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My Internship in Boston

5/29/2013

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My internship will finish on May 10th. Oh, how time flies! It’s really hard for me to say goodbye to this firm. Since January 16th, I joined Aite group, and worked as a full-time employee. Even though the project I was assigned was a little bit tough for me, I learned a lot from my teammates.

“ We are pleased to offer you an internship with us.” I would never forget that moment when I received the “offer” email from the Aite group HR manager: Jennifer Rizzo. A lot has happened since then, but looking back on my work I can now confidently say that I am a lucky dog to have gotten an internship with the perfect company for me.

My first day at Aite group was hectic since this was the first time I worked with American people using a different language. In the morning Jennifer Rizzo gave me a short orientation to introduce me to everyone and give me a tour of the office. And then I had a meeting to figure out what I would start working on with one of my teammates - Sophie, at least for the next few weeks or so. I received a new laptop with everything set up. The office was so quiet and everyone looked so busy. I just sat in my space and became familiar with my computer. At lunchtime Judy who was in our quantity analysis team thoughtfully called me to have lunch together. We talked a lot. She told me how she loved this company and how nice the people are in this firm.

Since then, I came to work from 9:00am to 5:00pm almost everyday. Our team has some research projects that are related to the Chinese finance market – the most indispensable emerging market around the world. Before I started any project, we would always schedule a meeting to discuss it. You know, as an international students working in my second language, sometimes I felt completely overwhelmed. Sometimes I couldn’t understand some words in the finance world and I even find the Mandarin translation to explain them correctly. But thanks to their patience, they explained my silly questions in detail always with a smile. As I became more comfortable in the workplace, those feelings soon disappeared as I grew confident and became much better at my tasks. The main project to which I contributed was called “Overview of the Chinese Finance Market.” Based on the annual financial reports and the introduction from the “firms securities website,” I created a spreadsheet to record top 25 securities firms in China. I summarized their main business, award, market shares, trading technologies etc. My supervisor not only told me what I need to do, but also taught me the logic of the method. Therefore it was not only an internship, but also a perfect course for me.


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My Internship in Boston

5/29/2013

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Short Vacation in China

5/10/2013

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PictureThe taste of home :)
On April 4th, I went back to China for a 10-day vacation. It was the first time I saw my family since last year in August. I missed my mom and dad so much. I was so excited about this trip.

During these 8 months, things changed a lot back home. A new subway line was built to access our university. It used to take us one hour from our campus to downtown, but now it only takes 20 minutes. Almost all my classmates have found their dream job and are prepared to start working after June. They shared with me their tough job hunting experience. My ex-roommate, Qingrui, will work for the Agricultural Bank of China after graduating. She said because of the globalizing economy, it was unbelievably tough to find a job this spring. A lot of Chinese companies and banks are now looking for graduate students, even if the job position is not related to English, HR departments are leaning more to hiring students who have studied abroad or have an American university degree. She was very interested in learning about my BU study abroad experience. She felt I had grown even in the way I conversed with her. She said I was now more professional, and more confident. I would agree with her. By being proficient in a second language to studying and live in a new city for 8 months, I have developed the ability to work at an international level with people from all over the world.

I was finally in the front steps of my house. I couldn’t wait to go inside, but before I even opened the door, the smell of the food my mom had cooked for me reached my nostrils. It was bliss. In Boston, I could buy anything but authentic home cooked food. This applied especially to past, which my hometown Shanxi is well known for. Generally my mom uses wheat flour, sorghum flour or buckwheat to make sliced noodles, noodles in chili sauce, noodles with eggs and tomato sauce, hand rolled noodles, hand-pulled noodles, “cat ear” noodles. The possibilities are endless! Unfortunately, I couldn’t make any of them while in Boston. My favorite is sliced noodles with chili and egg tomato sauce. My mom said she had cooked the sauce herself the day before I came back and finished cooking the noodles just in time for my arrival. They tasted so fresh and soft. I also met with my relatives during my visit and shared my abroad experience with my cousins. One of my cousins called Jack Cheng just started university last September. He’s been a big fan of Celtics and Red Sox since he was little. After listening to what I had to say about Boston, he became even more curious about this sport-rich city. He decided to start working harder on his English in order to go to Boston and enjoy his favorite sports games.

Ten days was too short of a stay with my family. However, after this vacation, I cherish this opportunity to study in Boston University even more. What matters is not just that this experience can open more job opportunities for me in China, but that it changed me from a shy and introverted girl to an outgoing, brave and confident girl ready to take on the future.



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This one is steamed corn bread with vegetables.
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These two picture is showing how to make “cat ear” noodle.
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Two Cities. To Cultures. Both My Homes

5/6/2013

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I took a short trip to visit my family back in Beijing after living in Boston for over eight months. I wanted to share with you a little bit about these two cities which I dearly love. 
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My Experience of the Boston Marathon

5/2/2013

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Every corner of the world has been shocked by the terrible and crazy thing that happened last Monday – the Boston Marathon Bombings. Three people died and about 170 were wounded during this shocking horrific attack. Some friends of mine who lived in China were so worried about me and they thought that I would be regretful to live and study in this city. However, it`s not true. The truth is that after marathon bombings, I love this strong city more than before.  

·       The relationship is much closer than I thought

At 2:50 p.m. on April 15th, I was on the plane from Beijing to New York. I had gone back to China for 10 days to visit my family. Of course, my cell phone was off when this happened because I was on a plane. When I arrived at Newark at 7:30 p.m. and checked my cell phone it wouldn’t stop ringing. All the text messages said the same thing - “Are you OK? Why aren’t you answering the phone? Please call me back if you are all right.” At that time I read the news about the Boston marathon and realized why all my friends were urgently trying to reach me. At that moment, I was so touched. I realized I had a lot of friends in Boston who cared about me; I felt like they were all part of my family.

In addition, I also got tons of emails from my professors, my workmates, and MET international. Last Friday, when I saw Neus, who is an assistant director in MET International, she said to me that after she read the newspapers, she was in shock to hear that three BU students were affected by the bombings and couldn’t wait to reach me and make sure I was OK. My mom heard our talk and smiling, she said to me that even she couldn’t understand English, she could feel that they genuinely cared about me. 

A graduate student from China named LU Lingzi was killed during the Boston Marathon Bombing. Last Monday the Boston University community gathered to celebrate the life of LU Lingzi at a memorial service at the George Sherman Union. I didn’t know her before, but I wanted to commemorate her beautiful and short life. Approximately 1,200 people, including a lot of Boston citizens who didn’t know Lingzi, attended this memorial service. Her friends, roommates, professors, cousins and her father told us many stories about Lingzi in tears. At that moment at GSU, I felt as if the 1,200 people were truly united in mourning and honoring this person who was part of our community. I never thought that people who don’t even know each other could be so close like that. 

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I love this city. It’s just filled with good-hearted people.
One day, a teammate of mine was coming back from lunch and took a picture of a neighbor’s yard. There was a striking banner with two American flags that said ”Stay Strong Boston.” I also notice that all the Boston attire now have one more line - “Boston Strong”. I think every citizen wants to know that we support each other in this experience that we shared and that hope that we will find our peaceful Boston again soon.

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This is a T-shirt I bought from Quincy market.
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