Goodbye/Hello

Greetings from London!

Somehow, I always wind up here. And I’m fine with that, because London is high on my list of favorite cities in the world. Ever since I studied and interned here the summer after my freshman year, I’ve been in love with this place. Lucky me… Since graduating from Villanova in May, I’ve been here three times already. I never knew a job in Hong Kong would entail so many visits to the U.K.

While training in New York, my bosses wanted me to see how our London office operated, so they sent me out here for a week. You see, the new Hong Kong branch is an off-shoot of our London operations, so they felt it was important for me to get a feel for the way it all works. When I left to go back to New York, I thought I had seen the last of London for some time.

Then, on the way to Hong Kong, our CEO needed to make his annual review of the London office. Since we travelled together, I had four completely free days to enjoy the city while he did his work. Again, as we headed to Heathrow for the big flight, I said goodbye to London for what I assumed would be years.

And now I’m here again—for three weeks—to work out of the office. Lesson learned: never assume anything. I’m very much looking forward to spending more time in this great city.

Since Kevin and I are the only two employees who work in the Hong Kong office, there is only one person for me to learn from—Kevin himself. But it’s never good to limit your learning to one person. Imagine if you only had one professor for every subject in college. It’s always better to have exposure to different approaches and techniques. That way, you can really come to develop your own style, which is, in essence, why I’ve been sent here.

This trip was the brainchild of my bosses in New York, and I think it's a great idea. Since the London and Hong Kong trading days overlap, I can keep in touch with my Asian accounts and also take advantage of the multitude of different brokering styles to be found among the London staff.

Hong Kong has been wonderful, and I’m looking forward to returning in a few weeks, but things have also changed a lot since my last update. Sadly, I had to say my first Hong Kong goodbyes over the past two weeks. Mostly by coincidence, the friends I had been making were only in the city on a temporary basis, either as interns or on short-term job rotations. I always knew friends would be leaving, but I didn’t realize three of my best pals, Jurre (also one of my roommates), Becca and Harriet, would all go within a week of each other. That’s why I’m glad to leave for awhile now, too. Goodbye, Hong Kong... Hello, London! This trip couldn’t have come at a better time.

Out in LKF one last time with Becca, Jurre and Harriet

And another issue came up: with Jurre gone, Julian and I were faced with the prospect of getting a random roommate assigned by the landlords. It could have been anyone—a middle-aged Chinese lady who speaks no English, a forty year-old Turkish man who works in a local hotel, or anybody else. Really, all bets were off! Luckily, we met a 22 year old French kid named Guillaume who had just arrived in Hong Kong and was looking for a place to stay. We put him in touch with our landlords and solved the potential roommate crisis. He moved in earlier this week and the three of us get along very well.

On Thursday night I got a chance to show my ‘Nova pride by attending a college fair at the Canadian International School. Since most admissions counselors cannot make it out to such fairs, it’s common for young alumni to represent their alma mater instead. So not only did I get to talk up Villanova to young expat students, I also got to make friends with other young people living or working in Hong Kong. Funnily enough, Guillaume, the new roommate, was there as well, representing his school. And we made a new friend with a young lady named Samantha who I met for a few drinks the next night, before my flight. So even though I've had my fair share of goodbyes over the past few weeks, I've also had quite a few hellos, as well..

Hong Kong makes air travel as easy as it can get. You check in and leave your bag in town, at whatever time is convenient for you. I checked in for my 11:35pm flight at 2:00 in the afternoon. My bag was sent to the airport, I got my boarding pass and I went back to work for the rest of the day.

I met some friends after work, and at about 10:15pm, I got on the ‘Airport Express’ train to the terminal, only a 24 minute ride from the city center! Since I had my boarding pass already, I just had to clear security and head right to the gate—completely hassle free and no need to arrive hours early. I was in the airport for less than 50 minutes by the time our plane was ready to take off. I do not understand why other cities have not instituted similar systems.

I've just arrived at our London office to drop off my bags, and I will be meeting up with some of the guys who work here in a few hours. Tomorrow I will probably hang out with my friend Allie, from 'Nova, who is studying abroad here. And I’ve already gotten a taste of the brisk winter weather I’ve completely managed to avoid this year, since it rarely falls below 55° in Hong Kong and is usually much hotter. Even with freezing temperatures on the horizon, I’m really looking forward to the next three weeks!