I missed a week but for once in my life, it was intentional. The thought was to aggregate the last couple of week’s happenings into one post because I didn’t think there would be enough to talk about if I had a post per week like normal. Now that I’m sitting down looking at my list to write about, maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. Oh well, let’s get to it.
Livin’ Large
I got my first Euro paycheck! It’s honestly a bit surreal to think about. Here I am, just a regular Joe from the middle of nowhere USA earning money in a different currency. Granted, it’s not a lot of money, but still. It’s moments like these that make me take a step back and realize where I am, how far I’ve come, and how grateful I am for the opportunities I’ve been able to take advantage of.
Work, Work, Work
If you haven’t been following me, you might be wondering what paycheck I’m talking about. Well, I’m a Student Assistant for the marketing department at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (where I also go to school) and the giant project the whole department has been working on for quite some time now is a new website for the university. Apparently Google’s changing their algorithm to prefer mobile friendly websites which put the university in overdrive for a much needed update.
I actually had a lot of fun working on the site and I’m very proud to say that a huge chunk of what you can see was done directly by me. I used to play this silly game when I was maybe 8 years old called Horseland. It was basically a forum based game where you could breed and train horses and run your own stable but it wasn’t an interactive game at all. It focused a lot more on genetics and algorithm efficiency.
Seems to be Spring here. IG.Within that game, players could create an html-based homepage. Most people just copy and pasted ugly glitter GIFs into their profile but there were a few adults playing the game that were graphic designers in real life and sold homepage for Horseland money (and sometimes even real currency). Little-Kid-Heather figured out that you could go to someone else’s homepage and copy their source coding to make her own professional webpage without having to pay money for it (yes, it’s as morally questionable as it sounds). Regardless, that is how I learned the web/graphic design skills that I now use in my job everyday; talk about resume worthy extracurricular actives!
Faschingsdienstag
I’m going to jump out of order chronologically to finish up my last talking point about work which is my first paid holiday ever! February 28th is Shrove Tuesday which is a half holiday in Hessen. I had never heard of a half holiday in the US but then again, we have abysmal vacation/holiday laws in the states so it’s really not surprising. Basically, you get paid for a whole day of work even though you were only at work for a half day.
Even though it’s only a half holiday, I’m going to say that it counts considering the only thing that has ever come close to a paid holiday in my past has been time-and-a-half for working Thanksgiving day or something. Once again, it’s yet another mile marker on my road to becoming a working professional and boy does it feel good.
Networking
All of the Group Speakers got an exclusive invite to an FS Alumni Event at Bloomberg. Although not everyone was back from break yet, the turnout was good and it was great to see my classmates again after month apart. At the event we heard learned the latest about our class demographics, Bloomberg and their relationship with our university, and exciting new features on the Bloomberg terminal that is setting the company up for serious work in the artificial intelligence sector. Everyone had a great time networking afterwards over some wine and hors d’oeuvres.
The Cutest Thing You’ll Ever See
Probably the highlight of the entire time period this post covers was my time spent at the animal shelter. “Why,” you might ask? Because there is now a little room with ELEVEN of the cutest little bouncing baby bunnies you will ever see. I sat for HOURS watching them play, sleep, and cuddle. They’re at a great age where they are so curious that they just climb all over you and are so tolerant of being held (so long as it’s after their last snack when they’re feeling sleepy). Honestly, that room of baby bunnies has got to be the closest thing to heaven on Earth I’ve ever experienced.
How can you not fall in love with these faces. IG.Happy Birthday!
One of my closest friends at FS (and sadly she’s not in my program so I hardly ever see her) had a birthday last week which meant that this last weekend was her birthday party. I love her parties because it’s a completely different circle of people and I always end up meeting at least one super cool person. Unfortunately, my new flat doesn’t put me in a great position for late nights as it’s quite far out of town and nothing runs by my home after 3(ish) am.
It worked out really well this time around though because my friend has an extra mattress in the dorms and I just crashed there for the night (after a 4 am McDonalds run) and helped her clean up in the morning. Actually, I didn’t really help very much but she swears that it was ok and that my company was help enough in motivating her to clean. Either way, I didn’t end up leaving her place until 6 o’clock Sunday night so I really wasn’t home at all this last weekend. Oops.
The view from Bloomberg. IG.The Hunt
I thought I would also just briefly mention that the hunt for a summer internship is in full swing and that, although I have done a lot of research, it’s a huge pain in the butt trying to find positions available for the weirds dates of the FS summer break. I found a couple that I will definitely be putting in for ASAP but I’m honestly starting to sweat a little. Once school starts, who knows how much time I’ll have to do anything other than school work.
Ok, that was a long post. Sorry about that. I’m glad that I condensed and organized everything this way though because I’m actually about to leave for Luxembourg with the Frankfurt School which is the official start to the new semester. One more post about my trip and I’ll be back to the old grind of posting my weekly summaries of class. ‘Til then, tschüss!
My Way of Everything 