A fun weekend in Minnesota

So I have arrived back to the state of 10,000 lakes. I have had a fun time being back so far. I played volleyball on Wednesday (Go Bacos!), played poker on Thursday (realized I can no longer play poker), went to dinner at Manny's on Friday (with my old boss) and then on Saturday Dave and I threw a party. It was definitely a fun time. We had lasagna for dinner and then played some Cranium and poker. Some others played a super long game of darts. I tried and tried to get Katie to dance with me but she wouldn't. But overall, it was a fun night.
On Sunday we spent most of the day cleaning and then went to Seth's concert. The Plymouth Concert Band was awesome, i was so impressed. Probably one of the best bands I have heard play. Then Seth, Ed, Dave and i went to sushi in uptown. The sushi was phenomenal as well. Lots of good food this weekend between Manny's and sushi.
Today I went back to General Mills to talk to a few people about an internship, I think i have a pretty good shot, I just need to wow them with my marketing expertise (well, first I need to get marketing expertise). I also made a roast for Dave and did more company research and reading on marketing and branding. I know, sounds exciting.
Tomorrow I hit the outlet mall and talk to Mattel!
It is weird, I never thought I would miss classes but I do. Although I have had a blast in Minnesota, and I am loving seeing my Minnesota friends, I also miss my Kellogg friends. It is weird not seeing the people I have seen every day for the past 10 weeks for a month. I realized I am missing seeing some of them in class, or having the random Kellogg discussion or the random Tuesday night at the Keg or Nevins. I got my grades back and I did ok. I didn't do as well as I would've liked in Finance but other than that I did as expected. I guess considering the class was full of investment bankers whose grades actually mattered I did okay. No marketing company will ever ask me about my grade. It is funny, I did best in the classes I didn't study for and worst in the classes I spent the most time on. Which means i have a new strategy for next semester- no more studying.
Of course how could I finish a post without giving a shoutout to my super cool sister Ayesha and her super cool friend Liz ;-)

Derivatives, Long Run industry Structure, and Network Extermalities

Just a few of the fun things i got to spend this weekend learning about. It is amazing to me how one can learn 10 weeks worth of classes over one weekend. I have strategy tomorrow at noon, and i think i will do okay on that, that is my one B class for the semester. Then I have Finance on Tuesday- I really want to do well in that class since I plan to have finance as a major and Accounting on Wednesday, which I haven't started studying for yet. The weekend was spent on Strategy and Finance.

On a different note, it seems like my Wolverines were robbed. I know there are lots of opinions out there on how interesting a rematch would've been, but I was looking forward to the prospect. It would have been an interesting game, to see the two teams go at it again but on neutral turf. So sad that instead an inferior Florida team will get to play in the national championship (although I know there are also mixed opinions on the inferiority of the Florida team). Which bring on an even bigger predicament... now I have to root for Ohio State- how wrong is that? The Michigan/ USC game should be interesting. While I think Michigan is a better team, they don't necessarily have the best record in bowl games as of late. Plus, USC is essentially playing at home in the Rose Bowl. Well hopefully Michigan blows out USC, and (I never thought I would say this) Ohio State blows out Florida. Go Big Ten! Go Blue!

A follow-up

Interesting, as I was going through my e-mail I found this article from the Wall Street Journal (something I need to start reading as recruiting season nears). This one passage was very interesting to me. Don't know what I think about it. I am sure for some women the rise to top is worth missing their kids events, but don't know if that would ever be worth it for me. Just something I found interesting and appropriate at the time.

"The women acknowledged having to work long hours, suffering jet lag from constant travel and having to meet multiple demands on their time. And they listed their sacrifices. Frances Aldrich Sevilla-Sacasa, president of U.S. Trust, said she has missed many of her three kids' school events and several wedding anniversaries.

BUT ALL THE panelists concluded that their achievements ultimately were worth the tradeoffs. After all, plenty of women toil at much lower-level jobs and work just as hard, but don't get the big rewards of their high-placed counterparts -- from substantial compensation to the chance to make decisions instead of just following them."

One down, 3 + to go...

Wow, the next week is so busy. I will be so happy when it is next Wednesday.

