I have officially survived my first week of work at my new place of employment. Here are a couple of things I learned from my first week.
1. It is very rare that your computer is fully operational when you start at a new job. I spent the first few days going back and forth with IT to obtain access to the necessary systems. It took three days, but by Thursday I could really start playing around with the systems. And I am happy to report that I now have Microsoft Office 2007....no more Access 1997 for this kid!
2. I have joined a dynamic group of people that have been coined by others in the workplace as the 'Cake Section'. At my last workplace, I was always the first person to the tray of goodies when they arrived in the office, so I guess I will fit right in at the new job. On my first day of work, cake and flowers were waiting for me on my desk. I was told by a co-worker that it was customary as well for me to bring a cake during my first week...so I baked a banana bread. Some of the other reasons that people bring a cake into work include: going on vacation, coming back from vacation, birthdays, weddings, showers, babies...and the list goes on and on.
3. With all this cake I guess you would imagine that the section I joined is fairly lethargic....not true. In order to eat all this cake, they have developed a strong fitness regime where they go out running together on a regular basis. I have heard that they usually run about 10km at a pace of about 5min/km during their workouts. Unfortunately I will have to train for a month or so at least to be able to join in the group. But with all this cake around, running will be necessary.
4. My job offers a fantastic lunch program (which is of course another reason for running). For the price of about $65 Cdn, I have access to the wonderful breakfast and lunch buffets. In the morning I pick up fresh baked bread with jam and cheese...mmmmm. There is always something different to try at lunch, as well as an assortment of fresh salads, a couple of meat dishes, and all the fixings so you can make yourself smørresbord! There are also huge baskests of apples, pears, bananas and...carrots! The carrots are a little strange to me, in that they are peeled whole and put in a bowl. Danes eat the whole carrots just like an apple. Us Canadians tend to cut the carrots down into little sticks, so the full carrot is a little different.
5. My job is not located in Copenhagen. I have to take two buses to get to work. And it is quite an expensive bus pass from what I have been used to paying in Canada. The most expensive pass you can get in Vancouver costs $151 a month. I am currently paying $200 a month and I have much more limited access to the different zones. The Copenhagen bus area is divided into 9 zones. I live in zone 2 and have to travel to zone 7. I also added zone 1 to the pass as it is the downtown area. You would think that buying a pass of zones 1 - 7 would cover a lot of the area? The issue is that each of the zones starting at zone '3' are divided into 'sub' zones. It turns out that I am only allowed to travel in the sub zones that are connected to my place of work. This means that if I have to go to the airport, which is in zone 4, but the opposite direction from my house, I will have to use bus tickets because my pass does not include the subzone...even though I pay for zone 4 access. Does this make sense?
6. I currently work in the town of Hørsholm, in a place called Science Park. It is very remote and I will have absolutely no desire to spend money at all the fun shops and restaurants as was the case when I worked off Cambie St in Vancouver....there is nothing around! My co-workers tell me that I will be able to see deer and other wildlife from the office windows. We will not be in this location forever though. Sometime this summer, our office will be moving to an area called Gentofte, which happily lies within 5km of my house. This means I will be able to ride my bike every day...and save the high bus fares. Gentofte is a little more 'happening' then Science Park. Specifically, the Ikea is located in Gentofte and I am sure I will be spending many a afternoons there (sorry in advance Ben).
7. My workgroup is very international. There are Swedes, Danes, Germans, an American and myself. The business language is English but the social language seems to be Danish. Finally I will have a chance to put to use these Danish classes that I have been, and am still, taking. So far my limited vocabulary has not been very helpful. I can get a couple of words from sentences and can tell when people are talking about numbers.
8. One think that I think is very interesting is the internal smoking ventilation chamber. I will try to get a picture of this to add to the blog so you can see what I am walking about. Individuals are able to smoke inside the building as long as they are in this area. I think it is a highly ventilated area, but am confused because it is actually entirely open. I have seen a couple before in different bars around the city. In general, I find that Danes smoke a lot more than Canadians.
I look forward to having my second week at work. Everyone has been amazing so far and I cannot wait to become fully integrated with my new job.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
A Cana-DANE Christmas
This year we chose not to stay in Copenhagen for Christmas rather than making the trek back to Canada. This ended up being a really good idea when we started seeing all the flight cancellations all over Europe due to the bad weather. Another Canadian friend of ours also chose not to fly home for Christmas, so we decided to have a Danish/Canadian Christmas together. While we did not have any Danish friends to help us plan a perfectly Danish Christmas, we spent a lot of time with our good friend Google to find out all about the Christmas Day Danish traditions.
The first big different between a Canadian and Danish Christmas is that Christmas occurs on the 24 rather than the 25. Presents are opened on the 24th, but not in the morning like in Canada. Children have to wait until after dinner and after dancing around the Christmas tree to open them. Ben and I decided early on that we would open our presents on Christmas eve. I missed the magic of having one last sleepless night before Christmas. It was a different experience waking up on the 24th and having to wait all day to open them. Ben and I also did not end up dancing around the Christmas tree. Our tree was siting on our window sill, making it very hard to dance around. Maybe next year....
