Thanksgiving

2 weeks before exams, 5 weeks before Christmas, and only 4 weeks after the previous holiday, it was Thanksgiving. And boy was it welcome! An opportunity to recharge the batteries, I headed north to Greenwich, Connecticut to family friends, a change of pace, and my first experience of this American holiday.

Like most historical American traditions, Thanksgiving Day traces its roots back to Britain. Under the English Reformation under Henry VIII, the vast number of religious holidays were moulded together and significantly reduced. Some wanted to reduce these days even further, into a couple of significant Days of Thanksgiving. These English dissenters (sometimes referred to as Puritans) could not change the Anglican church from within, not least due to a strong Catholic opposition and an unstable transition to King James I in 1603, so many emigrated either to the Netherlands or later to America. They brought their ideas and values with them, setting up their own church and religious ceremonies, and the Pilgrims would undoubtedly be thankful for surviving and prospering in this new land.

Things have changed considerably since then. More food, more football, more family - less stressing, less religion, less risk of being attacked by natives. It is a holiday where most people return to their family, and thus a lot of events are based in the neighbourhood: cocktails, meet-and-greets, touch football + lunch, and a trip to the local bar. When I was not eating and drinking, I found myself with a book on the sofa, outside in the awesome sunshine weather on walks, or playing pool, trivial pursuit, or Blokus in front of a fire or a Patriots game. And four happy days passed by in an instant.

2 things were especially striking. My bus ride back and forth operated out of Chinatown. It was a cheap $60 each way (a third of the airfare), but apparently they had safety concerns, were notoriously unreliable, and had a reputation for being pretty sketchy. I didn't realize this until I actual got on the bus, which was 75 minutes late, but the 8 hour overnight ride was uneventful. The seats were (naturally) Asian sized (Hong Kong busses also had seats designed for people 5 foot 8"), so I didn't get much sleep as resting my head was equivalent to staring straight up in the air. Going back, however, was considerably more pleasurable, especially since I had been packed a hearty late-night snack of fruit, crisps, cookies and turkey sandwiches!

The second thing is Paddle tennis. Played outdoor on a enclosed miniature tennis court with paddles rather than rackets, the rules are pretty much the same as tennis, although the ball is rubbery, the paddles are solid fiber (rather than strings), and if it hits the back / side walls you may hit it, similar to squash. It is thus a game of tactics, vision, and positioning rather than a game of technique and power, since a hard shot simply bounces back onto the court. This also means it is a game for all age groups. We played doubles, 3 close sets, experiencing my first snow of the year, and headed back for a cup of tea as the winter sun was setting. First Thanksgiving, and I wouldn't wish it had been any different.

Unexpected fortune

After some 15 months on GLOBE, I have been overly susceptible to cultural influences. I personally believe that I have grown and become less surprised by differences of actions and opinions. But 2 experiences this week has reminded me that there is still much to learn.

First, a volleyball tournament. A couple of CUHK'ers are particularly interested in the sport, so on their initiative we made a GLOBE team to compete in a recreational tournament on campus. After crashing out in the quarter finals, two of them asked me if I wanted to join in a 3-a-side tournament on Monday evening. Entrance fee was 2 dollars, but their were prizes to be won. Having had a midterm moved and wanting to spend more time on the the court with them, I happily accepted. Come 8 PM, I burst through the door to the hall, panting after having sprinted not to be late. Expecting to see semi-pro volleyball teams warming up, I instead find myself face to face with 12 or so blonde sorority girls. To the unaware reader, UNC sorority girls can be spotted a mile away by their pony-tailed hair, large sweatshirt, short Nike shorts, and running shoes with ankle-length socks. None of them are warming up and none are more than 5'8", although the 3 volleyballs and nets assure me I am in the correct place. Looking at the door once more, a poster informs me that this is a charity event for the pre-law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta, with the proceeds going to a scholarship. It is open for all, but that a sorority hosted it obviously scared away most male participants.

