I finally had my Credit Suisse interview tonight, and it was definitely, well...awkward. I have never had a phone interview before, so this being a first for me I was nervous. I consider myself a good interviewer, but I feed off of the person that I am interviewing with. I really take advantage of the opportunity to read them (either their body language or what the way they say things) and react accordingly. In a phone interview, you are stripped of all of those clues. I think I had good answers, I got my points across, but it is really hard to tell.
I was supposed to have a Merrill Lynch interview today too, but I never heard from them. Credit Suisse and Merrill Lynch are my only two opportunities for New York. I've been on the fence between New York and Boston, but now when it comes down to it, I really really really want to go to New York. Now I just have to wait and see.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Interviews!!!
The next level.....
I'm sitting at my desk right now waiting for a phone call from Credit Suisse HOLT. I was told that they would call me sometime after 1:30pm Boston time. It is now almost 3pm Boston time...definitely starting to freak out a bit. Did I give them the right number? Are they going to have time for me? ahhhh, stressul. I just want to get on with it already.
Then of course I have to go through this all over again tomorrow. I was emailed last night about having an interview tomorrow with Merrill Lynch. The advisor who emailed me didn't know that I was abroad, so the fact that I would require a phone interview was a bit of a shock to her. I gave her my availability times for tomorrow, my phone number, and asked if a phone interview would even be possible. She was quick to respond last night, which was much appreciated, and said that one would be possible. However, now 24 hours later I haven't heard anything else.
This whole being in a foreign country thing is really starting to put a cramp on my co-op process...and of course my wealth of patience.
More info later.
I'm sitting at my desk right now waiting for a phone call from Credit Suisse HOLT. I was told that they would call me sometime after 1:30pm Boston time. It is now almost 3pm Boston time...definitely starting to freak out a bit. Did I give them the right number? Are they going to have time for me? ahhhh, stressul. I just want to get on with it already.
Then of course I have to go through this all over again tomorrow. I was emailed last night about having an interview tomorrow with Merrill Lynch. The advisor who emailed me didn't know that I was abroad, so the fact that I would require a phone interview was a bit of a shock to her. I gave her my availability times for tomorrow, my phone number, and asked if a phone interview would even be possible. She was quick to respond last night, which was much appreciated, and said that one would be possible. However, now 24 hours later I haven't heard anything else.
This whole being in a foreign country thing is really starting to put a cramp on my co-op process...and of course my wealth of patience.
More info later.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Maybe Mom and Dad really do know best...
On Monday, I could definitely tell that I was starting to get a little sick. By Monday night...there wasn't even a question. My chest was so congested I felt like the was a ten pound weight just sitting there. My nose was runny and my head hurt quite a bit. After getting only an hour of sleep I woke up on Tuesday feeling like...well...crap. I was determined to get better, but the medicine here is expensive and the concept of 'non-drowsy' doesn't seem to exist. So, I had to dig out every surpressed memory of my parents nagging...Did you take your vitamins? Are you drinking enough water? How many hours of sleep did you get? As soon as I woke up I took an Airbourne and two Vitamin C pills. Throughout the day, while at school from 9 am until 5 pm, I drank a ton of water and had another Airbourne at lunch. When I got home I chugged a liter of orange juice and went to bed. A ridiculous amount of vitamin-c and 12 hours of sleep later, I have to admit, I feel great. So I guess maybe, just maybe, the parents really do know whats best.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Co-op Stress
The co-op process at Northeastern is one of the most stressful periods of time to go through. Remember applying to college? The first step of deciding where you even want to go? In-state, out-of-state? Big school, little school? Then once you finally have it narrowed down comes the second level of stress. Applications and writing the dreaded college essay. Trying to make sure every word is perfect so that some unknown person can tell precisely who you are in just two pages. The pressure to make sure you get everything organized and sent on time so that you can even be considered. Then the worst part...the months of just sitting and waiting. Hoping that just maybe you are good enough. Well....co-op is incredibly similar.
Right now I'm at the second level of that scenario, and yesterday was the first wave of relief. I have spent weeks weighing the options and trying to decide New York or Boston. My heart has always been set on New York. I am a finance major, so for me New York City is truly my greatest opportunity. However, after a month in France, I was beginning to second guess myself. I am already homesick for Boston...do I really want to go home for two months and then leave again for another six? I started to think, well I can always do my third one in New York, and stay in Boston for my second. But after I really thought about all of the factors, it became glaringy obvious that this fall is the best time for me to go. Once that decision was made, my time became a bit crunched. By the time I made my final decision, I had only 3 days to research, choose jobs that I was interested in, tweak my resume, and send everything to my co-op advisor. Needless to say, last week was extremely stressful.