Another magical fact that I read about Danish Christmas was that on the 24th of December, animals can talk. One of the biggest omens of bad luck for the coming year occurs if you hear an animal speaking ill of you. To ensure that the animals do not speak ill of you, you are supposed to feed the animals on this day (even birds, squirrels, etc). We had two dogs, Mr Quigley and a friend, staying with us over Christmas and I did not want to take any chances of them speaking ill of me. So they were given treats all day long. Later on I asked a couple of Danish friends about this tradition. Neither of them had ever heard of this tradition and thought it must have been a more prevalent 100 years ago, when farming was more prominent.
The dogs were even allowed to open the above early
Christmas gift.
A typical Danish Christmas dinner consists of either duck or pork, potatoes cooked in sugar, red cabbage, and brown sauce. This meal is eaten on the 24th. We decided early on that we would rather experience our little Christmas on the 25th, so on the 24th Ben and I enjoyed some steaks with Montreal steak spice. Our day of eating on the 25h with Kelly bringing over a gourmet afternoon of five wines paired with small courses. Included in some og her amazing courses were: salmon and dill spread, fantastic french cheese and cherry sauce, and all the cured meats Ben could ever imagine.
We were hardly hungry for any dinner after eating Kelly's amazing food all day long, but we did our best to cook and eat a Danish-Canadian dinner (after of course watching the Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation movie). We decided it would be fun to make cornish game hens for Christmas (we had been eating a lot of pork and duck lately). I was, however, unable to find cornish game hens at the grocery store and picked up instead a couple of French Yellow Chickens. We used one of our favourite recipe databases, the LCBO online resource, to find our Christmas recipes. We stuffed our yellow chickens with a portabello mushroom stuffing and made a plum salsa to accompany them.
Last year Ben and I prepared the entire Swedish Christmas dinner menu outlined in the LCBO 2009 Holiday edition. The saffron dinner rolls turned out so well that i decided it would be a shame not to make them again. But just like everything else that I have baked lately, they turned out much drier than the previous year...still good though. For the Danish part of our dinner, we made the sugared potatoes and the red cabbage. I made the red cabbage from scratch last year for the Swedish dinner and did not like it one bit. This year I opted to buy a jar of it pre-made (what most Danes do) and I will admit that I liked it much better than my version. The potatoes were awesome!
The highlight of the night for everyone was the traditional Danish dessert, ris ala mande. Not because it was good, it actually did not turn out as thick as it was supposed to, but because there is a special present associated with the dessert! There is one full almond place inside the pudding, and the person who finds the almond in their dish receives the 'almond present'. I bought the present this year and made sure one of the three bowls had the full almond inside. I let Ben and Kelly pick their bowls first and was ultimately very luck that neither of them picked the bowl with the full almond inside...meaning I WON THE ALMOND PRESENT! Here is a photo of Ben and the almond present below...I let him take it into work to hang in his office, to give it a real Canadian ambiance.
Merry Christmas and God Jul everyone!
The first big different between a Canadian and Danish Christmas is that Christmas occurs on the 24 rather than the 25. Presents are opened on the 24th, but not in the morning like in Canada. Children have to wait until after dinner and after dancing around the Christmas tree to open them. Ben and I decided early on that we would open our presents on Christmas eve. I missed the magic of having one last sleepless night before Christmas. It was a different experience waking up on the 24th and having to wait all day to open them. Ben and I also did not end up dancing around the Christmas tree. Our tree was siting on our window sill, making it very hard to dance around. Maybe next year....
Another magical fact that I read about Danish Christmas was that on the 24th of December, animals can talk. One of the biggest omens of bad luck for the coming year occurs if you hear an animal speaking ill of you. To ensure that the animals do not speak ill of you, you are supposed to feed the animals on this day (even birds, squirrels, etc). We had two dogs, Mr Quigley and a friend, staying with us over Christmas and I did not want to take any chances of them speaking ill of me. So they were given treats all day long. Later on I asked a couple of Danish friends about this tradition. Neither of them had ever heard of this tradition and thought it must have been a more prevalent 100 years ago, when farming was more prominent.
The dogs were even allowed to open the above earlyChristmas gift.
A typical Danish Christmas dinner consists of either duck or pork, potatoes cooked in sugar, red cabbage, and brown sauce. This meal is eaten on the 24th. We decided early on that we would rather experience our little Christmas on the 25th, so on the 24th Ben and I enjoyed some steaks with Montreal steak spice. Our day of eating on the 25h with Kelly bringing over a gourmet afternoon of five wines paired with small courses. Included in some og her amazing courses were: salmon and dill spread, fantastic french cheese and cherry sauce, and all the cured meats Ben could ever imagine.
We were hardly hungry for any dinner after eating Kelly's amazing food all day long, but we did our best to cook and eat a Danish-Canadian dinner (after of course watching the Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation movie). We decided it would be fun to make cornish game hens for Christmas (we had been eating a lot of pork and duck lately). I was, however, unable to find cornish game hens at the grocery store and picked up instead a couple of French Yellow Chickens. We used one of our favourite recipe databases, the LCBO online resource, to find our Christmas recipes. We stuffed our yellow chickens with a portabello mushroom stuffing and made a plum salsa to accompany them.
