Oh man! It has been a while!!! Last time I posted, I was anxiously waiting for my work to start! I really feel like that was a decade ago. You should all be grateful that I've been running around like a chicken with her head cut off, because you've avoided hearing dumb pointless stories. Haha! Well, I'm going to quickly run through these couple of week to catch everyone up. But here are the highlights:
- I love my apartment
- I'm the luckiest person ever
- I love my job and the firm I chose
- I'm so grateful and lucky
DISCLAIMER... IT'S LONG, IT'S POORLY WRITTEN, AND I PROMISE LOTS OF TYPOS AND MISTAKES!! (if this will bother you, stop now)
So lets start from the very beginning... where I left off:
Sunday (two weeks ago) was a quiet day, except for my trip to the theater!!! Finally, I made it to the theater ! I walked down to 48th and sat at Caffe Bene for a while... Again, this is my favorite place for listening to conversations and taking in the city. Then about 45 minutes before the musical started, I headed down to the theater. I was soooo excited to see Laura Osnes, who plays Cincerella. I follow her on social media and have watched her incredible performances on Youtube from the very beginning of her career. She is amazing!!
As soon as I walked in the theater I saw it.... There it was.. the most horrendous thing I've seen in a while. ..... I WAS MORTIFIED. The understudy board. SHE NEVER MISSES A FREAKING SHOW!!! But that day.... she was sick. Yes. Laura Osnes was not going to perform. Seriously?!?! I paid for actual tickets to see it before she was replaced by some pop star!!! Oh well! The show must go on, what can I say? So I went in... sat in my awesome seat in the very back with the binoculars my roommate/landlady gave me. It was perfect. I was surrounded by little girls. So precious!!! They were so excited. By intermission I was able to move up to the front, because due to the snow, the turnout was pretty low. It was glorious. I teared up a couple of times.. no news there. Gosh... musicals get me every. single. time. There is something about incredibly talented people enjoying the opportunity to share their talent while simultaneously sharing a story and an incredible musical score. Whew! It's just so good. It was the perfect last hurrah before work.
I'm not even going to try to sugar coat the cruel cold dark mornings that in endured to go to training in Secaucus, New Jersey... every day for five days straight!!! Yes. That was my first week of work. In the morning I would walk the 6 or 7 blocks to the subway station. Then the subway to Port Authority Bus Station, where I took bus 320x, which left from gate 231... NOT gate 320 (as listed). Yes. The first day I got lost... but I had left extra time for those messes and still made it on time... actually waaaayyy early. The way back to the city in the afternoons involved a shuttle to the Secaucus train station, a train to Penn Station, a subway, and the same 7 block walk home. In the afternoons, due to the rush hour traffic, Lincoln Tunnel can be backed up for hours, and they did not recommend the bus.
Ok, so let me try to explain the fist week...The first two days were introductions to the firm, we got our computers, our email, etc... they taught us how to report timesheets, and much more. It was fun to get to know people! I happened to sit at a table with a girl from Alabama and Texas A&M. I don't think you guys realize how strange that is! No assigned seats... just kind of happened. The others were all either from New York or very close by! The training included Winter Inters, experienced hires, and first year staff. I found Gennette at the training! She interned with me two summers ago! Then she interned last summer and did a client-serving internship (what I'm doing now). She took a semester off to work on the CPA and now she is starting full time. Crazy! I was glad to see a familiar face and learned a lot about our intern friends.
On the first day of training we got done at around 5... so I headed back on the train. Day two was a super early day at 2:30, so I headed back on the bus! A breeze! Just 20 minutes to the city. Day three meant the beginning of audit/assurance training... I was lucky enough to be placed in the long winded room... which meant our trainers took their sweet time and we didn't get out until 7. We were told in an email to show up at 9am that day, but they were told to report at 8. So they were a bit upset that half of us weren't there until 9. Whatevs !They talked until freaking 7!!! So then I thought... oh I'll just take the bus... rush hour must be done! BIG MISTAKE! Took me 1.5 hours to get back!!! UGH. Thursday was a repeat, but I took the train. And gladly Friday they let us out early and I took a short bus ride back to the city!
My first week was pretty tiring because of all of the commuting and information we got constantly! But... we were well fed and had great company! I was surprised by how easy it was to connect with people, but then again... that was my experience with the firm last time. You know how something just feels right? Well this city and this firm do!
