The Q1 life Update
I haven't written a life update in a while and it probably has something to do with the fact that life has been pretty busy the past few months. It has been quite eventful, on the professional as well as the personal front.
As a result, I've decided to keep my life updates in sync with financial reporting cycles and offer my life update just as the first quarter of the financial year ends. Just like the usual financial ritual of making plans for the year, I'll also be talking about my plans for 2019, as well as a few medium-term plans for myself.
Additionally, 3 more friends of mine have decided to get married - 2 of them back home in India, and my Sri Lankan friend in the UK. I've always felt that getting married is a very big milestone in a person's life.
Another big change that has happened in my life. I decided to stop using public transport regularly and got myself a bicycle. For about a month now, I've been biking to work, tennis and any other places that I'd need to go to unless it's too far. I must say that it's been a really exciting few weeks. I'm discovering new roads almost every day and the cardio is an added benefit.
In addition to traveling back to India twice in the space of one month, I traveled to Sarajevo and Mostar in Bosnia & Herzegovina, country number 16 for me. At my hostel, I met a few people who were doing an exchange semester at my Alma mater, Corvinus University.
In the past, I've always marked my trips with a story title based on interesting incidents that happen over the trip. I'll refer to this trip as "Bosnia and The Golden Age Theory". It was an interesting theory that Valentine, a German lad on exchange at Corvinus, shared with us during our day trip to Mostar.
The theory is simple. Every person has a golden age/golden stage of life. When they're in that stage of life, they feel the most comfortable. Hence, they're "cool" (for lack of a better word) when they're living in their golden stage of life. If that stage hasn't arrived or once they're past that golden stage of their life, they aren't as comfortable and hence, might be "weird" (again, for lack of a better word) in other stages of their lives. After Valentine explained his theory, we went around the table and everyone talked a bit about what their golden stage was according to them.
While the theory isn't perfect and it's probably not universally applicable. It did give me some food for thought and was one of the most memorable conversations of the trip.
Over the last couple of weekends, I also visited Visegrad and Szentendre, a couple of small towns in Hungary.
Towards the end of April, I'll be traveling to Rome and Naples. I've been to northern Italy a few times now but there's still a lot more to explore out there. On technical grounds, a trip to Vatican City would count as country number 17 too for me. I'm really looking forward to that trip. Hopefully, I'll write a nice little blog about my trip too.
I missed the environment and challenge of working in a small firm where you get a lot of exposure and responsibility. Soon, I'll start working at WorldQuant, a quantitative hedge fund.
Reflecting back on the time that I've had at MS, I would really like to tell everyone that Morgan Stanley is an amazing financial firm to work for. I got to work some really amazing people out there. Right from the start, I got the opportunity to work on some really cool projects and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenges that MS threw at me over the years. I'll miss a lot of things that were so MS that everyone who has ever worked there would probably relate to. I'll miss getting invited to random plans for dinner/drinks/anything else happening in the city, meeting a whole new bunch of colleagues and learning about a whole new side of the firm's business. Most of all, I'll miss drinking coffee on the terrace with an amazing view of the city, and my corner seat overlooking the gorgeous Hungarian National Theatre.
Nevertheless, I believe it's the right time for me to move on to a new challenge. I'm really excited to start at my new firm. WorldQuant seems to be doing some really interesting things and I just can't wait to get started!!
Hope to see most of them through over the next few years.
As a result, I've decided to keep my life updates in sync with financial reporting cycles and offer my life update just as the first quarter of the financial year ends. Just like the usual financial ritual of making plans for the year, I'll also be talking about my plans for 2019, as well as a few medium-term plans for myself.
Update 0: Personal Life
I rarely write about my personal life but over the past few months, a number of things have happened that I do wish to share. 2 of my closest friends got hitched. I traveled to India and back twice in a space of 1 month to be there for this special moment in their lives. We spent a lot of time drinking, eating and bantering. I wish them all the happiness in the world as they begin a new chapter in their lives.Additionally, 3 more friends of mine have decided to get married - 2 of them back home in India, and my Sri Lankan friend in the UK. I've always felt that getting married is a very big milestone in a person's life.