Last year Ben and I prepared the entire Swedish Christmas dinner menu outlined in the LCBO 2009 Holiday edition. The saffron dinner rolls turned out so well that i decided it would be a shame not to make them again. But just like everything else that I have baked lately, they turned out much drier than the previous year...still good though. For the Danish part of our dinner, we made the sugared potatoes and the red cabbage. I made the red cabbage from scratch last year for the Swedish dinner and did not like it one bit. This year I opted to buy a jar of it pre-made (what most Danes do) and I will admit that I liked it much better than my version. The potatoes were awesome!
The highlight of the night for everyone was the traditional Danish dessert, ris ala mande. Not because it was good, it actually did not turn out as thick as it was supposed to, but because there is a special present associated with the dessert! There is one full almond place inside the pudding, and the person who finds the almond in their dish receives the 'almond present'. I bought the present this year and made sure one of the three bowls had the full almond inside. I let Ben and Kelly pick their bowls first and was ultimately very luck that neither of them picked the bowl with the full almond inside...meaning I WON THE ALMOND PRESENT! Here is a photo of Ben and the almond present below...I let him take it into work to hang in his office, to give it a real Canadian ambiance.
Merry Christmas and God Jul everyone!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Danish Christmas Cookies
For my first Christmas in Denmark, I decided to embrace several Danish Christmas traditions. Ben and I bought an advent candle to count down the days until Christmas and we are planning on opening our gifts on the evening of the 24th, after dancing around the Christmas tree. I also thought it would be fun to step outside my comfort zone and bake some traditional Danish Christmas cookies along with a few of my favourites. Along with the help of a couple of lovely ladies from my Danish classes, and some Christmas 'spirits', we attempted to make the following list of cookies:
It turns out that Denmark is missing one of the key ingredients to making gingerbread men: Molasses! I visited three large stores one day in the hopes of buying the necessary ingredient...but was not successful. Finally, I decided to purchase something called Mørk Sirop (dark sirop) as a substitute. It was no where near as dark and thick as molasses, but really what could I lose at this point.
The gingerbread dough was slightly more crumbly than normal; I for one blame the lack of molasses. In the end, the dough ended up rolling out and the cookies looked pretty good when I put them in the over. However, when they came out of the oven they tasted nothing like gingerbread and were as hard as hockey pucks. So into the garbage went my double batch of gingerbread. And for those of you who are planning on visiting next year, and are not afraid to travel with molasses in your suitcase....please bring me some!
Cookie 2: Shortbread
I have always loved my mom's shortbread but have never made it myself. I used the recipe on the Joy of Baking website to make this very yummy batch. I ended up having the same problem as the gingerbread though in that the dough was far crumblier than normal. I have heard that cooking at different altitudes can affect the cooking time and the consistency of the dough, so maybe Copenhagen is located in an area that requires more liquid to be added to the mixture? Copenhagen, in general, is very dry compared to Vancouver. After the dough set in the fridge, it was impossible to roll out. The only way we could get it into cookie form was to scrunch them into finger looking rolls and place them on cookie sheets. When they emerged from the over, they were still quite crumbly....but very tasty! To make sure they held together, we decided to cover them in chocolate. In the end, this was one of my favourite cookies this year. I unfortunately do not have a picture of the shortbread, but here is a picture of the baking table.
Cookie 3: Pebbernødder
These bite sized, spiced cookies are sold at all the grocery stores. The ones we made, again from a recipe we found online, turned out exactly like the store bought ones. While there were quite successful, they are not my personal favourite. I prefer soft cookies as opposed to crunchy ones.
Here are the pebbernødder beside the jødekager.
Cookie 4: Jødekager
For the Jødekager we used a recipe we found on line. This was one of the cookies that actuall appeared to turn out at the dough stage (ie: not too crumbly). Perhaps this is because it is a Danish recipe, and not a North American recipe being baked in Denmark. This was basically a sugar cookie that is covered in brown sugar, almonds and cinnamon before being baked.
Cookie 5: Finsk Brød
I would like to mention here that our Sunday afternoon cookie baking session was complemented by some 'Christmas refreshments'. We started off with Baileys coffees, moved onto glogg and finished off with a bottle of champagne (thanks J!). This may be another reason why our cookies did not turn out as good as expected, and a reason why I forgot to take pictures of some of the cookies. Finsk brød are another sugar cookie, covered with almonds and rock sugar and baked. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of them, so instead here is a picture of J doing the mixing of the Finsk brød.
Cookie 6: Vanillekranse
We found the recipe for the vanillekranse cookies in the Mormors Mad cookbook i bought in August. Unfortunately for us, we did not look at the recipe before starting to make them, and only realized after the fact that the dough was supposed to sit in the fridge for 24 hours before making the cookies. Again, we thought, what the heck! These cookies are filled with almonds and vanilla and are, in my opinion, the tastiest Danish cookie we made. The dough is supposed to be set on the cookie sheets in wreath forms. Once we put the cookies in the oven, we realized the importance of letting the dough set....our beautiful wreath formed cookies turned into a tray sized, rectangular cookie. We cut them into square shaped forms once we took them out of the oven and albeit the poor form, they tasted quite good (they were Ben's favourite).
This is what they looked like before the oven.
Ultimately, we all had a great time making the cookies. It really helped me get into the Christmas spirit. I think the cookies turned out better than I thought too. Ben took a couple trays into work and they were gobbled up immediately by his coworkers (even his Danish coworkers who grew up on these cookies thought they tasted good).
