovers
-Trafalgar Square
- Oxford Circus (great shopping and very active)
- Harrod's (the mega-huge department store with food halls!)

London Dislikes:
- Their credit card's have chips but ours don't so it take longer for US credit cards
- They actually compare your signature to the one on the back of your card before giving your card back to you
- Getting from Gatwick airport to the city is expensive!
- I used to thinkg their accents were cute, but now I found that they over pronouce their words too mch and it sounds way too funny
- Pounds are too expensive
- Royalty... =p
- Expensive Eurostar tickets (when you buy them at the last minute)

You can view my facebook album for more London photos and detailed captions to go along. Overall, I really enjoyed London. The Tube was easy to manage, and I really could see myself working in London for a year or so! After 12 days in London, on Monday, May 25th, I took the Eurostar to Paris, getting to Paris at about 1pm in the afternoon.

Paris was a lot different than London, and a huge culture-shock for me. The city was a bit ditier and harder to mange than London because Parisians don't really like speaking English. Again, likes and dislikes:

Paris Likes:
- The Palace of Versailles
- The Louvre
- Notre Dame
- French Combo meals at sandwich shops come with sandwich, dessert, and water (dessert > chips)
- Macaroons!!! <3 style="font-weight: bold;">Paris Dislikes:
- the RATP is EXPENSIVE and the little ticket system is annoying (very much like New York's)
- Parisians don't speak English
- the weather was moody (hot, and then cold)
- The streets are not well labeled at all so it's almost impossible to find anything
- Large tour groups
- Orly Airport (I was supposed to take the Orlyval train from Antony after riding the RER C line so I could sleep in the airport and catch my 6am flight to Rome, however, Orlyval stops running at 11 and I got there at 11:30, so I rode back into city, waiting for a night bus to the airport (but the bus drivers were on strike) so I had to wait on a dark Paris street for like 45mins in the middle of the night until the bus informant guy brought me information and helped me transfer onto a different bus to take a different bus, filled with drunk, smelly, scary people, to the the airport and finally getting at Orly at 3am-ish.)
- Smelly, drunk Parisians
- EasyJet (it's cheap and really reliable, but customer service is not at the top of their list)

Again, you can view pictures online on my Facebook under the Paris album. So after the whole bus ordeal and being scared out of my mind, I finally got to the Orly Airport and slept about 2 hours before getting through security and catching a 6am flight to Rome on Thursday, May 28th. After landing around 8:20am at the Campiano Rome airport, took a 1.20 euro bus to the Anginia metro stop to ride the metro for 1 euro to the Barbarini metro. From there, I walked to Via Rasella where I was supposed to meet up Ishanee, who landed at the other Rome airport (FCO) at 8am as well. It turns out, no one was answering the apartment doorbell except someone who said Pronto (and then I would say I'm meeting exchange students from Texas, and then she hung up..) So I was pretty sure I had the right street, so like a hobo, I sat on the street and just waited. I was already sleep deprived and sick of traveling because of my Paris airport ordeal. After waiting for 2 hours, Ishanee comes walking up the street, sees me, and we have a pleasant reunion. It turns out that the apartments weren't ready until the afternoon, so her driver took her to the study abroad headquarters and she was trying to call my London phone (which wasn't working) and didn't even know how to get to the apartment. Through some act of a higher being, Ishanee found me. It was a rough traveling day full of horrible experiences, but overall, Rome ended up being amazing! Especially since I got to travel and explore Rome with Shyam, Vicki, Ishanee, and Apu!

Likes and Dislikes of Rome.
Rome Likes:
- Ruins EVERYWHERE
- A new gelato flavour to try every day
- House Wine
- SPQR Water
- St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's Square
- The Vatican
- Piazza Navona
- Piazza del Popolo
- Trevi Fountain
- Victor Emmanuel II Monument
- Coloseum
- "staying" at the Yellow Hostel ;-)
- the Supermercato! (and fresh fruit!)
- Tivoli
- cool Roman nights
- Gappa, Melloncello, Fior de Latte, and wine tasting

