Dear friends,
Apologies for not having updated the blog in half a year! Things have been going 100 MPH and I've been flying by the seat of my pants. In the past six months I've been through six countries and have now ended up in India. Many of you probably know the story but maybe not all the details, so I'll do my best here to summarize the past six months of my life:
In May, I was finishing up my first year of MBA and looking toward summer internships. I had an offer for a marketing internship based in Beijing which I was really happy about. This would've gone right along with my plan to take a summer job and then, having overloaded on credits, take some time off in the subsequent fall to take Chinese language courses. But then, I got a full-time job offer that completely changed that plan.
In June, I finished up my MBA at HKUST and accepted a full-time offer to join an Asian MNC (will keep the company name off to be safe). The company is involved in consumer goods from sourcing to retail and the program I'm a part of is built to help us learn the different parts of the industry by taking projects at their different offices around the world. Fun stuff right?
After spending June at home in the states to visit family and friends, I set off for a month of training in Hong Kong. After four weeks of learning, I was sent on my first project which would bring me to Korea, Taiwan and China to learn about Asian retail. Being so mobile meant I'd have to travel light so I only packed one large suitcase. Living out of a suitcase is liberating! I really only have a choice of five shirts to pick from every morning. Korea was great fun - I had a lot of good food and made some new friends at work. And of course I'm in Shanghai and Taipei all the time so those parts were a blast.
That project was over way too fast. Two weeks ago I went home for a one week vacation and saw my sister get married + have annual thanksgiving dinner at our family friend's house.
And of course I had boiling crab, Ike's Lair, In-n-out, Peet's Coffee, and some home-bbq'ed ribeye steaks =)
Then I took off for my next assignment: India! So the area I'm in is a district outside of Delhi called Gurgaon. This place is still developing. The environment is really different than anything I've experienced before. The infrastructure is still being developed so there are frequent power outages and spotty internet coverage. Also, I think I may be the only one living at my service apartment building.
I'm getting used to the constant power outages too. So much so that yesterday when the power went out while I was in an elevator, I didn't freak out!
After running around doing anything and everything for the past year and a half, I think it'll be really nice to have some alone time (outside of work I mean). I'll have time to catch up on things I've been neglecting such as going to the gym and reading.
One thing I've reflected on, especially after being home last week, is the decision I made almost two years ago to pick up and leave for Asia. On the whole, even though things didn't go according to "the plan", it's been great for me. I think grad school and the new experiences really gave me a good jolt to start working on self-improvement again. I've learned a lot about a lot of things, including myself. Being away from comfortable environments and away from the friends I always rely on made me get back out there, explore and meet new people. The lone regret I have is missing some major events of family and friends such as weddings, births, birthdays, and other celebrations. Those are memories and stories I didn't get to share with a lot of people I care about.
After this India project, I'll be placed somewhere more permanently (I may up my stuff to... TWO suitcases!). I've promised myself to not miss the important stuff anymore no matter how far and out of the way it may be. I've got 6 weddings to attend in the next twelve months and I've already booked the tickets for three of them. So far so good.
More updates soon.
Until then...
Apologies for not having updated the blog in half a year! Things have been going 100 MPH and I've been flying by the seat of my pants. In the past six months I've been through six countries and have now ended up in India. Many of you probably know the story but maybe not all the details, so I'll do my best here to summarize the past six months of my life:
In May, I was finishing up my first year of MBA and looking toward summer internships. I had an offer for a marketing internship based in Beijing which I was really happy about. This would've gone right along with my plan to take a summer job and then, having overloaded on credits, take some time off in the subsequent fall to take Chinese language courses. But then, I got a full-time job offer that completely changed that plan.
In June, I finished up my MBA at HKUST and accepted a full-time offer to join an Asian MNC (will keep the company name off to be safe). The company is involved in consumer goods from sourcing to retail and the program I'm a part of is built to help us learn the different parts of the industry by taking projects at their different offices around the world. Fun stuff right?
After spending June at home in the states to visit family and friends, I set off for a month of training in Hong Kong. After four weeks of learning, I was sent on my first project which would bring me to Korea, Taiwan and China to learn about Asian retail. Being so mobile meant I'd have to travel light so I only packed one large suitcase. Living out of a suitcase is liberating! I really only have a choice of five shirts to pick from every morning. Korea was great fun - I had a lot of good food and made some new friends at work. And of course I'm in Shanghai and Taipei all the time so those parts were a blast.
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| We didn't have a common language but we had no problems getting along haha |
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| This isn't a wedding picture of course. I posted those on facebook. But I was uploading pics from when we were young and came across this one. I consider myself one super lucky guy for having such a great and supportive older sister. And I can't be happier for her to be married to a really great guy. Go Will and Irene! |
Then I took off for my next assignment: India! So the area I'm in is a district outside of Delhi called Gurgaon. This place is still developing. The environment is really different than anything I've experienced before. The infrastructure is still being developed so there are frequent power outages and spotty internet coverage. Also, I think I may be the only one living at my service apartment building.
 |
| Breakfast is lonely here... |
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| Yes this is actually a picture taken inside the elevator during the outage. |
One thing I've reflected on, especially after being home last week, is the decision I made almost two years ago to pick up and leave for Asia. On the whole, even though things didn't go according to "the plan", it's been great for me. I think grad school and the new experiences really gave me a good jolt to start working on self-improvement again. I've learned a lot about a lot of things, including myself. Being away from comfortable environments and away from the friends I always rely on made me get back out there, explore and meet new people. The lone regret I have is missing some major events of family and friends such as weddings, births, birthdays, and other celebrations. Those are memories and stories I didn't get to share with a lot of people I care about.
After this India project, I'll be placed somewhere more permanently (I may up my stuff to... TWO suitcases!). I've promised myself to not miss the important stuff anymore no matter how far and out of the way it may be. I've got 6 weddings to attend in the next twelve months and I've already booked the tickets for three of them. So far so good.
More updates soon.
Until then...
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| Just gangnam style |
keep it up E! always been a fan. look forward to more updates.
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