Lessons Over Faculty Lunch: What Penn Really Taught Me
Columbia AI in Real Estate Conference
Callie (Yuyi), one of the Exchange at Penn Correspondents, shares her experience here at Penn during the Spring 2025 semester. Follow along with the group of correspondents on our blog and look out for their images on the @pennabroad Instagram feed.
One of the most unexpected but transformative lessons I learned at Penn wasn’t in a classroom or on a syllabus—it was how to network. But even ‘networking’ feels like the wrong word.
I realized how relationship reshaped me and it clicked, surprisingly, with lunch. Not a formal seminar or panel discussion, but a student-faculty lunch with Professor van Benthem, a leading voice in energy economics and finance. We were over hot tea and brunch, talking about global infrastructure stress, renewable grid transitions, and his career pivots across academia and current policy under geopolitical volatility. Before that, my academic interactions often live within defined lines—submission deadlines, tutorials. But this felt different. Not hierarchical, not rehearsed. Just minds at work, across levels. Here, I realized professors weren’t just instructors. The conversation wasn’t theoretical; it was alive, tied to headlines and our own career anxieties. It made me ask: What kind of thinker—and builder—do I want to become? Over that lunch, alongside MBA and master’s students, I felt the future reframing itself. Their stories challenged me to think more boldly about how I want to shape a world that’s volatile, uncertain, but still full of opportunity.
A few days later, I got a chance to join a luncheon hosted by the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center. But the moment that truly stayed with me came not from the talk, but from something the host shared over coffee: the most pivotal decision in his career wasn’t technical—it was finding a mentor. That mentor helped guide him through uncertainty during economic downturns and financial crises, shaping his resilience and sharpening his sense of fiduciary responsibility. That’s when it clicked for me—success isn’t just about being prepared; it’s about being connected. Events like this aren’t built on passive access. They’re designed to cultivate something deeper. At Penn, networking isn’t a transaction. It’s a long game. You’re not just encouraged to exchange contact info—you’re pushed to invest in relationships that grow with you.
But not all connections were professional. Some of the deepest came from art, spontaneity, and shared creation. April on campus felt like a live performance—jazz concerts, a cappella live shows, student-directed plays transforming classrooms into theaters. On a whim, I directed an original short film called Sheet Cake. And I found something I didn’t know I’d lost: my love for storytelling. That creative spark? It’s now shaping how I visualize narratives in my work. What surprised me most wasn’t how ambitious everyone was—it was how sincere they were. The friends I made here didn’t bond with me over resume lines or “what do you want to do?” small talk. We connected over how we think. We’re now planning summer travels, post-Penn reunions, and maybe even ventures down the line. And even after I return to London, I know these relationships won’t fade. We’re still building—across cities, time zones, and lifelong goals.
What Penn taught me is this: networking isn’t about collecting contacts. It’s about cultivating connection. Real, long-arc, mutually inspiring connection.
So no, I didn’t just learn how to network. I learned how to see people. How to listen. How to show up with intention, not agenda. And how to build the kind of relationships that make you more you—more visionary, more rooted, more open to what’s next.
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