Tuesday, April 27, 2011:
Today is the day that I planned a lot of my trip around – the Finance Academy interview. It was scheduled for 3:00pm CST, but that is 2:00pm island time. I’m thankful for that because I wouldn’t want to be waiting around for another hour to do it. I would have because it’s well worth it though. Anyway, I was just reviewing and preparing for the interview for the whole morning before. My hour count for preparation has been about 5-6 hours so far not including the time I put in contacting everyone making sure everything goes smoothly and earlier research. I got to a point where I didn’t want t do anymore, so when I was at the internet café for the time to come, I set up my online bill pay through Harris Online Banking. I could then pay Dan Graham for his legal services he’s doing for Global Petals and get things kicked off.
Finally, the point of reckoning had arrived. I gave Professor Sinow a call at 1:55pm island time to give a couple minutes window in case something went wrong with the first call. After hours of prep, the interview went like this (simplified):
Sinow: Hi Michael, so where are you right now?
Michael: The Galapagos
Sinow: That must be really fun in paradise
Michael: It’s been an unbelievable experience!
Sinow: Listen Michael, I feel like I know you pretty well and I don’t want to take time away from you when you’re there. There were a lot of people who applied, only 50 got interviews – all very smart and interesting people. We’re going to do a “scrub session” on Saturday about everyone and let people know our decisions next week.
Michael: (not knowing if this is a good or bad sign) – (I bring up more random conversation and talk about the more impressive things I’ve been up to here relating to finance and business for about 3 more minutes)
Sinow: Well, have a great rest of your trip!
(11 minutes in total)
That’s Professor Sinow’s attitude though. I had him in class and he’s a very smart, interesting, and dry sense of humor kind of guy. At the same time, I can NEVER gauge what his impression is of me or other people… I’m crossing my fingers and praying for the best!
Right after the interview, I had to rush to go over to a restaurant to meet up with Gaby. It is the same Gaby from before – José’s friend. At the lunch, her boyfriend was there, a guy named Pablo – friend of Gaby’s boyfriend, and 2 other Ecuadorian English teachers from Quito. One of the English teachers studied in Massachusetts for 5 years. I was satisfied with our conversation because out of the 2 hours, I we only spoke about 5 English words with each other. The meal was absolutely amazing – soup, fresh fish, rice, some other stuff that I can’t remember, and a piece of cake for desert…$4. The islands are more expensive, but I guess if you know the right places to go, it can still be really cheap. The funny thing was that other people I told about this said that that was expensive.
After lunch, we headed over to Tortuga Bay. After the long walk, we did much of the same thing as yesterday, but I think it could have been even more fun because I was with island locals. I actually ran into some other gringas that study at USFQ as well and they asked who I was here with, and I was just like, “I’m staying with some friends.” It’s a completely different experience being with locals than white people.
Walking back, Gaby, her boyfriend and Pablo were all on a search to find a place to watch the Liga (Quito soccer team) game on that night. To their dismay, cable was down throughout the entire island that night. Fortunately, we found a restaurant playing the game over the radio. Although, once we were there eating and joined up with some other people, no one paid attention to the game.
After the leisurely dinner, we wandered over to the port where we peered out at the ocean, sail boats, and gazed up at the stars. While the couples were sitting there cuddling, I was a few feet away with sitting on a ledge where the water was rolling up the wall. I blocked out their conversation and pretended Nicole was there with me. It was nice. I knew she’d like that instead of studying as well.
Finally, we slugged to Gaby’s house and went to sleep. A great day of doing next to nothing.
Ciao,
Michael
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