Blog Posts

MIT Sloan Investment Management Conference

3/26/2013

If you ask me what is the most awesome activity in Boston in regards to academics, my answer is definitely networking events and professional conferences. Boston is home to many institutions of higher education like MIT, Harvard, and Boston College. Every year an increasing number of elite specialists in different industries from all over the world come to Boston for specific events.

Last Friday, as a finance major, it was an honor to attend the eighth annual MIT Sloan Investment Management Conference. The distinguished keynote speakers and expert panelists shared their views on key trends and future developments in their asset classes and investment processes. Not only did I learn from the keynotes speaker’s presentation, but I also had an opportunity to talk to the CEO co-founder of some finance service companies.

The conference started at 9 a.m. with a nice breakfast, during which I got to know other attendees. I had a great conversation with the woman sitting next to me whose name was Xiaoxiao Wang. I later found out she was the vice president of MSCI. I introduced myself then asked her a lot of questions about her work, her company, and things related to my future job. She was really nice and told me that MSCI is an international company that has an office in China. I was so happy to hear about that, and then I asked more details about the latest Chinese Financial market trends.

One of the more exciting guest speakers was Andrew Lo. He is the Charles E. and Susan T. Harris Professor of Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management. According to the host’s introduction, he was one of the most popular professors in the MIT Sloan School of Management. He was so good that MIT students would stand in the walkway, between seats, and even out the front door in order to listen to his lectures. The number of students in his classes usually totaled more than 200 students! It was so exciting to learn from his lecture that day. His topic was Using Financial Engineering to find a cure for one of the most deadliest and widespread disease - Cancer. Using a business plan combined with biotechnology, professor Lo believed that we could create a $30B “Cure For Cancer” mega fund and an advisory board of experts. If 10MM households invested $3000 each, involving pension funds, foundations, endowments, and insurance company investments, it would be possible to completely solve cancer in the next 10 to 20 years. There would be no more deaths due to cancer. After his presentation, I felt for the first time that I could use finance to do meaningful and life-changing things for our society.

I talked to Lo afterward and asked him some questions about wealth management in relation to my current internship. He not only explained it to me but also gave me his email in case I wanted to discuss further questions with him.

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St. Patrick's Day Parade

3/26/2013

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I didn’t travel anywhere for Spring Break. But to be honest, Boston is also a very great place for spring break, especially when St. Patrick’s Day falls on that same week like this year. I had never seen such a big parade like the one I saw on March 17th to celebrate this important day for Bostonians.

The St. Patrick's Day Parade is listed as the second largest parade in the United States, attracting nearly 600,000 to one million people every year. The first St. Patrick’s Day celebration in America took place in Boston on March 17, 1737. At first, I didn’t think there would be such a big crowd, since there weren’t many people on the street for New Year’s Eve. However, I was wrong. I was curious why so many U.S. citizens celebrate St. Patrick's day, so I googled it. I learned that St. Patrick was a name of priest who came to Ireland and converted many people to Christianity. He introduced and explained the concept of the Holy Trinity to his followers by using the Shamrock with its three leaves as a symbol. He faced a lot of opposition from his co-religionists since he was not Irish. I think St. Patrick must have made a significant contribution to the Christian religion. His bravery and intelligence are very admirable in the eyes of many, including me.

Now I want to share some pictures and videos I took when I joined the St. Patrick's Day Parade in South Boston. Everyone wore green hats and clover necklaces, drank green beer, and danced together. It was really like a big outdoor party with awesome Irish orchestras, acrobatic performances, and different kinds of costumes. I loved everyone’s colorful Irish apparel. People who wore it looked so cute.

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Chinese Lunar New Year In Boston

3/26/2013

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February 10th is the Chinese Lunar New Year called Spring Festival. It is the most traditional festival in China and it makes all the family people get together to enjoy a one-week holiday. This year, it is the first time that I celebrated this special day with friends instead of family. It is also the first time I kept working during the festival.

Chinese New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. In China, Probably more food is consumed during the New Year celebrations than any other time of the year. We usually have a whole fish representing togetherness and abundance, a chicken for prosperity, and many other delicious dishes. Dumplings are the preferred food in my hometown. The tremendous amount of food prepared at this time was meant to symbolize abundance and wealth for the household.

