Today we were working more on a presentation that will be given in late August over the results of some of the data we have been researching. At lunch time a group from the research department brought me out to a farewell lunch at a nice little Italian restaurant in SoHo. It made me a bit sad thinking this could be the last time I ever saw them! Luckily some of us will be keeping touch via facebook and e-mail! My boss was gracious enough to buy me lunch and I had a wonderful time, especially riding on the elevators to get to SoHo from the IFC.
I learned so much from this internship that I didn't expect to. Aside from the obvious (how to gather data, what variables to look for when researching) it really forced me to realize how vital it is for me truly absorb the things I learn in my classes at A&M and not just memory dump everything at the end of the semester (there was a lot of "googling" definitions during work)! It was also awesome realizing how the little things you learn in class (stastical methods, calculating economic variables like GDP, definitions like M2 or CPI) are so important in the actual application of mathematics and economics. I'm looking forward to the remaining classes I have still now that I can better relate concepts to current events.
My internship also taught me more about myself as far as my work-habits, social skills, temperment, and my passions. This was in fact my first full-time work and it was definitely difficult trying to adjust to the long days, but a full-time job is just a part of life that at least now I have a small taste of for future experiences. In the future I hope many more opportunities such as this one to work and intern arise. Hopefully I have done a decent amount of networking through the many people that came in and out of our HK branch for business will help me later in my endeavors. My internship has only furthered my belief that being extremely knowledgable about subjects, while necessary, is not always enough. If I had spent my 3 weeks here silently and shly working at my desk I would have never met say, the guy from our Madrid office who is working with me to secure an internship there next summer, or gotten to know my co-workers from Barcelona, Venezuela, Mainland China, or Poland! Opening up to the other people in the office definitely opened up my opportunities and made me more comfortable asking and receiving help, something I couldn't go without if I was to truly learn during this internship!
Who knows what my future career path will be, but this gave me more insight in to what field or job or studies I want to tackle in the future.
I am so so grateful to Uncle Eli for helping me get this internship, Alicia for letting me work in her department, my parents for funding this un-paid work experience, and the others in the office who helped me get through the long-days and who (hopefully) didn't get too annoyed by my constant walking through the office cubicles to chit chat! I don't think they minded though bc while I'm not sure how people felt about my work performance since it was rather short,I got a couple of farewell e-mails and one of my fellow interns said that "When you will be gone, the positive spirit will disappear together with you" because apparently when I wasn't here, nobody talked to each other! And one of the chief economists just told me- "I know I didn't get to work with you, but everyone I've talked to has said they really enjoyed having you here."
They may have both just been saying that, but I don't care, I'm a happy nugget.
love, stine
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