So today was really, really awesome. Especially from a… business perspective, which sounds a little weird to say. But no seriously in this one day I’ve done more to directly advance any potential career or internship that I may attain in the foreseeable future than I’ve done in like, the last year of my life (not counting education being a desirable asset blah blah blah).
Day started off with a half-hour phone interview with the head of Deutsche Bank Argentina, who gave me a lot advice regarding what I should be doing with myself to network while I’m still in Beijing, and then moreover said that I should get back to him about a career when I graduate because he has a few friends in Argentinian internet companies who might want to hire me. So that was neat.
And then I was given a huge stack of these business cards; I’ve never had or deserved one before, so I was pretty excited about them.
Baller new 名片
And it’s a good that I got them when I did, because I had to give out about seven of them to a bunch of international entrepreneurs that I met at a Venture-Capital-and-Fritz-sponsored dinner where I got to learn a whole whole lot about how VC works in the Chinas, and where new industries are emerging, and where money is flowing, and a whole lot of interesting (to me) things like that. And then there was mingling time, where I met people who had all at one point or another founded their own companies. I met people from Chinese consulting firms, banks, the Chinese indie music industry (I plugged goblin, Connor!), a woman with Microsoft who came from Escapia, a company that Homeaway just bought, and some random guy who makes cellphone games for SKT1 in Korea, among others. It was really neat and one of them told me he might know people who are looking for interns in San Fransisco, which is a city where I would absolutely love to spend the summer.
Also, I got a free dinner that according to their menu should have cost me 458 kuai. I usually eat a gaifan (half rice, half meat and veggie) dish for dinner, and it costs 10 kuai. So I got 45 days worth of dinner for free; if that’s not nice I’m not quite sure what is.
But I certainly do know what isn’t — the Chinese traffic system, specifically the random people-barriers and easily angerable police that inhabit it. I live pretty much right next to this place that this dinner thing was held, but instead of taking this route, the one I was forced to take looked more like this.
But it’s cool. I took a really scenic tour, and got to go past the huge portrait of Mao, Tiananmen, the opera house, and Qianmen — all four of which are definitely sights worth seeing. Ended up being a little late to the meeting because of it but it was only like 5 minutes because I bike like a freaking demon and hop fences like it’s my job and don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise.
Oh, and Rayco’s coming home tonight! Excited!