Having weathered a string of frustrations and depressing news since the last post, I just wanted to drop in to say there might not be any more news here for a while. There's lots I could say about my current situation, but I don't care to whine about it in public. I'd rather hold off until things get better and there is good news to share. The way things are going, I'd say that pretty much has to happen pretty soon. At least I need to believe that for the moment.
Not everything is bad just now. I did take the midterm exam of that last class yesterday, and I think I passed (in a class where failing isn't unusual at all). I have also sent out a bunch of job and internship applications and have only gotten a few rejections, so I figure some of the others must be under serious consideration. But even there, it's just speculation about good news at the moment. I'll pass on any real good news as soon as I get it.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Caught the early plane back to London...
"Early" being 6:30 in the evening, and it ended up taking off later than that. But if I wanted to fly out of Luxembourg, it was either that or wait until quite late. I wanted to get at least a bit of sleep before the interview, which was a further train ride out in the suburbs.
The Luxembourg airport is a lot like the country in general: small, but very convenient. It's just a short bus ride out of the city (of course, I was starting from work, which is already a ways out of the city center), no overpriced shuttles necessary. Love it! The terminal itself is rather drab, perhaps because it was under construction at the time and perhaps because, well, it is fall in Northern Europe. Airports are almost always either terrifically exhilarating or rather depressing for me. This time around, it was the latter, even though I had a solid lead on a gig in a country I love. I'm not really sure why, probably just that I was rather tired. Plus, I'm not crazy about spending yet more money on travel when this job is only a maybe. Of course, it wouldn't even be a maybe if I didn't go.
In any case, flying Luxair proved to be agreeable enough. Since I love to fly for the most part, an airline has to do something pretty horrible to get a clear thumbs-down from me, but it also has to be especially great for me to bother with a thumbs-up. Luxair got neither. It was good, not spectacular but good enough. My only complaint is that it was a small plane and we were all awfully cramped in there. No big deal on a nice short flight.
In my experience, the UK is the most tedious country for getting into. But that's not saying too much - I've never had a real horror story to pass on. It went the same way this time: the guard asked me what I was there for and for how long, and stamped my passport without demanding a return ticket or anything (which is good, as I didn't have one - more on that later). More interestingly, no one asked me for my carte de sejour, despite all the dire warnings against leaving the continent without it. I did have it with me, but as it expires next week and I'm expecting the new one to take a couple of months, I wanted to see if I could get out and back in without one. I can, evidently.
The interview went well, but I won't comment on it for now because the outcome is still up in the air. Suffice to say I'll be pleased if I get the internship, and I'm seasoned enough at this point to know I might not. Somewhat more interesting is the dinner I treated myself to the night before, at an Italian place in London. I must have really looked exhausted, because at least two waitresses asked me if I was feeling okay or if there was a problem with the food, or something. I assured them that I was just tired, and let them believe I was dealing with a five-hour jetlag instead of a one-hour one. Since I was tired, I didn't get to stick to my usual practice of visiting a cozy London pub after dinner, but comforted myself with the thought that I can do that every weekend if I get the internship. Not that I would, but I could!
Next it was on to Paris, for class and for a job fair at HEC. I was beginning to worry I'd never have an excuse to take my beloved Eurostar again, and it seems this will indeed be my last ever trip out of Waterloo Station, because they're changing it in a couple of weeks. (For those of you who don't know Waterloo, if you've seen The Bourne Ultimatum, it's where that journalist is murdered. It often is crowded enough that you could almost believe that could happen. Relax, I said almost.) In any case, I got into Paris just in time to catch the last train out to Jouy, which was indeed to be the last train for a few days thanks to a strike. I'll bet some of my old anti-unionization pals from Yale would find that absolutely hilarious. Hey, it's okay with me, I had to stay in Jouy for a couple of days anyhow!
The job fair was...yes, the job fair was. Actually it wasn't too bad; I did get a couple of pretty solid leads. As with the internship interview, I won't comment further for now, except to say that I left feeling more optimistic than I was when I came in. Some of the reps I talked to were pretty discouraging, with their statistics about how many applications they got per space available, but it's just as well that we're aware of the big picture, I guess. One of my buddies told me that a rep had been honest enough to tell him he shouldn't bother applying for a particular job for some reason or other. There's a lot to be said for that - think of the time you won't spend waiting to hear back on that application. It's still a step I'll be very happy to have behind me, but it must be done, and I did it.
