Apologies, it's been a while. So you may have noticed that there have been a distinct lack of blog posts recently... For that I am truly sorry as I had promised family and friends that I would keep them updated on my adventures in Chicago by writing about them here. Oops. In my defence, I was having too much fun to blog. The work at Fermilab ended up being fairly straightforward (potentially more on that another time...), which effectively meant that I treated the entire experience like an extended holiday in America. Thanks US Department of Energy for funding my ten-week vacation in the States! I'll eventually get around to explaining some of my work on here, seeing as that is kind of the point of this blog, don't worry.
So, "what next?", I hear you cry. Straight after returning to Blighty (and I mean straight after - I only spent 21 hours at home) I moved down to London, where I'm now undertaking a six-week internship with Promontory Finance in their London office. I'm one and a half weeks into that now and am doing an amalgamation of various compliance and regulatory-related odd-jobs for my bosses. It's really just your stereotypical internship in the City.
Whilst here, I've also been interviewed (officially, not just over the phone from my apartment in Chicago (just realised I'll have to explain that later too...)) for a graduate position in structuring with RBS Japan in Tokyo.
More on everything at a later date. I promise. Well, I promise-with-my-fingers-crossed-behind-my-back...
Showing posts with label RBS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RBS. Show all posts
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Dilemma
I returned home from London with two internships under my belt - RBS GBM Markets (sales, trading and structuring) and Promontory Finance (risk management) - and was hoping to squeeze both of them into my summer holidays without any major problems.
That was until Fermilab emailed me this afternoon. I got their internship too.
My instant thought? CRAP. What am I meant to do now?!
Here's what I'm trying to work out now: I don't think I want to go into research, so I should take the finance internships if I want to go into finance. But then I might really enjoy working in Fermilab over the summer. And I could still probably fit in 6 weeks with Promontory after coming back from the US. But that means turning down RBS. And I might want to do RBS's graduate programme. So I should do the RBS internship to ensure I stay on speaking terms with them. But then if I decide not to go into finance, having the experience at Fermilab would really enrich my CV.
Can you see why I'm confused? I've already emailed one of the guys at RBS (he was one of my interviewers and got in touch after my assessment centre to congratulate me) who phoned me back this evening to give me some advice. It was helpful and reassuring to hear his point of view, but I'm still torn between RBS and Fermilab. I guess I'll sleep on it...
That was until Fermilab emailed me this afternoon. I got their internship too.
My instant thought? CRAP. What am I meant to do now?!
Here's what I'm trying to work out now: I don't think I want to go into research, so I should take the finance internships if I want to go into finance. But then I might really enjoy working in Fermilab over the summer. And I could still probably fit in 6 weeks with Promontory after coming back from the US. But that means turning down RBS. And I might want to do RBS's graduate programme. So I should do the RBS internship to ensure I stay on speaking terms with them. But then if I decide not to go into finance, having the experience at Fermilab would really enrich my CV.
Can you see why I'm confused? I've already emailed one of the guys at RBS (he was one of my interviewers and got in touch after my assessment centre to congratulate me) who phoned me back this evening to give me some advice. It was helpful and reassuring to hear his point of view, but I'm still torn between RBS and Fermilab. I guess I'll sleep on it...
EDI -> LHR ; KingsX -> Waverley
It now feels like a very long time ago, but here's what went down in London town at the end of January:
Wednesday 27th
Headed down south for my RBS assessment centre on the 06:30 flight, driving past RBS's "head"quarters at four in the morning... Don't see why they can't do some of their assessment centres in Edinburgh; it would have made my life a lot easier! Shame all the trading floors are in the City... Got into central London in time for two large coffees and a sandwich before heading to New Broad Street.
I walked in to be greeted by a small sea of black suits - I was one of only two girls out of a group of twenty students. They wasted absolutely no time in getting started and sent us off in two separate groups. My first exercise was to review four financial/business opinion pieces and make a five-minute presentation (including a poster) for my 'boss', in 40 minutes. Yes, you heard me, I had to read four two-page newspaper articles and make a five minute presentation in the space of forty minutes. I then went straight into my first 30 minute one-on-one interview to give my presentation and then have a Q&A session with my interviewer. Swiftly followed by another two 30 minute interviews, a 40 minute data-analysis test and then a 30 minute numerical-analysis test. I didn't even have time to go to the toilet (I had to sacrifice some of my test time to go and spend a penny!).
