May 30 marked the final day of our amazing week in New York City. Dressed down in our casual attire, the class met on the famed Wall Street to participate in a guided tour through the financial heart of the city. We were privileged to have Mrs. Annaline Dinkelman as our guide for the day. Having worked at Morgan Stanley New York early in her career before becoming a day trader and entrepreneur, she is in many ways intimately connected to the culture and history of Lower Manhattan.

Our first stop was the Museum of American Finance. The class was given the opportunity to learn more about the evolution of the financial industry in the U.S. through the centuries. We saw how stock information was transmitted in the late 1800’s via the Edison telegraph machine all the way to the modern Bloomberg terminal.

Mrs. Dinkelman also briefly educated us on the changes in the currency system since U.S. independence. We were absolutely enthralled by the fascinating story of Alexander Hamilton and his gun duel, and mystified by the history of paper currency.

Next up, we had a walking tour of the financial district. Mrs. Dinkelman brought us to places with immense historical and cultural value. This includes Stone Street (the very first paved road in New York City), the famous charging bull statue (designed and built in 1987 following the crash of the stock market), Bowling Green (the southernmost tip of Manhattan), and the New York Stock Exchange (the oldest building was built in 1903).

Following that, we proceeded to Ground Zero, where the victims of 9/11 are honored. While at the memorial, Mrs. Dinkelman told us two interesting pieces of trivia about the memorial. First, the memorial is designed in a way that people are unable to see the bottom of the pool–to signify that life never ends and must go on. Second, the purpose of the waterfall is to give people a sense of calm and tranquility when they take a moment of silence to honor the victims.

The tour is a fitting closure to our tremendous week in New York. It puts into perspective what we have learned over the course of the past week (and also gave us ample opportunities to indulge the tourist in us). All in all, the week has been tiring, but extremely fulfilling! The memories of the trip will definitely stay with us for a long time to come!

Guest Bloggers: Wei Zhi Martin Sim, Xiao (Amy) Hu, Tuo (David) Xu (GMF 2015)

This is the 10th in a series of 10 blogs chronicling the experiences of 31 Global Master of Finance (GMF) dual degree students during their two week long immersion course in Washington, DC and New York. Each blog will be written by a small subset of students during their experience.