Next thing I knew, I'd been on the road for nearly a week - someday I will miss that, I reminded myself as I stood there sleepily at the Jouy train station. Only partial service had been restored at that point, so I had to take a rather roundabout way back into Paris. Among my fellow passengers were a bunch of English rugby fans, who asked me if the strike happened because England made the finals but France didn't. Hey, makes as much sense as anything!
I was quite happy to get back to Luxembourg and my messy, but quiet and paid-for, apartment. There will probably be more of those trips before I leave here, and that's fine. But I wouldn't mind if they aren't quite so long next time. Yes, that's right, even I get tired of being on the road after a while!
The Luxembourg airport is a lot like the country in general: small, but very convenient. It's just a short bus ride out of the city (of course, I was starting from work, which is already a ways out of the city center), no overpriced shuttles necessary. Love it! The terminal itself is rather drab, perhaps because it was under construction at the time and perhaps because, well, it is fall in Northern Europe. Airports are almost always either terrifically exhilarating or rather depressing for me. This time around, it was the latter, even though I had a solid lead on a gig in a country I love. I'm not really sure why, probably just that I was rather tired. Plus, I'm not crazy about spending yet more money on travel when this job is only a maybe. Of course, it wouldn't even be a maybe if I didn't go.
In any case, flying Luxair proved to be agreeable enough. Since I love to fly for the most part, an airline has to do something pretty horrible to get a clear thumbs-down from me, but it also has to be especially great for me to bother with a thumbs-up. Luxair got neither. It was good, not spectacular but good enough. My only complaint is that it was a small plane and we were all awfully cramped in there. No big deal on a nice short flight.
In my experience, the UK is the most tedious country for getting into. But that's not saying too much - I've never had a real horror story to pass on. It went the same way this time: the guard asked me what I was there for and for how long, and stamped my passport without demanding a return ticket or anything (which is good, as I didn't have one - more on that later). More interestingly, no one asked me for my carte de sejour, despite all the dire warnings against leaving the continent without it. I did have it with me, but as it expires next week and I'm expecting the new one to take a couple of months, I wanted to see if I could get out and back in without one. I can, evidently.
The interview went well, but I won't comment on it for now because the outcome is still up in the air. Suffice to say I'll be pleased if I get the internship, and I'm seasoned enough at this point to know I might not. Somewhat more interesting is the dinner I treated myself to the night before, at an Italian place in London. I must have really looked exhausted, because at least two waitresses asked me if I was feeling okay or if there was a problem with the food, or something. I assured them that I was just tired, and let them believe I was dealing with a five-hour jetlag instead of a one-hour one. Since I was tired, I didn't get to stick to my usual practice of visiting a cozy London pub after dinner, but comforted myself with the thought that I can do that every weekend if I get the internship. Not that I would, but I could!
Next it was on to Paris, for class and for a job fair at HEC. I was beginning to worry I'd never have an excuse to take my beloved Eurostar again, and it seems this will indeed be my last ever trip out of Waterloo Station, because they're changing it in a couple of weeks. (For those of you who don't know Waterloo, if you've seen The Bourne Ultimatum, it's where that journalist is murdered. It often is crowded enough that you could almost believe that could happen. Relax, I said almost.) In any case, I got into Paris just in time to catch the last train out to Jouy, which was indeed to be the last train for a few days thanks to a strike. I'll bet some of my old anti-unionization pals from Yale would find that absolutely hilarious. Hey, it's okay with me, I had to stay in Jouy for a couple of days anyhow!
The job fair was...yes, the job fair was. Actually it wasn't too bad; I did get a couple of pretty solid leads. As with the internship interview, I won't comment further for now, except to say that I left feeling more optimistic than I was when I came in. Some of the reps I talked to were pretty discouraging, with their statistics about how many applications they got per space available, but it's just as well that we're aware of the big picture, I guess. One of my buddies told me that a rep had been honest enough to tell him he shouldn't bother applying for a particular job for some reason or other. There's a lot to be said for that - think of the time you won't spend waiting to hear back on that application. It's still a step I'll be very happy to have behind me, but it must be done, and I did it.