As expected, I much preferred the interview section of the day to anything else. Two out of three of my interviewers were really friendly and nice to chat to. I got asked some absolute corkers though:
What is 7! (seven factorial)?
What is the square root of this? (All mental arithmetic, I should add...)
How many trees are there in Canada?
How many piano teachers are there in London?
Thankfully, I have done these type of 'brain teasers' before so wasn't too taken aback!
We then got a wee tour of one of the trading floors in their Broadstreet office. IT WAS HUGE. I couldn't quite believe the scale of this place compared to the trading floor in Tokyo, which at the time I had thought was quite big!
After being awake from 4am and enduring five and a half hours of assessment centre, I could barely speak. So my mum and I (she had come down with me for some retail therapy) headed off to China Town for some good grub.
Thursday 28th
Headed to Promontory Finance Group's London office in Devonshire Square to say 'hi' to the team there. I got to meet pretty much everyone who works in the office (currently a small team of 10 people, although they are looking to expand to about 40 this year) and they were more than welcoming. The risk management based consultancy work that they do sounds really interesting and varied and they seem like a fantastic company to work for.
I then hopped on the tube to Westminster, avoiding all the non-existant extra security in place for the Chilcot Enquiry (there was one helicopter hovering overhead, that was it) and made it in plenty time for my Expert Group Meeting. We spend the vast majority of the meeting going over the fianl draft report, working out how it was going to be formatted, which bits to emphasise and which bits to discard. A few of us, myself included, have written 'example boxes' to add some personal anecdotes. Hopefully, it will be published quite soon - I will be sure to post links on here when it goes live.
After the meeting, I met up with my mum to wander around Liberty for far too long, and we then headed for dinner at Joe Allen's (my 'old' favourite place in London).
Friday 29th
My day off! This was my opportunity to buy all the things from Topshop Oxford Street that aren't available in the Edinburgh shop :)
After getting in a fair amount of shopping, we headed to Sketch on Conduit Street for some afternoon tea. This was quite possibly one of the best ideas my mother and I have ever had. The place is out of this world! It is my new favourite place in London. The building was recently bought-over and renovated into four different restaurants and an art gallery (if you watched the most recent series of 'Master Chef: The Professionals' it featured in one episode). The whole place is so eclectic and surreal that you half expect a member of Cirque du Soleil to cartwheel down the entrance hall as you wait to be seated in 'The Parlour' (and, after soaking up the atmosphere and decor for five minutes, you wouldn't be the least bit perturbed if they actually did...). The afternoon tea was delicious and very reasonably priced for what we got:
I am very aware that this is turning into a food blog again, but it was too good not to mention!
The attention to detail in this place is second to none and no effort has been spared anywhere - not even in the toilets, which are Swarovski-crystal and glass-bead encrusted. This sculpture was just chilling outside the Ladies:
Needless to say, we got so carried away by it all that we ended up missing our train home. Oops.
Wednesday 27th
Headed down south for my RBS assessment centre on the 06:30 flight, driving past RBS's "head"quarters at four in the morning... Don't see why they can't do some of their assessment centres in Edinburgh; it would have made my life a lot easier! Shame all the trading floors are in the City... Got into central London in time for two large coffees and a sandwich before heading to New Broad Street.
I walked in to be greeted by a small sea of black suits - I was one of only two girls out of a group of twenty students. They wasted absolutely no time in getting started and sent us off in two separate groups. My first exercise was to review four financial/business opinion pieces and make a five-minute presentation (including a poster) for my 'boss', in 40 minutes. Yes, you heard me, I had to read four two-page newspaper articles and make a five minute presentation in the space of forty minutes. I then went straight into my first 30 minute one-on-one interview to give my presentation and then have a Q&A session with my interviewer. Swiftly followed by another two 30 minute interviews, a 40 minute data-analysis test and then a 30 minute numerical-analysis test. I didn't even have time to go to the toilet (I had to sacrifice some of my test time to go and spend a penny!).
As expected, I much preferred the interview section of the day to anything else. Two out of three of my interviewers were really friendly and nice to chat to. I got asked some absolute corkers though:
What is 7! (seven factorial)?
What is the square root of this? (All mental arithmetic, I should add...)
How many trees are there in Canada?
How many piano teachers are there in London?
Thankfully, I have done these type of 'brain teasers' before so wasn't too taken aback!
