Great Week of Work

On Tuesday morning, I walked in to work, put my coat on my chair, washed my hands from the tube, and then the Fixed Income Managing Director asked what I was doing today. Responding cautiously, I told him that I was still working on my written project. He asked if I would like to go to a Fund Management Conference hosted by the International Economic Association… in 20 minutes, for the rest of the day. I immediately remembered that I had lunch plans with Claire and Lauren at 12pm, and so my boss agreed to walk outside to let them know that I wouldn’t be able to go with them. After I was assured I wouldn’t be rude to my friends, off I went to Whitehall. Ironically, I had only discovered the night before while out with Claire and Lauren where exactly Whitehall was – it is the huge complex of ornate buildings across from the London Eye, and down the street from Big Ben. It took me a bit to find where it was once the cab dropped me off, and I was a few minutes late for the first speaker, which the MD wanted notes on. I slipped into the back row of seats and began furiously writing notes because I had no idea what the speaker was talking about. That was the general theme of the day. I met 4 really nice business people throughout the day, and was fortunate to get three of their business cards. I have yet to email them. I am thinking of doing it tomorrow; I hope it is not too late. They know I am a student, so perhaps they will forgive me as I discover how to be a more effective businessperson. Anyway, I learned a ton throughout the day, such as what are derivatives (which I didn’t realize I already knew) and synthetic hedge fund replication (which I definitely didn’t already know). Basically, synthetic hedge fund replication is the practice of observing the basic characteristics of a hedge fund and applying those while developing a portfolio that is not a hedge fund. The name is daunting, but it is a rather simple concept. Ultimately, I loved the day so much that I asked my boss if I could go back with him the next day. He said that his only concern was that we had only paid for one spot, and we do not want to risk being charged for a second spot. Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for him, he was ill the next morning again and so I was able to go through lunchtime. I met him out front and handed him the binder of materials, and off to the office I went. When I arrived at the office, I spoke with his boss who had just returned from a 2-week vacation. We discussed my project and how to improve it to be a more effective tool for the group. I also asked her if I could come in on Friday so that I may take off the Thursday before Easter when Brad is here. She said that as long as I make up all the hours, it isn’t a problem at all. Obviously, it would be ideal to just the time off, but whatever, it wasn’t a big deal to go in on Friday morning. However, this also means staying late a few days this next week.

The next morning, on Thursday, the MD asked if I had any plans for that night. I said no, accepting that I would have to miss out on Thai Taste with Liz and Marilyn. I ended up going to the London Aquarium from 6:30-9:45pm for the celebratory opening of Euronext’s and iTraxx’s Credit Futures product. It was great. We first walked into a room with a huge circular tank with sharks looming in the bottom, and a school of fish circling around the top. There were a few arcade games that businessmen, professionally dressed, enjoyed. Also, there were two ribbon twirlers, and two masseuses. Let’s also not forget the catering staff. Everyone was dressed for a luau. My favorite people, however, were the divers in the tank. Our “host” diver, held up ads from iTraxx and Euronext, and held up a clipboard against the tank to speak with us. There were clipboards all along the edge of the tank that we could write on to ask them questions, like “Are you concerned that the sharks may eat you?” After a while of feeling shy and having difficulty breaking into a group, I finally made my way into a small group of people from Lehman Brothers. They were really nice, and there was an American girl from the New York office in London for a week. She graduated from Wellesley last year, and did their training program for two months. We chatted about her sister in Asia, worldly travels, how to speak Mandarin, Boston, MIT boys, etc. She was also very nice to let me in on the nickname of another Lehman employee so that I wasn’t horribly confused when I saw him referred to with two names. This other Lehman employee spent a lot of time helping me to know where I should travel while I am here, and also talking about his family’s private tour of Westminster Abbey and how his daughter played Go Tell it on the Mountain on the organ. He was extremely nice, and later emailed me to remind me of all the names of places he rambled off to me. I also met someone who lives in Japan, although is originally from England, and helped to develop the Credit Futures product that we were celebrating. Throughout the evening, we were moved to a petting area with stingrays that were extremely friendly, and I had no idea how personable and interactive they could be! We were then moved to a room lined with fish tanks and with a large bar in the middle. The entire evening they handed out drinks from the open bar and hors dourves, including these little bowls of rice and chicken/pepper kebabs. Finally, I went home and was very tired, knowing that I had to get up the next morning to go to work and class. Overall, it was a great week of work, and it was a nice change of pace from the previously quieter week… all thanks to the Fixed Income Managing Director, and my sick boss.