Another big change that has happened in my life. I decided to stop using public transport regularly and got myself a bicycle. For about a month now, I've been biking to work, tennis and any other places that I'd need to go to unless it's too far. I must say that it's been a really exciting few weeks. I'm discovering new roads almost every day and the cardio is an added benefit.
Update 1: Travel
One of the Christmas gifts I received was a scratch-able World Map. It's basically a world map on which you can scratch off the countries that you've been to. In addition, on my 27th birthday, I set a personal goal, "30 before 30", to travel to 30 countries before I turn 30 years old.In addition to traveling back to India twice in the space of one month, I traveled to Sarajevo and Mostar in Bosnia & Herzegovina, country number 16 for me. At my hostel, I met a few people who were doing an exchange semester at my Alma mater, Corvinus University.
In the past, I've always marked my trips with a story title based on interesting incidents that happen over the trip. I'll refer to this trip as "Bosnia and The Golden Age Theory". It was an interesting theory that Valentine, a German lad on exchange at Corvinus, shared with us during our day trip to Mostar.
The theory is simple. Every person has a golden age/golden stage of life. When they're in that stage of life, they feel the most comfortable. Hence, they're "cool" (for lack of a better word) when they're living in their golden stage of life. If that stage hasn't arrived or once they're past that golden stage of their life, they aren't as comfortable and hence, might be "weird" (again, for lack of a better word) in other stages of their lives. After Valentine explained his theory, we went around the table and everyone talked a bit about what their golden stage was according to them.
While the theory isn't perfect and it's probably not universally applicable. It did give me some food for thought and was one of the most memorable conversations of the trip.
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| Visegrad isn't bad for a spring/summer day trip if you wanna treat yourself to a bit of hiking and some pretty good views. |
Over the last couple of weekends, I also visited Visegrad and Szentendre, a couple of small towns in Hungary.
Towards the end of April, I'll be traveling to Rome and Naples. I've been to northern Italy a few times now but there's still a lot more to explore out there. On technical grounds, a trip to Vatican City would count as country number 17 too for me. I'm really looking forward to that trip. Hopefully, I'll write a nice little blog about my trip too.
Update 2: Work
One of the biggest changes in my life has been in my professional life. I've been working at Morgan Stanley, one of the most prominent investment banks in the world, for the past 3 years. I have decided to change things up a bit.I missed the environment and challenge of working in a small firm where you get a lot of exposure and responsibility. Soon, I'll start working at WorldQuant, a quantitative hedge fund.
Reflecting back on the time that I've had at MS, I would really like to tell everyone that Morgan Stanley is an amazing financial firm to work for. I got to work some really amazing people out there. Right from the start, I got the opportunity to work on some really cool projects and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenges that MS threw at me over the years. I'll miss a lot of things that were so MS that everyone who has ever worked there would probably relate to. I'll miss getting invited to random plans for dinner/drinks/anything else happening in the city, meeting a whole new bunch of colleagues and learning about a whole new side of the firm's business. Most of all, I'll miss drinking coffee on the terrace with an amazing view of the city, and my corner seat overlooking the gorgeous Hungarian National Theatre.
Nevertheless, I believe it's the right time for me to move on to a new challenge. I'm really excited to start at my new firm. WorldQuant seems to be doing some really interesting things and I just can't wait to get started!!
Update 3: Tennis
Just like last year, I will be playing for Simon Tenisz Klub. This year, I've been promoted to the senior team. This means that my competitors will be a lot stronger than the ones I faced last year. Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of practice over the winters. So I'll have to catch up quickly over the next month before the Spring championship begins in May. Hopefully, the bicycling will help in terms of stamina as well. I hope to do well this season. Fingers crossedNear term goals
I don't want to talk in detail about my goals for the year. However, I've set a few near term goals that I wish to see through over the next few years. I've mentioned some of these in the past as well. So this is just a bullet point list of the things I plan to achieve over the next few years:- Start using bicycle
- Get a European driver's license
- Learn how to swim
- 30 countries before I turn 30
- Learn Hungarian (now that I'm going to be here for at least another couple of years)
Hope to see most of them through over the next few years.
Life has been busy, to say the least, over the past few months. Time has literally flown by and summer is almost here. Life has been eventful since the last life update I wrote about and I have a lot of things to look forward to over the next few months as well. It looks like 2019 is going to be a busy year. Hoping for the best. :)
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