I spot my two Asian compadres (who stand out considerably by being the only male, non-white people in the gym), grab a ball, and trudge over to them. They obviously still have no clue that this is a sorority event, grinningly remarking that the lower nets will be a severe advantage for us. I look back at the girls and after hearing that some of them have never hit a ball before, I feel like I might as well leave now than waste an hour in an unfair fight. But it was charity, I had come this far, and my friends needed me. So I might as well make the best of it. Fortunate choice. It turned out the only other real "team" were 3 sisters who had been volleyball players their whole life. What they lacked in size they made up for in technique, jumping ability, placement, vision, and, surprisingly, powerful serves. We played 2 close games, but we prevailed in 2 sets both times. First prize in the tournament and 25 dollars worth of craft beer and a gift card for 5 to dinner. As my finance-savvy friend remarked: "Pretty good return on our 2 dollar investment"

The second experience was this weekend. A friend was turning 22 and his parents were in town and had invited us over for Cuban food, beer, and football. Afterwards we decide to head to a bar for a drink or two, but in my hurry to catch the bus there I had left my drivers license at home. In a student town like Chapel Hill they are super strict on under-age drinking, so no license = no entrance. It was midnight, bars close at 2, and I lived 30 minutes walk away. Most unfortunate.

The exact moment I realize this, 2 black dudes sporting baggy, colourful outfits (green and purple, respectively) with matching snapbacks (a cap) ask where we are going. After giving them the venue, the first guy replies he can get us in - no problem. I have had very little contact with black people outside the basketball court, so I am unfamiliar with their directness, the seemingly aggressive statements, and the fact that they speak with so much slang which, when being drunk, bears almost no resemblance to English. Memories of Shanghai flashed into my mind. Their un-shaved look, dreadlocks, and 200 pounds of pure muscle don't reassure me. So I politely try to decline while trying to keep everyone contained on the street until I could figure out what to do with my situation. But with the guy pushing and having no idea what to do with my ID situation, I thought "what the hell" and marched towards the bar.

We walk past a 50 person line, straight up to the bouncer, and after my new friend and him exchange words, we are ushered round the back of the building. Being some 12 people, the guy said we would have to go in teams. But after grabbing his mate and a female friend they had with them, he pointed at me at said: "You wit me dog!" He slung his arm around my neck, matched me round the corner, past the bouncer, and straight into the bar.

First night I forget my ID, a random black guy gets me into a bar. I was mindblown. I thanked him and bought him a beer, getting an opportunity to get to know him. My prejudices had got the better of me, and I was sure to make up for it. He apparently held a degree in electrical engineering (!), but was back because his younger brother went to UNC. He went by "JJ" and he kept calling me "dog", "homie", and "bro". I couldn't quite figure out why he spoke like a gangster or why he had helped me, but before I had the opportunity to ask he had finished his pint and gave me a series of intricate handshakes which I mimicked as well as could. He seemed to take a liking to me, because as he headed into the crowd he told me to meet him at 2 when the place closed to go smoke weed. I declined, not trying to push my luck any further, but he was gone before he heard the answer. I sat back down at the bar, completely perplexed, until my other friends showed up 10 minutes later, with a smile that couldn't be wiped from my face.

Good Housekeeping

My room mate had been poorly for a week or so, but overnight his tonsils swelled to the size of a walnut. A trip to the campus health service immediately led to the diagnosis: Mononucleosis. So I have since turned into a Corpsman for my friend.

Mononucleosis, known as "mono", glandular fever, or colloquially as "the kissing disease", is a virus infection affecting the lymphocytes (a part of the immune system). Its symptoms are severe fatigue, swollen lymph nodes around the body, joint pain, muscle soreness, sore throat and potentially flu-like symptoms. Furthermore, the infection of the immune system makes the patient more likely to contract further diseases, such as a bacterial throat infection. Although it is non-fatal, there is no treatment other than symptom-relief, and it can take up to 2-3 months to fully recover. The virus spreads through saliva, so by sharing cups, cutlery, toothbrushes or by kissing, but it is not airborne - hence I have not been panicking about finding a new room mate.

The main impediment to the patient is fatigue, which makes it harder to maintain a normal, fast-paced lifestyle. The virus also affects the spleen, liver and the abdomen, meaning no alcohol and limited fatty foods. Furthermore, the patient should refrain from any contact sport, as a blow to one of the affected organs could cause internal bleeding and potentially be life threatening. So for an athletic footballing college senior in America on exchange with two months left, it is a utterly miserable situation.

