Hollyer Than Thou

Executive summary: I’m working in private equity in Hong Kong from July 1 to August 29. It’s cool here, I’m getting used to it, but I’m lonely.

Hong Kong, at least most of the parts I spend time in, is vertical: skyscrapers as far as the eye can see. I work on the top floor of a 78-story building, the 4th tallest in the city. It has a killer view, as you can imagine. 

More than half of the Hong Kong region is actually protected, undeveloped rainforest spread over steep and picturesque mountains. The rest is impossibly packed with people, taxis, and dense buildings (mostly shopping malls—so many shopping malls).

The food is more tolerable than anticipated, and I’ve made it through two extensive dim sum meals without making a total fool of myself. I can use chopsticks OK, but that was practiced a lot before I got here.

Everyone speaks English who needs to, usually just enough to sell you something or give directions. I manage to get lost a lot, because in the great English tradition streets change name every three or four blocks. The subway here is space-age, cheap, and jammed slightly less than sardines. It’s humid and terribly hot, hence the rainforest and the shopping malls.

Reasons the experience isn’t completely positive: my job is a little boring, at least so far. It’s only been a week so I’m not exactly doomed to a tedious existence, and at least I have the other intern to entertain me. I’ve learned enough to know that any finance less interaction-based and more desk-chained than private equity is not what I want to do with my life.

Secondly, I have no friends here besides my fellow intern and his girlfriend! I was on the subway with these 4 American girls and I said hi and I was so stupid not to have gotten their phone numbers or emails. I feel so dumb… seeing them together rushing to a party reminded me how much I would like to have companions here.

So… do you have any friends in Hong Kong? Share them!