Week 1 Trinity

Week 1 started well and despite not attending all lectures (due to an interview) I am happy with my choice of electives. The Media Studies for a Networked World elective looks particularly interesting; the first lecture tracked the structure and history of the internet. Fixed income was very good considering the subject matter (it is, after-all, an elective on bonds). Business in China was a fascinating romp through the Chinese political system and a case study on why a joint venture (in a beer company) failed. In Private equity (which is co-taught by Humphrey Battcock, a Managing Director in Advent Internation), we delved deeper into the world of management fees and carried interest... And learnt that only the top 25% of funds actually beat the stockmarket.

On Wednesday, we were treated to a lecture by Dr Erk Thorsten Heyen from Infineon (used to be Siemens Semiconductors) who talked about "Fundamental structural changes are transforming an industry – Semiconductors". I attended due to a passing curiosity and thoroughly enjoyed it. Actually, as I was leaving the lecture theatre, Murtaza commented that within the space of an hour and a half we had gone from knowing nothing about the industry to actually having a pretty good grasp of it. I couldn't agree more!

This weekend my brother, Daniel, and his girlfriend, Daisy, came to visit us. As we do with all visitors, we subjected them to the Oxford tour which included: A trip through my college (and brunch there), New College, Said Business School, Blackwells, The Covered Market and Christchurch College (everyone wants to see the Harry Potter Dining room!).

Daniel, Daisy and Namiko inside the bridge of sighs

Daniel and Daisy in New College

And now the bad news, after the training an heartache we did not manage to beat Cambridge in rowing this weekend (see a dejected me below). I suppose that the good news (as if it could compensate us) is that we smashed them at every other sport! Never-mind (erm...) we have a rematch in Paris in a couple of weeks time.
Both the crews together Just the Oxford Crew Mark showing his dodgeball prowess So that was it for this week. Next week is mostly taken up with my Texas trip...wish me luck!