Rome Dislikes:
- So many steps = good work out but extremely tiring
- Everything is in Italian, which looks a lot like spanish but isn't
- Being jetlagged/tired in a Vodaphone store
- My London cell phone working in paris but not in Rome until the last day
- Cobble stone is so hard to walk on
- after the 3rd or 4th day, Pizza and pasta got annoying but I couldn't afford the 2nd course veal or meatball dishes.. but i had some pretty good pizza
- hot roman days
- the rain

After 7 days in Rome, I had to fly back to London on June 3rd. Catching my afternoon flight from FCO to LGW (Gatwick), I got back to Hammersmith where I met my mom around 8pm. We went to the local pub that serves really good food (Queen's Head in Hammersmith), and I had my last meal in London-- Fish and Chips with some apple cider. I regret never trying Fullers but cider was really good. The next morning, I took the tube to Heathrow, and flew to New York, Newark, and then connected to Houston.

All in all, it was a great, affordable trip. I spent about 530 on the airfare to London, some more on the Eurostar to Paris, and then got a pretty good deal on Easyjet from Paris to Rome and back to London. My housing expense was almost nil because I only had to pay for housing in Paris. Everything I spent money on food and drink and only one souvenir from Rome. I couldn't have asked for a better way to end a horrible semester. Surprisingly, despite all the stress of grades and internships, I ended this semester with all A's! (A in plan II physics!!! Respect that.) And I got a pretty solid internship in Seattle with a major US bank doing commercial banking, and I got to go to Europe for three weeks! It's starting off to be an amazing summer.

Now, after a week here at home, I'm flying off to Seattle tomorrow evening to begin my internship on Monday. I'll be living with my brother, and his place is about 15 blocks (or 1.15 miles, according mapmyrun.com) from my office! I'm really excited and can't wait to start. I'm a bit nervous because this is my first internship where I actually know some stuff about finance and will now be applying it to the "real world." I'm confident that I'll learn a lot from the internship and also be able to accomplish a lot! I'm also excited about being in Seattle for the summer. My goal was to lose 10 pounds this summer. I've already lost about 5 or 6 in Europe! Haha. Only 5 more pounds to go! I also want to jog a lot more (my brother said he'd buy me nice running shoes), so I can start preparing for the Austin Distance Challenge. I also am excited about being so close to Vancouver, Canada! I've also got a conference in Chicago in mid-July for Mortar Board, so that'll be excited to meet other Mortar Board people. I don't know if I'll have a chance to explore Chicago at all, but hopefully I'll get to see a couple friends while I'm there. After that, I'll be flying back from Seattle on August 22nd and moving into my house in Austin soon after.

If you've read this entire blog, Kudos to you. Leave a comment saying you have! If you want any pictures, please see my facebook. With that, I need to shower and start packing! Here's to a great summer!

Last Offiical Post of 2008-2009 Academic Year

Music: Red Dirt Road- Brooks & Dunn
Mood: At Peace but slightly nervous

Learned that happiness on earth ain't just for high achievers
I've learned I've come to know
There's life at both ends
Of that red dirt road

WOW! This semester has finally come to an end. Good riddance! But now, I have nothing to complain about (well, maybe some about classes, but other than that, nothing).

I have awesome news to announce. After a countless number of interviews, hundreds of emails, and too much stress, I finally was offered an internship with a large national bank where I'll be working in their commercial banking office in Seattle! I cannot believe how amazing this opportunity sounds! I can't wait to get involved. This is my first financial internship where it appears that I'll get to do valuations, company analysis of debt, pitch reports, etc.! It seems like a great 10 week opportunity, and I can't believe I'll be able to go to Seattle, live with my brother for 10 weeks, take the free bus to work everyday, and enjoy the Northwest!

So to give you a review of this past week, I got my internship offer on Wednesday. After confirm that I'd start on June 15th, I booked my ticket to London, leaving from Houston on Tuesday, May 12th. My mom is in London, so I'll stay with her in her hotel, explore the city, see my cousin goes to college there, and visit either Ireland or Scotland with my mom. Then on May 22nd or 23rd, I'm going to take the Eurostar to Paris, France and explore Paris by myself (or with my cousin) for 5 days. Then after that, I'll fly to Rome on May 28th and meet up with some of my good friends who are studying abroad in Rome for the summer! I'll stay in Rome until June 3rd and then return back to London, where I'll fly back to Houston on June 4th! Then I'll have about a week until I fly to Seattle to intern! I'll intern until August 21st, fly back to Houston on the 22nd, and then move into my house in Austin on Sunday or Monday just in time for classes! It's going to be a whirlwind of a summer, but I'm ready for it, given this semester has been crazy.

