Anti-Tourist

For many years, New York City was at the top of my list of places I wanted to visit, but seemed far and inaccessible. It was on the other side of the continent, and extremely excited. Given that travel during my first 25 years of life consisted mainly of road trips, and New York was a four-day drive away (yes, I actually looked into it), it just didn’t seem practical.

As I write this blog entry, I am riding the train back from my third trip to Manhattan. (No wifi yet, but there are power outlets to plug in my laptop!) The first trip to New York came when I was on the East Coast visiting MBA schools and stopped there with my mom for the weekend. We saw all the tourist attractions – spending time at Times Square every night, walking through Central Park, seeing Mamma Mia on Broadway, watching the New York Philharmonic play at Lincoln Center, watching Brett Favre in action at a New York Jets game and playing “Heart and Soul” on the big piano at FAO Schwartz. Though it should have satisfied my NYC cravings, it only whet my appetite for more NYC.

Now that my experience in NYC has transitioned from staying in expensive hotel rooms to sleeping on couches in friends’ apartments, the things I see and do have changed. Yesterday, instead of riding the Staten Island ferry (and catching that long-awaited glimpse of the Statue of Liberty), my friend and I went to a BBQ festival and caught up with some of her old friends. In some ways, I miss the tourist parts of New York, but seeing it as an “insider” has its definite benefits.

For starters, transportation costs are cheaper because you spend less money on hailing cabs and instead take public transit. Public transit is probably one of the best advantages of having a friend in the city; I saved a fortune on cab fare by knowing exactly which train to take to and from the airport in Munich. While public transit is accessible to everyone, there are so many other options that I never would have discovered if not for my friends. (Like the PATH trains to New Jersey, which I just found out about this weekend.)

You also get to eat at the less-crowded, less-hyped, but amazingly good restaurants that aren’t “World Famous” or located in the touristy areas. Yesterday morning, I walked straight past the one-hour line-up to get into Carlos’ Bakery of Cake Boss fame. Instead, last night I ate the most delicious, moistest chocolate cake I’ve ever had in my life at this little bakery called Amy’s Bread. On Friday night, we had incredible Chinese food at the Peking Duck House in Chinatown. The wait was only 10 – 15 minutes, and my friend was surprised there even was a wait. If it hadn’t been for the engagement party in the back half of the restaurant, we would have sat right down. The food was also much more reasonably priced than Planet Hollywood or Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square.

There’s a line from a John Mayer song that goes “Didn’t have a camera by my side this time, hoping I could see the world with both my eyes.” That’s how I felt about this trip. My camera was in my purse, but it stayed there all weekend. Instead, I paid more attention to enjoying my surroundings and taking in the people watching. I’ll do the tourist stuff the next time I visit the city with someone from back home, but for now, I enjoy being almost a local.

Foodie?

Before this summer, I never would have considered myself a "foodie." Though I did enjoy food that tasted good, I never thought too much about where it came from or imagined new ways I could put food together to make something delicious.

Hours staring at a spreadsheet with delicious, local ingredients and reading even the first few chapters of "Omnivore's Dilemma" changed that for me. Although I still haven't gotten very far in "Omnivore's Dilemma", it's been interesting to see the implications of the corn takeover and how it's affected what we consume. Did you know that North Americans (Mexicans excluded...) have more corn in their bodies than the rest of the world? It's because it's in everything we eat. Farmers grow corn and feed it to cows, chickens and pigs. Even if we aren't eating corn, we eat it every time we eat beef, eggs, bacon, milk or cheese. To take it a step further, consider that corn is used to make most soft drinks (corn syrup), anything processed (corn starch) and pretty much everything we eat.

What's the problem with corn? There are a few. It takes more energy to produce corn than it actually provides, due to the use of synthetic fertilizers. It destroys traditional farms. It used to be that farmers grew oats, vegetables and other grains so they could feed their cows, chickens and pigs. Those cows, chicken and pigs would leave behind the remnants of their dinner, and this would be used to fertilize the fields for the next batch of crops. It was a self-sustaining system. Corn, instead, takes over the whole field (along with soy) and farming becomes industrial.

Anyway, although I haven't gotten as far as I'd like with "Omnivore's Dilemma", that's been in the back of my mind as I spend my days analyzing customer purchase patterns at work. Part of that process has involved going over our product database many times, which has provided me an opportunity to view the plethora of local foods available that were produced without corn. It's also enabled me to be a little more creative in what I'm cooking, and though I still don't feel confident to stray from a recipe, I've been looking up new recipes to try.

And, as part of that whole process, I took the plunge and ordered some very expensive chicken from a place called Polyface Farms. Food at Polyface is produced using the good, old-fashioned farming models, and despite the fact that I slightly overcooked the apple-stuffed chicken I made with it, I could tell there was a definite improvement over the regular chicken I buy.

Is this just an intern-induced fad, or will it mean sustained changes in the way I view food and the food chain? Only time will tell.

Nearly 20% Complete!

It's hard to believe that I've been at my internship for two weeks as of tomorrow, and 20% complete! It feels like just yesterday that I was busting open the bottle of champagne to celebrate my offer.

My internship has been the best of both worlds. I am getting the opportunity to make an impact because I'm at a smaller company and they have a lot of projects that have just been waiting to get tackled. At the same time, I am working with people with significant experience in operations, the grocery industry and marketing. In fact, in just a week and a half, I have a meeting with three Darden professors to discuss what I've learned so far and get some feedback on how to go forward. Seems too good to be true!

Life has pretty much revolved around work. Somehow I've managed to get out most evenings while still clocking in a lot of hours. With time passing so quickly, it seems the eight hours of being in the office are not nearly sufficient. Fortunately, most of the work in the evenings has been pretty mindless and been done on the couch while watching TV.

Charlottesville is getting hot. I don't know how I'm going to survive a summer of +33C/+93F, but somehow I think I'll make it through. It would sure be nice if I had working AC... :-)

Internship Bliss

Internships probably have honeymoon periods just like everything else. If that is true, I am still in mine.