- Gingerbread men (not Danish)
- Shortbread (not Danish)
- Pebbernødder (Danish)
- Jødekager (Danish - translates into Jew cake)
- Finsk brød (while this translates to 'Finnish Bread', my Finnish cookie co-creator tells me they are a traditional Danish cookie and not Finnish at all)
- Vanillekranse
It turns out that Denmark is missing one of the key ingredients to making gingerbread men: Molasses! I visited three large stores one day in the hopes of buying the necessary ingredient...but was not successful. Finally, I decided to purchase something called Mørk Sirop (dark sirop) as a substitute. It was no where near as dark and thick as molasses, but really what could I lose at this point.
The gingerbread dough was slightly more crumbly than normal; I for one blame the lack of molasses. In the end, the dough ended up rolling out and the cookies looked pretty good when I put them in the over. However, when they came out of the oven they tasted nothing like gingerbread and were as hard as hockey pucks. So into the garbage went my double batch of gingerbread. And for those of you who are planning on visiting next year, and are not afraid to travel with molasses in your suitcase....please bring me some!
Cookie 2: Shortbread
I have always loved my mom's shortbread but have never made it myself. I used the recipe on the Joy of Baking website to make this very yummy batch. I ended up having the same problem as the gingerbread though in that the dough was far crumblier than normal. I have heard that cooking at different altitudes can affect the cooking time and the consistency of the dough, so maybe Copenhagen is located in an area that requires more liquid to be added to the mixture? Copenhagen, in general, is very dry compared to Vancouver. After the dough set in the fridge, it was impossible to roll out. The only way we could get it into cookie form was to scrunch them into finger looking rolls and place them on cookie sheets. When they emerged from the over, they were still quite crumbly....but very tasty! To make sure they held together, we decided to cover them in chocolate. In the end, this was one of my favourite cookies this year. I unfortunately do not have a picture of the shortbread, but here is a picture of the baking table.
Cookie 3: Pebbernødder
These bite sized, spiced cookies are sold at all the grocery stores. The ones we made, again from a recipe we found online, turned out exactly like the store bought ones. While there were quite successful, they are not my personal favourite. I prefer soft cookies as opposed to crunchy ones.
Here are the pebbernødder beside the jødekager.Cookie 4: Jødekager
For the Jødekager we used a recipe we found on line. This was one of the cookies that actuall appeared to turn out at the dough stage (ie: not too crumbly). Perhaps this is because it is a Danish recipe, and not a North American recipe being baked in Denmark. This was basically a sugar cookie that is covered in brown sugar, almonds and cinnamon before being baked.
Cookie 5: Finsk Brød
I would like to mention here that our Sunday afternoon cookie baking session was complemented by some 'Christmas refreshments'. We started off with Baileys coffees, moved onto glogg and finished off with a bottle of champagne (thanks J!). This may be another reason why our cookies did not turn out as good as expected, and a reason why I forgot to take pictures of some of the cookies. Finsk brød are another sugar cookie, covered with almonds and rock sugar and baked. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of them, so instead here is a picture of J doing the mixing of the Finsk brød.
Cookie 6: VanillekranseWe found the recipe for the vanillekranse cookies in the Mormors Mad cookbook i bought in August. Unfortunately for us, we did not look at the recipe before starting to make them, and only realized after the fact that the dough was supposed to sit in the fridge for 24 hours before making the cookies. Again, we thought, what the heck! These cookies are filled with almonds and vanilla and are, in my opinion, the tastiest Danish cookie we made. The dough is supposed to be set on the cookie sheets in wreath forms. Once we put the cookies in the oven, we realized the importance of letting the dough set....our beautiful wreath formed cookies turned into a tray sized, rectangular cookie. We cut them into square shaped forms once we took them out of the oven and albeit the poor form, they tasted quite good (they were Ben's favourite).
This is what they looked like before the oven.Ultimately, we all had a great time making the cookies. It really helped me get into the Christmas spirit. I think the cookies turned out better than I thought too. Ben took a couple trays into work and they were gobbled up immediately by his coworkers (even his Danish coworkers who grew up on these cookies thought they tasted good).
Thursday, December 23, 2010
December Danish Discoveries
Tivoli is especially beautiful to visit at Christmas. There are firework displays all December and the entire park is lit up with lights and decorations everywhere. We went on a night that was particularly cold though, and only lasted about an hour and a half in the cold. The worst part was the snow that covered all the paths. We could not believe that no one had shoveled anywhere! Such a huge liability, and not to mention the fact that my feet were freezing. The best part was stumbling upon a Canada booth at the Tivoli Christmas. The Canadian organizing the booth told us he could work on importing some of the products we really missed (the two items that came to mind were clamato juice and molasses). He had two packages of Kraft Dinner left. While we were tempted to buy one, there is no way I could spend 35 Danish kroner ($6.50 Cdn) for a box of KD, no matter how warm, cheesy and nostalgic it tastes.
