Monday September 21, 2009

I had to get up early for class and was in class until 1:00 in the afternoon. Even though, I had dropped the equity portfolio management class, I still went to the lecture. However, when I read the book it looked like a tough math class. So it may be a blessing in disguise that I cannot take the exam, because when I read the textbook it looked like a bunch of advanced math after the basic review chapters. Nevertheless, I need to learn the quant aspect of finance if I want to succeed, so I am going to learn it anyway.

After class I went downtown to try to visit the Borsa Italiana (Milan Stock Exchange). Guards at the entrance would not let me in past the lobby so I could not see the trading floor in action. On the way there I ran into a live classical orchestra performing near the Duomo. After my aborted trip to the stock exchange, I went back to my place and took care of some business. I readjusted my budget based on buying that 2nd ticket home which robbed me of $700 and the dollar furthering its plunge (now $1.48 per euro and declining). I decided to cut two trips (and possibly a third) out of my agenda. Cinque Terre and Sicily will have to wait for another time. Today I also went to the grocery store and bought some breakfast food and decided to eat that instead of lunch. I also have sped up my reading, I finished reading a book on NLP and half of a book on personal finance book recommended for college grads.

Tuesday, September 22

I slept in that morning and woke up to talk to my friends Jared and Matt from UCSB on Skype. I had breakfast again which is nice change from waking up hungry. On Monday, I was able to find seedless grapes at the grocery stores, so now I am reintroducing fruit to my diet. I have lost some weight since I have been in Italy because I have been eating less and walking a lot more. I also feel lighter and look thinner than before I left. I then left to mail the NLP book back to my Uncle Marc and had to wait over a half an hour at the post office to be told to draw another number for a different teller.

After the hassle of the post office, I went to see Leonardo Da Vinci’s bronze horse which stands across the street from the San Siro stadium. The horse was not actually made until the 1990’s by some Michigan philanthropers, but they used Da Vinci’s clay mold from the 1500’s to create the horse. It was an impressive sculptue, but the whole trip to it was out of the way. It was in the northwest side of the town which featured nothing notable but this horse and the soccer stadium. Because I underestimated the time it took to get to the horse, I was late for class.

After class, I did some more reading and watched the most recent episode of Glenn Beck on Youtube. My friend Matt in Rome sent me an facebook message saying I could not stay at his place, so I booked a hostel for the two nights I will be there (during Halloween). I also caught up on my reading for school and finished that personal finance book. I have noticed since I returned from Switzerland, my overall productivity has increased. I have been getting all of my errands/projects/school work done early and quickly while reading and writing prolifically. It may come from the fact I am not watching sports anymore or have been focusing more on work.

Wednesday September 23

I had one class early in the morning and thought I was going to go to the main commercial/shopping district. However when I looked up how to get there, I realized that I had already visited that area two weeks ago and since I don’t plan on buying anything, so I am not going to to go back. The rest of today, I updated my music library, recorded a Wall Street University show, and worked on promoting this blog. Since this post is longer than I thought, I will save the analysis/memoir stuff for tomorrow.