A star is born...

First of all I have to give credit for the title to my German classmate. The first thing she said after what transpired was "you should title your blog A Star is Born", which I've done.

So anyways, Monday was our first day of Finance. Our Finance professor actually reviews the class list beforehand to identify those who worked in finance previously and those who had certain industry experience. 

Monday

8:40 A.M - Professor starts rattling off names. After acknowledging the person in question she confirms their industry experience i.e. " So XX you worked in commercial banking in Germany. So XX you worked in retail. So XX you worked in telecom" and so on and so forth. Timestamps below are approximate.

8:40 A.M. - She starts going around the class calling out select names and confirming their previous work experience. Things going somewhat smoothly as a cloud of unrest hovers over the class. This is affecting the whole class because she is not just picking out people with finance backgrounds.

8:45 A.M. - She calls my name and I figured she was just gonna acknowledge that I worked as an analyst at a Financial Advisory and Strategy firm. Seeing the sequence of events that transpired before me I was ready to say just say yes and have her move on.

8:46 A.M. - "So you worked as an analyst. You are our star then." W...T...F. I did not ask for this. Couple of things crossed my mind immediately.

1) I was gonna get called on at some point during lecture and most likely when I least expect it due to the cold calling system of the professor.

2) I know I'm gonna screw something up in front of the class to completely undermine that title.

3) I'm an idiot for touting my abilities on my resume. 

8:47 A.M. - I vehemently deny the fact that I know anything related to Finance or that I'm a star. Far from it but the teacher continues to push this expectation. She and I are gonna regret this later.

10:30 A.M. - Things are going smoothly. People are answering questions despite the cold calling. I have yet to be called upon and we have moved on to financial statement analysis.

11:05 A.M. - We start the discussion of what constitutes assets and liabilities for certain industries. For example, in a service industry such as marketing would you see significant fixed assets? No. You would see higher proportions of A/R and A/P compared to a steel manufacturer.

11:15 A.M. - I thought I was paying attention but apparently I was only halfway there because Murphy's Law kicked in. Professor asks me "In a bank what would be the current assets and what would be the current liabilities. Let's start off with current assets."

11:15:25 A.M - My mind churns and thinks. Okay so deposits and loans. Easy.

11:15:45: A.M. - I answer "Customer deposits should go there."

11:15:50 A.M. - Professor states "No we are talking about current assets and not current liabilities."

11:15:55 A.M. -*!@#$!%!&

11:16 A.M. - I somewhat recover and state loans are on the current assets side and then completely blank on what other assets a bank could have (inter-bank transfers).

11:17 A.M. - Epic failure over.

So my foreshadowing was absolutely correct. A star was born and then it immediately burned out. Serves her right for having high expectations.