We then got a wee tour of one of the trading floors in their Broadstreet office. IT WAS HUGE. I couldn't quite believe the scale of this place compared to the trading floor in Tokyo, which at the time I had thought was quite big!
After being awake from 4am and enduring five and a half hours of assessment centre, I could barely speak. So my mum and I (she had come down with me for some retail therapy) headed off to China Town for some good grub.
Thursday 28th
Headed to Promontory Finance Group's London office in Devonshire Square to say 'hi' to the team there. I got to meet pretty much everyone who works in the office (currently a small team of 10 people, although they are looking to expand to about 40 this year) and they were more than welcoming. The risk management based consultancy work that they do sounds really interesting and varied and they seem like a fantastic company to work for.
I then hopped on the tube to Westminster, avoiding all the non-existant extra security in place for the Chilcot Enquiry (there was one helicopter hovering overhead, that was it) and made it in plenty time for my Expert Group Meeting. We spend the vast majority of the meeting going over the fianl draft report, working out how it was going to be formatted, which bits to emphasise and which bits to discard. A few of us, myself included, have written 'example boxes' to add some personal anecdotes. Hopefully, it will be published quite soon - I will be sure to post links on here when it goes live.
After the meeting, I met up with my mum to wander around Liberty for far too long, and we then headed for dinner at Joe Allen's (my 'old' favourite place in London).
Friday 29th
My day off! This was my opportunity to buy all the things from Topshop Oxford Street that aren't available in the Edinburgh shop :)
After getting in a fair amount of shopping, we headed to Sketch on Conduit Street for some afternoon tea. This was quite possibly one of the best ideas my mother and I have ever had. The place is out of this world! It is my new favourite place in London. The building was recently bought-over and renovated into four different restaurants and an art gallery (if you watched the most recent series of 'Master Chef: The Professionals' it featured in one episode). The whole place is so eclectic and surreal that you half expect a member of Cirque du Soleil to cartwheel down the entrance hall as you wait to be seated in 'The Parlour' (and, after soaking up the atmosphere and decor for five minutes, you wouldn't be the least bit perturbed if they actually did...). The afternoon tea was delicious and very reasonably priced for what we got:
I am very aware that this is turning into a food blog again, but it was too good not to mention!
The attention to detail in this place is second to none and no effort has been spared anywhere - not even in the toilets, which are Swarovski-crystal and glass-bead encrusted. This sculpture was just chilling outside the Ladies:
Needless to say, we got so carried away by it all that we ended up missing our train home. Oops.
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Where's Holly?
I’ve been getting it in the neck from my family as to why I’ve not been keeping up with this blog and, to be honest, I don’t really know why I never kept up posting after coming back to Scotland. So, lets get back into the swing of things and start writing about what I’ve been getting up to – there’s no time like the present (and I am bored revising for exams…).
Upon returning home from Japan, I had just under two weeks to relax and get over my jet-lag before going back to university for the fourth year of my physics degree. During Freshers’ Week, I popped over to Glasgow one evening for a gathering of all the SaltireFoundation interns. It was really nice to swap stories with everyone.
This year, I signed up for evening classes in Japanese (I’ve just finished the first semester’s worth) as I really hope to go back to Japan one day soon, and having a better grasp of the language would certainly help!
Starting in the final week of September, I have been flying down to London to attend bi-monthly meetings as a member of the Science For Careers Expert Group. We meet to discuss the future of education, careers advice and careers available in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects and then pass our results/findings onto Lord Mandelson for government to act on accordingly. The group (which is chaired by Diana Garnham and funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) wrote a draft report on what we’d been getting up to at the end of December. I’ve got another meeting in a few weeks, so it will be interesting to hear how well it went down…
In November, I almost went to Paris for an Intel ISEF affiliated event but, unfortunately, the week before I was due to go, Intel got fined in excess of £1 billion, which meant they couldn’t afford to send me. Boo hoo. Hopefully I might get to go next year if they aren’t too poor.