I have three case writeups due on Thursday, and an exam next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Right after my exam on Wednesday, I hop in a cab and on an airplane to Minnesota. So crazy. To make matters even worse, Dave gave me a cold.

Well, I do have one final out of the way. I completed by Factory Physics final and got a 99! I finally have proved to myself I am not buisiness school stupid. Now I just need to finish accounting, finance and strategy. No big deal ;-)

On top of all of this I have a lot of tough decisions to make. I need to decide what to do for this summer, which will impact what I do after school. It is so weird, and somewhat scarry. I have so many options open to me. I can make all the money in the world, I can have the "perfect job", but I still don't know for sure what I really want. It is a really interesting question.

About half the people here are going for careers in investment banking or consulting, jobs that start in the mid- six figure range, but involve 90+ hours of work/ week. I think I would love those jobs but I would hate the lifestyle. Or else I could do something like cooporate finance. I job a little less fast paced, but still lucrative. I think I would be good at it, but I don't know if it would get me excited going in to work every day. Same with a job in operations. I think I would be good at it but I don't want to be travelling all the time. And there are the many general management jobs out there, or leadership development programs. I know long term I want to manage people and work my way up an organization, so these seem like a good idea. But then again, I keep on getting pulled back to General Mills, a company I love. Which brings us to marketing. I don't know that I would be good at marketing, it doesn't really speak to my strengths. However, to be in the position of strength at the company I love, I need to be in marketing. And it gives me the lifestyle I want.

And then that brings us to this summer. General Mills is not the best place for me to go to this summer, I need another company on my resume. But the best marketing firms are not in Minneapolis, besides General Mills of course. All the good opporunities are elsewhere, be them Cincinnati, California, or Chicago. But I think I want to be in Minneapolis long term. Do you go where the job is best or where you really want to be? Quite honestly, it sucks being somewhere without the people you love. And then, do I really want to hurt my career for someone who won't commit to me, even if I love him?

I guess it is all about whats important to you. THat is why I really admire my parents. They are both doctors and they have both found a career they love. They spend ridiculous hours at work, but I don't think they would have it any other way. When my sister and I were younger and at home, we never felt neglected. I guess they found what was important to them, found a career they loved and one that let them live their lives in and out of work.


SO much to think about... but for now I have to get back to project valuation and finance. Ever notice how my longest blog entries happen when I have the most to do? A little over a week and I will be in Minneapolis! Hoopefully I will see you all there!

Let's go Blue!!!

I am so excited for this weekends game! Even more exciting is the fact that Dave is coming tomorrow! Should be a fun weekend. Too bad it is followed up by a final on Monday ;-(.
ON saturday we will be waking up at 6 AM to go to the Michigan bar in downtown Chicago, Duffys. Then we are going to my school dance (yes, I have realized grad school is like high school all over). Should be a great game, hopefully Michigan can pull out the win! Go Blue!

An update

I noticed I have been neglecting my blog lately. Then I realized I have nothing really exciting going on, just a lot of studying, and going to parties.
Last weekend I went to a birthday party on Friday night. My sister was in for the weekend so i got the pleasure of hanging out with my super cool sister for two days, which was fun.
Yesterday I saw Flags of our Fathers. It was an okay movie. Kind of slow. Very emotional at the end, overall i would give it a B.
Speaking of B's, my classes have been going okay, one is getting really busy and some are interesting but most are just okay.
Tonight I went to a party thrown by LAHIMA, the Latin American, Hispanic and Iberian Management Association here. It was a fun party but I am super tired so i left early.
Dave is coming next weekend, i can't wait to see him again! This whole three week thing is not working out for me. Next weekend is Fall Ball. It is a big Kellogg dance on a cruise boat, it should be a good time.
Then comes Thanksgiving and finals and then it is time to visit Minneapolis and Michigan for Christmas. I can't believe one quarter is almost done!

Congratulations Nick and Karin and Happy Halloween!

Well, it was a fun weekend in Minnesota, but I am still recovering from it.