The internship search was filled with tears, stress and anxiety for me. I never started counting my rejections (or "dings"), but some of the highlights included a rejection mere hours after I submitted the application and a rejection from a company that I never actually even submitted an application for. All in all, there were many, many moments during which those who were close to me had to remind me that things WOULD work out, and I would find the right internship.

Five days in, I couldn't agree more. Besides the fact that it's very convenient to stay in Charlottesville for the summer, I am finding the more I discover, the more I like this great town. Even better, I am working out of the Charlottesville Technology Incubator this summer (no room to work in the warehouse!) and it's located right on the Downtown Mall, which is by far my favourite part of Charlottesville. I spend my lunch and coffee breaks people watching and sampling some of C'ville's great restaurants. Perfect!

But all of that is cosmetic.

When I started my internship search, I was very focussed on consulting. I wanted to do consulting because of the ability to gain experience over a variety of functions and take on new challenges every couple of months. Anyway, Relay Foods excited me because it would give me the opportunity to work across functions, make an impact, and be part of a growing company. As it turns out, my internship is being constructed like a consulting project. I am working with a project manager who is a Darden professor who was a partner at a consulting firm pre-Darden and has already taught me a LOT about strategy, operations and marketing. In addition to getting the consulting experience that I really wanted, I get to use a lot of the skills I learned in my favourite class - Decision Analysis and Optimization.

All that said, it's also going to be quite an intense summer. I can't believe a week has already flown by! Given how much I want to accomplish yet, I know there are going to be many long days in the future.

Step One: Watch and Listen

After a ten-month hiatus from the work world, I set my alarm early this morning, donned a suit and heels, and showed up to fill out all sorts of paperwork and get oriented.

First lesson: suit not required. No, in a start-up, where there's a good chance that you may end up loading trucks or sorting groceries, it's less important to dress to impress than it is to be able to weather whatever tasks arise during the day. I still haven't figured out exactly WHAT the dress code is, but I DO know that I am in need of some new cute FLAT shoes and may have to hit up the Nine West outlet this weekend. ;-)

Second lesson: start-ups are awesome. Not only did I see everyone perform a huge variety of tasks today, but there is tons of enthusiasm and energy in the company. It was hard to find a place to sit without getting in anyone's way, but nobody minded having someone in their way, since it seems to be standard operating procedure. One of the reasons I chose this company was because of the breadth and depth of expertise, and today I was reminded just how prevalent that is. And I'm a little sad that I won't be spending every day at the warehouse, but at the same time, it will be good to have a working space so I can focus on all the fun analysis I will be doing. (No, that's not sarcastic... I'm a quant nerd.) And my working space is downtown, so I will definitely be hitting up all the great downtown eateries that are only open during the day. (There's a sandwich shop called Baggby's, or something, that I heard of before I moved here but have never actually tried!)

Third lesson: your first, well, at least a week on the job, the best thing you can do is use only your eyes and ears and keep your mouth shut. As much as I may feel I learned during my first year at Darden, I still need to learn as much as I can about the business before I can really start to analyze what is happening and start making recommendations. Today, there were times that I wondered if I could possibly add value considering the depth of knowledge and insight already at the company. Fortunately, I have one thing that all those other people don't have: time. And hopefully, I can start with that, pick off the "low-hanging fruit", and then add some value before my short internship time is up.

Building a House

Not me... My parents. And they're blogging about it. It's the second house they've designed and built, and this time they are taking care of everything.

http://robandelenorehouse2.blogspot.com/

Change of Pace

Many of my fellow bloggers are off on exciting adventures - at the Cannes film festival, off to India, roadtripping across the midwest, partying at beach week and getting settled into new locations for new adventures.

Me? Well, I've spent the last week recollecting myself. Life during my pre-B-school life was organized and tidy. I came down to C'ville, threw in several months of 16-hour days of work, and suddenly my ordered life became less ordered. After finishing all the "Yay! We survived first year!" celebrations and saying some tough goodbyes, the first thing I did was make a list of everything I needed to do to feel human again.

It's been a great week! I got a taste of what it's like to be a "lady who lunches" as I've tried out new restaurants (big thumbs up for Blue Moon Diner), mosied along the Downtown Mall, and spent time browsing fun stuff in the shops. My greatest triumph was having an apartment so clean that I could invite friends over for dinner at the last minute.

All of this leisure time ends Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. when I start my internship. It's probably for the best. Starting this early leaves room for exciting adventures at the end of the summer, or to stick around my internship longer and make a bigger impact. And though I haven't yet been bored, I suspect there is the possibility if I were to have yet another week of leisure.

Anyway, since this isn't particularly interesting, you can read about Brianne's road trip or Sierra's trip to Cannes.

And That Concludes Act 1

My final assignment for Darden first year was turned in on Thursday evening around 6 p.m. Ever since then, I've been meaning to write a post about finishing, but I've been too busy celebrating! I think I've had three glasses of champagne since then, baked a pie, and spent time riding roller coasters at Kings Dominion. (Though I need to go back because the Intimidator305 wasn't running yesterday!)

My MBA degree is half finished. It's been quite the year. I have learned more in this past year than I have in probably any other year of my recent life. And I haven't just learned about operations and accounting and finance. I've learned about myself, about how to be a good friend (both by having them and being one! I feel so blessed in that area), about how to balance having WAY too much on my plate, about how to say NO (to volunteer commitments), about how to relax within time constraints and that I can be pushed to the brink of what I think I can handle and come out okay. On top of all that, I've learned that Americans say "dinner" instead of "supper," "grades" instead of "marks," "soda" instead of "pop," and that they give you a weird look every time you pronounce that last letter of the alphabet as "zed."

My internship starts a week from tomorrow. I am one of the lucky few who does not have to deal with moving and packing, so I'll be spending the next week getting my life organized once again, and being a tourist around Charlottesville. If anyone has suggestions on touristy things that I can do, please feel free to leave a comment! (I've been to Monticello three times already, so please not that!)

Exams, Take 4

For three quarters, exams were a one-day, five-hour (plus printing time!) affair that came every day between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Exam week was one of bliss, since you could only write one per day, and they were all open book.