I spent most of December filling in ridiculous numbers of application forms and updating my CV to try to bag myself an internship for summer 2010. Currently, I’ve applied for two completely different fields:
1) Particle Physics Research
I thought I’d try my hand at applying to CERN and Fermilab again this year, in the hope that they might say yes if I keep pestering them. On the other hand, if they keep saying no, I’ll take the hint…
2) Finance
I undertook the mammoth task of completing the online application forms for analyst (sales and trading with maybe a bit of structuring thrown in) positions with RBS, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan at their London or New York offices. I’ve got my assessment centre for RBS in London at the end of the month, so wish me luck! After speaking to the careers advisor in St Andrews, I also had my CV passed on to the London office of Promontory Finance, with the aim of working in Risk Management. I heard back from them this morning and, quite amazingly, they have offered me a summer internship! I’ve made plans to go to their office and say ‘hi’ whilst I’m down in London to find out what exactly working with them would entail.
In between all this gallivanting, I have, of course, been studying and trying to end up with a physics degree. I’ve just finished my first semester of fourth year classes (scary stuff, I know…) and am in the middle of revising for my exams that are on Thursday, Saturday and Monday. This semester hasn’t been as enjoyable as previous years’, and I can’t quite put my finger on why… It could be that it was a bit of a come-down getting back to studying after being in Tokyo, or the fact that the labs aren’t as interesting, or that some bits of my modules (non-linear optics & optoelectronics, laser physics, atomic physics) were a bit of a drag, or possibly all of the above. Regardless, I’ll stick it out and see what happens.
And there you have it; a whistle-stop tour of the last 4(ish) months of my life.
Upon returning home from Japan, I had just under two weeks to relax and get over my jet-lag before going back to university for the fourth year of my physics degree. During Freshers’ Week, I popped over to Glasgow one evening for a gathering of all the SaltireFoundation interns. It was really nice to swap stories with everyone.
This year, I signed up for evening classes in Japanese (I’ve just finished the first semester’s worth) as I really hope to go back to Japan one day soon, and having a better grasp of the language would certainly help!
Starting in the final week of September, I have been flying down to London to attend bi-monthly meetings as a member of the Science For Careers Expert Group. We meet to discuss the future of education, careers advice and careers available in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects and then pass our results/findings onto Lord Mandelson for government to act on accordingly. The group (which is chaired by Diana Garnham and funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) wrote a draft report on what we’d been getting up to at the end of December. I’ve got another meeting in a few weeks, so it will be interesting to hear how well it went down…
In November, I almost went to Paris for an Intel ISEF affiliated event but, unfortunately, the week before I was due to go, Intel got fined in excess of £1 billion, which meant they couldn’t afford to send me. Boo hoo. Hopefully I might get to go next year if they aren’t too poor.
I spent most of December filling in ridiculous numbers of application forms and updating my CV to try to bag myself an internship for summer 2010. Currently, I’ve applied for two completely different fields:
1) Particle Physics Research
I thought I’d try my hand at applying to CERN and Fermilab again this year, in the hope that they might say yes if I keep pestering them. On the other hand, if they keep saying no, I’ll take the hint…
2) Finance
I undertook the mammoth task of completing the online application forms for analyst (sales and trading with maybe a bit of structuring thrown in) positions with RBS, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan at their London or New York offices. I’ve got my assessment centre for RBS in London at the end of the month, so wish me luck! After speaking to the careers advisor in St Andrews, I also had my CV passed on to the London office of Promontory Finance, with the aim of working in Risk Management. I heard back from them this morning and, quite amazingly, they have offered me a summer internship! I’ve made plans to go to their office and say ‘hi’ whilst I’m down in London to find out what exactly working with them would entail.
In between all this gallivanting, I have, of course, been studying and trying to end up with a physics degree. I’ve just finished my first semester of fourth year classes (scary stuff, I know…) and am in the middle of revising for my exams that are on Thursday, Saturday and Monday. This semester hasn’t been as enjoyable as previous years’, and I can’t quite put my finger on why… It could be that it was a bit of a come-down getting back to studying after being in Tokyo, or the fact that the labs aren’t as interesting, or that some bits of my modules (non-linear optics & optoelectronics, laser physics, atomic physics) were a bit of a drag, or possibly all of the above. Regardless, I’ll stick it out and see what happens.
And there you have it; a whistle-stop tour of the last 4(ish) months of my life.
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Monday, 24 August 2009
Saltire blog part 6
It's that time of week again... The sixth installment of my Saltire blog is now up.
Sunday, 16 August 2009
Saltire blog part 5
I've just posted the most recent weekly round up on my SaltireFoundation blog.
