Day 12: Sleepover with Strangers

            This is an appropriate description of a Chinese sleeper train.  You may or may not be sleeping with people you don’t know, who may or may not snore, and may or may not sleep in clothes.   Super fun.  Ok, actually it’s not all that bad, and I was with other interns who I sort of knew, but I just feel like sleeping is one of those personal things that shouldn’t generally done with random people in the small confines of a train.  But this I can handle as long as I can avoid motion sickness, which I successfully did so that’s pretty exciting. 

            Anyway, I’m back in Shanghai.  We rolled into the station around 7:30 this morning, hurried to our hotel (crowded subway!! oh my goodness, for those of us who don’t like to be touched, this was quite the experience), showered in record time, and hurried to work.  Actually it was good that this all happened in such a quick succession because this morning was probably one of the first times I didn’t have time to think about missing home.  So I think I’ve finally kicked the homesickness and can now much more fully enjoy my time here. 

            Work was really good today, in my opinion.  I feel like I learned a whole lot about random investment things.  For example, I spent at least an hour researching the stock market of Dubai and asset management companies that have recently expanded there and the uncertainty in the market there right now.  I also read a lot about India as an emerging market and the pros and cons of the stability of the Japanese yen.  I’m pretty sure I have never considered these things in my life before but they are actually really fascinating and I’m glad I’ve been handed these 8 weeks now to learn about them.  One thing that frustrates me, though, is the lack of women in the upper leadership of these AM companies- I really don’t think I’ve seen a single one in any of the Asian companies or even European ones. 

            After work Evan, James and I went to dinner at this place called “Let’s Go” which was actually pretty good.  It was probably the closest I’ve gotten to the type of Chinese food you would eat in the United States, but probably better as far as the food goes and worse as far as the sanitation goes.  But don’t worry, I pulled out the hand sanitizer and made sure we were all well-sanitized before eating.  I am NOT getting sick here.