So thank you for everyone who has showed concern about my internship search. I really appreciate you for your support and for putting up with my stress and complaining.

In reflecting about this past semester, I realized how much I hated the last four months. This past semester made up 1/8th of my semester which I'll never get back. It's sad, but sometimes, we get caught up in achieve our goals that we don't take a step back to enjoy ourselves. Like I mentioned in a previous post, it's not just about the ends in life but the journey of how we get there. I think many times, I am extremely short-sighted and have my blinders on. With the stress of searching for a job as well as juggling classes, I failed to realize how good my life is-- I haven't really been affected by the recesssion, financially; I'm in good health; I have amazing friends; and there are many more things to be thankful for. I didn't realize this until I talked with my mother and my good friend I met during my freshman internship. Talking with them really opened my eyes and helped me really appreciate everything that I've been blessed with. Even though I've had a hard semester, I'm leaving with all As (hopefully.. unless I get a B in my FAP class, which then I'll be extremely upset), a great summer internship in Seattle, and the ability to travel to Europe for about 3.5 weeks! I'm not complaining.

Before I end this post for the school year, I want to set my goals for the summer and next year.
Summer:

• Explore London, Paris, and Rome, save money but enjoy myself and relax!
• Spend quality time with my brother in Seattle; don't fight; explore the Northwest wilderness
• Learn a lot with my company; keep asking for more work; apply what I've learned; work hard; give 100%
• Get quality running shoes and train for distance runs
• Lose 10 pounds (yes, I know, sounds like a weird goal, but I put on weight since Hong Kong and haven't lost it yet)
• Meet new people in Seattle
  

2009-2010 Academic Year

• Do the Austin Distance Challange: 10k, 10mi, half marathon, 20mi, half marathon, austin marathon
• Go to all the UT football home games, including OU
• Get a consutling full-time offer
• Enjoy Austin places that I haven't been to yet
• Savor current friendships and develop new friendships

That's all I can think of right now. But I'll be sure to update this summer with how things are going, but this is my last official post for this school year! I hope everyone has a great summer!

Stressed^3

Music: Club Love- mix of Love Story + Love In This Club

First of all, check out this mix between Taylor Swift's Love Story and Usher's Love In This Club! It is amazing and really catchy!

So I am more stressed, I am STRESSED to the cubed root. This week hasn't been that bad with my classes because I worked really hard this weekend and knocked out my Marketing Plan and the TC paper. I've got a FIN 367 and a FAP test tomorrow. I'm not too worried about those tests because I've already studied and I'm fairly confident of the material. I've got an FAP paper to write with a group as well, but that shouldn't take too long at all. What is stressing me out is this whole job thing.

I got an offer with a local area CPA firm that wants me to come into training this week and then start May 18th. I'm very fortunate to have been selected to do accounting work, even though I'm a finance major, and feel the position would allow me much accounting experience. The issue is, I still have to hear back from two companies where I'd be doing finance related work. I have to tell the CPA firm whether I'll accept the offer or not by Wednesday at 5pm. One of the companies I'm waiting to hear back from is in Seattle and the other is in Houston. The one in Seattle said they'd get back to me today, but I got an email saying that they'd have to delay till tomorrow because of some issues. So I'm guaranteed to hear back from them tomorrow. I hope it's good news, because it'd be cool to be in Seattle. Also, if I get an offer in either Houston or Seattle, it means I'll have some down time between when school ends and when my internship starts. Because of this, I would be able to fly to London (and see my mom, who is there on business) and then I'd also go see Paris for the first time and then fly to Rome to meet up friends who are studying abroad there.

That's the ideal situation. I'm lucky enough to not have to take any finals and I'll be done with everything on Thursday. The issue is just I am not sure what my summer plans are yet, and it's driving me crazy. I'm not extremely superstitious, but I really want the internship in either Seattle or Houston, but I'm trying not to think about it and set myself for even more disappointment that's be the theme of this semester. So in short, wish me luck tomorrow regarding my internship results. I'm hoping for good news and am fairly confident, but worst case scenario is working here in Austin this summer with a CPA. I mean, that's not that bad, but the other opportunities are a lot better. I guess that's why they call them opportunities though, because they're not guaranteed. So pray for me, send good luck my way, rub your lucky coins, do your happy dance; whatever you normally do for good luck, do it, because I really need it! Thanks! =)

STRESSED

Music: Metro Station- California
Mood: STRESSED!