This quarter, everything changed. We wrote our core exams (LO and Ethics) yesterday and today, but the elective exams are all "at your leisure." So instead of turning in my ethics exam yesterday and going for a nice, long stroll, I ate lunch and wrote Valuation.

Some people have already finished all their elective deliverables. I am still plugging away at a business plan and have another final to write. But I'm almost there!

As for the business plan, it's actually really exciting. A local Charlottesville entrepreneur wants to start a business that will help Haiti, and I am writing his business plan with a couple of other students from my Creative Capitalism class! It's exciting because the business is actually taking off, and because it caters to my passion of alleviating poverty.

Anyway, I know that I am long overdue for an interesting blog post, but given the time constraints that is finals week, this is all I've got for now. (Actually, I can't complain... I went for sushi and a pedicure tonight...)

Summer Internship Confirmed!

The day that everyone promised me would come arrived on Saturday.

Well, technically, it came a week and a half ago, but as I was contemplating multiple choices, it didn't feel real until Saturday.

I've confirmed my internship for the summer! It's something that I really couldn't be more excited about. I'll be working with a local Charlottesville company - Relay. (They blog, too!) The basic premise of Relay Foods is that they take the hassle out of grocery shopping. Instead of driving around to multiple locations (Hot Cakes, Mona Lisa Pasta, Foods of All Nations, etc.), you submit an order one day, they pick up all your food the next day and take it to a convenient pick up location. I can put in my grocery order Tuesday night and pick it up on my way home from classes on Wednesday in the Darden faculty parking lot.

Best parts of my internship:

• I will be doing operations, and have an opportunity to make a significant impact this summer. Time permitting, I may get to dabble in a few other fun areas like strategy and marketing.
• I get to be a part of a company that is growing and generating huge momentum.
• I don't have to move.
• I get to spend the summer in Charlottesville.

Anyway, this internship search been quite the process. I've learned more about myself and how to market myself through the whole thing than I ever thought I would. But I've chugged along, built up the skills and just want to wish my encouragement to those who I know are still finalizing their summer plans. Hopefully the economy will be much improved for the Class of 2012 (I know it was much better for us than for the Class of 2010), but know that there are great opportunities that come to those who wait.

Follies and Foxfield

Follies was last night at Darden. Rather than writing a lot about it, I thought I'd share my favourite video: Darden Dancing.

Going out for a friend's birthday last night was probably not the best idea, seeing as how I should have been on the bus for Foxfield at 9 a.m. Since I never really understood what the whole deal with Foxfield was, I opted for skipping the bus. With the temperature in the 50s, and ominous clouds looming over Charlottesville and surrounding area, I decided Foxfield was not for me. However, halfway through the morning, one of my friends texted to tell me all the fun I was missing, so I called a cab, threw on a sundress, and headed out to see what all the fuss was about.

Foxfield, as best as I can tell, is a very Virginia tradition. It reminds me of football and tailgating. Girls in sun dresses, pearls, hats (and galoshes) and guys with seer suckers or shorts and dress shirts. The Darden tent is located in the middle of the race track, and occasionally a few horses will run by as part of the Steeplechase. While the Darden tent definitely seemed classier than most of the undergrad area, I must admit that I left right as the keg stands started.

All in all, Foxfield is an essential part of the Charlottesville experience. If nothing else, you feel very much like you're in the American South.

Sprint to the Finish

Life in the MBA world flies by way too quickly. It feels like just yesterday that I was contemplating my upcoming move to Virginia, and reading the blogs of then-first year students. Their lives seemed so distant from my own. They were sitting out on the grass of Flagler courtyard and I was still hoping that it would stop snowing in Edmonton. The end of my first year at Darden seemed ages away.

But here I am. Less than two weeks left of classes, then four exams, and then it's all done. And the way my Outlook calendar is looking, these next few weeks are going to FLY by. Darden Follies is on Friday, followed by the much-anticipated Foxfields. (If you don't know what Foxfields is, I'll have to explain it AFTER I attend. My understanding is that the whole event is centered around horse racing, but only in the sense that horses racing is the excuse that everyone uses to get dressed up in sundresses and seersuckers and spend the day drinking and not working on cases.)

And then it's one week of classes, a weekend in Winnipeg, finals and first year is over and out. At this point, I should be welcoming the soon-coming breath of fresh air, but it makes me sad more than anything. I've realized that all those blogs that I read last year were written by people who will soon be graduating. And I've realized that I will be graduating much, much too soon and leaving this adventure that is Darden.

While it is too soon for a full-blown reflect-on-the-first-year post (but, let's be serious, I'm procrastinating on calculating equity residuals!), I do cherish the lessons I've learned and the friends I've made. Nothing bonds people together like an intense pressure-cooker environment. I can't say that every experience has been sunshine and lollipops, but since I'm not dead, by definition, I must be stronger, right?

Anyway, I could continue to reflect, but those equity residuals are not going to calculate themselves. AND, I'm better off savouring the next two weeks (or maybe just surviving... there's a LOT on my plate!) rather than being sad about how quickly they will pass.

Too Much Choice...

The first year at Darden is pretty much a boot camp. You show up to orientation, you get placed in a section, you are told which classes you are taking. It's like drinking from a firehose, but it's regimented and predictable.

Last Tuesday, we were given a brief orientation on how to choose ALL OUR ELECTIVES for second year. Suddenly, I'm longing for the days of "you will take Decision Analysis at 8 a.m., Accounting at 10 a.m. and Leading Organizations at 11:45 a.m." Instead, my world consists of trying to figure out which classes I want to take, when I want to take them, who I want to take them with... and once that is all over, how many bid points to allocate to each. I keep narrowing it down, making decisions, and going back.

In other news, though I'm not entirely sure yet WHICH company I will be interning at, I do know that I will be spending my summer in Charlottesville. I've got one opportunity that I'm VERY excited about, and another that I am also excited about, but on the waitlist. I'm very excited that I will no longer be doing practice interviews or stressing about which major city will net me the most profit through panhandling for the summer! Depending on how the company views the blogosphere, I hope to blog about my summer experiences.

My Favourite New Technology

An episode of 30 Rock just finished playing on my TV. Now, this in itself would be uneventful, since 30 Rock frequently comes on TV, or you can watch it on DVD. What makes this particular viewing of 30 Rock cool is that it played on my Wii, through instant Netflix streaming.