I don't have much time to blog today as I really need to knuckle-down and get some work done for this exam. I just wish it would stop being so nice and sunny outside!
I don't have much time to blog today as I really need to knuckle-down and get some work done for this exam. I just wish it would stop being so nice and sunny outside!
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Saltire blog part 3
Oops! Totally forgot to put a link to my round up of week three on this blog yesterday...
So here is the third installment of my SaltireFoundation blog for you to peruse at your leisure.
So here is the third installment of my SaltireFoundation blog for you to peruse at your leisure.
Thursday, 30 July 2009
Photos from John Swinney's visit
The photos from John Swinney's tour around RBS have been posted on the Scottish Government's Flickr account. They're pretty dull, apart from the ones I'm in, obviously...
Here is the standard 'posed, unnatural conversation' photo, where I actually appear to be grimacing:
Followed swiftly by the 'oh my god, I'm so short it looks like I've been badly photoshopped into this' photo:
Here is the standard 'posed, unnatural conversation' photo, where I actually appear to be grimacing:
Followed swiftly by the 'oh my god, I'm so short it looks like I've been badly photoshopped into this' photo:
Sunday, 26 July 2009
Saltire blog part 2
My second weekly round-up can be found here. The formatting is a bit weird... Apologies.
Saturday, 18 July 2009
Saltire blog part 1
As part of my contract with the SaltireFoundation, I have to keep a weekly blog for them - it differs from this one as it focuses more on the work aspect of my internship. You can read my first weekly round-up here.
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
It's off to work I go
My first day at work was pretty exciting. When I left to take the subway in the morning, I was so surprised by the number of people walking in my nieghbourhood - when I arrived on Sunday there was hardly anyone to be seen. Then, there were even more people crowded underground, getting the trains to work. Where had they all been at the weekend?! Thankfully, it wasn't as hectic as I had imagined - I didn't have to be pushed onto the train and I made it to work in one piece after dodging past all the fast-walking fast-talking salarymen.
The building I'm in (the Shin-Marunouchi Centre Building) is fantastic - I'm working on the 20th floor (RBS has the 9th, 19th, 20th and 21st floors) and on one side of the front office there is a fantastic view across the Imperial Palace gardens towards Shinjuku. I spent most of the morning being shown around the offices and introduced to everyone. I then got taken out for lunch and ate my first authentic sushi :)
Sushi in the UK doesn't even come close to the real deal - this was absolutely oishi (delicious). My boss ordered us a platter each that had tuna, some sort of white fish, squid, crab, eel, mackerel, see urchin and fish roe sushi. The crab was definitely the best one (the tuna came a very close second), the squid was an odd mix of crunchy and chewy, and the sea urchin was definitely an aquired taste... It also came with green tea and miso soup, with a wee square of black sesame pudding to finish. It was at this point that it really dawned on me that I was living in Japan and I couldn't stop grinning like an idiot for a good half hour.
I spent yesterday afternoon and most of today trying to learn as much as possible from the sales guys and the traders about bonds, swaps, derivatives and futures (I still have a lot to learn...) and generally getting some fantastic advice about the industry. I'm finding learning the intricacies of the markets really interesting and often very surprising. I've only been with RBS for two days, but already I've had a great insight to a completely new, and very exciting, world.
This morning I got to go to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. I was completely underwhelmed. The whole trading floor with men in suits shouting and gesticulating wildly at screens and each other has been replaced with a bank of twenty or so computers occupied by a handfull of people sitting calmly and quitely infront of the screens. The 'tour' was really just a bird's eye view of a glorified office.
It just made me wonder what happened to all the shouting men. Where have they gone? What do they shout at now? Hopefully I should fare better with tomorrow's tour of the Bloomberg building and my subsequent Bloomberg training.
Went out with a colleague after work and had yakitori for tea tonight. Apparently the Japanese aren't a fan of cooking anything; it's not just fish they eat raw. I had wasabi chicken breast that had only just been seared (hello salmonella), chicken neck, chicken shoulder, barely-seared chicken liver (which has a consistency not dissimilar to butter), chicken wing, chicken thigh (I think...), meatballs made from chicken meat and cartillage (that's what the crunchy bits were anyway) and courgette. All on sticks and prepared infront of you by a chef in traditional Japanese garb. It all came with a bowl of grated daikon that was topped with a raw egg - the aim is to mix the two together and use as a pallet cleanser between the different 'sticks'. Again, all of it was absolutely delicious, if a little different from the food I'm used to at home!
