A day to remember

It’s already Wednesday. 1 am. Today it’s been a key day, one of the most important ones since I arrived in NY.

First, we have had our first big snowfall. Well, it has not been exactly big but it’s been snowing quite a lot for an hour or so and the streets have gone slippery and white. It had already slightly snowed some other days but today I have felt like the very big snowfall is a little closer.

Second, I love Sex and the City. When I used to watch it with my flat mates back in my country on those great Sunday evenings I never thought that I would “learn” so much. It has been so much fun to go out for dinner with a girl and comment on the show… and get personalities’ definitions in terms of Sex and the City’s characters: she claims to be somewhere between Carrie and Charlotte and I am supposed to be somewhere Big and Aidan (she said I was a little bit like Aidan but I pointed out that some of my fears definitely stem from Big, no doubt about it). So much fun!

Thirdly, and more importantly, I can say – only subject to very final confirmation next week – that I have secured an offer for my summer internship. I am excited…and relieved. The rejections suffered so far may pay off. I will hopefully join a big media conglomerate (won’t say the name but did I tell you how much I dislike MICE.... until today?). I will hopefully be joining the business development division, which is exactly what I was looking for to have the big picture of the industry and some of its businesses. The slight flaw is that I will be returning to my country. I was more keen on remaining in the US for the summer but the opportunity is so good that I don’t mind coming back for three months. I am sure that I will be able to leverage on it after the summer and it will provide me with a great experience.

Well, going to bed now. Tomorrow will be a long day and I definitely need some sleep since I haven’t recovered yet from the weekend. In the meanwhile, white snow flakes keep falling outside….

Ciao

Welcome back to reality

It’s 313 am and I just got back home. Yeap, it’s been the first Stern “official” party. Beer blast as every other Thursday and then bar blast at a cool place in the Lower East Side. Holidays are over and after listening to lots of stories from so many people, by looking at people’s attitudes you may say that most of them are happy to come back to NY.

I didn’t know what music to play for this post. In the end I have chosen Alchemy by Dire Straits. It’s been ages since I listened to this record for the last time…

As I said before, people were kind of looking forward to this party and that necessarily translates into lots of drinks and flirting…or teasing… or whatever…It’s nice to hang around with your buddies again. It’s nice to talk to people about their holidays and stuff. And it’s also funny to see that you don’t remember some nice chicks from the MBA and that the chicks that you used to like keep playing the same kinds of games in the new year. I ain’t talking just about myself, it’ something general: flirting, dancing, teasing… and then somebody else shows up. SOme things will never change.

I have decided to come back home walking from the party. It’s getting freezing cold in here and now it’s around -12 degrees Celsius although the windchill makes it feel like even colder. I prefer not to think about it since in around 7 hours our first winter soccer practice will be taking place.

The first week has been nice. The courses I am taking look pretty good and it looks like it may a good term. In addition, the media industry seems to start waking up and some opportunities have already arisen. I may have an opportunity back in my country with a big studio. Returning to my country was not my main priority (at all!) but if this opportunity turns into an offer for the summer it would be too good to reject it…. We’ll see.

Going to sleep now. I’ll keep you posted

Ciao

Hangovers

Damn it, it’s almost 8 pm and I’m terribly tired. After three days going out and having very little sleep, my whole body is complaining. The day has not been very productive so far. A coffee and some hummus at one of the many places around where people go to have brunch, laundry and some ironing. Cool, isn’t it? Well, let’s see if I call the girl I met yesterday night to do something a little bit more “productive”.

But today I’m also experiencing a kind of hangover after this week’s job interviews. Although, as you know, I’m targeting the media industry. However, outside of that industry I only applied to a very good program within one of the big American banks. You know, very well paid internship, possibilities of securing a full time offer after graduation, sponsorship to stay in the US…although it was not my dream job…and I got in the closed list. Great efficiency.

Last Wednesday I had the first round with two interviewers and it was pretty bad since, for some reason, from the university’s career services my resume with all my media interests was provided to the bank (interests that I had obviously hidden to the bank when I did apply). As you can imagine, I was on the spot several times to try to explain all the media stuff and to make these guys sure that banking was on the very top of my list. When I finished the interview I was pretty upset about this and, of course, I didn’t expect to make it through to the second round. Surprisingly I did.