Thursday night, after work, I met up with Adam, who is living in the city teaching with Teach for America, and Courtney, who was in the city from Oxford for a showcase that the theater department did in the city. Courtney brought her friend Caroline, who also was performing at the showcase. We met up on the Upper West Side, pretty close to my house, at Sarah Beth's. DELISH! It was a pretty cold night, so after some tomato soup and delicious grilled cheese we enjoyed a live trio (piano, standing bass, and guitar). It was really delightful! After a week full of introductions and getting to know people... it was great to be surrounded by old friends.
After walking them to the subway station, I walked home and collapsed into bed as I had every other day! Kind of pathetic, but oh well... I'm the oldest 23 year old you'll ever meet. Friday ended soon, so like every grown up... I rushed to the grocery store! Bahahah... but really! I had an early night and enjoyed the daily nighttime conversations with my roommate. She has the most incredible stories!! It in an absolute pleasure to hear them!!! She has lived so much! She is an Irish-American, so she has shared so much of the way she was brought up by that community. Incredible!!! I really hit the jackpot!
Saturday morning I woke up around 10 and headed out to meet Courtney and Caroline for brunch at a little diner close to my place. I'd been there before when my boss/friend Penny came up for the Honors College alumni event 2 summers ago. It's full of locals and I love it!!! After that, we walked through the drizzling rain down Broadway to my favorite little bookstore. I wanted to take them, because they have a pretty great selection of plays! After a quick look, we continued our walk down to 48th, where our feet decided to rest over a cup of coffee at Caffe Bene. Y'all... it is my absolute favorite! Such a wonderful place to people watch!!!!!
Since Courtney's friend Caroline had not been to NYC since she was 13, we decided to head down to Washington Square Park and show her that area. While out, I stopped at a Staples to get a nice journal to use at work to take notes. I was a bit nervous at that point, but I wanted to be prepared. There is also nothing I like more than shopping for office supplies!! I found the perfect journal and pens and then we headed out. Since I was planning on making crepes for my roommate and I Sunday morning, we also toured some of my favorite little supermarkets and got fresh spinach, mushrooms, and goat cheese. Yum! I've decided that in the future, I want to live in that area... highly unrealistic, but... a girl can dream!
At around 4, we dropped Caroline off at their hostel, because she was tired, and we headed to central park. We still had some walking left in us. There's something magical about walking through NYC with your best friend... I picture her bright future and I see her here! It's going to be a fun ride for her and I can't wait to see it happen!
It started pouring, so we headed to a store called Uni Qlo to buy some New York coats! And we found some!!! It was very exiting!!!! Once we were done, it was pouring outside!!! Soooooo we ran to the subway station, where I headed home and she headed to the theater to watch the Janis Joplin Musical.
Sunday was another day of lounging... Did I mention how lucky I am to be living where I'm living? I woke up and made the spinach, mushroom, goat cheese crepes and we ate them while watching The Holiday. It was incredible!!!! After that, I had to retire to my room, because I wanted to research the company that I would be working on. So this is how it works... I was assigned to an engagement team. The team has 35 people, which is huge in comparison to others. They work all year on auditing this asset management company. So I wanted to research the asset management company so I would arrive knowing what types of investments, funds, and investors the company had. Basically, I was terrified. Usually the engagement team works at the client site, but since our client has grown so much over the last couple of years, half of the team has to work from the Times Square Office. So... that is where I will be located! Yaaaay!!! That's where I was 2 summers ago, so I kind of knew my way around. Still... I'm not going to lie, I was terrified! I watched the golden globes and then headed to bed.
At 7:00 Monday morning, I was up! Then my checklist: hair, makeup, clothes, shoes, coat, purse, computer... Ok? Ready to go. So every day I walk to the subway station. This is my favorite part of the day... This is when I feel the most grown up. Me and my long coat, walking to the subway. It feels surreal. I love it! Then I get to the station and I get to watch dads wave across the subway tracks to their wives and little children. The toddlers wave through their huge snow coats. It's precious!!!
Oh I digressed... Back to the topic. So I took the subway and the first day ... I was an hour early! Of course... Typical. So I headed up to Cafe 22 and had some coffee! I waited around and at 9 I headed to the 29th floor... Oh man... that was the moment. Do I walk in and say hello? Will they know who I am? What do I say? What if I'm the first one in? As I cleared the corner another lady was walking in with me. I tried to act like I didn't know if it was the right room and when she asked if I needed help finding the room, I said "no thank you, I think this is it! I'm your intern!" Whew! Then the awkward began... so they are kind of crammed in there. One room... 12 to 13 people. First like two people looked up and pointed out a desk. I sat down. Got my computer out and though... "ummm... is noone going to speak to me? Like what do I do? Who gives me work???" AAAAHHHHHHH! The panic was hitting hard. Then the senior on the team came and said, "hey welcome to the team (to me and this other girl who is starting full time). We are really busy this week trying to meet deadline Friday, so you might be light on work, but just read the UTB's in GAMx. And get familiar with our work." Then she sat down... I was like ... um... well they taught us how to open GAMx at the training, but what is a UTB?!?!?! So... like... Yeah I know accounting in the land of acronyms, but can you dumb this down just for today?!?!?!