When I found out I could download books straight to my iPhone a month or two ago, I thought that was pretty cool. I think this Wii/Netflix thing wins as my favourite new technology. Although the instant streaming library isn't as extensive as the DVD library, there are still plenty of options.

Action > Awareness

Some classes at Darden are dangerous.

Some of my fellow students would argue that it's DAO (Data Analysis and Optimization) or Valuations that are the dangerous classes. I've found that another class is dangerous: Creative Capitalism.

When I left the not-for-profit world to go into business school some six years ago, I thought I had left the social space. The reality is that I never truly escaped it. Concern for others is in my blood. It was in my blood when I ran day camps for two summers between my years of undergraduate studies (and if you've ever spent a summer recruiting 150 volunteers and then indirectly managing a whole handful of kids, you probably know that it's a lot more work than interning in an office somewhere). It was in my blood when I was enlisted to run our workplace United Way campaign.

So I don't know why I thought I could escape it and dream of a career earning tonnes of money and purchasing my heart's content worth of Jimmy Choos and Cole Haans. (shoes, for the uninformed in women's fashion)

In reality, if I wanted to escape my social conscience, I should have avoided Creative Capitalism. I thought that I could satisfy my social conscience by making people "aware" of the problems in the world and then maybe throwing some of my 10% tithe at them. (the problems, not the people)

But I'm finding that awareness is relatively useless. Yay, so I'm aware that there is an insanely high rate of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. I can tell you, and you would be aware, too. Yippee. Now we both know and can tell other people who will also know. How does that help the orphaned child in Swaziland?

Taking a class on Creative Capitalism is offering opportunities for action. All entrepreneurship comes from the examination of "pains". Tonight I'm going to order my groceries online for pick-up tomorrow afternoon in my school parking lot. That effort was a result of someone getting frustrated about driving around picking up groceries.

In the same way, social entrepreneurship comes from social pains. I haven't figured it out yet, but there's a way to solve the AIDS problem if we think carefully. In fact, the inventors of the female condom have found one way to halt the spread of AIDS. Going beyond AIDS to poverty in general, I have a classmate who invests in farms in sub-Saharan Africa which create jobs and get the economy flowing.

I will never be content simply running discounted cash flows and nursing my designer shoe budget. The more I sit in Creative Capitalism, the more of an impetus I feel for leaving my mark on society. Jon Foreman "tweeted" this quote today: "Lives, like money, are spent. What are you buying with yours?" - Roy H. Williams

The Best Word You'll Use at Darden

Tonight I have some advice for the incoming first years, the Class of 2012.

There are many different things you will learn at Darden. By the time you finish here, you will have acquired a strange new vocabulary with all sorts of crazy acronyms, like DA(1), TNDC(2), GEM(3), WACC(4) and LO(5).

But I'd like to suggest to you that there is one word that you need to learn before you come to Darden. As I sit here now contemplating the HUGE to-do list that comprises my week, I woefully regret that I did not make better use of the word last semester.

See, Darden is tricky. All these clubs and volunteer opportunities are presented to you as opportunities that will come at a later time; a time when you have your internship secured and have entered fourth quarter bliss. In some ways, these volunteer opportunities are akin to shopping in a store where the clerk whisks away each item you've decided to purchase until you are ready to pay for it. Then, when you get up to the front desk, you realize that you've committed to purchasing way too much stuff, but it's too late to put any of it back.

As you know by now, the word is "NO."

I came into Darden with a clear intent of getting involved in ONLY the things I was REALLY passionate about. As it turns out, I'm passionate about too many things. To make matters worse, I am still on the hunt for an internship. (Though that hunt will be over after Wednesday, since I'm going to run off to a tropical beach and find myself an internship as a cocktail creation consultant if none of my current opportunities pan out.)

Anyway, this warning is probably coming way too far in advance, but I hope you will heed it nonetheless! There are a lot of opportunities at Darden. None of us will want for things to do or opportunities to get involved and build our skills. The trick is figuring out where you can best add value.

(1) Decision Analysis

(2) Thursday Night Drinking Club

(3) Global Economies and Markets

(4) Weighted Average Cost of Capital

(5) Leading Organizations

Rethinking Aid in Africa - A Guest Post

Few will deny that there is a clear moral imperative for humanitarian and charity-based aid to step in when a country or continent encounters a crisis, such as the recent earthquake in Haiti. Nevertheless, it's worth reminding ourselves what emergency and charity-based aid has its limits. Aid-supported scholarships have certainly helped send African students to school, and food aid has helped feed millions of people affected by persistent drought. This kind of aid can provide band-aid solutions to alleviate immediate suffering, but by its very nature cannot be the platform for long-term sustainable growth.

Over the past 60 years at least $1 trillion of development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to Africa. Yet real per-capita income today is lower than it was in the 1970s, and more than 50% of the population -- over 350 million people -- live on less than a dollar a day, a figure that has nearly doubled in two decades.

Development related aid has also created aid dependency in many African governments in Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Somalia, Mali, Chad, Mauritania and Sierra Leone from 1970 to 2002, over 70% of total government spending came from foreign aid, according to figures from the World Bank this dependency makes this governments complacent in initiating any projects that may increase tax revenue since they are guaranteed “free money” every year.

On the surface development aid appears to be benign intervention, however unintended consequences can leave the recipients’ worse off say there is a tailor in small-town Africa who employs ten people and his company manufactures 500 clothes a week. Typically, these 10 employees support upward of 5 relatives each. An aid program generously supplies the affected region with tons of free clothes. This promptly puts the clothing manufacturer out of business, and now his 10 employees can no longer support their 50 dependents. In a couple of years, most of the donated clothes will be torn and useless, but now there is no tailor to go to. They'll have to get more aid. So long as there is a constant supply of free clothes local manufacturers cannot operate profitably.

