Wednesday, December 19, 2007

The unforgettable NYC trip

Seven days in the big apple, my first trip to perhaps the most famous city in the world, and a lot of things happened.

Sunday was a dud. I was supposed to go meet a friend and as a result of some confusion, it was called off. I was then not let into my hotel room because my GSB friend who had booked the room had not included my name in the list of occupants. Three hours in the lounge, and after a few frantic phone calls, and the hotel guys finally let me in. The rest of the day was spent catching up with much needed sleep, because i was partying all night on Saturday :) Later that evening, i caught up with friends over phone, with one conversation turning out to be especially memorable!!!

The weekdays were loaded. This year's Bank Week was more organized than the previous ones, but it was still hectic. Our schedule had 6 events on Monday, 3 on Tuesday and 6 on Wednesday. Life was converted into a series of runs from one bank to another bank, meeting people and trying to learn more and more about the banks, the teams and the people. It was, in a way, a kind of immersion into the whole banking experience. I liked that part of it. I would have preferred to have spent more time in each bank - a "Day in the Bank" kind of setup would have been better. With just 90 minutes per bank, i somehow felt it was much lesser time at each bank. We had arranged for informational interviews on Thursday and Friday, which were hectic days again.

My hotel was very close to Park Avenue, which i call to be the new Wall Street. So commute was not an issue, but i had to walk a lot. But NYC is such a walkable city, i so loved walking around. Friday evening, my legs were hurting, but that is when i walked almost 100 streets to go from my hotel to NYU Stern and then all the way back to my hotel. A friend had hosted a holiday party on Friday evening and the week winded down with warm discussions.

Had plans to visit Statue of Liberty on Saturday, but canceled that as well coz of time constraints. Next time. Flew back to Chicago amidst heavy snow fall on Saturday and have been cherishing the snow ever since. Three weeks of winter break and it should be normal service at school very soon.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Iday,
Your blog has been a source of great information during my current application journey. Thanks. I have certain specific questions about Chicago GSB and I would like to discuss them with you if you would not mind. I promise not to inconvenience you with them. If you think this is fine, please drop me a mail at ravishkr AT hotmail DOT com. Thanks much.
- Ravi NS

Ramkumar said...

I really liked the place. nyc was closer to being an indian city in it's indiscipline. Tells you not everything depends on standard of living. few things depends on population too!!

HairTwirler said...

2nd years ALWAYS say that events are more organized than the year before, because really, who wants to say "wow, we totally blew it this year." :) I'm glad you enjoyed NYC! The 24 hour craziness IS about as close as you will get to an Indian city in the U.S. although it doesn't come close to the chaos of Delhi in my mind.