Classes started September 8th which means I am five weeks into the six week "semester." The first week was fun, it was great to be back in school and meeting professors. The week ended with two events, the shout off, and the MBA Games (all day sports tournament) both of which Section Three won! The "Shout Off" sponsored by SC Johnson (note the products name) was a section competition where you come up with a cheer or dance or skit to show your section spirit. I'm happy to say that after approximately 7 hours of practicing our three minute song, we did actually win, with a version of the pre-war dance Haka (sample here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83U_Vg1GRvA) and a new version of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab." We won which meant that we got to eat first at the bbq (yeah!) and we now have $700 to spend at a local bar (famous for $5 pitchers).
The MBA Games involved soccer, sprints, football, frisbee, connect four and other such activities. We were trailing in fourth, but it came down to Tug O' War which I am proud to say I was a part of. Six of us dominated and brought our section into first place, winning a big trophy and the glory of beating our peers. My classmates thought it was a great idea to drink beer out of the trophy and coincidentally (!) the following two weeks were spent with rotating groups of people missing class due to H1N1. If you think I'm kidding you should have been here at 4:00am when my roommate would start coughing.
Football was going well until our first away game last weekend when we were beaten by Michigan State. Pretty humiliating, and apparently we have no defense so we need to work on that. I'm pretty sure it was because I wasn't there cheering. I do have to say though that having away games last week and this week have really helped my study habits!
The weekly themes so far have been:
Week One: Yay I'm back in school and it's fun!
Week Two: Hmm what have I gotten myself into?Week Three: Crap.
Week Four: (No time to think of a theme, in panic mode)
Week Five: Ok, I think I can survive this.
Week Six: ????
Week Seven: Exams (if ever there was a time to pray...)
So things have gotten tough, unfortunately my sister was right (as always) and statistics is horrible and very easy to fall behind in. I also got sick in week Four and missed a few days of class and it took another week or so to start feeling better. Oh yeah and did I mention the rain has begun?
It's been an interesting transition from a California commute where I grabbed as much stuff as I wanted, jumped in my car and had to bare the sunny elements from my car door to various front doors. Here, I have become a human sherpa for the 15 minute walk, at least twice a day. I dress for the rain, meaning I roll up my pants, put on boots etc., get to school, do a quick costume change near my locker, changing into grown-up shoes, shedding umbrellas and stowing gym clothes and coats. After class, the process reverses and I pack up and re-dress for the walk home. I wouldn't say I travel light these days but I'm getting the job done (except for the day that I had to walk home in the rain wearing a skirt and flip flops at 11pm). I can say with pride that I haven't yet turned on the heat at home, or complained about being cold outside, I'm trying to pace myself. I did however panic on a particularly cold night and order a space heater and electric tea kettle, and yes, I feel better having these on hand just in case!
On a positive note, I actually saw a tree that was changing colors the other day. I stopped in my tracks and took a photo. My friend that I was walking with stopped and looked at me like I was crazy until she remembered that I'm from California and I don't know what seasons are.
Some other things that have been new for me:
I told a few friends that when I walk out of my apartment on my way to school I always see the most adorable squirrels and their baby squirrels that are so cute. These baby squirrels run around with these huge nuts in their mouth which is cute right!? Well turns out that these aren't baby squirrels but chipmunks. Did you know chipmunks were tiny? We don't have those in CALIFORNIA! (do we???)
And then there was the day that my gem of a friend Jessica drove my carless self to Trader Joe's. We were packing up the trunk and I said, "oh what's that cute little rakey thing?" Jessica turned around and gave me a look that said, "oh girl, you are in BIG trouble" and quietly responded with "Marissa, that's for getting the ice off of the windshield." (oops...)
Other than classes and constant studying, I've been getting into the career search and other activities. I was selected to be a Ross Ambassador which means I will host potential students, leading tours, info sessions and helping with recruiting events. As some of you may remember, I didn't have a great experience when I visited Ross so I'm committed to being a great Ambassador and have even thought about some ways I can improve the program overall (just in case they want my opinion). I was also selected to be the MBA1 representative for the Organizational Strategy Club. I'm really interested in organizational strategy, human resources and the like, so this is a great club for me and I'm looking forward to getting my classmates involved! It's small because this is not a common career path for B-school, but it's nice to meet people with similar interests and there are a few opportunities for on campus recruiting with bigger firms. I went to a corporate presentation for Cisco, and they have an interesting HR Leadership Development program, I also attended a Women in Leadership Conference today and have a Net Impact Conference next Friday so I'm trying to learn lots of things beyond the core classes (statistics, accounting, strategy and economics). It's been good to practice my networking (which I hate being forced to do almost as much as I hate statistics!)
So all is well here. I'm looking forward to being done with exams and my group strategy paper and have a week off at the end of October. My parents are visiting so that will be GREAT! I definitely am missing my friends and family and have felt very far away lately but I'm happy and well and making the most of every day.
I really look forward to hearing from all of you and staying in touch as always!
Here are some photos from the first week, primarily the shout-off, MBA games and the Notre Game WIN! enjoy: http://picasaweb.google.com/marissa.garfield/WeekOneOfBSchool?feat=directlink
Love,
Marissa
No comments:
Post a Comment