Ok here we go again. Last blog of my time here on my journey abroad. Looking back there were so many things I’ve experienced. From different cultures, to food, to places. Its kind of insane to think back on what I’ve done. This week started off hot…literally. Our air conditioning break. If I head a quarter for every time my air conditioning broke this abroad trip, I would have 2, which odd. I don’t know just some food for thought. Throughout the week work was work. The real things to look forward to was the trip to Bintan and the alumni networking event.
First the event. I got off work a bit early to walk to the event. Worst decision I could have made. Who knew at 5:30 pm it would be hot as the devils beard and so humid you would think you are in the middle of a 400 meter dash. Sweat just overtaking my shirt like Lewis Hamilton on turn 4. I finally get tho the venue and have to catch my breath and dry off in the bathroom, but that was a mistake because turn out the bathroom doubles as a sauna. Who woulda know that this cool invention by accident would be the bane of my dry clothed existence. Anyway…I get up to the event and start to talk to an alumni. Her name was Laura. She was mad cool. We connected over her past at factset, which I oddly know a good amount about because our trading app pulls data from the database. This developed to she knows the head of my department which I would have never guessed. She has a really cool story and honestly is a pretty cool person. We went through the whole speeches and stuff. I go say hi to Trev and his mom Wendy. Then I see an alumni standing at a table chilling probably in between talking to people. I go up to introduce my self and when I tell you this guys story is one of the craziest bucknell stores I’ve ever heard. So his name is Xin Xu, we are talking about bucknell and our experiences. He’s from china, went to bucknell, then graduated in 2015. Then I ask him what do you do for a living. He tells me asset management across all asset classes. So I ask him what he thinks of crypto. I kid you not this guy tells me he started mining crypto at bucknell in Harris. If you know Harris you know it’s hot as hell and to mine crypto would make it like a blast furnace. So he asks me what I do here and what I want to do in the future. I tell him I work at maybank and I am working in private banking in the summer. He tells me the he has a couple private banks he uses and says gives me actually really good advice if I decide to stick with private banking.
He tells me, high net-worth investors especially the ones that are young are all smart. They know the markets and they know how to invest. They don’t need someone who will tell them that, AI can already do that. They need a friend.
Wow. That’s coming directly from the source. It doesn’t get more primary than that. Obviously he has amassed a wealth status that requires multiple bankers and managers. Hell he was even wearing an insane watch. But I’d never expect to be in the middle of Singapore getting some of the best advice career and world wise. By the end of the night we are good friends and are conversing on the state of American markets and politics. He invited me out for a dinner as well which is on Thursday. Defiantly one of the most meaningful connections I have made.
The weekend arrives early. No work on Friday, praise Jesus. So we have this trip planned Bintan island Indonesia. I didn’t know what to expect, but when we got there it was even hotter than Singapore. Throughout the weekend I caught a lot of rays and I pride myself on not having to use sunscreen. This was a mistake.
Friday night some of the guys and I went out for dinner and got Indian food. I have slept on Indian food all my life because holy cow (get the joke because in Hinduism and Buddhism cows are sacred) the food was so good. I got butter chicken and naan. Defiantly a great meal and I will be eating more Indian food. The next day it was a lot more tanning and a lot of pool time. I didn’t do any activities as I am as broke as a record player skipping threads. But I am completely fine with that because there is nothing like soaking in the sun with good tunes on the beach front of Indonesia.
The trip ended with a good dinner and floating bar. You could see all the stars. The whole bucknell group actually all came together and we were all having fun just us, the bartender, and the ocean. This was probably the first time we all hung out as a group without being told to. It was really wholesome. After we all went back and actually sang karaoke at the resort. It was a really special thing to see and a fun group thing. We came back to Singapore, burnt face, and tired. Yet, it was all worth doing and I wouldn’t go anywhere else (not even Chaing Mai Luke if you’re reading this and perhaps Harold too).
That enough from me. This is my last one so ill leave you with a quote.
If this experience has taught me one thing in life, which is not true because I have learned a shit ton (excuse my language)…it is;
“Wherever you go in life, its not about the places you see, the food you eat, the things that you do, it all means nothing without the people that you are with along the way”
People truly do make the place.
Thank you for coming to my David talk (idk who Ted is and why he always is talking).
