Week 13: A break at last

Week 13 is at a close and I find myself in New York City.

Monday was the final test, which I completed in 2/3 of the time. This was unnerving since I seem to take up the majority of the time given to write tests. This was made stranger since just as I returned to my team room, my cell phone started to ring from the drawer I had left it in prior to heading to the test. As luck would have it, the head of oil and gas trading for a major Canadian bank based out of Toronto was calling me. Seems that their HR people were going through the online CVs that were posted and my background was of interest to them and they would like to discuss what their program has to offer successful candidates. Got to hand it to Queen's, they did a good job getting our CV's up there at least a month before anyone else. I was excited at getting the call, but since I wasn't at my best, I asked if we could delay the conversation until a later time.

After checking my schedule it seemed that meeting in person on August 7th would be the best option. Queen's is busing the class to Toronto for various events concerning employment in consulting and banking on that date, so it would work out. After a few e-mails everything is set-up. As luck would have it the bank in question has offices just a few blocks away from where the event I chose to attend.

In addition, we all returned to our desks in our team rooms after the final test to find a book that needs to be read for the module after this next one called "The Goal". On top of that we still have prep work to do for next week's workshop on building our full customized resume. Even when we get a few days off there is still stuff to do.

Tuesday the class headed to the beach near Picton. It was awesome. Beach volleyball, laying on the beach and swimming in lake Ontario took up most of our time. Everyone who went really enjoyed their time.

Wednesday my wife and I drove to New York City. On second thought, it would have been better to drive the hour and a half to Syracuse, NY and fly, but for some reason I got it in my head that driving would be a welcome break from the stresses of studying and a chance for us to spend sometime together.

Whoops.

Driving in New York City has got to be one of the more stressful experiences of my life. After fighting to get into the Lincoln Tunnel, I mistakenly missed a turnoff and ended up driving through Times Square at night. There is a reason people take taxis everywhere in New York and now I know why on a very personal level.

So, after fighting the crowds and touring around the city for a few days I find myself updating this blog. Classes resume next Tuesday and I am enjoying the time away from Kingston, even if I'm finding New York a little too involving.