Hence my desire to try to help as much as I can. He has been bedridden for the last 3 days, sleeping sporadically with fatigue, headaches, joint pain and a sore, swollen throat. Medication was limited to painkillers, and he was in no condition to go outdoors, let alone do any kind of work. So I have tried to maintain a steady stream of soup, milky tea with honey, and yoghurt every 6 hours to ensure he is somewhat nourished, making sure he drinks other fluids than just water to keep up his electrolyte balance, and trying to alleviate the worst element of lying ill: boredom.


Today was a change of events. He felt considerably worse, his throat swelling up even more, so he went for another check-up at the clinic. Here he got pumped full of saline, painkillers, steroids to reduce the swelling in his throat, and antibiotics for a recently contracted strep throat - he thus looked considerably better this evening, although severely drugged up. However, the steroids lower his already weak immune system, so when my late class got cancelled, I took it as a sign to turn our dusty bachelors den into a somewhat sterile infirmary.

After a quick shopping spree for cleaning utensils, my time in the military was put to good use: The place was vacuum-cleaned spotless, all dust wiped of surfaces with anti-viral wipes, all our laundry was done, including all bed sheets and pillow cases. The duvets were hung outside to get aired, and all items he had been in contact with were thoroughly washed or completely disposed of. Hopefully this will mean he is less susceptible to contract anything else, and he should be back to class on Monday (hopefully) and in some decent shape for Thanksgiving. Till then, I'll keep the orange juice and take-away meals coming!

Election night

Last Tuesday was election night (in case you hadn't realized) and I was psyched and ready to go. Called one of the most influential elections in the past 20 years, the candidates were disagreeing on almost everything and the America that would emerge after the 4 years with either president would be starkly different.

I feel I had spent a decent amount of time covering the run-up to the election. I watched the debates, read articles and analyses, and discussed topics with my peers. Being a Dane, the odds that I was rooting for Romney was 1-100, not least due to social and foreign-policy issues, but I tried to put myself in the shoes of an American and I do believe he would be the better candidate for the economy. In a corporate setting, Romney would be the CFO, and Obama the CEO - simply a better man for America when looking at all their traits and ideas.

GLOBErs spend an awful lot of time together, so we had clashed swords concerning the candidates many times before. I therefore opted to stay on campus and watch the election in the common room of my dorm, hoping to discuss politics with Americans who had less exposure to a globalized world and who might offer up new viewpoints. Plus there was free food and drink.

I learnt a couple of things. First, Chapel Hill and the younger generation are overwhelmingly pro-Obama. Second, the active voter in America is surprisingly well-informed. Having two candidates might make for partisan chambers and little collaboration across the aisle, but it does propose a relatively simple choice, as compared to Denmark with its seven major parties. Third, there are a significant number of inactive voters. These people cast their vote, but have little clue about what is happening and why. They are also reluctant to discuss politics, and they didn't show up to election night. A girl I talked to a couple of days before voted Romney because her parents did, even though most of her beliefs were way over in the Obama camp.

So election night was somewhat anti-climactic. Only 25 students or so showed up, most with their homework to kill time (thus not in discussion mode). Food was cheese pizza (go figure), which made the room smell like fondue and made me slightly nauseous. On a practical note, America's 5 time zones (6 including Alaska + Hawaii) means that focus is only on a couple of states at a time. Furthermore, America's size, electoral system and inter-state diversity means that the individual vote seems to play a lesser role. A Democratic voter in Texas has absolutely 0% influence. North Carolina went Republican, but everyone who was pro-Romney seemed awfully quite on a blue campus.

