On a more positive note, the class also encourages us to develop our self-esteem and self-confidence by actually bringing out that confidence from within. In one memorable session, we had to report on a specific incident from our life that was a defining moment. Mine was (and probably the only major defining moment in my life so far) is my first year college experience.

Oh, and another thing...this thing was great opportunity to practice our presentation and speaking skills in front of a respectable audience. Public speaking, dude!

When it was my turn I spoke to everyone (who mind you, are all working professionals at least in their early 30's, so I was an odd one out in terms of class participant) about how UChicago was my dream college and that I had lots of great expectations but my first initial experience when I got there fell short of all those things. It turned out to be quite funny too because, well, that's what usually happens when you retell something that later becomes an anecdote.

So basically, the summer before college I was very apprehensive (nah!) about the Great Experience (that has yet to come). No, that is not what had happened. What happened was that I had a fight with Mom and generally for the whole summer we weren't on good terms, in an adolescent kind of way. Probably out of spite (not really) that was probably the final little nudge that made her make the decision so she told me that she wasn't going to send me off to Chicago and help me settle down in college.

I went with my Dad instead. Needless to say, my Dad didn't help me in the same way as my Mom could have (i.e., Dad scores kind of low when it comes to domestic/housekeeping things).

Your memorable experience actually says a lot about you as a person.

I almost forgot to write about my first few impressions of the D.C course which started several weeks ago.

The course itself was actually quite useful I got to think about the things that have been bothering me at home. This revelation, or whatever appropriate word one might want to use to describe this positive experience, was definitely helped by the fact that I'm actually away from home this summer.

The first two weeks revolved around making positive impacts on our daily lives and hence our future lifetime. This is related to making, (and here I will simply copy down my worksheet) professional breakthroughs [note that everything that was said here is related to enhancing your one's own relationship with others]. For my three professional breakthroughs, I decided that I want and will make a commitment to practice active learning. I also want to be able to have a personal conversation with other people that I would like to know better, and, especially people that I'm shy around (it used to be the case that I got quite shy around people that I like or am attracted to, and would secretly want to get to know them better and become good friends).

I realized that everybody have some professional breakthroughs that they all want to achieve, or desire. Those are mine for the time being, until I have successfully mastered them or am confident enough that making a commitment has passed it's initial difficulties.

SWMP was a big break for me, hopefully, in terms of my future career.

Another great thing about the talks that were give was that at least several of them recommended books that one should read if one is to develop one's investment intelligence.

Most popular reads include, for one of the speakers, anything written by Warren Buffett.

R.C also gave this excellent quote:

"Do not read many books but read a few books many times"

M.S recommended this website:

www.investopedia.com

He also showed us this extremely hilarious video by Mike _ (hedge fund guru/legend), very satirical but quick, snappy, and to the point.
His wife tells him that "You're always wrong but never in doubt"
Paul Johnson and hedge funds

H.C mentioned Black-Schole theory that I should look into...

[End of discussion. For the time being]

I apologize if I haven't been staying on top of things lately because it's rather hard when you're away to actually sit down and reflect on the things that have happened over the last few days. In fact, it's actually harder too because so much time has passed and what I write down now will never be as good and as fresh than if I had wrote it down not long and immediately. Oh well, that's too bad. In the meantime, the best that I can do is too point out the highlights of the 9-day program hosted by ML.

Oh my God, it was so awesome! We went to some really cool places, like touring the ML trading floor on the 17th(?) floor of Citi towers, taking yoga class at the California Fitness Center near LKF, and touring the Bloomberg site at Cheung Kong towers. Everything was around the vicinity of Central, so it's nice to get an insider's view of the places located in Asia's leading financial center. There was also a salsa lesson with a couple who are among the top 20 ranked salsa dancers in the world (both Russian).

One more thing...B.S came in to talk about 'watch appreciation' - we were shown exquisitely and ridiculously oh so expensive watches (say, around $450,000-$650,000 a piece) that we got to hold. We were also shown a short documentary on F.P Journe watches, Swiss-made. There were even watches that need only be wound once every 100+ years.

So, this summer one of the best things that ever happened to me unexpectedly and without any precondition is the wonderful opportunity to participate in ML SWMP 2008.

A.K later mentioned that I was very privileged to have the chance to take part in this excellent program, which was actually marketed as a program targeted at young investors about finance and investment.

Needless to say, being an economics major from a school where the majority of the economic major all aspire to be bankers at the best firms in the world, this was definitely a very rewarding, educational, as well as informative session.

During that 9 days, I had lots of high-quality exposure to various people from ML as well as external staff who came in and gave excellent presentations introducing various topics on finance, ways to manage your money, as well as the pros and cons of different investment vehicles. I would definitely say that I had more background knowledge and general overview of an investment bank (to be sure, this was also a very good way to introduce myself to investment, banking - in short, it was also a very good pre-internship program to be immersed in because of the outstanding education, human resource, and foundation that was put into this program).

I would also definitely say that I am much more interested in the industry than I was before, and that now I would also be able to understand finance news better because I have heard much more about investment and likewise expanded my finance vocabulary.

V.T, when asked what makes a good intern and how one goes about to work for ML or any other place is that you must possess these qualities, or that the following describes you:

-Good communicator
-Willing to take risk
-Outgoing personality
-Creative - in general, finance requires a LOT of creativity
-[Be able to] speak clearly; and
-Communicate effectively

I think pretty much all of the above have also been reiterated by A.S from Research department.

At the end of the day, passion and personality is what matters. Effectively, the two important qualities that motivates a team and that drives the firm to be successful in the long run.

Banks are like universities - they want the best but they also want a mix. So if you're someone who is also funny, outgoing, and individualistic on top of the excellent caliber of skills and education that you will contribute, you will surely make it to the top.

The last part was very, very reassuring.

And I have to thank J.G for making this possible. Without his assistance I would no doubt still be shrouded in anxiety, and pre-occupied with unnecessary hesitations and confusion about so many things that a lot of my peers may not necessarily know themselves (i.e., it's just hype).

Vergangenheitsbewältigung

http://www.unicom-lra.co.jp/ja/shop.html#honk