"What do you say we leave for California
If we drive all night we can make it by the morning
And no one has to know if we decide to go
What do you say we leave for California"
-California, by Metro Station

Wouldn't it be nice to just drive all night somewhere and escape from this madness that is my life?

There are not enough hours in the day for the amout of work I have due next week. This week was extremely hectic and stressful. In addition to several off campus interviews in the Austin area, I have had to prepare for the end of school and that means working on several projects, tests, and group assignments.

Let's start with good news first: I am exempt from my Plan II physics final exam and have earned an A in the class!!!! I was one point away from being exempt from the final, and after looking over old tests, I found areas where I deserved more points than I was awarded and after correcting those with the TAs, my average went up and I met the criteria for being exempt! This means that I'll be done with classes on Thursday, May 7th!! WOW, that's next Thursday!

However, with that said, here is the bad news. I have three tests (MKT 377H, FIN 367, FIN 377.3) and three 20-page papers (TC 357- paper on microfinancing, MKT 377H- extensive marketing plan, FIN 377.3- Google stock analysis and valuation). In addition to all of that, I still have to do a write-up for my physics class about a book and complete the homework for next week. The tests are on Monday and Wednesday, and the papers are all due by Friday. Needless to say, I am STRESSED, in all capital letters.

Yesterday, I took a few of Hong Kong exchange students to Cheesecake Factory and the Domain. They really loved it and I'm glad the enjoyed the experience. I honestly didn't have time to take them, but I was kind of forced to because I volunteer myself several weeks ago before I realized I'd be this busy. Then, after dropping them back off in Riverside, I went to the Mortar Board meeting where I ended running for president and winning. So, I'll be the president of Mortar Board next year. It'll be an interesting year, and I'm lucky to be able to shape and change the organization for the better.

Then this morning, I woke up at 3:30 to take my Hong Kong buddy to the airport to catch her 6am flight. She honestly should have called a cab to take her the 6 miles from Riverside to the airport, but whatever, I got suckered into helping her out, and I guess I'm just too nice of a guy to say no. Then, I went back to sleep for a bit and woke up for the Honors Convocation at 10am. After that, I basically have been working on the marketing plan for my marketing class, which is taking an eternity! I took a break to talk to my Finance professor, Dr. Alok Kumar, who agreed to be my second reader for my plan II thesis, so I'm glad that I have my thesis stuff finalized now. I just need to write a short report of my ideas and then turn that into the office before I leave for the summer.

Now, the main issue is: what am I going to do this summer?!?!?!?! This has been driving me nuts! I know I'm going to London after school ends to explore the city and see my mother, who is there on business. I've never been to Europe so I'm am excited about this. I'd also like to visit Paris while I'm there and also visit Rome because some of my good friends will be studying abroad there starting May 28th. The issue is, I know I'm going to London, but then I don't know when I should be back because I haven't finalized an internship offer yet. I have several leads which I'm waiting to hear back from so that I can finalize my start date and the book my flight to London.

The stress has been so bad that I have not been sleeping well at all. With so many thoughts running through my head, I've been either sleepless or waking up at random hours of the night stressing about something. This by far, has been the worst semester ever. With one week left of school, I'm getting extremely stressed and nervous about this summer and what I'm going to be doing. This uncertainty is literally driving me crazy. C'est la vie.

A Weird State of Being

Music: Come On Get Higher- Matt Nathanson (yes, I just listed this as my song a couple posts ago, but because I just got a new phone and made this my ringtone, it's stuck in my head, and I love it!)
Mood: Stressed, Busy, but calmly relaxed

I really do apologize for being gone from this blog in the last few weeks. I have been swamped with work and really stressed in the past few days that when I haven't been working or preparing for interviews, I've been sleeping.