Next thing I knew, I'd been on the road for nearly a week - someday I will miss that, I reminded myself as I stood there sleepily at the Jouy train station. Only partial service had been restored at that point, so I had to take a rather roundabout way back into Paris. Among my fellow passengers were a bunch of English rugby fans, who asked me if the strike happened because England made the finals but France didn't. Hey, makes as much sense as anything!
I was quite happy to get back to Luxembourg and my messy, but quiet and paid-for, apartment. There will probably be more of those trips before I leave here, and that's fine. But I wouldn't mind if they aren't quite so long next time. Yes, that's right, even I get tired of being on the road after a while!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Late for the sky? Hope not!
I might as well admit it
There's been a time or two
When I've contemplated retiring for a while
But a hundred years from now
They'll still be asking "How?"
As they gaze upon my taxidermic smile
-Jimmy Buffett, "Last Man Standing"
It's another one of those times when everything is happening at once. The biggest of everything, at the moment, is an interview in England on Wednesday, followed by a seminar and a job fair at HEC later in the week, and the class on Friday and Saturday. Somewhere in there, I have to get a little more work done on my current job. I'd rather not speculate much in public just yet as to what's up with the interview in England. There are too many question marks at the moment. I will say it's just an internship - but an internship will buy me six months more of experience and time to find a permanent job. As the permanent job search isn't going as well as I'd like, I'm happy with at least that lead just now.
Travel buff that I am, what really excites me at the moment is my first experience with the Luxembourg airport. I'm curious as to what the international airport for such a small but strategically located country might look like, not to mention the national airline. I do know that Luxair has nice uniforms for their crew, having seen enough ads for it over the past few months. With a rather tight travel schedule, I'm not really looking forward to the check-in lines and such, and I'm debating how early I'll have to leave work on Tuesday to make the flight. (They're probably not happy with me at all at work just now, but then I'm not too fond of them eiehter at the moment. More on that later, depending on when the dust clears.) Since my next stop is back in France, I'll be taking my beloved Eurostar back - at least I know how long check-in takes there. I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't have another chance to take my favorite train. Now it looks like there may yet be several such chances.
After a month of being on the go much of the time like this, it might not surprise you to hear that I'm beginning to get tired of the whole world-traveler-with-no-real-home lifestyle. Of course that brings to mind rather depressing thoughts about how I might go about settling on a place to call home, which will of course have to wait until I find a job, and then I will only have so much choice as to where home is, and at this point it could be just about anywhere in the world. (Okay, that last point isn't so bad, although I would like to be able to choose to a greater extent than I can at the moment.)
But I haven't let it get me down much. For one thing, it never takes me to long to remember my state of mind before all these adventures started. Four years later, I still remember all too well my last several months in DC, waking up in the morning and wishing I were just about anywhere else, constantly aware that I was 30 years old and still hadn't seen very much of the world. Whatever life has thrown at me since then - getting stomach flu for three weeks in Taiwan, shivering through a Denver winter because heating costs were too high to keep the heat up, dealing with snotty Parisian academic administrators, the harsh realities of finding anything to do on a weekend in Luxembourg - I have never, ever wished I could just wake up in my room back in Arlington. And that definitely hasn't changed!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Grand reopening
Welcome back, hope you all like the new look. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to re-post the music links, as it occurred to me that even I hadn't checked any of them in months. We'll see.
As for the "Guess the meaning of the title" contest, Pat got it half right: moien does indeed mean "hello" in Luxembourgsh. Since no one else tried to guess about 167, much less got it right, he wins. I already owed you the next round of drinks, Pat; maybe I'll get the next two now, if you can find me!
Now, what does 167 refer to? It's Luxembourg's rank among the countries of the world in terms of size. Wikipedia lists it at 175, but that's including a number of entities that are not really countries (Greenland, French Guiana, Puerto Rico, etc.). I guess that is fairly obscure, isn't it?
As for the "Guess the meaning of the title" contest, Pat got it half right: moien does indeed mean "hello" in Luxembourgsh. Since no one else tried to guess about 167, much less got it right, he wins. I already owed you the next round of drinks, Pat; maybe I'll get the next two now, if you can find me!
Now, what does 167 refer to? It's Luxembourg's rank among the countries of the world in terms of size. Wikipedia lists it at 175, but that's including a number of entities that are not really countries (Greenland, French Guiana, Puerto Rico, etc.). I guess that is fairly obscure, isn't it?