Here is a picture of our Christmas alcohol selection. While we were not overly impressed with the Tuborg Christmas beer, we very much enjoyed the Christmas beer from the Orbæk brewery. This was the brewery that sponsored the tasting we attended when we first arrived in Copenhagen. The bottled beer on the far right was something that I bought before looking at the alcohol content...only 2% (but tasted liked chocolate). I know I keep mentioning how expensive everything is in Denmark, but I have finally found something that is cheaper....Baileys. This huge bottle of Baileys cost me 18$ Cdn....not too shabby, eh.
Glogg is the traditional Christmas drink. It is a mulled wine served with raisins and almonds. It is nice to buy premade glogg at the grocery store, instead of having to make it yourself.
"æbleskiver" are a traditional Danish treat enjoyed at Christmas parties. They are little balls of bread that are enjoyed with icing sugar and jam. While most Danes buy them frozen from the grocery store, those who choose to make them at home add little pieces of apple in the middle. They are delicious.
If you leave your bike in the snow it will look like this. There are bikes covered with snow everywhere!
The above photo is of a Christmas treat. It consists of a cookie topped with meringue, and then covered in chocolate. A little too sweet for me to eat an entire one, but still yummy.
In Denmark, Christmas is counted down via colourful candles such as this little 'nisser' (elf in Danish). Definitely fewer calories than the chocolate variety of calendars, which they also have. I have also seen advent calendars with dog treats behind each cardboard square, so your pooch can count down to Christmas. Maybe next year Quigley...
You are NOT allowed to have a popsicle on the bus. You are NOT allowed to eat two hotdogs without buns on the bus. You are NOT allowed to drink a bottle of wine on the bus.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
CFA exam: Level 1
I mentioned in a previous post that I needed a distraction from sending out resumes, so towards the end of September I decided to sign up for the Chartered Financial Analyst Level 1 axam. I had initially signed up to write the June 2010 exam, but ended up withdrawing my candidacy because planning my move to Denmark had significantly eaten into my study time. Prior to withdrawing from the June exam, I had reviewed one and a half of the six books of required knowledge for the exam. This meant I really had my work cut out for me for the next two months.
Here is a little background on the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. To attain the CFA designation, you are required to pass a series of three exams as well as acquire sufficient hours of work experience. The Level 1 exam study material consists of 10 subject areas: ethics, quantitative methods, economics, financial analysis and reporting, corporate finance, portfolio management, equity, fixed income, derivatives and alternative investment products. The actual exam consists of 240 multiple choice questions that are broken down into two 120 question blocks. CFA candidates have three hours to complete each of the two blocks.
It took me a little while to get into the studying routine, but thankfully I had little else to do but study. My Danish course and homework took about 20 hours a week, so I did my best to devote at least 40 hours a week to studying. While the economics section was pretty straightforward, I found the section on financial reporting and analysis rather daunting. I also have never quite liked probabilities (ever since third year university and having to sit through an early morning statistics class after Wednesday night karaoke at Father and Sons), so I actually avoided that chapter entirely. Otherwise, I was at least able to cover all the other information.
It is not the actual material that is difficult...it is the overall quantity of material that you are tested on. One thing that I found really encouraging (insert sarcasm) are the friendly postcards that are sent to you regularly from the CFA prep guide companies. I particularly liked the one below and attached it to my fridge for added inspiration. Yes, it is true that the pass rate of the exam is usually between 30% and 40%, but I really did not enjoy receiving 'friendly' reminders of this in the mail. This failure rate is so very broad, and I would have much preferred more specific statistics on who is failing the exam (country, age, educational background, employment) or how individuals who purchase the study guide perform relative to those who do not purchase it. Ultimately, I chose not to spend an extra $300 on a study package.
While the June CFA exam has many test centers around the world for the three levels of CFA exams, there are far fewer locations for the December writing of the exam which is solely for Level 1 writers. Unfortunately for me, there was no testing center in Copenhagen so I decided to go to one of the biggest testing center of all: London, England. I took the advice of some other CFA candidates I met in Greece and booked a hotel very early in the area of the Excel Center; apparently most candidates like to spend the day and night before the exam near the test center. I chose to stay at the lovely budget hotel chain: Etap. It was still a half hour walk to the test center, but far cheaper than the ones right beside the Excel Center. I mentioned in one of my previous posts that I was very lucky to actually make it to the exam. I had made the decision to book with British Airways, and the flight I took from CPH was the only one to make it to London on the day I flew due to the poor weather. If i had booked with Easyjet, I would have not made it to London for the exam, would have had to repurchase all the books and wait to write the exam the following June.
Exam Day.
Of course I hardly slept the night before the exam. I was at the Excel center by 7:30am the morning of the exam. I had half an hour to sit and chat with other CFA candidates (because frankly I was sick of studying) before going through security. The one question that everyone asked each other right off the bat was "Which study material did you use?". My reply was always that i just read the CFA published material and worked through the practice questions. Apparently this really astonished most people; I guess when you are working full time and studying for the CFA exam it is useful to have a condensed version of the material to really help you prepare. This is good to know in the event that I have to rewrite this exam.
