azm Saturday, September 22, 2007
So, upon Monisha's request, I've decided to blog.Let's see, obviously the hot topic would be the internship.
So just a quick summary.
I've been working London hours. When we fellow interns are bored, we e-mail each other through our corporate e-mail addresses. Sometimes we make appointments to meet at the pantry. I've attended 3 meetings within 1 week.
I've been doing call-backs for confirmation of payments to countries which would include Germany, Holland, Italy, Hong Kong and India. Germans are the hardest to talk to for me. The Dutch are nice. I've also been assigned to do reset advices, which would be providing clients with information of interest amounts receivable/payable at a value date. The satisfaction I get is from getting an acknowledgment e-mail from the client and being able to bring across information to overseas clients.
The department I'm working in is experiencing unusually high volumes of cashflow, thus everyone seems to be busy. I don't even know to whom I'm supposed to report to i.e. manager and with that will never know who is going to fill in the performance appraisal form. Colleagues are helpful and nice. I ask questions and they're willing to explain processes to me and provide for me notes on applications.
Speaking of applications, I haven't been given the green light to access some applications thus, I'm unable to reduce the department's workload as of yet. I think once I get all the required applications, I'll be helping out much. Currently, one of the colleagues is training me to reconcile amounts in the LCH (London Clearing House). She'll sit with me for a week or so until she's confident I can do it on my own BUT, I don't have the application on my computer.
Oh yes, I've my own desk cos' apparently the guy who was previously at my place has been transferred to another department. My desk is situated by the window, sandwiched between 2 British women. You'd say a window view is cool, but it's facing a construction site for a condominium and the IR (I think).
Everyday we fellow interns travel up to the 24th floor and blow our ears out to get rid of the 'whatever-it-is-you-call-it'. We take 1 hour dinner breaks. There's a microwave oven, a fridge, a coffee maker, hot/cold water dispenser, and packets of tea (Lipton or Green). Milo, Coffeemate and sugar powders are contained in jars. The toilets are classy (to me at least). Taxi fares are making me broke (though we'll be reimbursed).
Okay, that was a long summary. I hope it has given an overview about my week at CS though.
Throughout the whole working life experience, I've learnt some things.
In school, you're still able to hang out with the many friends you may have. Once you start work, you'll have to balance your time between friends and family over the weekends. With that, you're more likely to have few friends that you keep in contact with on a regular basis. That's what I think and feel anyways.
If you can't get along with the people at the workplace, you're in deep s**t.
To break the ice, always smile.
Bottomline, at the end of this academic life, only few will stick around for the long haul, like those whom you're so sure will 'lepak' with you forever, no matter where we may be in our lives =)
And to end this entry off, the NEW music video from Daughtry, 'Over You'. C'mon, you've gotta love their frontman. Hot stuff ;-)