I got in on Friday morning and went over to Riverside to visit with the General Mills people and then went with Karin and her bridesmaids to a delicious lunch at Benihanas. I hung out for a while with Karin and then we went to the rehearsal dinner and drinks at Cousineaus where we met Nic, Krista and Seth. Fun times.

Saturday was wedding day which was fun but busy. I went shopping with Karin's aunt for brunch food for Sunday and picked up the flowers, then went to the church. The ceremony was great, and the reception was a fun time. The hall was really pretty and i got to see all the people I missed. Katie and I even got to practice one of our dances ;-) We went to the Borchs after the reception to take advantage of our extra hour.

On Sunday Karin's aunt., Dave and I made brunch, which was a hit. Then we went home, slept (we were so tired) and then went to our first of the month dinner. All in all a fun weekend.

Sadly, when I got back on Sunday night I realized I had neglected to study for my accounting midterm I had at 10AM on Monday. I was up until 3 AM studying, but it paid off since I did pretty well.

To celebrate being done with midterms, the section I belong to, the MMMs, threw a big party at the local bar, the Keg (think super ghetto super sketchy bar) on Halloween night. It was a charity event to raise money for the homeless and we had over 450 Kellogg students there. It made the bar slightly less sketchy since there were no non Kellogg people there. I went in a witch costume, I am waiting to get pictures from someone so I can post here. It was a great night of drinking and dancing. I got home after the bar closed and then got ready for the rest of my exciting week.

The most exiting part of my week so far though will be the visit of my super cool sister this weekend. I can't wait to see her! Her and Liz should be visiting me on Saturday night which will be tons of fun.

3 midterms and a wedding

What would you be doing if you had a midterm on Tuesday, a takehome midterm on Friday, a midterm the Monday after that, and three papers due? Well, writing a blog entry of course!

This was a good weekend home. I bought a Halloween costume (a witch), ate lots of good Indian food (I really miss my mom's cooking) and found out I may get my sister's old car if she decides to trade up. All in all a good weekend.

Most importantly, Michigan beat Iowa!!! Oh how I wish I could've watched that game with Pudenz, maybe next time ;-)

I can't wait to see all of you next weekend at the wedding! More studying for me.

I am now a real Kellogg student

I have now experienced the fun of late night drinking at the Keg before you have a ton of homework assignments to do... what ever happened to being responsible? And why did I mix wine, shots and beer? Oh well I guess i should get some sleep beofre my super early and super long day. Tomorrow I fly to Michigan for the weekend. I can't wait to see my parents!

A fun weekend

Go Tigers!!! Who would've thought at the beginning of the season that the Tigers would be playing in the world series. Awesome! Maybe there is still hope for the Lions... Although probably not. At least we can always count on the Lions sucking.

And Michigan won meaning the Ohio State game will be big (although I don't put it beyond Michigan to screw things up before then). Go Blue!

It was a fun weekend. On Friday I went over to a friend's house and BBQ'd. On Saturday Athena took me to Ikea and I got to see her awesome place. On Saturday night we went into Chicago and went to a couple of dance clubs. We didn't leave Evanston until 11 PM, and I was sure I would leave Chicago early to get to bed. However, it didn't happen and I didn't get home until 530 in the morning. It was a fun time though. I got hit on my a lesbian (which excited Dave) then had a long discussion with the cab driver on the way back while everyone else slept in the back. I was so tired but I took one for the team and sat in the front seat. The driver was kind of sketchy so someone had to stay awake. Of course, getting back at 5 AM meant I got no work done on Sunday.

Speaking of work, midterms are next week and the week after. I can't believe the semester is already half over. Crazy. Anyway, it will be a busy few weeks. I am going to Michigan this weekend and to Minnesota for Nick and Karin's wedding next. I can't wait to see my Minnesota friends, I miss you all! Eventually I will have something exciting to post. Anyway, back to my homework.

I've never seen so much blue before...

My outlook calendar is looking pretty scary right now with company presentations. I had another revelation about business school- it is basically a two year interview. I can't believe the number of company presentations! And how do you decide which ones to go to? Making me feel even better, the General never even told me they would be here this week, I found out looking at the Kellogg calendar. Always good to feel like you are in your company's thoughts.