The building I'm in (the Shin-Marunouchi Centre Building) is fantastic - I'm working on the 20th floor (RBS has the 9th, 19th, 20th and 21st floors) and on one side of the front office there is a fantastic view across the Imperial Palace gardens towards Shinjuku. I spent most of the morning being shown around the offices and introduced to everyone. I then got taken out for lunch and ate my first authentic sushi :)
Sushi in the UK doesn't even come close to the real deal - this was absolutely oishi (delicious). My boss ordered us a platter each that had tuna, some sort of white fish, squid, crab, eel, mackerel, see urchin and fish roe sushi. The crab was definitely the best one (the tuna came a very close second), the squid was an odd mix of crunchy and chewy, and the sea urchin was definitely an aquired taste... It also came with green tea and miso soup, with a wee square of black sesame pudding to finish. It was at this point that it really dawned on me that I was living in Japan and I couldn't stop grinning like an idiot for a good half hour.
I spent yesterday afternoon and most of today trying to learn as much as possible from the sales guys and the traders about bonds, swaps, derivatives and futures (I still have a lot to learn...) and generally getting some fantastic advice about the industry. I'm finding learning the intricacies of the markets really interesting and often very surprising. I've only been with RBS for two days, but already I've had a great insight to a completely new, and very exciting, world.
This morning I got to go to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. I was completely underwhelmed. The whole trading floor with men in suits shouting and gesticulating wildly at screens and each other has been replaced with a bank of twenty or so computers occupied by a handfull of people sitting calmly and quitely infront of the screens. The 'tour' was really just a bird's eye view of a glorified office.
It just made me wonder what happened to all the shouting men. Where have they gone? What do they shout at now? Hopefully I should fare better with tomorrow's tour of the Bloomberg building and my subsequent Bloomberg training.
Went out with a colleague after work and had yakitori for tea tonight. Apparently the Japanese aren't a fan of cooking anything; it's not just fish they eat raw. I had wasabi chicken breast that had only just been seared (hello salmonella), chicken neck, chicken shoulder, barely-seared chicken liver (which has a consistency not dissimilar to butter), chicken wing, chicken thigh (I think...), meatballs made from chicken meat and cartillage (that's what the crunchy bits were anyway) and courgette. All on sticks and prepared infront of you by a chef in traditional Japanese garb. It all came with a bowl of grated daikon that was topped with a raw egg - the aim is to mix the two together and use as a pallet cleanser between the different 'sticks'. Again, all of it was absolutely delicious, if a little different from the food I'm used to at home!
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Not long to go now
It's only 3 days until I fly out to Tokyo. It's kind of crept up on me actually - I seem to have gone from feeling like I had lots of time until I left to thinking, "OhmygodI'mleavingonSaturday!!!!" I am torn between being extremely excited and feeling a sort of nervous anticipation, but with an overwhelming sense that I'm not even slightly ready. To be honest though, I probably couldn't be more ready if I tried. I am as prepared as I'll ever be (and it's too late to start preparing anything else now anyway!).
I've got my visa, some yen, a semi-packed suitcase and an incredibly basic grasp of how to ask for stuff in Japanese. I don't yet have enough little gifts to take out with me, a complete set of documents that RBS still need, any idea of how to get to my apartment (or get my keys for that matter...) and any clue of the kind of work I'l be doing when I get there! I think that pretty much explains my mixed feelings.
On the other hand, I've had loads of fantastic advice from people who have visited or lived in Japan and am now thinking that 8 weeks is not nearly enough time to do/see everything that I want to. Then again, I do have to keep reminding myself that I will actually have to work when I'm out there, so will really only have the weekends free. I cannot wait!
Depending on how much running around I'm doing on Friday night, I might try to quickly post my feeling the night before I leave. Otherwise, I'll probably try to find some free wifi in Heathrow. Or just employ my usual tactic of leaving everything until the very last gasp and blog a bit on Sunday night when I'm in my place in Tokyo.
And now I'm too excited to sleep... :D
I've got my visa, some yen, a semi-packed suitcase and an incredibly basic grasp of how to ask for stuff in Japanese. I don't yet have enough little gifts to take out with me, a complete set of documents that RBS still need, any idea of how to get to my apartment (or get my keys for that matter...) and any clue of the kind of work I'l be doing when I get there! I think that pretty much explains my mixed feelings.