They are everywhere too
Just as there are Americans who never liked George W.M.D. Bush, there are French people who, despite his vilification of their country, like him. I met my first one yesterday.
I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it on here, and I know I haven't discussed it in much detail in any case, but I've been going back to HEC on the past few weekends for one last class. Corporate finance last spring just didn't cut it for me, and I wanted to say I'd learned something rather than just surviving the experience, so it's back to the old neighborhood every weekend until December. It's a long and somewhat expensive commute, but well worth it. Luxembourg gets awfully dull on weekends, and hey, I do some of my best thinking on trains. In any case, I had breakfast with a fellow student in that class yesterday, a French undergrad whom I hadn't met before.
Now, when people over here ask if I'm American, saying "Oui mais je deteste Bush" has always been good for a laugh. I said it a lot at first, but nowadays I usually don't say it unless people ask what I think of him. I do, however, often allow the subject in if people ask whether I plan to stay in Europe or go back home after I'm done. I often say I'd like to stay over here until Mr. Honor and Dignity goes back to Texas. I said as much yesterday when the fellow student I was eating with asked me about my future plans.
"You don't like Bush?" he asked.
"Not at all," I told him.
"Why not?" I reeled off a fairly brief and, for me, diplomatic list of things I don't like about him. My new friend listened politely, then said, "Really? I think except for Iraq he's been a great president."
"Okay," I said agreeably. Even I don't like talking politics all the time.
"Don't you like his tax policies?"
"Cutting taxes on the rich and not cutting anywhere else to pay for the war? Not really."
I knew what he'd say about that, and sure enough, he did. "But if you tax the rich, no one will want to work to make any money. Then you won't get any tax revenue anyhow."
I could have driven a Mack truck through that one, of course, but like I said, I wasn't in a mood to argue. "You're entitled to your opinion," I said.
"And what about his social policies?"
"That's what I like least of all," I told him.
"But look what you get over here, when you let people do whatever they want. Look at the Netherlands."
"You mean the drugs and prostitution?" That, I could agree with, although I don't like the Republican response to such things.
"No, I mean the homosexuality!" At which point I joked that we ought to switch passports ("I'd like to!" he said) and then excused myself to head to class.
Later on, on the train back to Paris, I talked to another guy in the class about it. He said everybody else in their intake agrees the kid is a nice guy, but his politics are rather bizarre. He - the guy on the train - also said he is originally from the Netherlands (but now a French citizen), hence the non sequitur example he threw into the conversation. It is rather nice to live in a place where that outlook on the world is considered bizarre, that's for sure.
I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it on here, and I know I haven't discussed it in much detail in any case, but I've been going back to HEC on the past few weekends for one last class. Corporate finance last spring just didn't cut it for me, and I wanted to say I'd learned something rather than just surviving the experience, so it's back to the old neighborhood every weekend until December. It's a long and somewhat expensive commute, but well worth it. Luxembourg gets awfully dull on weekends, and hey, I do some of my best thinking on trains. In any case, I had breakfast with a fellow student in that class yesterday, a French undergrad whom I hadn't met before.
Now, when people over here ask if I'm American, saying "Oui mais je deteste Bush" has always been good for a laugh. I said it a lot at first, but nowadays I usually don't say it unless people ask what I think of him. I do, however, often allow the subject in if people ask whether I plan to stay in Europe or go back home after I'm done. I often say I'd like to stay over here until Mr. Honor and Dignity goes back to Texas. I said as much yesterday when the fellow student I was eating with asked me about my future plans.
"You don't like Bush?" he asked.
"Not at all," I told him.
"Why not?" I reeled off a fairly brief and, for me, diplomatic list of things I don't like about him. My new friend listened politely, then said, "Really? I think except for Iraq he's been a great president."
"Okay," I said agreeably. Even I don't like talking politics all the time.
"Don't you like his tax policies?"
"Cutting taxes on the rich and not cutting anywhere else to pay for the war? Not really."
I knew what he'd say about that, and sure enough, he did. "But if you tax the rich, no one will want to work to make any money. Then you won't get any tax revenue anyhow."
I could have driven a Mack truck through that one, of course, but like I said, I wasn't in a mood to argue. "You're entitled to your opinion," I said.
"And what about his social policies?"
