Posts Tagged ‘ Photos ’

2
12
May

Dear Potential Employers

Dear Potential Employers,

I see you. I see you at your desk with a stack of names – candidates with seemingly-flawless resumes and stellar academic credentials. By this point you may have become bored with the monotonous process of Googling names. Or you may be Facebooking your potential interns and gleefully chuckling to yourself as you come upon some blurry shot of said intern doing a keg stand while making a lewd gesture to scantily-clad female cohorts who are in compromising positions.

As a freelance web designer and a (very eager) future intern, I have an especially great interest in my online reputation, which is why I had my hesitations about this blog entry. You see Dear Potential Employers, I have picked up a hobby while I’m here in England. While not exactly self-destructive or harmful to society, this hobby has the potential to burn holes through my wallet, make my evenings go by in a hazy blur, and raise questions about my status as an alcoholic. The hobby? I am currently a card-carrying member of the Oxford Wine Tasting Society.

At the beginning of term, a friend of mine suggested joining the Wine Society here. At first I thought this was a bit unnecessary, because 1) tequila is cheaper* 2) my palate isn’t that perceptive or sensitive and I will probably mistaken a Chateau Mouton Rothschild – Pauillac 2000 vintage for a £5 watered-down bottle from the Tesco supermarket  3) I’ll be taking HADM4430 – Intro to Wines at Cornell next year anyway. My skepticism eventually gave in to curiosity and I went to my first tasting: Introduction to Alsace.

* This is a joke.

Oxford Bacchus Wine Tasting

A tasting session at Oxford is neither the stuffy hoity-toity scene you imagine nor… okay who am I kidding, wine tasting can be pretty darn pretentious. The meetings usually take place at Merton College and go on for about 2.5 hours. Each session revolves around a geographic region – we’ve done the aforementioned Alsace, Lebanese, Chilean, Rioja, Burgundy etc.so far – and is led either by an expert from the winery/region or the Bacchus Society’s president, the lovely Alex Linsley. The talks are very educational actually – we learned about growing conditions, wine-making traditions, the peculiarities of each vintage, and more.

Oxford Bacchus Wine Tasting

Upon learning about my new-found obsession, my Oxford tutor for International Economics actually suggested that I do a paper on the wine trade and international wine regulation! THIS IS WHY I LOVE OXFORD. For research, my tutor gave me a DVD of the award-winning film about wine, Mondovino, and told me to go to the grocery store and buy a bottle from every major wine-producing region. Needless to say, my 3000 word essay was a tipsy masterpiece.

Over the course of Hilary term, my roommate and I have accumulated a large number of wine bottles. I was horrified to have this shelf collection pointed out to me one day when I was Skyping with my parents. However, my dad was VERY excited that I joined Bacchus and promptly told me he actually just bought a wine fridge. Here’s a screenshot haha:

Wine skype with parents

During Easter break, we took this wine obsession one step further and went to Bordeaux to have St. Emilion wine (now that’s a whole story on its own). C’est la vie.

So Dear Potential Employer, when you come across my resume and see that I have listed “wine” as an item under “Activities, Skills, and Interests”, do not be alarmed. After all, wine – while I’m legal in the UK – fits under all three categories of “Activities, Skills, and Interests.”

Warm regards,

Phoebe

P.S. – Here are some wonderful blogs I found and now follow =)

  • Dr. Vino – The author, Tyler Colman, is pretty prominent in the wine world. He wrote one of the books I read for my Intl Econ tutorials! His writing is accessible and to-the-point.
  • WSJ On Wine – “Incisive criticism and accessible advice on the world of wine”
  • Jamie Goode’s Wine Blog – Expect lots of pictures and tasting notes!
  • The Terroirist – The name of this blog refers to terroir, a French word that holds particular significance for winegrowers. The terroir is basically the belief that the micro-climate, soil, wine-making techniques etc. all contribute to the composition of the wine.  The entire French system of appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) for wine classification is based on terroir.
  • Sociology of Wine – fascinating background into this dynamic industry
6
27
Jan

That’s It, I’m at Hogwarts

It would be incredibly overwhelming to write about everything at Oxford so far, so I thought I would rely on the tool that gets me through life: incessantly draw Harry Potter comparisons to everything.

* I haven’t gone to the Hall at Christ Church college yet, where they filmed the ACTUAL Great Hall and staircase in the movies, but I’ll get there soon.

