I have three days left in NYC.

It’s been an awesome summer. Although I somehow (shockingly) failed to master the intricate arts of investment banking, I do understand a lot more than I did before. I also oriented myself in the city, met and reconnected with some great folks, and had some lovely runs.

I came to New York to get stuff done. I wondered if it would be too much for me, not knowing what I was getting myself into with my training and internship, wondering if I could handle it…I didn’t want to disappoint any expectations, since after all I was coming in without any financial experience. I didn’t want to disappoint anyone’s trust. I think that turned out ok. But that part is about other people, and about things that (hopefully) didn’t happen.

What did happen? As noted, mastery of this particular arcane subject matter was not attained, but I think first steps towards it were. I will need to fill in lots of info and skills areas—like accounting–but I have now have more of a reason to pay attention.

This finance stuff is interesting, and I think it’ll be useful…even silly things like trading on my own (measly) account will benefit from modeling skills (and my identification of general, ambient concerns: “Issues in Finance”). I am hoping, though, that even if I never work in an investment bank again, I will use these embryonic skills, which hopefully will mature into some greater glory, for my China projects.

I saw the power of modeling from time to time: once, a valuation showed an area of concern for the company, we talked to the client and heard how they dealt with the issue (which they had, prior to our question, avoided mentioning); another showed a planned investment, which looked good as presented by someone else’s analysis, was probably a bad idea…behold, numbers that speak! Additionally, I observed some of the workings (in a superficial way, no doubt) of an investment bank, and saw what they did and how they made money, in, of course, a very limited way. (Hey, I can do that.) ;)

Through b-skool I’ll keep thinking about these things, and having run up against some situations in which this information will be useful, I have at least some sort of board into which to plug information when I encounter it in textbooks or the news.

Soon: packing. Saying goodbye to people and places. Boarding a plane, passing into China with a student visa, and finally seeing Beijing again. It will be good to be home.

Yesterday I went to see a friend in New Jersey, touring through the charming neighborhood where his house is located. We had sushi, went to a bar; I rode some trains, took the wrong train, saw some sights, had a good time. In New York I ask for directions and understand the answers. I chatted with a random local in the elevator this morning; we high-fived because we agreed on our mutual awesomeness at being up and productive on a Sunday morning.

I miss China, though. Some of the guys in the office are Chinese, and we talk about food and the absence of open-container laws and Chinese people. Although I still have a lot to do in New York in the next few weeks, I’m looking forward to going home.

NYC reminds me of LA in some ways. I run in the morning, I wear a suit, I have an office. People give me orders, which I sometimes understand. It’s similar, but not the same: the weather is hot, I commute via subway, my office is shared, some of my coworkers are much younger, and, unlike in my former law office, there’s a distinct paucity of women. Like Beijing and unlike LA, there are a lot of Asian guys, some of whom invite me to practice my Mandarin.

Work is interesting. There’s a lot of it. A lot of it is fresh-snow-new to me. It’s a good use of my time. Business in Beijing continues to grind forward, and I turn my attention to it from time to time, less often than I should.

I like New York. It’s cool enough in the morning to run outside, and it’s beautiful and green and there are rivers and ponds. I met Central Park yesterday, which was lovely. I met up with some friends in the past couple of days (other than the ones I’m staying with). I had some Cuban food. I had a Sam Adams on tap. There will be more outings. It’s good.

I enjoy listening to Sean’s songs. I wish we could talk on the phone more. I wish I could see him.

In order:
Jiuguloudajie (Old Gulou Street)
Gulou (Drum Tower)
Dianmendajie (Peace on Earth Door Street)
Jinshan Park
Tiananmen/Gugong (Peace in Heaven Door, Old Palace, otherwise known as Forbidden City)
Tiananmen Square, with National Museum of China, Hero’s Monument or something, some other massive government building, Mao Zedong’s mausoleum
Qianmen (Front Gate)
Qianmendajie (Front Gate Street)

10.6 miles, 7 hours, including a lovely lunch of traditional Chinese food a.k.a Vegetable Fried Noodles and Egg and Tomato Fried Noodles and Tsingtao beer. Also had milk tea for snacks/breakfast! Also lots of shopping including:

Panda backpack
Light up and music playing “dreidel” is the best word for it I think
Packs of cards with top sites of Beijing printed on them
Scarves, scarves, and more scarves
Lots of tiny little embroidered gift bags
Yet another pair of gloves for Maria since it was much colder out than we thought it would be…
Porcelain container set
“Cereal” (puffed corn and rice)
“Golden Brick” (wonderful chocolate bread) and pre-sweetened/pre-creamed coffee and “chocolate” sticks

Photos to follow!

Sean is sleeping still; maybe I’ll go for a jog before finishing packing. This morning so far I’ve done some research on language schools in Beijing, some random Beijing-adjustment blog reading, and bagel-place research.