Of course when I have a ton to do, what better to spend my time doing than writing blog entries?

It was a good weekend for Michigan sports. Michigan beat Michigan State (Go Blue!) and the Tigers made it to the next round! It is even better that they beat the Yankees so that I can gloat to all of those obnoxious Yankee fans in my section who sent me rude e-mails after the first game. I kind of wish they could be playing the Twins, it would have been great to see the Tigers beat the Twins to make it to the World Series... oh well I guess there is always next year ;-)

Well now I am going to start the homework I should have been doing all weekend. All those who said business school had no homework lied.

Cause you had a bad day, you're taking one down, You sing a sad song just to turn it around

If business school is teaching me anything, it is teaching me how to deal with rejection well. Today I found out I didn't make the case competition group I wanted, because I don't have any marketing experience (because if I had experience I would definitely spend $100,000 to learn how to be a good marketer), and I did not win the KSA (Student government) rep election.

Oh well, I have decided I am taking the wrong approach to business school. This whole time I have been working hard at classes and trying to get involved in the right groups. I think instead I should take advantage of all the great late night "networking opportunities" at the wonderful bars in Evanston. I think I have finally discovered the secret to business school. Afterall, everyone is smarter after a few drinks, right?

Overall I did have a fun night. I went over to a friend's house and watched Grey's Anatomy (McSteamy is so hot) and drank lots of wine. What else could a girls ask for? Now I need to catch up on my homework in case I am cold called in a class.

Anyway, on the up side Dave is coming this weekend. I can't wait!!

A fun weekend

Well I hada fun weekend in Minneapolis. It was great to see everyone, and so sad to leave. On Friday, we had a fun party at Dave's house. There was beer pong and poker, what else could a person ask for? On Saturday, after waking up at 4 PM, Dave, Nick, Karin and I went to see Michigan beat Minnesota, Go Blue! Sunday was fun as well. After playing tennis in the morning, we had a few people over for dinner, I really miss our dinner parties. Then it was time for my sad goodbye, but I will be back for the Pudenz wedding in a month!

Well, I am sadly enough back in school. Classes are going well. I am running for student government so I have been up all night making cookies as part of my campaign. What I really should do is find a way to give out alcohol, i just can't think of a creative way to do it.

This should be a fun week, Dave is coming this weekend so that is exciting. I know he is sad he will be missing a Tetris party, but I guess at least he gets to see me, isn't that worth it ;-).

I wish I had something more interesting to write about, I promise I will make my life more interesting soon!

And we're off

So real classes started last Thursday, and they have been interesting so far. I also had the pleasure of taking my first ever buisiness school exam... it sucked. Classes are good. I have now joined my MMM section and there are some really cool people in there. I will get to know them better this week as there is an all day event we are get to go to for some great bonding time... more forced socialization. This is club week so every club has their kickoff meeting where we get to learn about why that club is the best ever... i know, so exciting!

On the upside its been a great sports week. michigan beat Wisconsin (GO Blue!) and the Tigers are in the playoffs!

I have also joined the Evanston Athletic Club, so I get to go to fun workout classes.
This weekend I will be back in Minnesota, I can't wait!

Overall things have gone well. For those of you that heard about the bus stories in Greece from Dave I have posted pictures so you can get a true idea of how tight the fit was in some of the smaller villages :-)

Some Greece Pictures

Not the best ones, but the only ones I have so far... I will most more when we get the better ones...




This is Dave and I in the first village we went to, it was so pretty!



On our second day we hiked up to the top of the mountain beind us to see the castle. It was quite the walk but a great view!





A Santorini sunset





The volcano at Santorini



The Pathenon in Athens.

Go Blue! Go Turkeys!

So you are probably wondering... what does she mean, go Turkeys! Well, Saturday was a great sports day for me. Not only did Michigan cream Notre Dame to quiet all those naysayers, my CIM team, the Jive Turkeys had the greatest comeback victory in CIM history. As I think I mentioned earlier, at Kellogg we have this wonderful thing called CIM week, which is a series of team bonding events culminating in CIM "Olympics".