For dinner (isn’t it fitting that I start this entire study abroad experience off by talking about what I have for dinner?) we have the option of “scaf”, or self-serve like those at Cornell dining halls, or “hall”, where you sit and wait to be served a formal three-course meal. Some colleges even require dinner attendees to dress of for hall, but over at St. Catherine’s we’re pretty chill about that.

This is our hall.

This is our hall during dinner (photo credit: webshots).

The faculty (the “Master” who is our dean plus other professors, tutors, and fellows) sits at a slightly elevated table at the head of the room. They arrive every night in a procession and everyone immediately stands up when they come in. The Master then says some blessings in Latin, like “Benedictus Benedicat” and then bangs a gravel. Everyone sit down and lively conversation immediately erupt in the hall. Sounds familiar?

Oxford has 38 colleges – think of them as the different Houses in HP (University of Toronto has a similar system). You basically eat, sleep, and hang out in your college so it’s a nice, intimate community. Dorms are grouped by staircases, so someone might be Staircase 17 Room 2 or something. Every college has a Common Room where there are tons of cushy chairs for big groups to watch football (soccer), play pool, or drink at the college bar.

Hearing the English accent everywhere is lovely. After a week here, I’ve finally stopped in squeaking in delight every time I hear one.

I’m glad malls are an American invention because I love the boutique style of shops that characterizes Oxford town center. I like to think Blackwell’s, which sells textbooks, leisure books, posters, music etc. is Flourish & Blotts. Cornmarket St. could easily be Diagon Alley. Walking around town, there are so many nooks and crannies you can sneak into and find yourself in a totally different world.

Now, Hogwarts wouldn’t be Hogwarts without… house elves! Now I’m not going to tell you that I have big-eyed, floppy eared creatures wearing tea cushions visiting my room every day. We DO have maid service, called scouts, who come to our rooms every other day to take out the trash and every week to change our sheets, vacuum, and clean the bathroom. Since my roomie and I are nocturnal, we sometimes don’t even see them coming in in the morning (probably judging us American kids for sleeping in so much).

I’m constantly in awe of how beautiful Oxford is, inside and out. Yesterday, while exploring a floor of the Bodleian Library we’ve never been to before, we stumbled upon the Duke Humfrey’s Library, which contains rare manuscripts. Photography was not allowed, neither are pens, highlighters, touching the books without washing your hands first, reading a book without putting it on the book stand first… etc (photo credit: beattiesbookblog).

Look familiar?

On the other side of the Bodleian, we saw these gorgeous windows of the Divinity School. We circled the place twice but still couldn’t find a way in (photo credit: someone’s picasa account).

I climbed the wall under one of the windows there, peeked in, and immediately recognized the ceiling that served as the backdrop to this:

Really, all I need to do is take a train from London to Oxford and my life is pretty much complete.

Coming up next

  • Tutorials – how you can go from smug to horrified to relieved in two minutes
  • Hall food
  • Oxford Fashion Week
  • “Extracurriculars”
  • And other musings

3
3
Jun

A Week in Time

It’s been an interesting journey, to say the least.

West Campus, Ithaca, New York – Saturday, May 22

Flora Rose is emptying up. I’m not even exaggerating when I say that I had the best suite (including other peeps down the hall) I could ask for this year. Before going away for college, people warned me about hall drama, roommate fights, and awful cafeteria food. These were mostly non-existent in my Cornell experience so far (with the exception of Flora Rose house dinners, GAH!). I’m going to miss these girls so much this summer <3.  We’ll be in DC, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, Spain, China, Vancouver etc. – literally scattered around the world.

Collegetown, Ithaca, New York – Wednesday, May 26

A tearful goodbye at 4am in front of the Shortline bus, perhaps an ironic throwback to that first chance encounter.

Adios Ithaca. Every time I leave I am eager to get out of this bumblefuck and return to civilization. Every time I return, it is with trepidation and uncertainty. Ithaca seems to change a little each time. When I come back in August, one part of it is going to feel empty.

Somewhere upstate, NY – early am, Wednesday

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD why is no position comfortable to sleep in on this bus?! I am running on three hours of sleep and all I’m asking for is to be horizontal, for a moment.

Lincoln Tunnel, New York City – 9:00 am, Wednesday

Entire year at Cornell flashing before my eyes. It’s ending the same way it begun. Too much nostalgia. Snap out of it Phoebe.

