insights of an intern day

i am currently interning at OCBC (China), Shanghai; attached to the Global Treasury department. working hours from 9am to 6pm, with a said 1hr lunch break from 12nn to 1pm, but then i'm usually free till 2pm. you will see the locals napping away during lunch break as well...

every morning its a challenge to drag myself out of bed. not because i am being such a pig and need more sleep. but given a heated bedroom vs. a non-heated bathroom, obviously i rather stay in bed! so everytime i wake, i tell myself: okay, i can do this, i can brave the cold!

my work attire for the day:

the knitwear i bought, russian-like skirt (mummy's) and of course accessories!

this is what the rush hour looks like! i find it ridiculous that the locals cannot be bothered to queue, and instead they prefer to PUSH, PUSH, PUSH! so its a battle to squeeze into the train and to squeeze up the escalator!

Quoting Wini: i don't have to do anything, there will just be a force from behind to push me in...

from my house, i will take to 世世世Century Ave (similar to our City Hall) to change to the CBD area: Lujiazui (aka Singapore's Tanjong Pagar). this is taken on my daily walk from the station to the office building (3rd light blue from the left)

i am always praying for sunny weather and NO WIND! the wind in SH is really strong, and the chill goes inside the jacket, and clothes so you can't help but shiver while quickening your pace!

OCBC at Lujiazui: am on the 21st floor!

the cleaning aunties call the Treasury Department office '玻璃房' because we are literally isolated inside a secretive glass room...

i have to share the desk with Xiaoxiao who's a local Shanghainese intern with Treasury BMU (Business Mgmt Unit)

will show you guys photos of my colleagues soon!

the view outside! we are facing the Bund and yes, thats the Huangpu River!

curious about my jobscope??

i assist the Treasury Advisory as well as Treasury Sales; am not a trader (they just sit opposite me); am not part of Ops too (they keep track of the Forex deals I key in)

i have to send out the daily Exchange Board Rates; input data of Forex deals (which gets hectic during the trading sessions at 1130, 1500 and 1530); obtain quotes from the traders; compile a logbook of all the deals so that my supervisor can keep track of the profit made...

at the start, i found it really tough to keep up with the tasks i am assigned, especially during the trading sessions, any little issue will cause a frenzy! but now i find myself with large chunks of free time i have to find ways to keep myself occupied. am rather perplexed, from time to time i beat myself up over this nagging feeling that i am not optimizing my time here... have not been able to interact much with my colleagues cus they are rather busy and keep to themselves often. hence sadly, my chinese is not improving. my financial knowledge is still rather superficial, not much learning given by my supervisor. tho i am self-learning through online financial sites.

my workaholic and restless soul is just not satisfied! :(

well, i am intending to discuss with my supervisor, wish me luck!