After passing through the identification and calculator checks, I was escorted to my seat in the massive exam writing room. One CFA candidate told me that there were between 2000 and 3000 people writing the exam in that room. As I was laying out my two calculators and pencil on my desk, another CFA candidate came up to me and asked if he could buy my second calculator off me. Apparently he had not checked the battery of his calculator and it had died right before the exam. I declined though, I had no idea how long either of my batteries would last. At 9:01, the fun of the exam began. Sure it was long and grueling, but the part I really appreciated was being able to go to the bathroom during the exam (I had not been sure this would be the case). I stayed for the entire three hours of the morning exam, but left the afternoon sessions when there was about 45 minutes left...I was at a point where I just could not take it anymore (likely not a good sign, lol).
Ultimately, it was a great experience writing the CFA Level 1 exam. I learned a lot and I am excited to continue learning. I unfortunately have to admit that there is a strong chance that I will be among the 60% of candidates who failed the exam, but I will not know for sure until the end of January. I definitely have developed a good base now on the material and believe that a re-write of the Level 1 exam will hopefully not take as much time. I will of course start studying earlier and perhaps consider to purchase a study guide. The more multiple choice practice questions, the better!
Here is a little background on the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. To attain the CFA designation, you are required to pass a series of three exams as well as acquire sufficient hours of work experience. The Level 1 exam study material consists of 10 subject areas: ethics, quantitative methods, economics, financial analysis and reporting, corporate finance, portfolio management, equity, fixed income, derivatives and alternative investment products. The actual exam consists of 240 multiple choice questions that are broken down into two 120 question blocks. CFA candidates have three hours to complete each of the two blocks.
It took me a little while to get into the studying routine, but thankfully I had little else to do but study. My Danish course and homework took about 20 hours a week, so I did my best to devote at least 40 hours a week to studying. While the economics section was pretty straightforward, I found the section on financial reporting and analysis rather daunting. I also have never quite liked probabilities (ever since third year university and having to sit through an early morning statistics class after Wednesday night karaoke at Father and Sons), so I actually avoided that chapter entirely. Otherwise, I was at least able to cover all the other information.
It is not the actual material that is difficult...it is the overall quantity of material that you are tested on. One thing that I found really encouraging (insert sarcasm) are the friendly postcards that are sent to you regularly from the CFA prep guide companies. I particularly liked the one below and attached it to my fridge for added inspiration. Yes, it is true that the pass rate of the exam is usually between 30% and 40%, but I really did not enjoy receiving 'friendly' reminders of this in the mail. This failure rate is so very broad, and I would have much preferred more specific statistics on who is failing the exam (country, age, educational background, employment) or how individuals who purchase the study guide perform relative to those who do not purchase it. Ultimately, I chose not to spend an extra $300 on a study package.
While the June CFA exam has many test centers around the world for the three levels of CFA exams, there are far fewer locations for the December writing of the exam which is solely for Level 1 writers. Unfortunately for me, there was no testing center in Copenhagen so I decided to go to one of the biggest testing center of all: London, England. I took the advice of some other CFA candidates I met in Greece and booked a hotel very early in the area of the Excel Center; apparently most candidates like to spend the day and night before the exam near the test center. I chose to stay at the lovely budget hotel chain: Etap. It was still a half hour walk to the test center, but far cheaper than the ones right beside the Excel Center. I mentioned in one of my previous posts that I was very lucky to actually make it to the exam. I had made the decision to book with British Airways, and the flight I took from CPH was the only one to make it to London on the day I flew due to the poor weather. If i had booked with Easyjet, I would have not made it to London for the exam, would have had to repurchase all the books and wait to write the exam the following June.
Exam Day.
Of course I hardly slept the night before the exam. I was at the Excel center by 7:30am the morning of the exam. I had half an hour to sit and chat with other CFA candidates (because frankly I was sick of studying) before going through security. The one question that everyone asked each other right off the bat was "Which study material did you use?". My reply was always that i just read the CFA published material and worked through the practice questions. Apparently this really astonished most people; I guess when you are working full time and studying for the CFA exam it is useful to have a condensed version of the material to really help you prepare. This is good to know in the event that I have to rewrite this exam.
After passing through the identification and calculator checks, I was escorted to my seat in the massive exam writing room. One CFA candidate told me that there were between 2000 and 3000 people writing the exam in that room. As I was laying out my two calculators and pencil on my desk, another CFA candidate came up to me and asked if he could buy my second calculator off me. Apparently he had not checked the battery of his calculator and it had died right before the exam. I declined though, I had no idea how long either of my batteries would last. At 9:01, the fun of the exam began. Sure it was long and grueling, but the part I really appreciated was being able to go to the bathroom during the exam (I had not been sure this would be the case). I stayed for the entire three hours of the morning exam, but left the afternoon sessions when there was about 45 minutes left...I was at a point where I just could not take it anymore (likely not a good sign, lol).
Ultimately, it was a great experience writing the CFA Level 1 exam. I learned a lot and I am excited to continue learning. I unfortunately have to admit that there is a strong chance that I will be among the 60% of candidates who failed the exam, but I will not know for sure until the end of January. I definitely have developed a good base now on the material and believe that a re-write of the Level 1 exam will hopefully not take as much time. I will of course start studying earlier and perhaps consider to purchase a study guide. The more multiple choice practice questions, the better!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
Jobs
The one thing I was really not looking forward to when I moved to Copenhagen was applying for jobs. From what I read on many of the expat forums, I knew the process would be long and difficult. While most Danes speak English, the common language at most workplaces in Denmark is Danish. It was only after looking at several of the job search websites that I really came to terms with the fact that I may only find a job when I become fluent in Danish...and who knows how long that would take.
