Last Thursday began the Ross Leadership Initiative (RLI) which is basically orientation, team building and competitions, all rolled into six very full days. The class of 2011 is made up of six sections of approximately 80 people and each section takes all of the core classes together so RLI is a chance for us to bond and create "section spirit." We began with low ropes course type activities, built egg catapults, worked with Second City Improv Group and progressed to a cooking competition on Friday afternoon.
Just imagine this reality show challenge: Cook a meal, decorate a cake, set up a display and create entertainment in three hours. We were judged on Finance (what ingredients we bought and bartered and how much money was left over) Marketing (what our display looked like and how our menu items were named) and then of course on the meal, cake and the skit we prepared. Now don't forget we had a whopping two burners, two barbeques and we had to cook enough food for 100 people. Oh, did I also mention that we were working outside in multiple tents and it was POURING RAIN? It required significant effort to slosh through what became a giant puddle under the tent and not fall right on your face (while carrying a knife!)
We didn't win that night but let's just say that the disqualification of the Taj Mahal Cake was bogus and the dean of the b-school was dancing with us on the stage during the skit. We did ultimately win the "entertainment" portion of the night which sets the bar high for future events. I will say though, that with 80 "type A" personalities this was the ultimate "too many cooks in the kitchen" scenario which as my sister says, "is B-school in a nutshell."
The rest of the week was spent in diversity training, learning about what constitutes plagiarism and a variety of other workshops plus fun tasks like buying more than $500 worth of books (for 6 weeks of classes) and other such organizational endeavors. We are currently preparing for classes tomorrow (with massive amounts of homework already due), planning for the MBA Games (sports competitions all day Friday), a Shout-Off on Thursday (cheers and chants for each section) and various other activities such as Meet the Clubs and a Hillel Grad Student Happy Hour. Needless to say, it's been pretty busy but fun!
A couple of random observations about me in Ann Arbor:
1) One guy said he remembered me as "the girl with all the cool earrings." For one thing, when did men start noticing earrings and for another, when did I become THAT girl??? For those of you that know my style (or lack thereof), I'm sure you are quite shocked and impressed with my ability to accessorize over the past week. (hooray for reinvention!)
2) Walking into parties and being the first girls in the room is NEVER bad for the egos. Let's be honest, the ratio of men to women is a plus at times.
3) I am most likely going to freeze here. Last weekend I was officially made fun of for wearing a winter coat and reminded that it was AUGUST (ok it was a wool coat, but it was short!) In my defense it was unusally chilly here (according to my Michigan-born roomie) and also, that guy was 6'10"- I'm sure it's warmer up there!
That's all for now, thank you for reading my posts! I've appreciated all your responses and suggestions and look forward to you continuing to update me on what you are up to as well.
Here are a few photos from the first few weeks!
http://picasaweb.google.com/marissa.garfield/AnnArborSeptember2009?feat=directlink
Love,
Marissa