This year I went to one of my classmate’s apartment for the New Year’s Eve dinner. Thanks to the Chinese supermarket, we could find whatever we wanted for our big dinner. Instead of the dumplings, we prepared the hot pot with a variety of vegetables and meats. During dinner, we talked, played games, and watched The Spring Festival Gala together. Bursts of laughter filled the whole apartment. One of my friends who has been here for more than 3 years told me that Chinese New Year in Boston is beyond amazing. She said usually, there are at least 8 different Lion/Dragon parades around China Town. Sometimes you can see the Chinese ritual consisting of a red envelope and an animal trying to eat the fruit. The parades start at noon and the fireworks start about an hour later.

Unfortunately, I didn’t go to the parades this year because of my on-campus job in the dinning hall, but I didn’t mind because celebrating the New Year had some other perks. For instance, every year my mom prepares the food for us, but this year I prepared the food for my fellow students. Most students were aware it was the New Year for Chinese people. Some people would say, “Happy Chinese New Year!” to me with a big smile; some would say an auspicious phrase in mandarin. It was so funny. Sam, a chef in dining hall who is from the Guangdong province in China, gave me a red envelope with a one-dollar-bill, a traditional lucky gift for the New Year. It was a really great surprise. You know, it was not the money, but the meaning behind it that made me so happy.

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Winter Weather in Boston

3/26/2013

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This winter in Boston has been quite cold and snowy. It started getting cold at the end of October, and it’s been cold until now. My classmates told me it would start to get warm maybe near the end of March. In Beijing, China, the temperature is usually below zero from December to February. Sometimes it snows, but not much. Last week, I got to see my first wicked blizzard when Nemo hit Boston!

I worked in the school dinning hall on the Friday of the blizzard. One of the staff members I worked with was David. He told me that when he was a child, a dangerous blizzard came in 1978. He could still remember snow coming up to his waist after the blizzard. This time was not as dangerous as that time, but he still cautioned me many times to take care on my way home. David and all other staff who worked on that Friday evening had to stay in the nearest hotel since public transportation had been stopped due to the weather.

At 11:00pm, I finished my work and went home. The wind was so strong that I couldn’t even open my eyes and my eyelashes were covered in ice. The snow in Beijing is usually brisk and snowflakes gently kiss my cheeks, but here it was totally different. It was almost one foot high (Thank god I had just bought rain boots the day before). However, what surprised me the most was that tons of students went out skiing and had snowball fights everywhere despite the terrible weather. It was so exciting. It took me almost 20 minutes to go home which is normally less than a 10-minute walk. But it was so beautiful that I couldn’t help myself and stopped to take some pictures.

I really enjoyed this special weather in Boston, particularly after the snow stopped. Our campus looked as if it was covered in crystals when the sun hit the snow.

I would just like to give a quick shout-out to the silent heroes behind Nemo who took 12-hour cleanup shifts to keep operations running smoothly. Thank you!

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Men’s basketball game on February 28, 2013

3/26/2013

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Last week, a friend of mine gave me a student discount ticket (only three dollars) for the men’s BU basketball game on February 28, 2013. I went with my roommate, Jiin, who is from Korea and also studied in BU. To be honest, I am not a big fan of sports, and this was the first time I went to a basketball game at BU. Even though the Terriers lost 55-71 against Stony Brook, I really enjoyed the game.

1. Professional Basketball Court – Agganis Arena

Agganis Arena is a state-of-the-art, multipurpose sports and entertainment center. The first time I went there was for an orientation party organized by the International Students Scholars Office (ISSO) for all international students at the beginning of last semester. The picture below is that huge and professional basketball court. Four big LED screens hang under the ceiling and there's a great sports anchorman and professional photographers. Most Basketball Courts in China’s universities are not that large nor do they set up such professional broadcast equipment with the except of some professional sport universities who are famous for the CUBA games (China University Basketball Associational).