Then, on Thursday afternoon I went to Park Avenue for the second and final round: two half an hour interviews back to back, with one interviewer each. By 3 pm I was out and pretty happy. I felt like I had nailed both interviews, on both the behavioral and technical side. I felt like I was gonna get an offer. But I didn’t in the end. I got a call on Friday and I was told that they weren’t very sure about my finance interests. That was the feedback I got. And I guess that’s just right. Taking a look at how the first and second rounds went, I can say, once again, that the MBA recruiting process is pretty (if not a lot) random.

The best thing about this is that I won’t have to make a decision, a decision that was driving me crazy. As time was going by I was feeling like I would be accepting the eventual offer. Certainty was about to beat my tastes. Talking to your friends and realizing that many of them have already secured great offers from banks and consulting firms doesn’t help to make a bet on the uncertain track. But now I will have to take such a bet, there is no alternative. Many people think that not getting a banking offer is the best thing that could have happened to me.
I have to be confident. I have been told that many openings will come along, like they did last year. I will still have to work my ass up to get an interesting (and hopefully relatively well paid) summer internship. I will have to live with (and defeat) uncertainty, which is something I can barely stand. But now, more than ever, I will be pursuing what I want to do or, at least, what I think I want to do.

Ciao

Unprecedented load

It’s 7 am and I am sitting in font of my desktop, after drinking some traditional drink from my city made of coke and wine and listening to some music by a flamenco-influenced guy I essentially identify with that day in last July when my friends and I were in Ibiza and went sailing with two cute Italian girls.

It’s been a nice day. I have been showing a friend around NY: Soho, Chinatown, Little Italy, Financial District…, I have watched The Scoop by W. Allen on our brand new 42” screen and I have gone out with some friends. First to Meatpacking, back again to Hotel Gansevoor (beautiful 14th floor with Hudson views) after some time, and then to a party at a place in the West Village with a very Spanish touch…. I think I’ve been pretty close to score but in the end it’s just been a phone number. I will be calling her tomorrow most likely, though…but after that place, instead of going home I have gone to Macdougal St. to have some pizza with some friends and a girl that one of them had met at a bar. On our way out and before heading home, me and my friends have helped a girl to take (i.e. in our arms) his boyfriend to his place (literally, right in front of the kitchen) since he was so drunk that he could hardly stand on his feet. Pretty funny situation for us since the guy was completely numb but when have suggested to take a pic he has just showed us his middle finger. Hilarious!

Then back home with my friend who is staying at my place and the girl he met. Some drinks, music, nice talks and looooooots of imagination going on. In the end both of them are sleeping (or whatever) in the living although my friend does not know what is gonna happen. She was kinda hot and friendly but my friend met her so there was no point in “fighting” about her… some sleep will be better for sure, hahaha…
Ciao

Back to business

Hi there! It’s been some time since my last post but it’s been pretty hectic since I came back to the US. Very hectic, indeed, from the very beginning.

Let’s start from the beginning. I arrived in Newark airport on January 8th at 8 pm after an 11-hour trip, took a shuttle to my new place in the East Side, unpacked my luggage, packed a new suitcase and, following a couple of beers with some friends who were in town and 2 hours of sleep , a van picked me up at around 330 am to go back to Newark and to leave for LA on the first flight of the day to go on the so called LA Trek to visit a bunch of media companies – mainly studios – in the LA area. After 6 hours of sleep on the plane and with 55 bucks less after paying for a cab ride, I arrived at Fox around 1030 in the morning. I joined my mates there although I still didn’t know exactly where I was…

The trek was good. We had the chance to meet people from Fox, EMI, WBros (btw, I saw Dr. Lockhart and Dr. Weaver from ER having lunch!!! – why the heck didn’t I approach them to tell them how much I love that show? Once in a lifetime opportunity lost!), Disney, NBC Universal and Sony. It was really good to know about some of the opportunities available at these companies and I felt like that media is what I really want to do. The downside is that the presentations were informative rather than job-search oriented so, although I was able to make a couple of contacts, I will have to apply like anybody else through the websites. It’s gonna be tough, though…

I must also say that we attended a presentation at the new venture of Richard Rosenblatt, former Chairman of Myspace.com. It was great to know a little bit more of the typical Californian internet company. It’s amazing how the culture, approach and style differs from anything I had seen before. Moreover, it was awesome to be sitting next – and ask a question – to the guy who has created operated and sold companies amounting $1.3 billion. And he’s cool and laid back… meeting this kind of people makes me think what “doing business” means…it’s so diverse…

