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The last two months have taught me so much about myself and the financial industry. I have gained many useful skills that I can take away for my future profession. In my opinion, I think I did very well as an intern for my companies. Being in a completely new environment with different norms, culture, and rules takes a toll on everyone. Even with those challenges, I was able to step up to the plate and complete the projects given to me. This experience also showed me the areas where I need to grow. Realizing these weaknesses is valuable for future growth. My analytical skills need sharpening if I desire to work in the finance fields. I found that at times I was not as quick at seeing trends. If I aim to sharpen my skills, I will surely become even more valuable to whatever company I end up working for.

Working and living in Vietnam for two months will not only look good on my resume and make it stand out among competitors, it shows my ability to adapt to new environments. Working in a Vietnamese office taught me a lot about team work and collaboration. At times I had to think individually and work through problems myself because my coworkers could not understand me, but that boosted my confidence in my skills. Working in living abroad is impressive in any field. It shows employers that I am openminded and don’t mind change. Choosing Vietnam as my destination is another impressive point in itself because it is not a fully developed country.

After my two months here, I realized that I need to be more confident in myself. I was unsure about signing up for a two-month study abroad internship with the fear that I would miss home too much. While I did miss home, I did not once regret coming here. Vietnam is an amazing country and a place that everyone should experience at least once. I had never had an inkling of interest to go to Asia before, but now I want to come back as soon as I can and explore other countries on this amazing continent. I am going to miss the vibrant personality of this country, the amazing food, and the kind people so very much. I am so thankful that I took the leap to come here and I know this will not be the last time I see Vietnam. Tam biet for now Vietnam.

My internships have given me many headaches. There have been many times when I had no idea what I was doing. If I’m honest, most of the time I was just winging it. After struggling with a project for the last two weeks, not knowing what was going on or why my numbers were adding up, the balance sheet I was working on finally balanced. For those who have been lucky enough to have never had to work with financial statements, balancing the accounts feels like winning first place in a marathon. If you mess up one number, then everything is messed up. For me, this process was even harder because all of the information I needed was only in Vietnamese. I had a translator, but it took me forever to realize where I was going wrong and what numbers meant what. When I finally balanced, I made the rest of the project a breeze. The thing about accounting and finance is that you have to be meticulous with every number and calculation. Throughout my internships I started double and triple checking everything I did. I have always been very meticulous, but I have become even more so after all of my mistakes.

On the weekends, I have been able to travel all around Vietnam. This last weekend, I visited Da La, a city located around five hours from Ho Chi Minh City. During my time there, I visited a flower farm. This farm grew the prettiest flowers I have ever seen. As I was admiring the flowers, one of. The workers handed me a flower to take with me. It was so lovely. I carried the flower around for the rest of the tour until we came to our stop at a village of minority people. This village was like going back into time. They had the bare minimum, no doors, no air conditioning and no indoor plumbing. Even though they were living in poverty, the people were so nice. I was able to sit down and talk to them about their lives and tell them about my adventures in Vietnam. When it was time to leave, I decided to hand my flower off to one of the little girls living in the village. Her eyes lit up so much when I gave it to here and she smiled so big. Such a little gift brought her so much joy. While we were driving away, I could see her dancing around the village with the flower and showing it off to her family. This experience made me realize just how lucky I am. I have been given this opportunity to travel around the world and see amazing sites, yet I still have the urge to complain from time to time. Coming back home, I am going to try and be more grateful for what I have.

Throughout my experience in HCMC, I have learned a lot about the finance industry. I was given the opportunity to work for two different companies in the same industry, but both showed me a different side. The finance industry is huge and there are so many opportunities for employment. The first company I worked for showed me an inside view on the venture capital side. Venture capital works with new and upcoming businesses. This contrasts with the second company I worked for where I concentrated on equity research for large and established companies.

Mirae Assets is a well-established company with great brand recognition and reputation. Mirae Asset offers extensive product offerings, allowing them to penetrate a variety of customer segments in the financial services industry. The business model of Mirae Asset could be easily imitated by competitors which poses a weakness. Rising disposable income and lower inflation rates in Vietnam create opportunities in new segments and increase consumption of Mirae Asset’s products and services. The changing political environment poses a potential threat for Mirae Asset. The US-China trade war, Brexit, and the overall instability in the middle east has the ability to affect business locally and internationally.