The highlight of the evening was a discussion with my Danish room mate. CNN announced that Pennsylvania went Democratic after 40% of the votes had been counted. This was based on exit polls, the current vote count relative to past years' results on a county level, and the statistical confidence interval at that point in time when Obama was up 58% to 41%. This (as my room mate aptly pointed out) is never 100% accurate, and kept referring to the Bush - Gore election and the Florida recount. This could potentially happen again, and therefore CNN should not refer to Obama as the winner until those key states had been tallied. True, but the pressure to be the first to announce the winner was more important. Most surprising was that most of the Americans had no clue what we were talking about, taking Obamas victory as certain. So while we exchanged a few more arguments, the student body of UNC grabbed their phones and jackets, chanting Obama's victory into cyberspace and into the crisp Carolinian night sky.

Guest blogging

Blogging is apparently becoming the new black - so much so that a fellow GLOBEr asked me to contribute to his up-and-coming blog by providing a open entry. I was naturally honoured that there is a recognition of my efforts, and was happy to oblige.

As for the task, the subject was straight forward. Combining the date of November 5th and the masses of unaware Americans of the origins of the term, my post was on the Gunpowder Treason Plot. Find it at http://www.mcollignon.com/post/35110017245

Cats cradle

With many GLOBErs either travelling around the States (foreigners), back home with their parents (locals), or recovering from Halloween on a Wednesday, not much was happening this weekend. So when I was phoned and asked if I wanted to go to a local concert I said yes. 20 minutes later a ride showed up, and 2 GLOBErs and I headed 10 minutes down the road to Cats Cradle.

Cats Cradle is a music venue / bar in the neighbouring town of Carrboro. Looking more like an abandoned warehouse than a concert hall from the outside, it has hosted a number of prominent names over the years, most of whom I have no idea who are anyway, but who have featured on Roskilde. Or so I was told. Inside was the same. A large, dim-lit single room, somewhat akin to a barn, hosted several shabby wooden tables, chairs, a basic bar, a couple of couches in one corner, a large sounds system in the middle of the room, and a stage on the far end. A $10 cover got us past a friendly bouncer, and another $4.25 got us a pint of North Carolinian craft IPA. A country / folk rock band was playing (a genre I was told was bluegrass) which was surprisingly good. More surprising was the fact that although it was 8:30 and the first of 3 bands had just started playing, it was pretty packed. That and the crowd was comprised of everything from college students to old, bearded men, to dating middle-aged couples.

Walk 5 minutes west on Franklin street and you'll hit Carrboro. You'll know you are there when the shops stop catering to college students and start targeting aficionados. Organic eateries, local products, farmers markets, that kind of thing. My friend characterized Carrboro as "granola" (as in the cereal, somewhat akin to müsli), inhabited by the kind of people "who'll buy an organic, vegan salad and feel that the quadruple price is a bargain". Initially I had a very different understanding of granola: someone described a tartan bow-tie as being granola, so when I saw a fraternity cocktail with all the guys dressed up in colourful chequered bow-ties, I deduced that granola = frat guy. After complimenting the first 6 frat guys with "Great outfit, you are so granola!", I realized I was sorely mistaken. 

The main band of the evening was Mipso Trio (which tonight was a quartet, but anyhow). A band of 3 UNC graduates, they played a mixture of everything from rock 'n' roll to folk, indie, motown and bluegrass. The crowd adored them, they were immensely entertaining, and when they gave their final encore it was past midnight. 4 solid hours of entertainment for less than $20 dollars in total. To listen to their music / download it, check out their website: http://mipsomusic.bandcamp.com/album/long-long-gone

The evening is somewhat telling of Chapel Hill. There are all these great events which we can go to for almost no cost, learning a lot about American life and culture in the process, but we have no clue about the potential at our doorstep. I suppose one should take responsibility for one's own experiences, but when living on South Campus with mainly freshmen, concerts, art exhibitions, fine dining and rural experiences are not top of their of list of things to do. Access to a car, as well as the underground nature of most events, is also a deterrent for foreigners. In Hong Kong we spent a lot of time travelling abroad, and our city experiences were obviously touristy: skyline, Mong-kok, street food, ladies market, hiking, etc. In Copenhagen the immersion in a large city allowed for exploration on one's own, but many foreign GLOBErs also took time for international travel. In the US it is different. We have required attendance for classes, weekly assignments, group work in every class (all impairing our freedom to travel), and flying in American is ridiculously expensive.