On January 11th I stayed at a friend’s place in the LA area and we went for a drink to Manhattan Beach with another friend. What an amazing place! I think I could live there. Living by the beach, surfing, sun, gorgeous chicks…and a little work. That sounds just like an amazing life. It was a little bit of the American dream that is usually exported overseas. Actually my friend told me that the beach house that the 90210 guys had (sooooo long time ago) in the show is located there. At 4 am Friday, January 12th a Supershuttle van picked me up at my friend’s place and I caught a plane at 7 am at LA International and flew back to New York. I was supposed to go on a short trip to San Diego and Baja with a friend but he had a health problem and we couldn’t make it in the end. It was a big pity but, at the same time, I was happy to be flying back in NY.

When I got back to NY I felt great. Seeing my friends again, spending my first “proper” night at my new place…. We had to celebrate and we went out and partied hard… but that was only the beginning of a hard weekend….and in a different way than the one you are thinking of…

On Saturday morning we woke up early, rented a van and left for IKEA. Some people may think of it as the perfect Saturday but spending 8+ hours there, choosing furniture, taking it to the van, driving back to NY through traffic jams and then taking all the stuff up to our non-lift 3rd floor is not my perfect Saturday. We went out for a drink to stress out a little bit but we were far too tired to enjoy. The end of the night was weird for me because I probably met with a girl I used to hang out with for the very last time. I didn’t want to finish with our story (whatever that means) but she wanted something more serious. Same old story for me….It was a bittersweet farewell...

DIY. Ikea implies DIY stuff and I hate it. Well, I spent 13 hours last Sunday trying to set up my closet, a desk, a drawers chest and some other stuff. I finally made it and I can hardly believed it. My roommates faced the same challenge. Now our place looks more like a home although there are still cardboard boxes around. A little more work is left but in a few days we will be done. Just ready for the start of classes next Monday.

I will have to give an update on academics and job search. Maybe tomorrow, once I finish off some stuff up in Park Avenue…
Ciao

New year's blues

First post of the year. Second and last post that I will be writing while in my hometown. In three days I will be coming back to the US. I am strongly looking forward to it.

I started reading Tokyo Blues by Haruki Murakami three days ago and I am about to finish it. I can’t stop reading it. I only have fifty pages or so to go so I still don’t know how it finishes. So far, at certain points, I have felt somehow identified with Watanabe, the main character. I wouldn’t know how to explain it, though. It may have been my memories from my trip to Tokyo a year ago, or the references to Scott Fitzgerald or to the Catcher in the Rye, or maybe to The Beatles or to the communication (the lack thereof, to be more precise) feelings stated in the book. Or maybe all of them together.

Despite what I wrote about in the previous post, the very last days have been weird. The feelings of extreme joy and happiness that I had a few days ago for coming back have almost vanished and I want, I need in fact, to come back to NY.

It would be unfair on my side to say that I’m disappointed with the days spent in my hometown but I guess that when you are about to come back to the place where you belong you expect that everything is going to be great fun and awesome with your family and friends. That’s how I felt a few days ago. However, now that the first days are gone, I can’t help feeling misplaced. Here I am, on holidays, without much to do and just for a few days. I’ll be leaving soon and I don’t know when I will be coming back. I’m somehow waiting for a call from somebody to go for a coffee or so but nobody calls. On the flipside, however, I am unable to pick up the phone a give a ring to anybody. I feel like I am new in town. In my own town. I have realized – although it’s pretty obvious, I guess – that my people keep going on with their lives and I must understand it. I can’t expect them to change their routines just because I’m here. It’s a reasonable thing although I’d probably like it to be in a different way. Now I have a bittersweet feeling inside about this trip.

Although, as I said before, there are still three days left before I leave, I have almost finished packing my stuff. It’s an evident sign. Furthermore, receiving emails from my friends from NY or from the people that are arriving to Stern within an exchange program, following up with my networking contacts, or checking the weather forecast for NY allow me to feel like I’m back to my routine. And at that point I feel better.
It’s a little gloomy post and I guess that the trip hop music I’m listening to right now doesn’t help much. But I wanted to record how I’m feeling these days. Honestly, I never thought it’d have happened. But it’s probably good to have my feet on the ground. Or maybe not….who knows?

Ciao