If aid is not the solution, what is? The answer to this question is trade. Take the case of Botswana as an example, At the time Botswana became fully independent in 1966 it was a desperately poor country. Like most of the other countries in Africa, it had a per capita annual income of $100 by 2008 Botswana has a per capita annual income of $14,906, granted Botswana is blessed with huge diamond deposits but so is Congo, what has made Botswana a success is a policy of not depending on aid, investing in local industries and learning to live within its means.

Africa is a continent blessed with a large variety of natural resources, key among the resources is land. A recent study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) indicated that less than half of Africa’s agricultural potential is in use. Given the projected rise in global food demand over the next 50 years Africa has the opportunity of using trade to build sustainable economies which depend on trade in agricultural resources, natural resources and other services and not on development aid.

- John Mwangi

John Mwangi is a fellow Section V'er and comes to Darden from the country of Kenya. He graciously sent his Management Communication (MC) paper from last quarter to me so I could share his thoughts with the blogosphere.

Day of Rest

Over ten years ago, I decided that I needed to heed the third commandment and institute a day of rest into my week. Over ten years, I have stuck fairly rigorously to this commitment, and it's been a good decision.

Since coming to Darden, I knew it would be a challenge to maintain this day of rest. Sundays (for somewhat obvious reasons, namely, that I go to church anyway) were typically my day off, and with learning teams meeting on Sunday, I knew this wasn't an option. It's been challenging to keep up with my commitment, but I've made it through thus far, and I think that I can only keep a schedule as busy as mine BECAUSE I take a day off.

This past week was absolutely insane for me. In addition to having an assignment due tomorrow, I have two HUGE volunteer projects and another leadership responsibility creeping up. It would have been easy to throw in the towel and just save today for getting some work done.

But I didn't. I got home last night after working all day painting, running errands and pulling up carpet tacks and finished my assignment.

The reward? Today I've been able to set aside all my other stresses and enjoy the sun and the gorgeous spring here in C'ville. Never before have I seen quite so many flowering trees. Spring here is a months-long event, with each portion of nature patiently waiting for it's turn to unveil.

A lot of people think that they couldn't fit in their own day of rest in the week. I just want to encourage you that my day off keeps me sane and keeps me going the rest of the week. I don't think I'm particularly lazy or particularly brilliant (with an ability to do schoolwork in a shorter amount of time). Primarily, I'm just stubborn.

I encourage you to give it a shot. :-)

Darden Structure and International Experiences

In the comments section of my previous blog post, I received some questions regarding how Darden could increase international exposure, as well as what the benefits are of how Darden structures the year. Rather than replying in the comment section, I figured I would write a blog.

First, Darden and international exposure...

There are a variety of ways through which Darden gives an international exposure through the curriculum. As you may be aware, there are GBEs (global business experiences) to a wide variety of places: Barcelona, Brazil, Stockholm, Mexico City, Argentina, Bahrain, and a bunch of other places that I cannot currently recall. Students have the opportunity to attend up to two of these through their time at Darden. Beyond this, partnerships with companies like Danaher offer students the opportunity to go and do projects in their overseas divisions (this past spring break, some of my classmates did a Kaizen event in India). So there are opportunities for short trips abroad to get a glimpse of culture and business in foreign countries. If you want something longer, Darden has exchange programs with a number of partner schools. Off the top of my head, I can think of students who have gone to Sweden, Barcelona, Italy and Japan. There are more, though!

Another international flavour that Darden brings is international cases. By no means are the cases we study centered on American companies. I can't estimate the portion of the breakdown, but there are a lot of international cases that we study.

And finally, of course, there are international students. These students (of which I am one, though culturally, there isn't a significant difference between Canadians and Americans) bring their cultural knowledge and experiences into both the classroom and the extracurricular time. Just this past Saturday, I enjoyed Indian dancing at the Bollywood night. The richness of the international experience depends on how immersed you are with international students. Because I had the opportunity to attend international student orientation (well, not opportunity so much as requirement), I got to know a bunch of international students.

Structure of Darden Curriculum

Since there are changes on the horizon, all I can say is that the benefit of the Darden structure is that it allows for modular learning. If we only took five courses in first semester, I don't know that we'd be as prepared as we needed to be for interviews. Using shorter chunks of time for courses allows us to integrate learning across subject areas because there is more variety.

**Note: Just wanted to clarify that the change is not with the curriculum, but the structure (i.e. when each module is delivered). I think the move is toward six terms rather than four quarters.

Anyway, I am happy to answer your questions, so feel free to leave some in the comments. I generally check them fairly regularly.

Congrats Round 2 Admits!

The latest round of acceptances were released on Friday at midnight. Congrats to everyone who was admitted!

In honour of your admission, I would like to present Julie's Official Do-Before-Darden Starts guide.

1. Relax and enjoy life. Get in a trip you've been thinking about, enjoy a hobby, spend time with your friends, read all the books you've been thinking about reading.
2. If you're still working, DON'T throw in the towel and coast until your end date. I finished my job on July 17 and had a few weeks off and was immediately thrown into stressing about my internship when International Student Orientation started on August 10. What you want to do while you are still at work is find ways to create measurable improvements at your workplace. You'll want resume bullets that fit the STAR format (Situation/Task, Action, Results... with results quantified wherever possible), so make sure you view the rest of your time at work with a view of building up these resume bullets.
3. Follow all the stuff on the Darden checklist. I can't remember it, but all the logistical details are taken care of with that list. For things like housing, there is some incentive to take care of it sooner than later. My roommate and I got the sweetest building in the complex because we signed our lease as soon as we could.
4. Relax and enjoy life. I say it again because it's the most important. Darden first year, and especially first semester, has been described as drinking from a fire hose. They are changing up the program next year to make the structure a bit more manageable, but I went the first couple months without reading any non-Darden books, scrambling to find time to call my friends and family back home, and dreaming of time that I could go hiking. It's all worth it, but I just want to emphasize that now is better spent relaxing and enjoying life than attempting to learn everything you possibly can about accounting.

Hope that helps. Congrats again!

Creative Capitalism Live Blog

"There isn't a person in this room who couldn't do what Mohammad Yunus did." - Ed Freeman, Darden Professor, March 23, 2010

Mohammad Yunus, in case you are not familiar with him, won the Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering Grameen Bank and the concept of micro-credit. Micro-credit is the concept of giving itty, bitty loans (like $25) to people who need them to get capital to start their businesses. If you are at all interested, I highly recommend Banker to the Poor.

