The Beginning of the End

Hi everyone, it has been quite awhile since my last posting. Time absolutely flies in business school. 

We had our first round of midterms, the only one I have back so far is DMD, Data Models and Decisions (math), and I got a 97. Normally I am happy with 97s, but this one I only got because I didn't answer one of the questions... OOOOPS... As good as that one was however, accounting and economics I can state will not be nearly as good. In fact, economics was a disaster for me. Oh well, they say grades don't matter that much... so who cares???

Following midterm

 week we have this week dedicated to independent workshops and classes. It is called Sloan Innovation Period, or SIP for short. SIP week is nice, it is almost like a week off. I took classes on Feedback, Physics in Business, Leading Inclusive Organizations, and Media Relations. It was interesting. 

This past Thursday I attended, very humbly, my first C-function. Except, whoops, it wasn't really a C-function. It was a SEA-function. Normally, C-functions (the C stands for Cultural or Community depending upon who you ask) are a chance for a student-run cultural club to show off food and entertainment. 

The first two this year were run by the Japanese Club and the Middle East Club. The one that Petros and I went to was a SEA-function, aptly named for the fact that it was aboard the Odyssey in the Boston Harbor. It was beautiful cruising around the harbor and I had fun dancing and chatting with my classmates. This picture shows Pacificers at the SEA-function: Lukas, Alex, Eva, me, Ashley, and Marcelo. Alex had apparently just spotted a pretty girl! :-P

On Saturday night Petros and I went out to help Manny from Guam celebrate his 27th birthday. Happy Birthday Manny! He is a great guy, in fact, he tried to pay for his own birthday dinner... and everyone else's. Oh boy, not cool! We went to Publick House in Brookline and as we drove by our old apartment we really started to miss the Coolidge Corner area. Which brings me to my next point, living in Kendall Square is, to put it kindly, quiet. Past 5 pm, nearly nothing is open and of the stuff that is open... it's not really exciting. (Unless hanging out at Bank of America and a Fidelity Investment Center is your idea of fun.) 

Recently I have begun working on a project with the Boston Bruins. Along with my teammates, Roterdan, Amanda, and Ramy, I have begin modeling their ticket sales based upon the day of game and the opponent. It is pretty cool. In fact, this is really ideally something I could do as a career. Along those same lines, I am helping out as a panel lead for the upcoming MIT Sloan Sports Conference in Analytics. This should be lots of fun and since I want to work in the field of sports management, it is a great opportunity as well. 

I also recently volunteered to help out at a Sloan on the Road admissions event. It is interesting talking to people who are in the same uncertain place that I was one year ago. How time flies! 

The last picture with the wrestling type belt is from trivia night. We had a huge come from behind win and we were quite happy with it. 

That's all, bye folks!

Week 5 - Getting Used to Routine

Hey guys! I've always wondered why people who blog only do so in such an untimely manner. Now I know. I t just keeps slipping your mind until you notice that, holy crap, two weeks have gone by since the last one!

It is Monday morning and this past week I was under the weather. It made it extremely difficult to sit through classes and get anything done. I am feeling better now but yesterday I had to scram out 3 days of homework in one day. 

On Friday, Petros and I went to Circue du Soleil with Ariel and Taylor. It was amazing. I will post some pictures soon! (Every time I pulled out the camera I forgot we weren't supposed to be taking pictures ;) ) Afterwards we went to a nice Irish Pub and had one of the most delicious burgers I have ever had. 

Next weekend is the Sloan Golf Tournament. I am very excited about this. I will not be playing on the same team as Petros :( but I have a fun team. I will be playing with Greg, Chris, and Mike. 

I hate to admit this, but I am behind on readings. For the most part, I have not found core to be extremely hard. Having to balance academics and athletics in college prepared me well! I will hold further comment until sports lab and midterms come around. Oh yeah, and that darned OP project, WHY WON'T ANY COMPANY RESPOND???? :-P

So today there was an article in the globe about finance and business school students. Overall it was a great article. there was one problem however, click below and see if you notice: I have been telling my friends how diverse this school is. In my class, 44 countries are represented. 33% are women. This is great! other women will look at this school and want to come here! Oh... except where exactly ARE the women in this picture???

that's it for now, I have to go feed Miles my kitty before I run to class. Tonight I am going to a seminar called "Handshakes and Hellos: How to Work a Room". it should be exciting, I will post again soon! BYE!

Core Week 3

Writing a blog is not something I envisioned doing while navigating business school but everything is flying by so fast that I almost think I need to record things so I do not forget them!

After class on tuesdays and thursdays, I go to MBSC in Winchester to work out. It is a two hour, intense workout and leaves you wanting to sleep for about 15 hours straight. So you can imagine how I felt about an hour ago, when I awoke in a panic. For my fellow classmates, I am sure this feeling is quite familiar. It is the ever-present fear of having forgotten to read something for class. Nothing is quite as embarrassing as being called upon when you have not read the assigned material. I sit in my chair thinking that the odds are that I will not be called upon, however, the professors can detect a person who has not done the reading from a mile away and will zero in on you within seconds. At this point, your only hope is to either have a name that is sufficiently difficult to pronounce and that he moves on or he gives you a few precious seconds to formulate an answer while ignoring his cue to pronounce your name for him. 

Every day I thank myself for choosing to live at the Watermark, just a 1 minute and 30 second walk from the doors of the Ting Building, better known as E51. I am constantly realizing I forgot something and the convenience of being able to run home is amazing.

That's it for now, I have to run to my individual advising appointment to get some help figuring out what I am going to do when I finally have to hit the real world! After that, I will be going to my DMD class, and from there to the Retail and Consumer Goods kickoff lunch followed shortly by marketing. Afterwards I will be returning home to contact companies for OP, read a case for economics, try to decipher Peter's Company and Intel's financial statements. 

See ya soon!