A few minutes later, this guy comes over to us and introduces himself. Soooo sweet! He works on capital and he was going to help us and give us our first assignment. I swear this guy has the patience of an angel. He reiterated that we should ask as many questions as we had, without hesitation. The task, he said, was really complicate. OH SNAP!?!?! Now what?????? He explained and showed us around on excel. All I could think was... how in the world are you getting from one tab to the other without using your mouse? how do you know what you're doing?? Please get me out of here now! Should I run and throw up in the bathroom really quick? Am I about to cry? Yikes! No joke, I was freaking out. After a rough day, I got to leave at around 7:30.
I was exhausted when I got home, I just crashed!!! And then... day 2. What would I do??!?!?! Well, I went at it again. After 30 minutes I realized I had made a horrible mistake somewhere.... SOOOOOOO I had to start over, but after a couple of hours, I had done as much as I could. On to the next thing! Whew, this time it was simpler! And I got what he meant and I was semi helpful! It was so exciting!! The team turned out to be really funny and sarcastic! Everyone starting talking more and the atmosphere was amazing!!!
So... let me give y'all some background. During my first internship I was paired with a partner of the firm. He turned out to be amazing and let me shadow the team he led. Then when I interviewed and got this internship he contacted me. After a phone call in November, he asked if I would be interested in joining that team during my winter internship. He warned me that the client was very complex, one of the largest asset management firms, and VERY busy during the winter (aka busy season). Oh great! Well I couldn't tell a partner "thanks but no thanks" and I mean... better sooner than later right? So the team I am on is his team. On Monday, he had stopped by the room and when the team members told him that they had newcomers he responded, "oh I know! How long has it been Martina? Almost 2 years? I'm glad you're back!" I was so shocked!!!!!! Then on day 2, I got a message from him in the company chat that said, "stop by my office sometime today before you leave." So nice! By the time I got up there, he was in a meeting... So I sent him an email and headed home. He said, no worries! Come back tomorrow and get home safe. Now.. y'all... this is a partner at one of the largest accounting firms in the world. It is unreal how nice the people are!!!! The team was a treat and he was just so welcoming and helpful! I went home tired but happy!
Day three was slow... which made it awkward. There is a fine line between annoying busy people that are trying to make a deadline and being the intern that is lazy and doesn't ask for work when she doesn't have anything to do. So I read the UTB (understanding the business) and some walk throughs of processes involving capital in the firm. I was kind of excited, because I was really getting the hang of it! In the afternoon I went up to see if the partner was busy. He wasn't, sooo I got to catch up with him. He asked me about my family, my travels to Germany, my majors (YES HE REMEMBERED), and life outside of all that. He was so kind. Now... guys remember that the summer I was in New York I only met with him 3 times! He was so nice letting me shadow the team, but he wasn't there!! We met for breakfast with him and another guy who interned with me. Unbelievable! As we chatted, he brought up that he had asked the team to put me on my specific assignments so that I would become exposed to capital, because that was the most complex part. Ok... cool... so complex client, complex part, busiest season?!?!? Give me a break?!?!?!! Who do you think I am!!! Then he said, "now I know this will be challenging, but I want to challenge you because I know you're good. However, if it gets to be too much, come see me and I'll take care of it. I want you to have time to do things outside of work and enjoy yourself!" Excuse me????? Like what is this man thinking? He's met me 3 times? I've never done any auditing? I barely made it through day 1 without throwing up!!!! And during training the girl that had interned with me told me lots of people we interned with did NOT get a job offer after their second internship. Sooooo, please don't make me bite off more than I can chew!!! Legit he made me so nervous!! I hate expectations, they are the worst! As we continued chatting, a partner walked by and he brought him in and introduced us. It was a crazy surreal moment. As the other partner asked about my life and my plans for the future, this guy continued to tell him (as he knocked on wood) that if it was up to him, there was no doubt that I would be back... but sadly it was up to me! WHAT?!?! Excuse me, I must be missing something. I guess this meeting should have made me feel more comfortable and less worried about getting an offer at the end of the internship, but instead, I left with all this pressure about what could end up happening if all these unfounded expectations come crumbling down when I actually start doing stuff. Anyway... after the meeting, I headed back to the conference room and continued to work.