On the other hand, I've had loads of fantastic advice from people who have visited or lived in Japan and am now thinking that 8 weeks is not nearly enough time to do/see everything that I want to. Then again, I do have to keep reminding myself that I will actually have to work when I'm out there, so will really only have the weekends free. I cannot wait!
Depending on how much running around I'm doing on Friday night, I might try to quickly post my feeling the night before I leave. Otherwise, I'll probably try to find some free wifi in Heathrow. Or just employ my usual tactic of leaving everything until the very last gasp and blog a bit on Sunday night when I'm in my place in Tokyo.
And now I'm too excited to sleep... :D
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Tokyo, here I come....
Well exams are over and summer is here so I can officially let myself get massively excited about going to Japan now! I've been trying to learn some Japanese over the past few weeks (in between hoping back and forth from St Andrews to Edinburgh, clearing out my student flat) and it's really quite tricky. And that's without even trying to teach myself how to read/write it - I think I will stick to conversational Japanese just now...
I don't know a huge amount about exactly what I will be doing when I get there but I will be working within the Markets Division, hopefully with a different department each week. I recently found out where I'll be staying: I have a studio apartment (aka one room) in Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku. I've seen pictures and it looks perfect - and it's right in the centre of Tokyo! Fantastic! In fact, I think it's about two metro stops from RBS, which is in the Shin-Marunouchi Building, Chiyoda-ku. I wonder how long I'll have been there before I experience my first earthquake :S
What I'm going to try and do is keep a daily (or at least bi-daily) log of my experiences on here. Part of my contract with the Saltire Foundation is to keep a weekly blog on their website. This has to reflect mainly on the work aspect of the placement (for obvious reasons, really...) but I want to be able to let everyone at home know more about the social side of things and will also try to post photos. (I plan on buying a new camera in Akihabara!) Hopefully, by posting regularly on here, I'll be able to then use that to cobble together a more sensible post for the 'official' blog (and let my mum know I'm still alive :P). I'll put a link in the right-hand bar for my other blog when I get it started.
I leave on Saturday 11th July and cannot wait to go! All I need to learn now is how to say, "Can I get a free upgrade?" in Japanese.
I don't know a huge amount about exactly what I will be doing when I get there but I will be working within the Markets Division, hopefully with a different department each week. I recently found out where I'll be staying: I have a studio apartment (aka one room) in Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku. I've seen pictures and it looks perfect - and it's right in the centre of Tokyo! Fantastic! In fact, I think it's about two metro stops from RBS, which is in the Shin-Marunouchi Building, Chiyoda-ku. I wonder how long I'll have been there before I experience my first earthquake :S
What I'm going to try and do is keep a daily (or at least bi-daily) log of my experiences on here. Part of my contract with the Saltire Foundation is to keep a weekly blog on their website. This has to reflect mainly on the work aspect of the placement (for obvious reasons, really...) but I want to be able to let everyone at home know more about the social side of things and will also try to post photos. (I plan on buying a new camera in Akihabara!) Hopefully, by posting regularly on here, I'll be able to then use that to cobble together a more sensible post for the 'official' blog (and let my mum know I'm still alive :P). I'll put a link in the right-hand bar for my other blog when I get it started.
I leave on Saturday 11th July and cannot wait to go! All I need to learn now is how to say, "Can I get a free upgrade?" in Japanese.
Thursday, 30 April 2009
YATTA!
I'm going to Tokyo this summer! I have never been so excited!
I got the eight-week internship with RBS in Japan! This means that I will get to go and live in Tokyo for two months and work in a different section of their business every week. And will also get to eat nothing but Japanese food and buy jeans that are the right length for me AND collect a ridiculous amount of Hello Kitty paraphernalia! :D I will try and write a slightly more sensible post once I have found out more and managed to calm down a bit. Oh, and once I have told Selex that I know won't be able to work there... Crap.
I got the eight-week internship with RBS in Japan! This means that I will get to go and live in Tokyo for two months and work in a different section of their business every week. And will also get to eat nothing but Japanese food and buy jeans that are the right length for me AND collect a ridiculous amount of Hello Kitty paraphernalia! :D I will try and write a slightly more sensible post once I have found out more and managed to calm down a bit. Oh, and once I have told Selex that I know won't be able to work there... Crap.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
