On April 15, I went to the Networking etiquette workshop by the Starr career development center. It was a very informative workshop in which we were told about how to network with professionals. As soon as the workshop started we were told to get food and settle down in our seats. So after taking the food, the first thing she told us was to always keep your right hand empty. It was because when you are at a networking event, you are there to meet people and if you have a plate in your right hand and a glass of water on the other hand, you cannot shake hands with people.  She than further talked about different ways that we should behave at a networking event and after explaining we were asked to meet different people in the conference and network with them.We were told that at an event when there are a group of people talking together, how should we try to join the conversation and how to leave that group by giving different excuses. We were also told to make student business cards for ourselves so that we can give them to the people we meet in the event. Than she told us to always thank those people twice. First thank you should be at the end of conversation and and the second thank you should be in the form of a written thank you note that you should mail it to their address. I met 7 people and they were all very nice and were of different ages and backgrounds. I became friends with one guy who has joined me in the wall street club. Overall this was a great event and I learned a lot about networking.

Ever since my first visit to New York City, I always wanted to live in NYC. I don’t know what to do now? I always wanted to get here. Well, I am here now. Did I actually wanted this or I thought I wanted this? I wanted to follow my dream as an Investment Banker on wall street, working at places such as JP Morgan or Goldman Sachs. I believe I can get there. But, would that make me happy? I am not sure. I have come to a point whenever I have a moment of happiness, I want to share it with my family. I look aside and realize that they are not here with me. Is it the personal glory, money and freedom that I want? I guess there comes a point in every persons life when they have achieved everything and realize that there are no close people to share it with? Do I want that ? Or I should have thought that before I made a decision to come here? I guess I was being selfish.. My parents let me go to follow my dreams, even though they wanted me to stay. They cared about me. Their happiness lye in my happiness. I ask myself that is that why my parents raised me, took great care of  me, fulfilled my every dream and every wish that I made. Did they raise me as a child so when I grow up, I leave them on their own and move to another country that is 8000 miles apart, when they need me the most? I guess, they didn’t ask about that but I should realize that. My father is a diabetic and a heart patient. Every time I wake up, I think to myself if my father is okay back home. My sister is getting married and she is waiting for me to comeback so she can go through with the wedding. I ask her to just go through with it, but she says, “not without you being there with me”. I miss my family and my country. I am always smiling but I am not sure that I really am. At least, NYC has bars everywhere, where I can let it all go for a while.

Am I thinking way too much ?  I am still not sure about my future.  I guess I know one thing, there comes a point in every persons life when they realize that they missed too much in life when focusing on career. If I choose to go back home after graduation, would that affect my morale in studying right now? I guess I should focus on the present and do the best I can and leave everything else on fate.

I hate life. It’s always full of hard choices.

Few weeks back I went to a workshop by the writing center. It was totally worth the time and I learnt some new things from it. This workshop was about reading strategically. We were given several articles to examine and among them was a article from the ‘Harvard Business Review’. The name of the article was ‘How GE is Disrupting Itself’. First we discussed about what the ‘Harvard Business Review’ really is. Reading strategically, we had to first read about the writers note and their occupations in life. Without reading the whole research paper, we were required to have a general idea about the rest of the paper and what might it would be about. The basic purpose of this workshop was that to learn how to read more efficiently by predicting what a text is about and developing targeted reading goals in response. At the end we had to summarize the strategy, identify the writers’ reasons for implementing the strategy at GE and extract evidence that the strategy was effective or ineffective.

There were about twenty students attending the workshop and everyone participated with enthusiasm in the workshop, conveying different opinions from each student. It was good opportunity to learn about reading strategically and it really helped me in the later assignments of my English class. I plan to attend more workshops of the Baruch college writing center.

The disappointing thing is that we are asked to take a selfie at an academic event. There is serious discussion going on and we should focus more on what the professor is teaching us rather than to take a selfie. However, instead of taking a selfie I did manage to get a paper signed by the professor as an evidence of attending the workshop.