Day four started very slow... Again I worried about asking for work, fearing that I would be bothering all those that actually had work. But then again, if I don't ask... then my reviews later might say that I never offered to help anyone... UGH. So finally I reached out to the girl who started with me. She's also a newby, so I knew I wouldn't bother her. She was working on a project for the other half of the team that is located at the client site. And... she said I could help!!! So she set me up on the work. I finished it rather quickly and sent the guy a message saying I was done! He then nicely asked me about my first days and said I could sign off as preparer on the job. After that... the dull moments began... so after some minutes I reached out to the senior and said, "excuse me, you mentioned something about organizing binders yesterday... you said if there was free time, we could do that. Could I get started on that?" And she said YES!! So imagine me, girl who loves to organize, being handed the task of organizing over 50 binders, tagging them, and organizing over 15 huge boxes that are flooding the room. That involves keep, give, and trash piles! I was thrilled. Everyone in the room started apologizing for giving me the job and I was thrilled! One of the first years got me started and helped clear the room. As soon as we got all the binders outside of the room, I showed the girl that started with me how to label them and I headed back into the conference room to organize the 3 huge boxes of supplies. It was a blast!! (we are all aware I'm weird so lets try not to focus too much on that!)
As soon as I was knee deep into the project one of the team members looks at me and says, "are you busy right now?" Um... seriously, do you see that I'm sitting on the floor covered in binders??? "Well" he said, "the other half of the team needs something done." Ok... let me put these boxes aside.... So there I go... Check my email and find my next task.. I knew this would not get done on that day, since it was already 4. Well... I was working away when my nice little trainer from day one comes by and says, "are you busy?" Oh well... um... kinda... But I can finish this tomorrow... I think. So off I go on to task three. In the afternoon the senior managers (right under the partners) and the partners start stopping by to joke around and liven the mood. My partner mentioned above stopped by and brought up a team dinner/happy hour to kick off busy season. It has now been scheduled for next week on Wednesday at a very nice steak house! While the joking continued, I laughed and continued typing. I finish task 3 and it is about 7:00. Well everyone is very aware that any overtime worked by the interns costs the team overtime, so noone really wants me to stay too late... So by 7:50 I'm out the door... WHEW!!! So much for a boring day! I LOVED EVERY MINUTE!
Sooooo...Friday... Grey day... Hard to get out of bed... and it was cold again! But I got to work early ready to go! Whew! I had work!!!! Oh... but when I walked in I found a senior manager ready to work.. on what you ask? On a new layout for the room to maximize the space. Since I was in charge of binders (which was my project 2 for that day), she wanted to talk to me about the room. So we counted the carpet squares in the room and counted the amount of squares per table.... That led to some drawings on notebook paper... which soon turned into full out designs on excel!!!! YES! By the time the team came in, we had 3 options. Well... we also all had several things on our to do list, so we left the remodeling for the end of the day.
I started on my project for the other half of the company... took 5 hour... and then... before I started on the binders, I thought I should ask if anyone needed any help. Immediately one girl jumped up! Her task will probably take a day and a half.... so no binders for me just yet! I worked on that project until 5:00 and then headed home! It was a perfect day! The team joked constantly... we talked about Europe, traveling, anything you can imagine. It's amazing how welcoming and funny they are! Great people all 12-15 of them!
From work, I headed straight to the grocery store. Yes! That was my goal, to make it to buy tomatoes so I could make a pita pizza to celebrate the week! As soon as I got to the apartment, I cooked with some music in the background and then.... I just hung out! It was perfect!!!! I was sooo exhausted!
Saturday was the perfect quiet day of house cleaning and relaxing. I watched Dallas Buyer's Club too! I highly recommend it!!! It was an incredible movie. Then... bed.
ANNNNNDDD I've finally made it to today. I apologize for the length and lack of cohesiveness of this post. But I wanted to catch y'all up!
Today was a wonderful day! Slow start, lovely shower, and then off to meet my Oxford friends for brunch! It was wonderful!!! Conversation was terrific and it's good to see old friends! I was so happy moving up and knowing that Adam and Marion would be here, but since I have been so busy, I hadn't gotten to see them! After brunch, Marion and I walked down to Caffe Bene and I attempted to get tickets to a show. Everything was sold out or overpriced, so I returned to Caffe Bene and sat for a good bit of the afternoon. Around 4, I headed back home... walking! It was wonderful! I love this city, I love this experience, and I love the cold! (Good thing, because it's about to get a lot colder again!) Tonight, I enjoyed my bed and caught up with friends in Oxford. It's been a great week and I'm excited for what the next one will bring!
No comments:
Post a Comment