The co-op advisors themselves add a completely new level of difficulty, never experienced in the college application process. You have to keep in mind that it is a very few number of advisors, keeping track of everything co-op related for 15,000 students...definitely not an easy task. My advisor in particular, can be the greatest asset out of them all in my opinion. She has great connections and is really willing to help you in anyway possible. However, she is also notoriously hard to get a hold of...when you are on campus. Being across the Atlantic Ocean does not make it any easier. I sent an email on Wednesday night with all of my information and choices. On Friday, I hadnt received any sort of confirmation, so I sent a follow-up email to double check. I knew that resumes for New York were being sent out on Monday and if she did not have my information, mine would not be sent. All weekend, still nothing. By yesterday I was literally on the verge of tears. I didn't know if my advisor had seen my email, and I didn't know if after all of my agonizing, I would even be applying to any job in New York. Finally in the afternoon, on our online co-op database I saw the proof that YES my resumes had in fact been sent to all the right companies. I guess I should have assumed that everything would be taken care of...but I couldn't help but worry.
Siiiigh, quite the relief...momentarily anyways. That was the easy part. I still have to go through the wait of seeing if I get an interview, the trauma of having a phone interviews across a six hour time difference, and then of course the 'don't talk to me until I get a phone call' stage of waiting to see if I have a job. Ahhh...the next few weeks should be fun. :)
Right now I'm at the second level of that scenario, and yesterday was the first wave of relief. I have spent weeks weighing the options and trying to decide New York or Boston. My heart has always been set on New York. I am a finance major, so for me New York City is truly my greatest opportunity. However, after a month in France, I was beginning to second guess myself. I am already homesick for Boston...do I really want to go home for two months and then leave again for another six? I started to think, well I can always do my third one in New York, and stay in Boston for my second. But after I really thought about all of the factors, it became glaringy obvious that this fall is the best time for me to go. Once that decision was made, my time became a bit crunched. By the time I made my final decision, I had only 3 days to research, choose jobs that I was interested in, tweak my resume, and send everything to my co-op advisor. Needless to say, last week was extremely stressful.
The co-op advisors themselves add a completely new level of difficulty, never experienced in the college application process. You have to keep in mind that it is a very few number of advisors, keeping track of everything co-op related for 15,000 students...definitely not an easy task. My advisor in particular, can be the greatest asset out of them all in my opinion. She has great connections and is really willing to help you in anyway possible. However, she is also notoriously hard to get a hold of...when you are on campus. Being across the Atlantic Ocean does not make it any easier. I sent an email on Wednesday night with all of my information and choices. On Friday, I hadnt received any sort of confirmation, so I sent a follow-up email to double check. I knew that resumes for New York were being sent out on Monday and if she did not have my information, mine would not be sent. All weekend, still nothing. By yesterday I was literally on the verge of tears. I didn't know if my advisor had seen my email, and I didn't know if after all of my agonizing, I would even be applying to any job in New York. Finally in the afternoon, on our online co-op database I saw the proof that YES my resumes had in fact been sent to all the right companies. I guess I should have assumed that everything would be taken care of...but I couldn't help but worry.
Siiiigh, quite the relief...momentarily anyways. That was the easy part. I still have to go through the wait of seeing if I get an interview, the trauma of having a phone interviews across a six hour time difference, and then of course the 'don't talk to me until I get a phone call' stage of waiting to see if I have a job. Ahhh...the next few weeks should be fun. :)
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Loving the frenchies
So this weekend has been quite a bit different than any that we have had thus far...in a good way. Up until now, we have pretty much stayed to ourselves. A pack of solid Americans moving together, but also alone. FINALLY 5 weeks in we've started to break the ice with the French students. Two weekends ago we had started to get to know them a bit more, but our trip to Barcelona put any further interaction on hold. However, it was a whopping three times this weekend that we went out with groups of the CEFAM students. All three were definitely a success. I absolutely love all of the French students, and despite the stereotypes, they seem to really like us as well.
While we all were getting quite comfortable in Lyon, I think that friendship with the students was the missing link for all of us. That overwhelming feeling that you are an outcast in your own school is rather unsettling. Now that we have broken that barrier, it is so nice to have people to stop and talk to in the hallways (other than just the 15 of us), and also to have different things to look forward to on the weekends. The only downside so far? It is making the whole getting-to-class-on-time thing that much more difficult. Oh well...it's worth it.
While we all were getting quite comfortable in Lyon, I think that friendship with the students was the missing link for all of us. That overwhelming feeling that you are an outcast in your own school is rather unsettling. Now that we have broken that barrier, it is so nice to have people to stop and talk to in the hallways (other than just the 15 of us), and also to have different things to look forward to on the weekends. The only downside so far? It is making the whole getting-to-class-on-time thing that much more difficult. Oh well...it's worth it.
Friday, February 8, 2008
hola barcelona!