I feel that the Americans are paramount for showing us the Chapel Hill area. They are busy like the rest of us, but finding interesting stuff to do in the Triangle area is harder than figuring out how to find the Colosseum or the Arc de Triomphe. Some of them have been great, and they have truly made my stay inexplicably better. With GLOBE graduation in 5 weeks time, I hope these individuals continue sacrificing their time and effort for my sake. Sometimes it takes nothing more than a phone call and a 10 minute lift, but the effort is highly valued. Thank you. You know who you are - stay awesome.

Guest speakers

American professors are extremely fond of guest speakers. Perhaps it is the reputation and connections of the school which allows for such a strong network, but they do manage to have some extremely relevant speakers. Regardless whether it is mergers, acquisitions, banking, entrepreneurship, consulting, private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, or traders, we have had real life examples of people who do this for a living, their views and opinions, and not least their pieces of advice.

I personally think guest speakers are a great idea. You have all this information from problem sets and textbooks and then you have an example from the real world of how to apply it. They love coming back and talking about what they do, and the students love the limited readings and an engaging lecture.

The only problem is if the speaker is terrible. My most anticipated guest speaker was a woman who was managing director for Blackstone Private Equity, a large investment fund. Super relevant to multiple classes, and a great contact in a somewhat closed off industry. Alas, she was morbidly dull, going into excruciating detail about her investments and contracts, rather than keep a overarching focus so that undergraduates students could understand her and maintain interest. She simply didn't know her audience, speaking to us as if we were seasoned investors. She was probably brilliant at her job; she was an awful guest speaker.

Conversely, yesterday was the best speaker we have had so far. A UNC graduate from '86, he went into the IT services as it was starting the develop and then set up his own company improving doctor-patient information flow in the cloud 16 years ago. He sold to a listed national company 3 years ago, but stayed on to help develop the product and maintain his legacy. He was great for two reasons: audience knowledge and honesty. He knew who we were and what we were looking for, and his direct (American?) approach and choice of words fully engaged the crowd. Basically he knew he had hit the jackpot, that he was the market leader in his field, and that as an entrepreneur he had to look out for himself. He also spoke openly of his frustrations, his ideas, and gladly told war stories from the entrepreneurial front. For a European, his smugness was almost too much, but you just couldn't help like the guy. For 75 minutes, this guy had me on the edge of my seat. It was pure entertainment. Below are some of his quotes, see if you agree:

"Imagine you build and sell GPS navigators. Suddenly everyone starts building them directly into the cars, but you already have contracts to supply every GPS to Ford and GM.... AND Toyota." - His analogy to his successful product

"We knew we were better, we were going to take them out, and we weren't afraid to show it. As my CFO put it at the negotiations in San Fransisco: 'Your best asset is this view'" - On acquiring their biggest competitor to become the sole provider of their service.

"Sarbanes-Oxley sucks! Now if I want an audit I have to pay $150,000 for someone to look at my numbers and agree with me that they add up. Remember how you took accounting last year and after reading all about GAAP you thought 'I'm never going to use that crap' - oh yeah you will!" - On the diverse functions of an entrepreneur

"When they want to dance, they bring a bus with the band" - On being a target for an acquisition

"Everyone kept saying: 'Kick a field goal, stop trying to for a touchdown'. Bullshit, I can only sell my company once and I am going to do it right!" - On investor pressure to accept a lucrative offer

"I got Michael Porter to invest! This guy is like the Godfather of strategy. He has his own building at Harvard, just for himself!" - On the personal joy of having a great product

"As a CEO I do 400,000 air miles a year - it is ridiculous! But its cool! I've met pretty much every founder in Silicon Valley and they are smart as crap!" - On becoming an entrepreneur who made it and the perks

After being taken over, in a corporate setting: Senior manager 1: "Should we buy this company as well?" Speaker: "Fuck no!" Senior manager 2: "He just saved you 2-3 million in due diligence." - On being a niche expert and speaking your mind to your new managers on the first day post-acquisition

"I'll tell you, the amount of crap you have to do with the 50'th employee is unbelievable. So I hired a competitors HR manager and she did it all. It was great!" - On the strains of American regulation and how to deal with it