Well, as I think I mentioned before, the Jive Turkeys did not have the best start ever, coming in dead last (8th place) in the cheering competition. However, we had an amazing comeback. Apparently we are all great as such wonderful and athletic activities as dizzybat, spiderweb, tug of war and other humiliating team bonding activities. We took first place in the Olympics and ended up winning first place overall in the CIM competition. There are some great pictures that I will eventually get to show you (I am waiting for my fellow classmates to load them online). What all this winning means is that, after paying $40,000 this year in tuition my section of 70 people will have an extra $300 in our social budget to spend on beer. Yay us. All kidding aside, it was nice to win something, I realized I am more competitive than I thought.

Dave came to Evanston this weekend and we were pretty antisocial towards the other MBAs, although we did have good intentions. We meant to go out on Saturday night but we ended up falling asleep. We did see Dave's cousin, which was pretty cool. It was so great having Dave here and I can't wait until I get to see everyone in a few weeks!

I am now busy studying for my first business school final on Wednesday for my Leadership and Organizations class. It is an interesting class, so different from anything I have taken. If all my classes are half as interesting as this one, it will be a good 2 years. Dave sat through one of my classes this weekend and I think he actually enjoyed it. It was good for sure.

I can't wait until this class is over on Wednesday and the real term finally starts. It will be good to get into a schedule.

The next few weeks should be good college football weekends, I will get to see Michigan avenge their losses against both Wisconsin and Minnesota. Go Blue!

And the grind continues...

It has been an interesting week. Last Tuesday, we started of on CIM, which stands for Complete Immersion in Management. Basically it is a two week long orientation filled with lots of drinking. The incoming class of over 550 people is divided into 8 groups of 70-80 people. My section name is the Jive Turkeys, as I mentioned in an earlier post.

The sections compete against each other in various competitions. The first competition was a cheering competition and my section finished in last place, which meant we had to redeem ourselves. We then participated in a scavenger hunt, and we came back in 3rd place.

Then on Saturday, we had a talent show. Each group was given 7 minutes to showcase its best "talents". At some point and time I will post picture of that event. It was definitely interesting to say the least. Every group pretty much has one skit with guys dressed in drag. We had guy cheerleaders. I did a short dance with three other girls. We ended up taking 2nd place in the talent show so that was pretty awesome!

Kellogg is definitely all about team bonding. We have to know the name of all 75 people in our section. We were tested on that today and we came in second place (which means overall we are now third place in the CIM competition). There are also activities that are planned every night (they are not above forced socialization). Most of the activities involve large quantities of alcohol.

We also started our first class last week. It is a two and a half week preterm course (it also goes over the weekends). It is an interesting course. So far we have learned about group decision making, and influencing others. Sadly I think the part I have enjoyed most about school so far is the class, it has been so great. Right now I am procrastinating on writing a paper I have due tomorrow on persuasion.

I really should start my paper. I seem to have come down with the cold that is going around and so I need to make sure I get sleep. I am still missing my Minnesota friends. Dave is coming this weekend, I am so excited!

Update from Greece etc

Its been a busy few days and this week will be even busier. Greece was awesome, I will try to post pictures soon.

We left Chicago on Sunday at 5PM and we arrived in Athens on Monday afternoon. There were a total of 25 people in our group. They had rented a bus for us and we drove to a small village in the mountains. The bus driver got lost, so it took us a long time to get there. We didn't get there until about 10 PM so we had a late dinner, but it was great.

We woke up the next day and had some time to walk around the village which was really cute. Then we got back in the bus and drove to a river and went rafting, which was awesome. The couple who owned the rafting business made a homemade lunch for us which was delicious. We then drove the Monemvasia, which is a town right on the river that had a Byzantine Castle. We were running late though, and didn't have time to really hike to the top of the mountain on Tuesday. However, we did have dinner in a restaurant in the castle which was right on the water. Again, the food was great.

We woke up Wednesday to a great view of the mountain and the Agean Sea. Then we hiked up the castle and through some of the leftovers from the Byzantine era which was so awesome. We then got in the bus for a "short one hour" ride to a nearby fishing town. However, our group leaders didn't take into account the fact that the bus had to go through some really small villages. At one point the guys in our group had to actually move a car in order to make room for our bus. Our bus barely made it through some of the marrow passages and the drive took over three hours. We got there so late we only had 1 1/2 hour for lunch and the beach, but it was still great. We then got back into the bus and went back to Athens to take an overnight ferry to Santorini.