Can I really change the world? According to my Creative Capitalism prof, yes.

The question is not if, but how.

Q4: Preview of *GULP* Second Year

For the first three quarters of my time at Darden, I bought into a lie. I bought into the lie that Second Year was much easier than First Year. I also bought into the lie that Q4 would be much like Second Year.

I suppose, if you aren't volunteering as a House Captain for Building Goodness in April, a consultant for OCI (Opportunity Consultants, Inc.) and still looking for an internship, that this could be true. That said, I am doing all of the above things, and as a result, it seems that the free time formerly occupied by learning teams has been gobbled up by meetings and interview prep.

Anyway, Q4 brings with it a wealth of changes: electives and the end of learning teams. Since the only classes that are required are leading organizations and ethics, there is less need to meet to go over spreadsheets and calculations for classes. This means that learning teams are finished. Of course, as I struggle to value interest rate swaps for my valuations class tomorrow, I am wishing that I still had my learning team to meet with.

There is a whole range of electives. I am taking data analysis and optimization (DAO), valuations and creative capitalism. I can't decide which I am most excited about. DAO provides the opportunity to model business problems in Excel, something which may not excite the average person but gives me feelings of great control. On the other hand, I am doing a tangible project for my creative capitalism class. Plus, this whole business thing is supposed to end up with me doing something good for society at some point along the way, and creative capitalism gives me the opportunity to start exploring what options will allow me to do that.

So, that's Q4. I can't complain too much. After all, the weather is infinitely nicer than it is back home, and this weekend (despite interview practice, volunteer meetings and case prep) has included a hike, Arch's frozen yogurt on the patio, and dinner on the Downtown Mall (Charlottesville's most redeeming feature, in my opinion).

Oh yeah, and did I mention that this is also leadership transition time? I'm taking over as president of Darden Christian Fellowship (DCF) for next year. Super excited... especially since it's the only thing on my plate for next year. Hoping to make it awesome, and would love to get in touch with any incoming students to hear some of your thoughts on DCF. Shoot me an email at missjoolz@hotmail.com. (Or my Darden email address, which is LastNameFirstInitial11@darden.virginia.edu)

Oops! Guess I Use Kindle Now

The concept of portable book readers has long appealed to me. Unfortunately, when I lived in Canada, the Kindle was not available outside the US. By the time I moved to the US to go to school, I was in school, and thus my leisure reading declined in favour of cases and textbooks. Sigh.

Over Thanksgiving, I rekindled my love of books, but having gotten used to the touch-screen convenience of my iPhone, the buttons on the Kindle kind of annoyed me. How can I get used to such an archaic device when I was so used to the function on my iPhone? (Yes, this sounds ridiculous, but if you've ever flipped through photos on an iPhone, you'll understand.)

Just before Christmas, Barnes and Noble put out a tempting offer for my eBook reader desires: the Nook. It had a touchscreen, and as far as I could tell, was otherwise competitive with the Kindle. Although I wasn't ready to make the purchase myself, I did think it might make a lovely Christmas present. They were, of course, sold out, but my Mom suggested I look into a book reader app for my iPhone.

Of course, there is an app: a Kindle app. And it's free to download. So I installed it on my phone, and now I buy most of my books that way. I actually bought my first book for school that way today.

When I got an email from Amazon today informing me there is now an application for my computer to read all my Kindle books, I realized that without even purchasing one, I've become loyal to the Kindle. My library is currently being built up with books, all of which need to be accessed on some sort of Kindle related app. If I ever buy a portable book reader (not sure if the iPhone battery cuts it for long plane trips and reading books), it will be a Kindle, not a Nook, after all.

It's funny, because the same thing happen with Apple to make me iPod dependent. Apple just put up this convenient, easy-to-use store and application that just made it SO, SO easy to download .99 songs and create CDs. When I made the leap to portable music player, it had to be an iPod.

So, what does this mean for business? Having just completed my strategy course over spring break, this seems like a great strategic option. It's not an accident on Amazon's part that I now use the Kindle. Their use of integration created barriers to entry for other potential eBook readers by raising the cost of switching for me. As I slowly build up my collection of eBooks, the cost to replace them with another devices format gets higher and higher.

Anyway, I won't continue to theorize on how this strategy is successful. Instead, I will just hope that Amazon can take a design cue from Apple and produce a Kindle with a convenient, easy-to-use, shiny touch screen by the time I'm in the market.

Barcelona GBE (Global Business Experience)

How can you go wrong when you sign up for a course that a) means one less course next year, b) involves strategy, c) takes place in Barcelona and d) involves looking at all the popular tourist destinations?

Well, let me suggest two ways that this strategy might not pay off. First... if the week in Barcelona (which I was sure would be in the 60s, after all, they have palm trees down there!) contains the worst snowstorm since 1962. Second... if the last few days of your trip are spent in your hotel room as you battle a mysterious illness. (Okay, to be fair, I did not require a visit from a Spanish doctor as some of my fellow travellers did, but I still don't consider this the best way to spend Spring Break!)

Anyway, my impressions of Barcelona are suffering from recency. If I dig a little deeper into my memory, I remember that we had some really good times. So...

The course was on viewing strategy through the design lens. After a quarter of learning frameworks and discussing capabilities, the transition to a more metaphorical view of strategy was definitely interesting. We looked at how designers like Gaudi, Picasso and Dali created breakthrough innovations and then discussed how we can apply those to business strategy. This process involved looking at a whole lot of Gaudi architecture (Colonia Guell, Parc Guell, Sagrada Familia, Casa Mila, Casa Battlo), visiting the Picasso and Salvador Dali museums, and visiting a number of other really old cities and cathedrals. It was a good switch to go from the spreadsheet-focused analytical mindset to the art-viewing creative mindset. (Of course, that said, I do miss my spreadsheets after putting together a scrapbook-type journal as an assignment for the course!)