One of the most amazing things about Vietnam is how kind the people are. I am a very skeptical person and always question everything. So, when my friends and I were invited to an exclusive pent house party on a random night, I was definitely paranoid that something was going to go wrong and concluded it sounded too good to be true. My friends tried to comfort me by telling me this was a normal occurrence in Asia. I couldn’t see why anyone would want to host a bunch of American strangers, but I attended regardless of my skepticism. We showed up to the apartment and rode up to the 32^nd floor pent house. We were welcomed by the smell of home cooking and a tiny Vietnamese woman with the biggest smile. She welcomed us into her home and introduced herself and her husband. It was not too good to be true. They own an English school in Ho Chi Minh city and invite people to their home to network and market their school. They had more money than they knew what to do with, so they decided to throw dinner parties for foreigners.  She fed us homemade soup and fresh fruits. We sang karaoke and learned all about the school. It was not the way I was expecting the night to come to, but it was so enjoyable being surrounded by such warm and welcoming people. I felt bad for ever questioning the invite. Mrs. Ha offered to teach us cooking lessons and to show us around HCMC. The Ha’s generosity and desire to host strangers was like nothing I had ever seen.

The most challenging aspects of my internship so far has been the language barrier. While my coworkers and supervisors all speak English very well as a research intern I must find article and information on companies and industries. Finding information in English is next to impossible. I have Google translate in my chrome account so I can translate, but a lot of my information comes from published PDFs published in Vietnamese. I have read and looked at so many articles, I am starting to recognize certain Vietnamese words and phrases.

One of the best features of my internship is surprisingly not the free espresso anytime I want (it is still certainly a perk), but the access to Mirae’s Bloomberg terminal. The Bloomberg terminal is an amazing piece of technology that practically puts the whole financial industry into my fingertips. The projects I am working on require a lot of specific industry and company data which would be timely and nearly impossible to access without the terminal. It is also just fun to play around with and explore all of its amazing features. Its analysis tools are very helpful on the daily for me and make my day go by so much easier. There is a Bloomberg terminal at school, and I am definitely going to get my hands on it when I get back.

I have eaten some very interesting food while in HCMC. Some of it I liked and some of it I had to throw away after one bite. Of all the food I have eaten in HCMC, bahn mis take the cake. There is never a time I don’t want banh mi. I could eat one for breakfast with egg on it or lunch with pork and peppers. There is something so satisfying about the crunchy baguette and the spicy peppers. I probably eat bahn mi at least 4 times a week. Not only is bahn mi delicious, it is also very cheap. The most I have ever paid was around 60,000 Dong ($2.60). I am definitely going to try to replicate them at home or else I will have withdrawals.

A lot has changed since my last journal entry. CRCC Asia became concerned that the remote nature of my previous internship might not give me the experience I desired while being in Vietnam. I agreed with them because I came all the way across the world to really be immersed into not only the culture of the country, but of the business world too. CRCC got me an interview with a wealth management firm with a very good reputation. After the interview, I started right away. Mirae Assets if the new company I am working for. I am working on similar projects as at IDG, but these are more in depth and I have a team of employees to help me on them as needed. I am expected to finish my financial report on a real estate company. In this report, I must build multipole models and disclose information about the successes and risks of investing in the company. This is an amazing opportunity because I am working directly with an equity research analyst and he is teaching me tips and tricks along the way. The report I am building is one that they are going to post publicly, and it will be listed online. These reports are quite extensive, so having a helping hand is great for them. In my new office, there are around 12 other employees. There is one other intern working with me and Rushi from the London School of Economics. Of the employees, most of them speak impeccable English and are kind enough to help with anything we need.

I was enjoying the worked assigned to me through IDG and did not want to leave the company before the end of the summer. I spoke to both companies and they are allowing me to work for both of them for the remainder of the summer. I communicate with my supervisor the same as always, through skype. I am currently working on an investor pitch for the firm’s new fund. This pitch will be given to prospective investors in the next month.  It is quite stressful having two different projects, with two different companies going on at once. As stressful as it is, it is helping me with my time management skills.

As my time dwindles down in Ho Chi Minh City, I have some to realize that I need to go with the flow here. Everything in HCMC moves at its own speed. I am a very impatient person but living here has taught me to be more patient than ever. It takes twice the time to cross the street here than anywhere else but rushing across will only get me killed. The traffic here is horrendous, but I have learned to use the long ride wisely and call family members to catch up. I am becoming increasingly more homesick as the days go by, but I will use my time here as a lesson that not everything has to be rushed.