I started applying for jobs at one of the large international firms that hires English speaking folk as soon as I moved here. There were quite a few jobs advertised requiring a Masters degree of Economics. I applied for these jobs, and started thinking that the process of getting a job would be way too easy. I completed the online tests, and waited. Just before I headed off to Greece, I heard back from the first one....DENIED! Not even an interview. I guess I have not dealt with that much rejection, so I was pretty upset that my resume was thrown out even before the interview stage. So I left for Greece, disgruntled and discouraged.
My fellow Greece explorer, Kaitie, really helped me put things in perspective. Applying for jobs is hard! Especially with limited experience in a difficult economy. Even when you are as awesome as we are (Rule #1: Stay positive. ALWAYS). My only previous experience applying for jobs in the adult workforce was when I applied for jobs while finishing my MA. I think I sent out about 10 applications, and was lucky to get the first job I interviewed for (Rule #2: All it takes is one job). I had not really thought about those other 9 jobs in a long time...but I actually was not chosen to interview for any of them.
When I came back to Copenhagen, relaxed and prepared to take on the job market, I decided I needed a distraction while appling for jobs...something to keep my mind off of all the upcoming rejections, something to help me stay focused on the goal. So I signed up for the Chartered Financial Analyst exam. I will talk more about this exam in an upcoming post, but let me just say here than the CFA Institute sends you a big box of books and you have to learn all the material. The exam was 2 months away, so I had A LOT of work ahead of me. With studying for the CFA exam, and studying and attending Danish lessons for 20 hours a week, applying for jobs left the center stage of my agenda. I actually started using applying for jobs as my method of procrastinating from studying the CFA material.
I should also mention here that Ben's work hired an organization called Spousecare to help me with finding a job. In November, I attended a tutorial sessions on how to update your resume for the Danish workforce and what to expect from the interview process. Did you know that it is customary in Denmark to include a photo on your resume? This would NEVER be acceptable in Canada! I also got the chance to meet with other spouses who have been relocated to Denmark with their partners work and were undergoing the same process as me. It was comforting to know that there were other people who were also in my shoes. It was also great to hear about other people's interview experiences. I think attending this session and receiving some help on my resume (thanks to Mike too!) really helped me obtain an interview. Two months after Spousecare started helping me, I had a job.
Alright...now to the job. I received an invitation to the first interview the day before the CFA exam. I had barely made it to London the day before, catching one of the only flights from Copenhagen that would land in frozen, snowy London albeit a 6 hour delay at the airport (Thank you British Airways). I had only applied to that job four days before during my pre-exam procrastination. The only problem was that the interview was scheduled for 9am the following Wednesday, while I arrived back to Copenhagen at 9:30pm on the Tuesday evening. I managed to get the time pushed back to 11am, but I was still left with no choice. Poor Ben was subject to hearing me prepare for the interview for three days while touring around London. We talked about my strengths and weaknesses while touring on the double decker bus, discussed my goals while enjoying yummy English pub food, and discussed optimization while touring the Tower of London.
Thankfully there were no delays on our flight back to Copenhagen, and we made it home by 11pm on the Tuesday night. The next morning, I was off for the lovely one hour commute to the job interview.
Interview 1.
Danish interviews are a lot more relaxed than Canadian interviews. I remember my first interview at the VPD. I was sitting at one side of a rectangular table with the four members of the selection committee on the other side. I cannot remember if I was offered water before the interview. When I walked into the job interview room in Denmark, I saw a small round table laid out with cookies, tea, coffee and juice! I did not eat any cookies during the interview, but I must say that it was very nice to have a cup of tea while talking with the interview committee. The questions were typically the same as seen in a Canadian interview, so I am happy to say that all my prep work in London did pay off. I was told there were four candidates in the first stage of interviews and that I would hear back the next day if I had moved on to the second round.
Testing
That same afternoon, I was told I had been chosen for the second round of interviews. My second interview was scheduled for Friday and before that interview I would have to take an analytical test and a personality test. The analytical test involved 50 multiple choice questions that you had 12 minutes to answer. The questions involved eight categories: antonyms, deviations from a category, pairs of concepts, verbal analogy, logical reasoning, series of numbers, simple calculations and complex calculations. The personality test involved 40 sets of four statements. Within each set of statements, I had to choose which statement was most like me and which was least like me. The results of both tests would be discussed at the second interview.
Interview 2
The main part of the second interview was discussing the personality assessment. My score on the analytical test was 43; I managed to answer 46 of the questions and only got three wrong answers. My score was perfect on the numerical problems I had answered (a good thing for the job I was applying for). The results of the personality assessment were laid out in front of me and I had the opportunity to discuss whether I felt the results fit with who I thought myself to be as a co worker. This as the most difficult part because I really had no idea what kind of personality profile had been created for the job and whether or not my skills matched the profile or not. In the end, I guess they did because I was offered the job at the end of the second interview.
The timing of this could not be more perfect! One week after having written the dreaded CFA exam, I had a job. I do not start until the middle of January though, which gives me the chance to having a quick back-to-work shopping spree in Paris. I am sure this trip will be much more relaxing than the London trip; I have promised Ben he will not hear a single interview question and answer.