So where did I leave off? This past Friday, I had a 2nd round interview with a middle-market lending firm based out of New York, so I drove to Houston on Thursday evening and stayed in a hotel downtown. The internship is in Houston in the Energy group, and I really hope to get this internship. From talking with the people in the office and the outline of the job description, it seems like a great opportunity to apply what I've learned specifically in finance with valuations and financial analysis so I really hope to intern with this company. I also hope they tell me soon so I can have some idea of what I'm doing this summer and I can then stop looking at other firms in Austin. It's a only a moment of time, but I am confident that I'll get something for the summer. I just hope it's with this company in Houston. The interviews went really well, and I was truly able to connect with the people I talked to on a personal level. I think they were impressed with my resume and knew that I have a good head on my shoulders, and from there, I think they're looking for fit. Personally, I felt there was a match there and the work seems great. I just hope they felt the same way.

So apart from interviewing for the company in Houston, I've been swamped with projects and assignments. This weekend, I was extremely productive, but I didn't get to enjoy being home as much as I wanted to. I got to meet up with a HS friend who goes to Rice, which was really nice! I really enjoyed our conversation and catching up with her. Besides that and seeing my parents and indulging in chinese food, I worked on the FAP presentation about Google, worked on a presentation for my Plan II TC class about microfinancing, wrote up a marketing discussion, and also worked on a finance individual project that took way too much time, in my opinion. Haha. Funny thing my mom brought up. Everytime I come home, I overeat chinese food and chinese bakery items. She mentioned that because I love chinese food and Houston probably has one of the best chinatowns in the nation, I'll probably end up close to home. Which, thinking about this, if I moved to say, Dallas or Austin, I don't know how i'd survive without good chinatown food! YIKES. Looks like i'm limited to NYC, SF, or Houston.. but I guess seattle has a small chinatown and chicago does as well. We'll see, but the point of all that rambling was because I LOVE CHINESE FOOD. =)

So getting back on topic, in addition to giving 2 presentations today, I had a recruiting dinner with a consulting firm to discuss full-time opportunities with the firm. I thought it was ironic that this was my first full-time recruiting dinner, and I still haven't finalized my internship offer for the summer yet. However, it was weird looking into the future and trying to figure out what I wanted to do for the next 3-5 years. But, I really enjoyed learning about the firm and hope I'll be able to recruit with them in the Fall.

Later today, after that dinner, I worked on a stock pitch I have to give to my MBA in FAP to discuss with him the benefits of UPS. Then, I have a short quiz in Ballroom dancing tomorrow evening and then I need to prepare for a quiz in finance on Wednesday. This week is somewhat tame, but there is always work to be done! I have to work on a marketing plan which is due on Fri, May 8th. I also have a TC paper on microfinancing due Fri, May 8th. Before then, I have a Marketing Exam on Monday, and an FAP and a FIN test on Wednesday. Then, I have one final exam in P2 Physics (which I hope I don't have to take if i did well on this past test, but that's highly unlikely), so my first and last final is on May 13th. From there, I really hope I'll know what I'm doing this summer. I honestly don't have any back up plans if the one in Houston doesn't work out. I'm entertaining things in Austin, but like I said, Houston is where I want to be this summer.

OK, well. it's 1am and I really ought to go to bed. I have to meet my MBA at 9:45am in business casual. Sorry for being extremely stream of conscious in this post. I just wanted to give y'all an update without having to do too much thinking.

Plan II Physics Test

Music: buzz of the laptop

Mood: strange

I guess all the stress has had a physical impact on me. I haven't really noticed anything different, but several people have told me that when they just see me, it seems like something is wrong. Honestly, there's nothing really wrong with me, but I appreciate everyone who has asked or reached out to me. I just hope that this isn't noticable when I do interview with the company in Houston on Friday. That's right, I'm driving down to Houston on Thursday night to interview with a banking company that does loans for mid-sized clients on Friday. The work for this position seems very interesting, and I really think I'm going to benefit if I do get the internship. Needless to say, I really want this internship. I'm going to come off as enthusiastic as possible and express my sincere desire to work with them. They're interviewing 4 students from A&M and one other student from UT. Not bashing A&M students, but I'm hoping I can blow them out of the water.

Oh also, big shout out to Yolanda H. She told me that she reads my blog, and that totally made me happy to know that someone reads this. Haha.

Anyways, quick blog. I have so much going on, I'll try to update this weekend when I'm home, but I don't even know if I'll have enough time for that. YIKES.