Ok so unfortunately it’s been almost 3 weeks now since I last had a chance to blog, and what a 3 weeks it’s been! Two insurer visits, a trip to the Cayman Islands and Tennessee, and dinner with both a GlobalScot and previous Saltire intern! I’ve shaken hands with so many people and given my ‘spiel’ so much in the last few weeks I’m surprised I’m not hiding in a corner right now. In fact, we’ve explained the Saltire story so many times now that fellow scholar Susan actually told someone we did speed-dating to get the internship instead of speed-interviews, at least we all know why she got through anyway...

On a more serious note I think we ended the last chapter right before my insurer visit to Allianz. Susan and I embarked on the 30 second journey round the corner to spend the day with the actuarial team there. The reason for the visits is partially to discuss the data we received from the insurer and also to get a broader understanding of how the insurance industry works in terms of the relationship between insurer and broker and to see the business from an insurer’s perspective. The day at Allianz consisted of meeting with a variety of people: from the trainee actuaries who explained the process to becoming a qualified actuary, to the Chief Actuary/Director, Kathryn Willis, who explained the challenges met at a higher level within the company. The visit gave an excellent insight into life as an actuary, seeing what they do on a daily basis, ie how they use statistical techniques on historical data to influence future decisions. It also allowed us to see how you can work your way up through the business to more senior positions and how your role  develops as this happens. This was a valuable experience in that it's given me an idea of what a future career in insurance could look like.

Now onto the really fun stuff- THE CAYMAN ISLANDS!!! Now don’t get me wrong, this really was a business trip to see Greenlight Reinsurance, it just also happened to involve tubing, swimming with stingrays and pirate ships! After arriving at the airport on Saturday night we spent Sunday on the 7 mile beach and then apparently crashed a child’s birthday party at the hotel pool! Little did we know that the guys at the company had been trying to invite us to play volleyball with them but we hadn't gotten any of their messages. Not to worry though, we got the message saying that Monday was actually a holiday and would we like to spend the day on Claude’s boat! Now if I tell you Claude is the Chief Actuary at Greenlight Re, then I’m sure you’ll imagine some grey old man with no social skills, but I can tell you that the Greenlight guys were really anything but! So Monday’s schedule started with tubing- you sit in a rubber ring and get towed behind the boat- so much fun! Admittedly it hurt to sit down for a quite a while after but it was definitely worth it! Next we went to Stingray City- after driving out in the boat for a while we came across what looked like a party in the middle of the sea... and it was! There were a whole load of boats docked with people just chilling in the water, chatting and having a laugh and, much to our surprise, they were standing up! After joining the party we donned our snorkelling gear and even got a chance to 'pet' and feed the stringrays! If this is life as an actuary then sign me up!

Now of course the rest of the week was spent in the office but we continued to be spoilt in the evenings by being taken out every night to experience the local culture. With most of the company being quite young and all from outside of Cayman they proved to be great people to show us round the island- our final night was spent on a genuine pirate ship, drinking rum in the Caribbean Sea! It was really nice of Greenlight to make sure we got the most out of the experience- with only 22 people in the whole company we really did feel like we were part of the Greenlight family. We were invited to sit in on a deal meeting one day where the entire company were present, from the secretary to the executive team- this demonstrated the culture within the company and was of course interesting to see how they worked together as a whole. The remainder of the week was spent with the actuarial and underwriting teams- what I have found particularly within smaller companies is that the two roles overlap a lot more considering how closely together they work. This means that the actuaries have more of a business insight than in larger companies while the underwriters get more of a feel for the technical side of the business. As well as getting a feel for the business as a whole, we spent a lot of time with individuals, primarily Chief Underwriter/Senior Vice President Brendan Barry and Chief Actuary/Vice President Claude Wagner, who explained how reinsurance works; who buys reinsurance and for what purpose, the different methods of support a reinsurer can give and the statistical techniques used to make business decisions. We were also talked through deal memos by underwriter Matt Grunewald and given an overview of actuarial work within reinsurance by both Isaac Espinoza and Jordan Comacchio. After this visit I think we all feel far more aware of the purpose and result of our project and are therefore more motivated to push the project forward. Furthermore it has given me an idea of something to aim for if I do pursue a career in insurance. I would really like to thank everyone at Greenlight Re for providing us with such a great week, we seriously considered 'accidentally' missing our flight home!

Whilst in the Cayman Islands we also had the pleasure of having dinner with GlobalScot Tom McCallum and 2008 Saltire scholar Sarah-Jane Whitehill, who are both situated in Cayman. This was a very worthwhile experience to see the opportunities Saltire can offer. Speaking to Sarah-Jane gave us the chance to speak to someone who had been through the Saltire process: to see how it has helped her progress since graduating and the influence it has had on her mindset for the future. Furthermore it was very interesting to hear what Tom had to say about how to be successful in business, encouraging us to make the most of networking opportunities and to have the confidence to explore your options and really push yourself to do whatever you want. Definitely an inspirational few hours!

So now onto our visit to Appalachian Underwriters in Tennessee! The first thing worth mentioning is the teeny tiny plane that took us on the connecting flight from Miami to Knoxville- it was 3 seats wide and the most sociable flight I've ever been on! We found this was quite a representative introduction to 'the south' and managed to get ourselves company for dinner the following night- Jenny's 21st!  After arriving on Saturday night we spent Sunday in our party hats and enjoyed an American-style breakfast (including sweet tea!), spent about half an hour staring at the Ben and Jerry's fridge in Walmart and went out for dinner with our friends from the plane. It was amazing how many people passing in the street wished Jenny a happy birthday (we made sure she was wearing a massive badge) and started up conversations with us- Knoxville is definitely not used to tourists! They were of course obsessed (no joke) with our accents and many of the people we met throughout the visit wanted a photo with the 'Scottish people'! Our 2 days at the Appalachian office gave us a tour of the entire company: from customer services through marketing, accounts, claims, finance and underwriting. This was a fantastic overview of the company- Appalachian have basically been through the process that Giles are trying to go through (and our project is the first step!) and it was interesting to see how differently the market runs in the US, mostly due to different regulations and laws. Executive Vice President/CFO Mark Patterson was kind enough to invite us and the other young staff to his house after work for a cook-out (that's a bbq to you and me) which gave us a chance to get to know some of the people and understand the Tennessee culture. Again thanks are due to those who organised the trip and to everyone who took the time to speak to us at Appalachian, particularly to Rob Sanford for putting up with (and joining in on!) our singing in the car!

Sooo that takes me to the end of last week- I'm sure you'll all be glad to hear I'm going to end this blog here and I'll update on London life in the next blog!