Girl and City

So I had an utterly exhausting weekend. Mostly because I slept about 10 hours in total since Thursday. Coffee saved me. Every. Single. Day.

I had a conference in The City the last few days. In order not to miss class, I went to an 8:00AM class on Thursday morning, then got on the train for The City. On the train, I ran into a classmate who was also heading into The City for interviews (it’s summer recruiting season for him). I had wanted to sleep on the train, but no luck. Instead, he spent two hours running his mouth off about all the interviews he had¹. When I got off the train, I wanted to take a taxi to the hotel, because I didn’t want to walk the two blocks with my luggage. Yeah, I was tired and lazy. But the taxi driver wouldn’t take me! He said it was too close, I should just walk. So he literally dumped me on the sidewalk.

By the time I arrived at the hotel, the cocktail reception had already started. I checked into my room to realize that I had roommates. Three roommates, no less. Was this a joke?
When I realized the conference organizers weren’t joking, that I was expected to share a bed with a complete stranger, I was not amused. Two of my roommates were in first year, and my bed-mate was in fourth year. They were all from the commerce program of The Other University.
I quickly staked my claim by unpacking my stuff over as much area as possible (their shit seemed to have exploded all over the hotel room and bathroom counter – although I should have expected that when I realized there were going to be four girls sharing one very small bathroom), and changed into a business casual dress for the reception.

At the reception, I realized that of the 100 delegates, about 15 were external delegates (including myself). That means that only 15 people were from another university, and the rest of the 85 people were from The Other University. The Other University and The Business School are rivals, so I tried to avoid the question, “So what school are you from?” lest the mob descend on me on the first night.
It got worse. I also realized that most of the delegates were first and second year students. I was probably one of four upper-year students.
Let me explain the gravity of the situation. I was in enemy territory, surrounded by nearly 100 people who did not go to my school and did not like my school. I was also surrounded by nearly 100 people who were barely of age and were running around asking for fake IDs so they could go to the evening bar festivities. They were so naive that they had no idea what the difference between finance, accounting, and consulting were, and was under the delusion that they could get a career in any industry they wanted. I wanted to strangle them.
Suffice to say, this was not my scene.

So I didn’t know anyone. And could barely hold a conversation with anyone (without wanting to strangle them, that is). But there was an open bar, good food, etc. So I inhaled every plate they served during dinner and drank too much wine. There was a keynote speaker after dinner, some important know-it-all from An Investment Bank, trying to influence the impressionable minds in the room that investment banking was the true, and only, definition of success. During the keynote speech, I texted WAF: “Get me out of here.” So we made plans to meet up after I was done.

While everyone else was getting ready to go to some pub, I started putting on a glittery top and a sequin skirt. I was clearly over-dressing, so my roommates asked me what I was doing. “I’m meeting a friend of mine at a lounge,” I replied.
“You’re not going to the pub?”
“No, I don’t drink beer.”
My roommates seemed confused that I wouldn’t want to participate in the conference’s event, but how could I explain to them that I didn’t see myself having fun with first-years who were engaging in underage drinking and were probably going to go crazy because, let’s face it, this was probably their first staying-in-a-hotel drinking opportunity? My two first-year roommates had invited all of their first-year friends into our hotel room and were passing around a 60 Litre bottle of vodka. Point proven.
I hurriedly got out of there and hoped that I wouldn’t return to a pile of vomit in our hotel room that night.

WAF and I ended up at a post-modern sushi lounge in the Financial District. It was filled with suits from the nearby banks. At one point, a 60-year-old man with a head of white hair and an expensive suit tried to give both of us a hug and invite us to drink with him. We quickly declined².

When I returned to the hotel room, my roommates were already back and asleep. I checked around quickly for vomit, and finding none, passed out on my side of the bed.

Friday was a packed day filled with keynote speakers and workshops. To give the conference organizers some credit, the keynote speakers were all extremely entertaining and knowledgeable. I learned more about international business and the global market in the last three days than I have in my entire academic career so far. Dinner was at an Irish pub hosted by A Consulting Firm (not the one I’m going to be working for), and surprisingly, the food was fantastic. Possibly the best Western food I’ve ever had. Dinner conversation was with a cute private-school boy who was in his third-year at The Other University and considering offers from several consulting firms.
That night, once again, I skipped out on the conference’s evening festivity and went clubbing with WAF. The club we went to had great music, but the crowd that night was very Euro trash, so we danced to our hearts content with each other and called it a night.

Saturday was dedicated to a case competition. Since I do cases every day, three times a day, at The Business School, this was a piece of cake for me. But The Other University does not teach with cases, so everyone else struggled to analyze the given case in the 3.5 hour time frame. My assigned team had the same trouble, but luckily, they listened to my wisdom (for the most part), and – long story short – we won first place in the case competition.

Since the final presentation was in front of the entire delegation, I received a lot of attention for my presentation skills. After dinner, two boys came up to talk to me. The first was one of the original founders of the conference, a fourth year from The Other University who was going to work for An Investment Bank in New York City. The other, also a fourth year from The Other University, was a Korean boy who was going to work for Another Investment Bank in Tokyo, Japan. Both were very eligible bachelors, at least according to the criteria of: Asian, smart, and potential wealth.

Saturday night, the conference had organized a semi-formal event at a club. Since I had never seen the club, I decided to go with them that night. I pre-drank with a few girls of my fourth-year roommate, who luckily did not make me want to kill somebody (or maybe it was the amount of alcohol I consumed that dulled the killing urge). By the time we got to the club, I was spectacularly drunk³, and ended up dancing with The Korean I-Banker. We spent most of the night together, although I left early because I was dead-tired.

Somehow, I was not hungover on Sunday. It helped that I had some greasy food before bed the night before, and of course, pigged out during breakfast to “re-nourish” my body. The conference finally ended at noon. My parents drove down to meet me for lunch, and after a quick trip to the grocery store for some veggies, drove me back to University Town.

And on Sunday night, I slept 12 hours, to make up for the lack of sleep during the conference. It was kind of amazing.

If you didn’t bother reading all that, the important things to note are:

• I did not mention PLB once. That is because, as of last Tuesday, I gave up on him. In a nutshell, he was playing mind-games and I was not having it.
• I won a case competition! I wouldn’t have had a chance in hell at The Business School, but going up against The Other University was a piece of cake. And of course, it made me feel really smart.
• I hooked up⁴ with a future investment banker in Japan. I don’t know if I will ever run into him in Asia, but it’s nice to know there’s a possibility. Plus, he’s Korean. I don’t know what it is with me and Koreans. It must be fate.
• I realized I am only attracted to ambitious (but not arrogant) boys. WAF had always said that she was only interested in boys who were going to be as successful, if not more successful, than her. I didn’t agree at first, but after this weekend, I think that is true for me too, whether I like it or not.
• Good food and open bar can cheer me up in any situation.
• I’m exhausted, it is Monday, and I have a very packed week ahead of me. TGFC (Thank God For Coffee).

How was your weekend?

1. He had literally gotten every single interview. He had second rounds from every single investment bank as well as the top three consulting firms. This kid was impressive. [↩]
2. Although some of the other female associates there were enjoying all the male attention. Many of them had more than one guy fawning over her. [↩]
3. As always, no one could tell because I don’t know how to be a sloppy drunk even if I wanted to be one. [↩]
4. Like I always remind my readers, my definition of hooking up does not involve sex. [↩]