Let me entertain you

The life of a jet-setter

I met a lot of exciting people! Most notabley, GC venture capitalists. had dinner with them. I also met three of the companies they invested in. JumpTab have a great culture! ChoiceStream are competing in the same space as my practicum company and the last company is the company that will bring on the next generation of Internet TV (oh, I was in love!) I might apply to one of those start-ups.

I also met Jose and Ken Morris from the MIT Entrepreneurship center. What a character Morse is! Apparently, he had visited DAH in jeddah before and was not impressed (thx DAH). Harvard was cool as well. took a pic with papa harvard. We learned a lot from the seminar at CHOATE and the talk at the "Talk to an Angel" event at MIT. Note to self, IP lawyers are cool!

We visited Genzyme not bad. The largest green building in NA. had BOSTON CLAM CHOWDER! I missed it so much! Last time was in 2000. and of course, went shopping!!!! I bought a new suit 70% off! Finally, it was raining like hell! but, we survived and finally returned to Waterloo on Thursday.

Meeting + Riyadh: Friday through Tuesday

I went to a company on Friday morning in Cambridge before I left for Riaydh. I forgot to mention that I am working as a consultant for this company until August. They were recruiting from the MBET class and selected two applicants; me and another guy. Very interesting stuff. My first professional consulting experience! On Friday was our first meeting. We discussed requirements and deliverables as well as took a tour of the factory. I can'y disclose the name of the company because I signed an NDA . More later ;)

After the meeting I picked up my bags and headed to Pearson to fly to Riyadh. Cisco is flying me there for the final assessment. And the nightmare begins...

Yes, yes I know..it must be me. It's my fault. I must have upset the airport gods in another lifetime. Why else do I have SUCH BAD LUCK with airlines?

To make a long story short, Air Canada put my CONFIRMED reservation on standby. sounds wierd, doesn't it? They bumped me on the next plane to Heathrow. As a result, I missed my connection on BMI to Riyadh. I called the company's emergency line. They found another flight the next day and booked a night at Hilton Heathrow. The details I missed of course, include the drama and tragedy show that I played in. I post another time the complaint(hate) letter that I am sending to Air Canada.

The next day I get on an SV airplane and reached Riyadh at 10pm. A car from the hotel picked me up. God, I missed Riyadh. It looks so different yet feels the same!! I left in '99, so I have never seen al Faisaliyyah and al Mamlaka before. However, the dry, calm yet threatening atmosphere of the Saudi capital is the same =). I was checked-in a room in the 34th floor. The view was fantastic! Unfortunately, I was too nervous to sleep. I dozed off around 3.40am and woke up at 6.30am. You can imagine that my red-shot eyes were not very elegant :P

But, despite the jet-lag, the no sleep and the nervousness, I think did pretty well =) My next post is going to be about the whole event that lasted all day and the experience of being on of two girls among 20 [Saudi] guys applying for the same job! Bottomline is that I survived! My mother didn't make it to Riyadh. Instead, I did manage to squeeze in a quick night-out with my old homies from Riyadh from 7 to 9.30pm. We cruised Riyadh's 'tahlia' and had some drinks at some funky cafe. I rushed back and took a car from the hotel to the airport and flew to back to London.

I reached my beloved Heathrow at 5.30am. It was so surreal. One of those rare hours where heathrow is kinda empty and calm. It was so empty and I was so bored and sleepy that I was tempted to dance the funky chicken on star-bucks tables! LOL I was afraid that i would fall asleep and miss my flight to Toronto. Fortunately, I did still have some sane cells awake, so instead of doing the funky chicken I window shopped the closed designer shops over and over and over. When the shops opened I had my regular honey and vanilla-bean smoothie from Boots. FINALLY, at 8am they announced the gate on which to board the plane to Toronto. Guess what... Air Canada was delayed AGAIN. So, we didn't actually board until 9 and took off at 9.30. The Norwegian girl next to me was going to miss her connection to Alberta. I told her Welcome to Air Canada!... I really hope those a******* go bankrupt!

The airporter bus dropped in Waterloo after another hours. Back at my apartment, I just COLLAPSED and slept. I must be mad for the stressful life I lead. But, I love it and I wouldn't have it any other way. Besides, this is the time, when we are young and 'healthy', to live life to the fullest! I am sad I missed seeing my family and friends in Jeddah, but I had to come back for classes. Wish me luck! I will know if I Cisco will hire me in a week.

I am searching for apartments in Amsterdam anyway :P

posted by SunShine @ 9:13 p.m.