2. Exciting Giveaways for the Audience

Spectators who came early could get a BU basketball shirt for free. But even if you didn’t get there early, you could still have a chance to win a t-shirt during the game. The Cheerleaders would throw some as a gift. If you weren’t the lucky person to catch a t-shirt like me, you could always get a BU keychain at the front door, still a good gift for me.

3. Lovely Terrier

This was my favorite part of this game -- the big terrier mascot A.K.A Rhett the Terrier!! BU Terriers are the nine men’s and twelve women’s varsity athletics teams representing Boston University in NUAA. During the break, the guy wearing a Terrier costume danced and organized some activities with the audience. I loved his Gangnam Style dancing. It was sooooooo funny. I heard a guy behind me say that if it was a girl, I promised I would ask for her number.

4. Gorgeous cheerleaders

The pictures below are of our amazing BU cheerleaders. They are not just such good dancers, but great flyers. They could finish a lot of difficult and dangerous gestures. Their flexibility and stability, full twisting dismounts, and arabesques shocked me. These cheerleaders were an indispensable part of this game to deliver the BU spirit.

5. Awesome Orchestra

In movies, you normally hear the orchestra music in the background, but at the game it was definitely not like that. When Stony Brook tried to shoot, the orchestra band would make so much noise, that the players wouldn’t be able to focus and missed sometimes.

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My First Birthday in Boston

3/26/2013

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This Monday was my birthday. After starting college, I stopped celebrating my birthday parties with my parents. It was my friends usually prepared a small party for me. Sometimes we went to the Karaoke bar, sometimes we watched movies together, and sometimes we played poker until midnight. This year, I didn’t expect much from my birthday here in Boston because I didn’t really tell people it was my birthday was coming up. But believe it or not, this turned out to be my most memorable birthday.

Monday morning, I went to Aite Group (The company I intern with) as usual. When I turned on my computer, the first email from HR said: “Today is Jen Wang’s birthday. Let’s celebrate her birthday at 2:30 pm in the large conference room.” I was so so so surprised. Everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to me. Jennifer, who was the HR manager, baked some cupcakes for everyone. The cupcakes were so cute.
In addition, Helen, an employee based in London whom I had met in our company annual conference, sent me an email using Chinese letters to say, “Happy birthday and I wish all of your dreams may come true.” I was very very impressed.

Last semester, I went to Ruggles Church once and met some friends. One of them called me on Monday and told me to come to a birthday party for me. I was so surprised because we hadn’t seen each other for at least 3 months. I couldn’t believe they had remembered my birthday. Everyone cooked one Chinese dish for me: Deep Fried Beans, Mapo Tofu, Boiled Trotter with Soybean, and so on. They all congratulated me for my birthday, and I was overwhelmed with joy to receive some nice cards with great gifts. That night was so amazing. It was filled with funny jokes, dancing, and playing games like “beer-pong.”

I am so happy to be studying in Boston and to have met these sweet friends. I will regard Boston as my second hometown forever! I love Boston! Happy birthday to myself.^-^

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Getting to Know Me

3/26/2013

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My name is Jen, and I am a graduate student who came from China, Beijing. Before I came to Boston, I got a Bachelor in International Business and Trade in 2010. In the same year, I started a graduate study program in enterprise management in Beijing. Thanks to the Advance Certificate program in BU MET International, I got the opportunity to study abroad for my master's degree.

To be honest, Studying in BU MET is the most awesome decision I made in 2012. My focus area in BU is financial market and institution which is currently one of the most popular topics in China. Even though classes and instructors in BU are tougher than those in my university in China – tons of assignments, countless team projects and presentations, and crazy midterm and final exams – it is the difficult courses and strict instructors that help me progress the most.

Between BU and the city, living in Boston is also pretty awesome. Compared to my hometown, Beijing, my first impression of Boston was like a small castle full of modern elements. In the next several months, I will share more details about my life in BU and Boston, about the food and travel, and about other entertainment and the people here. I hope you will enjoy it.

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Forward>>

MIT Sloan Investment Management Conference

St. Patrick's Day Parade

Chinese Lunar New Year In Boston

Winter Weather in Boston

Men’s basketball game on February 28, 2013

My First Birthday in Boston

Getting to Know Me

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