The ferry ride was lots of fun. I played poker with some of the guys and managed to come in 2nd place in one game and 1st in the second one. I should've won the first game but got majorly riverbitched (A 3 vs AK and he got a 3 on the river) to lose most of my money then lost it. We got very little sleep on the ferry but then on Thursday morning we arrived in Santorini.

We were all really tired when we got to Santorini and most of the group was also really hung over so we took a short nap. We then went swimming at the beach and to the village of Oia to watch a beautiful sunset. It was gorgeous. A lot of our group went to a night club in Santorini that night but Dave and I decided to stay back and get some much needed sleep.

We woke up on Friday and then took a boat to the volcanoes in Santorini. We hiked up to the top of the volcano and then went swimming in the hot springs which was really cool. All things I would highly recommend, I am definitely going back sometime. When we got back to the main island, we took donkeys to get back to the city, which was an interesting experience. We then sat at a cafe overlooking the water, it had a beautiful view. We flew back to Athens on Friday night and spent the night at a hotel.

We had a free day in Athens on Saturday. We went to the Acropolis and then walked around the city, did some shopping and sat at a cafe. We then had our going away dinner and spent the night dancing at an Athens nightclub. We then got on our 6AM flight back home, which was very sad. We were all so tired that none of us noticed our flight from Athens to Paris took off then had fly back tot he airport and land due to an engine leak. Luckily, we eventually got home safely.

Overall Greece was a great trip but I will definitely go back. I met lost of great B-school students and it was great having Dave there.

When we got back to Chicago my parents happened to be visiting so they drove Dave and I back to Evanston on Sunday. They came back on Monday and we had breakfast, which was fun. Dave left on Monday which was extremely sad, I miss him already!

Today was my first ay of orientation. It was definitely interesting. They divide us into groups, and mine is the Jive Turkeys. We had a cheering competition today and my group lost pretty badly but we still had fun. I am getting ready to go out to the bar pretty soon with my group, another mandatory orientation activity.

Sorry for the long update! I miss all my Minnesota friends so much, but I should be visiting eventually!

Safe in Evanston

After spending an hour to go 7 miles through the fine Illinois highway system (the traffic jam was because of a toll booth) Dave and I arrived safely in Evanston yesterday. We didn't get in untill about 7:30 and it was close to 11 by the time we returned the truck. We then searched for a place that would be open at 11 to grab dinner, and we ended up at Taco Bell.

Today we unpacked and met the people we will be going to Greece with. for a BBQ They all seem very nice so it should be a good time. We also discovered that having an open container of alochol within view of the lake is a $750 fine. We were at the BBQ and there were margartias and beer. A cop drove by and informed us that there is a $750 fine per person with an open container of alcohol. Luckily Dave and I didn't have an open container on us and the cop didin't charge anyone anyway.

We leave for Greece tomorrow at 5PM. I am looking foward to Greece, it should be a fun trip. Although, I am already feeling a bit homesick and missing all our friends in Minnesota, but I am sure once things get busy I won't have time to think about it. I will try to post pictures of my cute little dorm apartment later, probably not until after Greece.

Leaving, on a jet plane (well sort of)...

Well, its been a fun two weeks off of work. I have had two fun poker nights, an excellent going away party thrown by Karin, and lots of fun time with friends, including a great outing at Alleygators when Team Bacos went 3-0.

Sadly enough, it is now time for me to leave for Evanston. Dave and I will be driving the moving truck I rented to Evanston today and then we will be leaving for Greece on Sunday. I will try to update once we get in Evanston but I don't know what the internet situation will be. Thanks to everyone for making my last two weeks so much fun!

Welcome to my blog

Everyone else is doing it so I guess i should too. This is my blog to let everyone know how things are going in school, and whats new in my world. Tomorrow is my going away picnic, I can't wait! Then in a week Dave and I will be off to Evanston. I am both scared and excited, wish me luck!