The First Week was a Success!
Hey everyone,
I just finished my first week of work and second week in Hong Kong. So far, I am loving the experience and am optimistic for the rest of the summer. I am currently staying in a dorm in Hong Kong University. Initially the transition was a bit hard for me. I had to fight jet lag while also preparing how to get around to certain places in the city. Eventually I learned where everything was in my immediate surroundings and even figured out the public transportation to get to work (the last thing I wanted to do was be late on the first day). In this initial week, I also spent a lot of time meeting friends from Babson, family friends, and family members I had never met before this trip. Overall, I was really happy with these social gatherings as it forced me to learn to navigate the city better, while also
As for my internship, I really enjoyed working at Bank of China so far. The people here are all really nice and willing to teach if you’re willing to listen. They also understand that you are an intern and thus are more prone to mistakes. This was a relief for me as one of my first assignments (to create a list of financial ratios for two companies and the industry average) was full of errors. However, with experience, comes mastery as any similar assignment that came up proceeding this was a lot easier and more accurate.
Furthermore, there are a large number of interns here from varying backgrounds which gives me a better sense of the varying perspectives culturally and business-wise. I enjoyed speaking with people coming from Canada, China, Hong Kong, etc. In fact, another intern who also works in the General Industries sector with me is also coincidentally studying at Edinburgh, the school I will be studying abroad in this fall.
In my week spent at BOCI, I was mostly working with my team on two IPO projects. Among the tasks I was in charge of, I helped research the companies’ structure, did background checks on key management and investors, aided with the creation of the pitchbook, and calculated key financial ratios. Overall, the work has been rewarding and enjoyable. While at times it can be stressful and overwhelming (Overtime on my first day, fun!), there are also many instances where you have down-time and are free to do whatever you want (assuming you are not too flamboyant in these opportunities). Considering I was expecting many days filled with long overtime hours, I was fairly pleased to experience only a few days where I was required to work past the specified period of work. The policy here is that if you finished your work, you are free to leave at 6pm when the work day ends. This means that if you are able to submit quality work at an efficient pace, you will not have too many issues pertaining to the stress of the job. Luckily, this has mostly been the case so far.