I'm just gonna start out by saying I really don't want to write this right now...blogging is something you have to be in the mood to do, and right now, I am not. However, I know that if I don't write now, it's just not gonna happen. WITH THAT SAID! Barcelona was awesome this past weekend. Myself, 8 CEFAM kids, and my boyfriend all made the short jaunt to Spain on friday for a lovely four day excursion. Friday night was pretty tame, we just walked around until we found a small bar to have a few drinks in. On Saturday, we were up bright and early! We got our complimentary breakfast at our hostel (which was extremely nice) and set out on a walking adventure. We basically just wandered around taking pictures until we found the Arc de Triomf and a big park around that. We split off into groups for the rest of the day but then all met up for dinner at Placa Reial. The restaurant 'Les quize nits' must be popular in Barcelona because there was a huge line a half an hour before the restaurant even opened. The food was absolutely delicious! Sunday required a bit more patience however. Adam and I started off the day by getting tapas and a place down the street. When we went in it was absolutely gorgeous outside. Of course by the time we were finished, it was pouring. We had been planning on going to see Gaudi's Casa Mila, an apartment complex designed by the famous architect. However, the roof is the most famous part, and that was closed due to the rain. Once it began to lighten up a little bit we decided to just start walking again. This time headed in the direction of Parc Guell, a huge park also designed by Gaudi at the top of a hill overlooking Barcelona. We made it about halfway before it started pouring again. Needless to say, by the time we made it to the park we were absolutely soaked. It was worth it though. Parc Guell was breathtaking even in the rain. It seemed like something out of a dream. 
After heading back to the hostel to dry off and change, we headed to the Picasso Museum. Half of the museum was his personal collection of others paintings, which was very cool to see. Then the other half was a wide range of Picasso's own works. Since we are learning about Picasso and the cubists right now in Art History it was a great opportunity to really see these paintings in person. For dinner we hitched a ride with a rickshaw driver. He took us all the way through the port and down along the ocean. It was an absolutely beautiful ride! He took us to a restaurant that was right on the beach...I now have my mind set to go back to Barcelona during the summer at some point. That has to be amazing! Now just in case you've lost track, at this point it is Sunday...Super Bowl Sunday. Patriots vs Giants. BIG DEAL! We found a bar along Las Ramblas called 'SportsBar'. Literally everyone in the bar was an American college student, it was madness. Even though it was artificial, the feeling of being home in U.S. for three hours was incredible. I love Europe...but there's no place like home. As for the outcome of the game...no comment. Stupid Giants.
Monday morning half of our group left pretty early. Five of us didn't have flights until 5:30 pm though so we got to enjoy another day in Barcelona. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! There wasn't a cloud in the sky the whole day. So Matt and I spent the day Gaudi style. We went to Casa Mila and got to go up to the roof...absolutely crazy.
After spending some time exploring that, we walked to the Temple de la Sagrada Familia. A huge church in the center of Barcelona, also designed by Gaudi. They started building this thing in 1882 and it's still not even close to being finished. But when you look at it you can understand why....every inch of the building is an ornate carving or sculpture. It is (just like everything else in Barcelona) incredibly beautiful. We wanted to go up to the top of one of the towers, but the wait time was an hour and we didn't have time. Next time...
I must say that being in Spain really made me appreciate the fact that I live in France and can at least roughly speak the language. I didn't have the first clue about speaking Spanish and really just felt kind of lost all weekend. It was extremely comforting to get back to Lyon and be able to understand people. A month in though....I still wish I could speak better! Ahhh...I'm working on it. A bientot mes amis.
After heading back to the hostel to dry off and change, we headed to the Picasso Museum. Half of the museum was his personal collection of others paintings, which was very cool to see. Then the other half was a wide range of Picasso's own works. Since we are learning about Picasso and the cubists right now in Art History it was a great opportunity to really see these paintings in person. For dinner we hitched a ride with a rickshaw driver. He took us all the way through the port and down along the ocean. It was an absolutely beautiful ride! He took us to a restaurant that was right on the beach...I now have my mind set to go back to Barcelona during the summer at some point. That has to be amazing! Now just in case you've lost track, at this point it is Sunday...Super Bowl Sunday. Patriots vs Giants. BIG DEAL! We found a bar along Las Ramblas called 'SportsBar'. Literally everyone in the bar was an American college student, it was madness. Even though it was artificial, the feeling of being home in U.S. for three hours was incredible. I love Europe...but there's no place like home. As for the outcome of the game...no comment. Stupid Giants.
Monday morning half of our group left pretty early. Five of us didn't have flights until 5:30 pm though so we got to enjoy another day in Barcelona. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! There wasn't a cloud in the sky the whole day. So Matt and I spent the day Gaudi style. We went to Casa Mila and got to go up to the roof...absolutely crazy.
After spending some time exploring that, we walked to the Temple de la Sagrada Familia. A huge church in the center of Barcelona, also designed by Gaudi. They started building this thing in 1882 and it's still not even close to being finished. But when you look at it you can understand why....every inch of the building is an ornate carving or sculpture. It is (just like everything else in Barcelona) incredibly beautiful. We wanted to go up to the top of one of the towers, but the wait time was an hour and we didn't have time. Next time...
I must say that being in Spain really made me appreciate the fact that I live in France and can at least roughly speak the language. I didn't have the first clue about speaking Spanish and really just felt kind of lost all weekend. It was extremely comforting to get back to Lyon and be able to understand people. A month in though....I still wish I could speak better! Ahhh...I'm working on it. A bientot mes amis.
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