Harvard News by Leticia & Quim: Summer Internship

I am now in the middle of my internship which has exceeded my already high expectations. Marriott is such a great company to work for, people are really nice and my job is very interesting. I have joined a department of about 20 people, all MBAs, responsible for evaluating deals of new properties to manage or franchise and potential new hotel development projects. We prepare pro-formas and perform financial analyses, so as you can imagine, lots of excels every day! We also get to know the projects very well, which is a great mean to understand the economics of a hotel. Life at Marriott is awesome, we have a gym in the basement which is very convenient and I am out of the office at 5:30. The only negative part is the commuting, but I don’t regret living in the downtown. And commuting can also be surprising: One day I was at the metro, 8AM in the morning, and a guy I did not know approaches me and asks me in Spanish “Are you Quim Cristia?” After my dose of Lost and Heroes this summer, I am very sensitive to abnormal events, so my brain started thinking what the hell that was. I realized the train was moving, so it was not Hiro Nakamura stopping the time and delivering me a key message to save the world. Not, in fact he was an old colleague from MedGroup although we never worked together and I did barely remember him.

Life in DC is great! There are lots of things to do and lots of terraces to hang out. I have known some of Thomas Ferede’s friends that are in town and I am discovering the city with my new Spanish friend. And the most important, Sofia, Ariana and I spent the fourth of July together and saw the fireworks in DC. It was great to see them again (see picture below) and we will certainly do more things together. So I am looking forward to the second half of my internship!