"That's what I like least of all," I told him.
"But look what you get over here, when you let people do whatever they want. Look at the Netherlands."
"You mean the drugs and prostitution?" That, I could agree with, although I don't like the Republican response to such things.
"No, I mean the homosexuality!" At which point I joked that we ought to switch passports ("I'd like to!" he said) and then excused myself to head to class.
Later on, on the train back to Paris, I talked to another guy in the class about it. He said everybody else in their intake agrees the kid is a nice guy, but his politics are rather bizarre. He - the guy on the train - also said he is originally from the Netherlands (but now a French citizen), hence the non sequitur example he threw into the conversation. It is rather nice to live in a place where that outlook on the world is considered bizarre, that's for sure.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Speaking of the other shoe...
After a rather unpleasant altercation this morning (which is only the latest in a series of events that have soured my opinion of the company considerably since even before I started working here), there may be a big change in the works. I haven't made any decisions yet, mainly because I have to talk to some people back at HEC tomorrow, but I am leaning towards heading back to study there fulltime again.
No condolences necessary - the more I think about things, the more going back to Paris appeals to me, for a number of reasons which I might air later on. In any case, nothing is happening immediately. I have a project to finish here and I do intend to finish it before I do anything else. More to come later, and sorry to one and all for the vagueness of all this. It's one of those times when I just needed to write it down right now.
No condolences necessary - the more I think about things, the more going back to Paris appeals to me, for a number of reasons which I might air later on. In any case, nothing is happening immediately. I have a project to finish here and I do intend to finish it before I do anything else. More to come later, and sorry to one and all for the vagueness of all this. It's one of those times when I just needed to write it down right now.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Sometimes it's best just to let the shoe drop
I got my first rejection letter of the season just now.
I'm not here to whine about that. It was bound to happen sooner or later, though obviously I'd rather it didn't. What did bother me was the nature of the inevitable "letting them down easy" portion of the letter. After the usual explanation that they can't offer feedback on why my application didn't make the cut (which I of course didn't expect anyhow), they had to go and add, "we suggest you seek the invaluable help of your univristity's career services." How the heck do they know anything about the value of any university's career services? I'm not saying there's necessarily anything wrong with HEC's career office (I'm not offering a vote of confidence either, but I'm definitely not condemning them); it's just that I really hate it when anyone assumes I have such a wealth of resources to draw from when maybe I don't. It touches yet another raw nerve from back in DC, when I was very much left twisting in the wind in a program where one was supposed to have all kinds of support and assistance.
Yes, of course they had to say something, and yes, it's true that nothing they said would be too comforting. It's just that what they did say struck me as an especially poor choice of words.
I'm not here to whine about that. It was bound to happen sooner or later, though obviously I'd rather it didn't. What did bother me was the nature of the inevitable "letting them down easy" portion of the letter. After the usual explanation that they can't offer feedback on why my application didn't make the cut (which I of course didn't expect anyhow), they had to go and add, "we suggest you seek the invaluable help of your univristity's career services." How the heck do they know anything about the value of any university's career services? I'm not saying there's necessarily anything wrong with HEC's career office (I'm not offering a vote of confidence either, but I'm definitely not condemning them); it's just that I really hate it when anyone assumes I have such a wealth of resources to draw from when maybe I don't. It touches yet another raw nerve from back in DC, when I was very much left twisting in the wind in a program where one was supposed to have all kinds of support and assistance.
Yes, of course they had to say something, and yes, it's true that nothing they said would be too comforting. It's just that what they did say struck me as an especially poor choice of words.
Just like starting over...
Due to technical difficulties, I have had to re-start the blog. More to come later, including restoring the links and perhaps even some new ones, and I might even be able to recover some of the archives later on. Sadly, it appears some of them are lost, but hey, you've already read all the best ones again and again, haven't you?
I'm too busy to do the whole revamping now, but I didn't want anyone to think the blog had disappeared on you. More renovations coming soon! Meanwhile, anyone want to take a guess at the meaning of the new title? The winner will receive...well, something or other, next time I see him or her.
I'm too busy to do the whole revamping now, but I didn't want anyone to think the blog had disappeared on you. More renovations coming soon! Meanwhile, anyone want to take a guess at the meaning of the new title? The winner will receive...well, something or other, next time I see him or her.
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