Port Authority Bus Terminal, NYC – 10:00am, Wednesday

Three thoughts
1) WHY THE HELL IS IT SO FRIGGIN HOT HERE?!
2) Dragging my 50 pound luggage through the New York subway is very, very unpleasant. Major obstacles include turnstiles, stairs, subway cars, and more stairs
3) Someone helped me up and down almost every set of stairs. Wow! They all looked like Wall Street analysts haha.

Deutsche Bank Auditorium, 60 Wall Street, NYC – 11:45am, Wednesday

Can’t believe I’m here! Mad mutual connections everywhere. I was talking about “this conference I went to in Stanford about China” and someone I didn’t know pitched in, “You mean FACES?!” YAY?!

The finance training session they have is  so much clearer than anything that Finance / Accounting classes had!

I’m an Ideas person, apparently. My personality profile according to Ann Miller is deemed slightly unfit for investment banking. That’s okay, I think.

Somewhere in the Financial District, NYC – 6:00pm, Wednesday

This is the biggest scavenger hunt I’ve been in in my life.

Polaroid scavenger hunt financial district

Harry’s Steak, NYC – 8:30pm, Wednesday

I find out that 400+ people applied for this program, and 30 people got selected. Not bad.

PS – This steak is absolutely amazing.

Club Quarters, Wall Street, NYC – 11:00pm, Wednesday

Single room, king sized bed, ergonomically designed chair, WIFI. Now I can get used to this.

47th Floor, DB Building, NYC – 9:00am, Thursday, May 27

The view is absolutely gorgeous up here on the top floor. Great place for breakfast. We have a couple useful presentations in the morning and a lunch with analysts/MDs. The afternoon’s LRC analyst panel starts off uneventful. In the middle of the panel, a guy in business attire strolls in casually from the lobby. The panelists stop talking mid-sentence and someone goes up to introduce the guy.

“This is Seth Waugh, CEO of Americas for Deutche Bank.”

The room basically stops moving for the next 10 minutes (save the few people flipping to the page with the company organization chart and glossy executive photos, to make sure we heard right) as Mr. Waugh talked about the firm. Great moment.

New York City Food Bank, The Bronx, NY – 3:30pm, Thursday

So this is the Bronx. Props everyone for a job well done repackaging donations.

New York Stock Exchange, Wall Street, NYC – 9:30am, Friday, May 28

This is hands-down one of the most exciting events of the program. If anyone was watching CNBC on Friday morning, the people you see waving to the camera in the background are… us. There is so much energy (and testosterone) on the trading floor it’s just incredible.

Near NYU Dorm, NYC – 11:25pm, Friday, May 28

I am sitting in a movie theatre watching Sex and the City, IN the City. Yes, to you New Yorkers this might not be all that special, but I’m feeling very giddy. It’s a full theatre, maybe 25% guys tied to their gfs, and 75% gals.

12th Street and 3rd Avenue, NYC – 2:45am, Saturday, May 29

Can’t… keep… eyes… open. Standing at a street corner with a giant luggage at 2:30 AM is so friggin’ scary. At one point a dude came up to me and said, “You know you really shouldn’t stand there alone at this hour with so much stuff.” I KNOW, I KNOW. Never doing this again. GOD DAMN IT WHERE IS MY SHORTLINE.

Speeding towards JFK – 3:15am, Saturday, May 29

Passing out on shuttle, exhaustion.

Terminal 8, JFK – 4:30am, Saturday, May 29

I AM NEVER FLYING AMERICAN AIRLINES AGAIN. AN HOUR WAIT TIME IN LINE TO CHECK LUGGAGE?! WTF!!

Departure Gate, JFK – 5:00am, Saturday May 29

Strategically wrapping my carry-ons around me so no one would steal them. Curling up in the corner to sleep like a hobo.

Flight AA1, JFK – 9:00am, Saturday May 29

So I’m wearing a red Cornell shirt on the plane. The lady next to me looks over and exclaims, “Oh! Cornell! Wonderful school. I went there too.” She was traveling with two other people so basically my entire row, from left to right, was Cornell grad of 2012, 2007, 2007, and 1973. Amazing.

LAX, Los Angeles, California – 1:00pm, Saturday May 29

Thank god, one more flight and I’m home. It’s so nice hearing “Vancouver Passengers” on the PA!

My bed, Richmond, British Columbia – 6:00pm, Saturday, May 29

I have never appreciated sleep this much.