The LABA party

LABA: Latin American Business Association. I quite popular student club in Stern. I am not even a member of it but I have attended the “famous” LABA party tonight. It’s said to be the best party in campus and it’s been good…but that’s it. Nearly 415.a.m. and, following this bad habit that I am getting used to in NY, it’s time to write some stuff before going to bed. Btw, “Antics” by Interpol sounds on my brand new speakers that my friends just shipped for me. Great present!

The night has started with a dinner in an Italian restaurant. It was all MBA1s from Stern. Nice conversation, good fun, expensive wine (I can’t still believe that we have paid around 100 bucks for two bottles of a nice – just that – Italian Chianti wine) and bad food. I haven’t been lucky with my choice and the gnocchi that I had were not tasty at all….I could have been eating any other thing in a green sauce….

After dinner we have headed over to the LABA party in a club called Crobar in 28th St. We have arrived there a little late and, unfortunately, we have missed the one-hour open bar. (Digression: Is consulting work fun? You never know when you meet certain people who work on it…and who make you waste a nice and convenient open bar!) A pity because I have ended up spending nearly one hundred bucks…. And I have only had three whiskies and a beer (inviting friends is nice but expensive!!!). Around 700 people – mostly Sternies – dancing, drinking, having fun…and quite ready to hook up with some of their peers. A couple of funny stories may be told about tonight. Not about myself , though, unfortunately… well, maybe I can say that certain Stern girl I hooked up with was kinda charming tonight…but I ain’t in the mood for that any more. It’s funny to see people dancing, playing around and …well, you know....

Once again, partying with people from outside of Stern is nice and healthy. I suggested a girl friend (and her girl friends) to come over to the party. They’ re pretty hot and very nice and most of my Stern friends were willing to meet them. I can understand why: pretty, friendly, easy going, and so forth. Doesn’t sound bad at all! If you add to that that they’re “outsiders”…. again, as I have said some other time, is a matter of mental health. Having said that, I’m realizing about how difficult is the “love thing” in this city. Maybe Carrie Bradshaw was right (maybe I should go through the Sex & the city episodes again!). Teasing, messing around, fooling around and so forth is really easy….but going serious is tough. Anyway, do I really want such a thing…..?

After such "deep" 430 am thoughts I’m going to bed. I have to wake up rather early for an Office of Career Development’s workshop for all international students. It`s gonna last around four hours. Hope it will be useful. Anything is welcome in order to try to make my mind a little clearer. Time goes by and I still don’t know what career track I’m going to pursue- But that will be part of a future post.

Ciao

My "first times"

Today it’s been a pretty important day. A day full of first times. Well, I ain’t gonna go into very deep stuff, it’s quite late (again, almost 3 am) to think about that specific First Time you are now thinking about. These other first times aren’t in capital letters.

The day has started early at 9 am with my first exam, statistics. Four pretty long problems that I haven’t been able to finish (pretty much the same than most of my class mates). It’s weird to feel again what taking an exam is (the GMAT and the TOEFL are a different thing), so many years later. All the problems implied numeric results and since I’ve not double-check them with anybody I don’t know what the outcome will be.

Later in the evening I have attended a conference given my Chuck Prince, the CEO of Citigroup. My first conference so far. This kind of stuff is what definitely makes Stern different. These are the kinds of advantages of being located where it actually is. A great opportunity.

After the conference, first physical approach to networking. I have already written about the importance placed on networking at Stern and on how important it is to make contacts and to try to use them properly. I had already sent out in the past days a number of emails to my (very limited) contact list, asking for some pieces of advise and… for further contacts in companies/industries of my interest. I felt kinda embarrashed and uncomfortable...However, the physical approach is much more difficult.

As I said before, I have experienced such physical approach today for the first time. You see the target (a recruiter, very often, although not necessarily, an alum from the school), you study who she/he is with, you wait for the right moment, you try not only not to eat anything of what is being offered at the reception but also to prevent your hands from sweating while you try to figure out how to break the ice and what to say to a person you’ve never seen before and to whom you want to appear as a potential good candidate. You get there and….

….well, in my case it’s been good! I have actually talked to two of them and one has given me her business card to send her an email with a couple of queries. A good start. It sounds silly but I was kinda high after this "successful" first adventure.

Later, before heading back home I have gone through my last first time of today: hairdresser’s. It isn’t easy to find the right place in a new city but following a friend’s recommendation I have ended up at the place of an Italian guy who has been living in NY for forty years. Not bad at all.

Tomorrow I will have my first big networking event: a meeting with Stern alumni organized by the Graduate Finance Association. A good opportunity to get some insights and to try to get some business cards from guys working in finance stuff. Btw, hard to believe but I will need to get the suit and the tie out of the closet. The race is about to start. Go!

Ciao

Brooklyn Etc.

It’s around 2330 pm and I have just arrived at my place. I’ve been to Brooklyn. Just a couple of subway stops from Union Square. Some girl friends were hosting a party at their place. An amazing place. Their apartment is great: big living room, two bedrooms and a great tv and couches that they just got for free on Craigslist (amazing but true!) and an amazing rooftop where we have hung around since around 4 pm: burgers, sausages, pasta salad, beers and some caipiroskas… Around fifteen people, most of them new to me. The view of Manhattan’s skyline was awesome and watching the dusk on a beautiful and sunny day was simply amazing. This is definitely New York.

By the way, what keeps driving me more and more crazy is seeing some people’s apartments…and then coming back to my shitty place. I have to move out, hopefully for Spring term….

It’s kinda healthy to get out of the Stern circle from time to time, oherwise the NYC experience would not be complete. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really happy with the school and its people but it’s a matter of mental health, I guess.