Throw in some Spanish nightlife, endless paella, tapas and sangria, thirty fun Darden students and some great shopping, and you've got yourself a great trip. I would definitely recommend the Barcelona GBE to anyone considering it, but would also recommend that you avoid getting sick and aim for beach weather instead of "oops, I should have brought my snow boots with me from Canada" weather!

For some more detailed recollections of the trip, check out http://www.legalmbayhem.com for some more posts. She live-blogged throughout the trip, and has even included a pic of the snow.

Small Town Movie Theatre

With our first exam in the bag, LegalMBAyhem and I decided to see a long overdue movie at the local cinema.

When I made the decision to come to Charlottesville, I knew I was giving up many of my big city amenities. The frustrations in lack of good shopping have been apparent, but this afternoon, I have discovered a new one: movie theatres.

Now, I'm not talking about the lack of reclining seats, large screens and stadium style seating. I'm talking about a few of the following examples:

- Lighting: we walked into the theatre and there were NO LIGHTS. Good thing we have smart phones for illumination.

- Movies starting on schedule AND running all the way through: a few minutes after the movie was supposed to start, the first commercial came on. After that, the lights went back on, and the pre-movie radio station started up again.

- Not being accused of stealing pens: As we were sitting and waiting for the now-overdue movie to start, the man who sold my friend her ticket came into the theatre looking for the pen she used to sign her credit card slip. He then asked us when the movie was supposed to start, and we said "ten minutes ago."

- Movies that start on time: We eventually had to go and ask them to start the movie again.

Oh, Charlottesville.

Sent from my iPhone

Last Patriotic Post, I Promise

The Winter Olympic Closing Ceremonies are on TV, and I'm thus beginning the end of my extreme patriotism.

Canada beat the US in hockey this afternoon. It was sweet revenge after all the ribbing I took last week when we lost. Of course, staying true to my Canadian nature, I am avoiding the temptation to gloat to a few certain key people. I DID send an email back to the guy on my learning team who rubbed in the loss last week saying congratulations on the silver medal, though.

Speaking of which, if you are an American reading this, congrats on the silver!

Several other things are making me swelteringly proud of my country today.

1) We broke the record for most gold medals ever in the Winter Olympics. In 1976, USSR had 13. We finished with 14.

2) After the Olympic torch fiasco at the opening ceremonies, we chose to laugh it off and opened the closing ceremonies with a spoof.



3) While people DID watch the game down here in Charlottesville, most of my friends showed up minutes before it started. Back home, people were lining up outside the bars at 7:30 in the morning to get in and watch the game. Way to love hockey!



So, I'm not done with being patriotic, but I think that with the Olympics ending, I won't feel the same swell of pride and homesickness that have haunted me over the past two weeks. If you are up there in Canada, know that I wish I could be celebrating on the streets and spontaneously bursting into the anthem with you all!

Go Canada!!!

So, there are many things I could blog about. It's the last day of Q3, and all that stands between me and Barcelona is four exams and one DA class. Yesterday, I came across a really cool opportunity to satisfy class credit, help out the Haitian economy, and work with a successful local businessman.

But all of those things can wait (Q3, Barcelona Global Business Experience (GBE), Creative Capitalism class) in favour of blogging about the fact that my country totally rocks.

After losing an inconsequential game to the Americans in men's hockey on Sunday, I took a lot of verbal beating. People that I didn't know were sending me messages via Office Communicator to rub in the loss. All of that made last night's 7-3 beating of Russia that much sweeter.

Just for the record, I've been trying to be as nice as possible to my Russian friends, all of whom trash-talked me before the game.

To further amplify my sense of national pride, we won gold and silver in bob-sledding and have a guaranteed medal today in women's hockey.

I'd write more about why Canada is awesome, but my final class of Q3 is about to start!

Homesick... Where's the Hoser Hut?

In case you are living under a rock, you are probably aware that the Olympics are going on back in my home and native land.

Over the past few days, I've watched the opening ceremonies, watched Jennifer Heil lose the gold medal to an American in women's moguls, and celebrated Bilodeau's first gold on Canadian soil. I am currently sporting my official Olympic Hudson's Bay Company Canada hoodie.

This morning, I started planning a Canada vs. USA hockey game viewing which has morphed into a Canada-themed party. I've looked up Canada flags on Amazon and tried to figure out where I can buy cheese curds to make poutine.

If that wasn't enough to set me homesick, tonight's episode of How I Met Your Mother featured a trip to Toronto, complete with a visit to Tim Horton's and a view of the pretty Canadian five dollar bill.

I think it's official... I'm homesick!

In the spirit of the day, check out the Molson Canadian rant.

Happy Valentine's Day! (And why I'm happy to be alone for this one and next)

One of my fellow bloggers posted a great piece about dating within the Darden bubble. As a balance to her piece, I wanted to write something for all those of you who find yourself putting your own flowers through the grocery check-out. (Oh, or am I the only one who buys myself flowers?)

Miss MBA did a great job of outlining some of the pitfalls of dating at Darden. I'll take some of hers and add a few of my own:

• Lack of available men and women (though I disagree that most of the good girls are taken, since I've got some AMAZING single friends)
• Hook-up culture (hint to the girls: hooking up with a guy most definitely does not mean he will pursue a relationship)
• Lack of time
• Darden Bubble Time Warp: you can know someone for a month, but due to the fact that you see them every single day and potentially spend hours and hours together, you feel like you've known them a year. This is great, but it can lead things to moving too fast and depriving you of the opportunity of seeing them over several seasons of life.
• Incompatible life plans: It isn't always the case that you will meet someone who wants to end up in the same geographic location as you. Given this, a committed relationship is tough because it means that either someone will have to compromise, or you eventually break up. In fact, for many new Darden couples, the first big challenge is going to come over the summer when they are thrown into a mandatory long-distance relationship.

Given these challenges, I've heard that successful, long-term relationships are the exception rather than the rule at Darden (and B-school in general). Now, for a girl who was forced to buy her own flowers on Valentine's Day, this may be a depressing revelation. What do you mean, I'm going to be single for the next year and a half?

However, my strategy class has taught me well. When it comes to dating, I've done the environmental analysis. Given these facts, how can I best position myself for the future? Is it possible that this is not a challenge or something to be woeful about, but an opportunity?