I started applying for jobs at one of the large international firms that hires English speaking folk as soon as I moved here. There were quite a few jobs advertised requiring a Masters degree of Economics. I applied for these jobs, and started thinking that the process of getting a job would be way too easy. I completed the online tests, and waited. Just before I headed off to Greece, I heard back from the first one....DENIED! Not even an interview. I guess I have not dealt with that much rejection, so I was pretty upset that my resume was thrown out even before the interview stage. So I left for Greece, disgruntled and discouraged.
My fellow Greece explorer, Kaitie, really helped me put things in perspective. Applying for jobs is hard! Especially with limited experience in a difficult economy. Even when you are as awesome as we are (Rule #1: Stay positive. ALWAYS). My only previous experience applying for jobs in the adult workforce was when I applied for jobs while finishing my MA. I think I sent out about 10 applications, and was lucky to get the first job I interviewed for (Rule #2: All it takes is one job). I had not really thought about those other 9 jobs in a long time...but I actually was not chosen to interview for any of them.
When I came back to Copenhagen, relaxed and prepared to take on the job market, I decided I needed a distraction while appling for jobs...something to keep my mind off of all the upcoming rejections, something to help me stay focused on the goal. So I signed up for the Chartered Financial Analyst exam. I will talk more about this exam in an upcoming post, but let me just say here than the CFA Institute sends you a big box of books and you have to learn all the material. The exam was 2 months away, so I had A LOT of work ahead of me. With studying for the CFA exam, and studying and attending Danish lessons for 20 hours a week, applying for jobs left the center stage of my agenda. I actually started using applying for jobs as my method of procrastinating from studying the CFA material.
I should also mention here that Ben's work hired an organization called Spousecare to help me with finding a job. In November, I attended a tutorial sessions on how to update your resume for the Danish workforce and what to expect from the interview process. Did you know that it is customary in Denmark to include a photo on your resume? This would NEVER be acceptable in Canada! I also got the chance to meet with other spouses who have been relocated to Denmark with their partners work and were undergoing the same process as me. It was comforting to know that there were other people who were also in my shoes. It was also great to hear about other people's interview experiences. I think attending this session and receiving some help on my resume (thanks to Mike too!) really helped me obtain an interview. Two months after Spousecare started helping me, I had a job.
Alright...now to the job. I received an invitation to the first interview the day before the CFA exam. I had barely made it to London the day before, catching one of the only flights from Copenhagen that would land in frozen, snowy London albeit a 6 hour delay at the airport (Thank you British Airways). I had only applied to that job four days before during my pre-exam procrastination. The only problem was that the interview was scheduled for 9am the following Wednesday, while I arrived back to Copenhagen at 9:30pm on the Tuesday evening. I managed to get the time pushed back to 11am, but I was still left with no choice. Poor Ben was subject to hearing me prepare for the interview for three days while touring around London. We talked about my strengths and weaknesses while touring on the double decker bus, discussed my goals while enjoying yummy English pub food, and discussed optimization while touring the Tower of London.
Thankfully there were no delays on our flight back to Copenhagen, and we made it home by 11pm on the Tuesday night. The next morning, I was off for the lovely one hour commute to the job interview.
Interview 1.
Danish interviews are a lot more relaxed than Canadian interviews. I remember my first interview at the VPD. I was sitting at one side of a rectangular table with the four members of the selection committee on the other side. I cannot remember if I was offered water before the interview. When I walked into the job interview room in Denmark, I saw a small round table laid out with cookies, tea, coffee and juice! I did not eat any cookies during the interview, but I must say that it was very nice to have a cup of tea while talking with the interview committee. The questions were typically the same as seen in a Canadian interview, so I am happy to say that all my prep work in London did pay off. I was told there were four candidates in the first stage of interviews and that I would hear back the next day if I had moved on to the second round.
Testing
That same afternoon, I was told I had been chosen for the second round of interviews. My second interview was scheduled for Friday and before that interview I would have to take an analytical test and a personality test. The analytical test involved 50 multiple choice questions that you had 12 minutes to answer. The questions involved eight categories: antonyms, deviations from a category, pairs of concepts, verbal analogy, logical reasoning, series of numbers, simple calculations and complex calculations. The personality test involved 40 sets of four statements. Within each set of statements, I had to choose which statement was most like me and which was least like me. The results of both tests would be discussed at the second interview.
Interview 2
The main part of the second interview was discussing the personality assessment. My score on the analytical test was 43; I managed to answer 46 of the questions and only got three wrong answers. My score was perfect on the numerical problems I had answered (a good thing for the job I was applying for). The results of the personality assessment were laid out in front of me and I had the opportunity to discuss whether I felt the results fit with who I thought myself to be as a co worker. This as the most difficult part because I really had no idea what kind of personality profile had been created for the job and whether or not my skills matched the profile or not. In the end, I guess they did because I was offered the job at the end of the second interview.
The timing of this could not be more perfect! One week after having written the dreaded CFA exam, I had a job. I do not start until the middle of January though, which gives me the chance to having a quick back-to-work shopping spree in Paris. I am sure this trip will be much more relaxing than the London trip; I have promised Ben he will not hear a single interview question and answer.
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