I’m gonna go to bed soon. I’m wasted. I went out for a quick drink on Friday night (first time in Meatpacking, btw) after spending nearly 5 hours with my study group inside a room trying to get rid of our first Statistics assignment (and, in my case, trying to understand what a bloody pivot table is and to deal with 1,000 rows Excel files…It’s amazing that it’s given for granted that everybody is proficient with Excel!!) due tomorrow.

On Saturday I spent the whole day reading on returns and yields, demand curve elasticity and writing an essay to apply for the highly selective Integrated Development Program for career switchers to get some insights on specific industries. Let’s see if I’m lucky enough to make it. Once I was done with work I headed for some bars and latter to a party to which an Argentinean class mate was invited (full of Hispanic people and where a Mexican girl wouldn’t give the time although I had some good vibrations…). Back home around 430 am….and today early up due to a damned trial fire alarm nearby. Did I say before that I wanna move out?

Well, I don't expect the incoming week to be particularly hard although I have a Firms & Markets assignment due on Wednesday and Finance and Strategy assignments due next week. We’ll see. Socially speaking, the entrepreneurs’ club and the European club will hold their kick-off meetings.... and well, a friend and I have been talking about giving a go to NY nightlife in the middle of the week... I'll tell you about it next time.

Ciao

First Impressions Of Class

Sunday morning. I should have woken up a little earlier but I was out yesterday night. It was a good night out in the East Village, in particular at a place where we manage to enter and soon realized that a kind of private party was going since the drinks were free. Awesome.

Anyway, it’s been the first week of classes and my impressions are pretty good. I have already had at least a session (one hour and twenty minutes at Stern) for each of my courses. I’m gonna have to work quite a lot – more than expected, I guess – but it seems like I may also learn a lot if I do things properly.

It seems like Foundations of Finance is gonna be the toughest course, alongside with Accounting. Both are pretty technical and will require to work on a day-by-day basis, otherwise it’ll be impossible to catch up thereafter. Professors Silber and Gode, respectively, seem to be pretty good and I hope this will help.

Strategy, with Professor Nayyar may be good fun. I’d never been through any case study before and the first one about Ducati’s turnaround program was pretty good. Terms like matrix, Porter or competitive advantage are already common. The thing about this course is that it demands extensive reading every week.

Concerning my other two courses, Firms & Markets (i.e. Microeconomics) and Statistics, I don’t think that they’re gonna be too hard. The professors seem to be very nice and helpful guys. By doing the respective weekly assignments I should be ok.

However, what it’s been more shocking to me is class participation. Everybody is eager to participate and speak in class. Probably due to the fact that almost nobody at all speaks in class in my country's college, this is kind of weird to me. Professors here encourage participation and such participation counts toward your final grade, to a larger or shorter extent, as the case may be. Professor Silber has already told us that “everybody will have to speak at least once through the fall break”. So, I'd better say goodbye to any fears and improve my English speaking skills quickly...

Well, let’s see how the second week develops. During the course of this week we’ll have kick-off meetings for some of the professional (a key resource here at Stern in terms of job search) and leisure clubs. Now I’m gonna come back to the Foundations of Finance reading concerning discounted cash flows valuation….

Ciao

Taking advantage

Hey there!

It’s 430 am of Labour Day, a bank holiday in the US. It’s Monday. I have just arrived in my place. It’s been a good night out. Another one. I have decided to play Eyes Open, the last record by Snow Patrol. Yesterday I saw an advert in the street concerning their prospective gig in NY. Already sold out, unfortunately. I have to become more effective in terms of leisure in NY. There is so much going on every day that it’s not difficult to miss things.

During the pre-term we’ve been advised to take full advantage of these two years in NY. It’s somehow given for granted that every single MBA student is going to study as much as necessary (we all are old – and responsible – enough not to waste the huge amount of money we’re investing…I guess) but the other side of the coin, that is, having fun, must also be developed. And that’s what I’m trying to do so far.

Classes are starting tomorrow (I mean Tuesday) and a couple of assignments are already due. I am still pretty shocked by the amount of work to be prepared for a single lecture. As regards Foundations of Finance (by professor Silber, very admired here), around 100 pages of the main book concerning how stock markets work, efficiency, introduction to trading orders, etc., and a 15 pages article. Lots of brand new terminology. The Strategy course also starts on Tuesday and a 50-page reading and a case are due.

The pre-term finished on Thursday (by the way, the Booze Cruise was great. The food, drinks, the skyline from the Hudson…..and the people’s mood. Let’s just say that everybody was, after a couple of weeks kind of checking out the talent, waiting for it….) and lots of work was ahead of us due Tuesday. I did not go out on Friday and spent the whole Saturday reading. Saturday night out and back home around 230 am. Sunday spent with more extensive reading. And night out, as you all can see. I’m done with Finance but there’s quite a lot left as regards Strategy. But I believe I’ll be ok.

Having said that, the point I just want to make is that it’s in my view a key (and necessary) point to take full advantage of every single day. I’m also following the piece of advice provided. For instance, tonight I’ve gone to Brooklyn with some friends to have some drinks to a great place by the river (Manhattan’s skyline was awesome from there) and then we have headed back to Manhattan to the so called Motherf***** party (this time at a place close to Union Square), which takes place before bank holidays. A pretty curious and worth seeing thing. Before getting in I have come across a guy who was dressed and looked like Jesus Christ. A few minutes later, already inside the club, after Boys & Girls by Blur and Common People by Pulp, I have been able to see a 60-year-old Ernest Hemingway in the dance floor, Jack the Ripper, Marilyn’s double, a number of Robert Smith’s (The Cure’s leading singer), punks, George Michael’s in the famous police video clip… This is New York.

I’ll be waking up a few hours to resume my reading. But the night has been great. I won’t probably be able to stick myself to this pace for the whole two years. But let’s try, though. Ciao!