Well, I'm glad you asked. Over the past little while (i.e. since my somewhat cynical blog post of a few days ago), I've learned to see this season of my life as an incredible opportunity. So here are the reasons why I'm glad that I will be single for the next little while.

• When will I ever again be surrounded by so many amazing single women who are more focused on their careers than on dating and marriage? There are definitely relationships around here, but for the most part, there isn't pressure to find someone or have dating stories to bring to cocktail hour.
• No pressure. I've accepted the fact that I'm going to be single, thus I do not have to worry about whether a guy seems interested or not. I don't need to feel like I need to go out and find a date for the upcoming SHE auction. I can go and look fabulous all on my own. (AND, most of my friends are also going stag, which builds on my previous point.)
• This may come as a surprise, but I'm not perfect. I've realized that while I've got a strict list of qualities that any man I date must posess, I've given no thought to whether I'm good enough for that man. Having a distinct season of singleness will allow me to work through some of those things that will better prepare me to be a better girlfriend and wife.
• Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility... Next year, when I start making decisions about where I'm going to live and what I'm going to do, all that will factor into those decisions is which companies will hire me and what I want to do. I won't be conflicted about how much to factor in my boyfriend, or feel upset that he isn't thinking about me.

Why I Love Darden

In honour of the Day at Darden event today, I figured I would share some of the things I love about Darden that have really hit home today.

1. There has never been a more intense training for public speaking and being forced to back up your answers. This quarter especially, I really feel the pressure to speak confidently, without hesitation. I have always been used to trying to be somewhat tentative in order to build buy-in. This isn't always the best way to build communication. When I've stated an answer like a question in a few classes, I've had profs call me out on it. Now I'm learning to speak with certainty. I think it's a much needed skill. (And guess what, I can still use my old skills to build buy-in.)
2. Today was a fun moment where everything came together. We used Decision Analysis (DA) in our strategy class. I love it when we've been dancing around concepts, and then you pull them up in another class, only to discover that after a few days of sneaky case-based learning, you actually know something new.
3. Perhaps the most important part... And here's the honest, two-sided view of Darden... This week was horrible for me. Between a big group project paper due this afternoon, a full week of cases, several volunteer commitments, another paper coming up AND trying to get into the internship search, I had a brutal week. (Oh yeah, and my car is buried under three feet of snow. Yippee.) I was up until 1:30 several nights, despite usually being able to a strict bed-by-midnight policy. BUT, I have amazing friends down here. The community at Darden is so amazing.

So, those tips and tricks on transitioning to Darden are still coming. (Though I'm mostly planning on going back through my blog and borrowing old material, so if you can't wait, feel free to search my Darden posts!)

Julie's Trinity

In honour of the upcoming Hallmark-created-hell-day that is approaching on Sunday, and a conversation during our blogger meeting about whether we, as bloggers, should be blogging about things such as dating at Darden, I would like to unveil my latest relationship theory: Julie's Trinity.

In our Global Economies and Markets (GEM) class, we learned about Mundell's Trinity, which is the economic law that a country can only achieve MAX two of the following objectives:

• fixed exchange rate,
• unlimited capital flows
• independent monetary policy

Now, I would like to present to you... Julie's Trinity.

In interactions with guys, a girl can have MAX two of the following three things:

• attention
• physical intimacy
• committed relationship

And, although one of my fellow bloggers did not want to put this in a blog post, I will warn all prospective female students that if the available dating pool is a consideration for you at any B-school, I would encourage you to instead check out the local scene or the affiliated law, medical or other graduate schools.

On a completely different note... I would like to wish a belated congratulations to all the first round admits to the Class of 2012! Stay tuned for a post on my tips for your transition to Darden.

Snowmageddon 2010

As we came closer and closer to the weekend, the snow forecast grew from 6 inches to 40, and with each retelling, Snowmageddon became more and more epic.

The final snow accumulation, as per the National Weather Service, was 13 inches. Although I have no desire to brush off my car and drive anywhere, the roads have been kept clear, restaurants and grocery stores have been kept open, and yesterday's basketball game against Wake-Forest was played. (Although they gave all students free admission at the door, and discouraged people from driving in.)

The only thing I've missed out on this weekend due to cancellations was church this morning. I guess it's just as well, since my friend and I were debating yesterday about which of us would get stuck brushing the snow off our cars in the morning anyway.

Here are some pictures from the epic adventure that has been Snowmageddon 2010. The car in the last picture is not mine, but gives an idea of what the snow looks like. I think by that point, it was pretty much done falling. Today has dawned bright and sunny.

Life and Love and Why

For some time, I've debated about what kind of content to include on my blog. If you've been following along my blog since May, you may remember the post on Blog with an Identity Crisis.

Since becoming an official student blogger, and thus having most of the traffic coming to my blog through the Darden website, I've especially struggled with how comfortable I can be on posting thoughts on my faith. It's not that I am ashamed of my faith or anything, but I always feel like I need to make a disclaimer before I start writing.

So... I have started a new blog on thoughts on my faith throughout the remainder of my time at Darden. The blog is named after one of my favourite Switchfoot songs - Life and Love and Why. I'll have the posts streamed through one of the columns on the right.

This isn't to say that I will completely cut my faith out of this blog, but really overt thoughts on faith will be relegated to the other blog. Feel free to journey along over there.

Snow Days

One of the advantages of being a student is the ability to do tasks that are normally done when everyone else is doing them at times when everyone else is at work. Grocery shopping is one of the best examples of this. Weekday afternoons typically provide ample parking and small check-out lines.

In fact, there are very few times when weekday afternoons have crowded grocery stores (Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve pretty much sum it up). So, as I saw the snow starting to come down and recalled my previous experience with snow in Virginia (during which I just walked through the snow to the grocery store), I figured I would take a quick trip to pick up food so I would be able to simply hibernate should my car be buried under a foot of snow again.

I couldn't find a parking spot.

As someone who grew up with snow as a constant fact during the winter, the reaction of people down here to the snow is a bit of a culture shock for me. In fact, not to sound like your grandma telling woe-is-me tales, I can remember going out to start my car in -40 weather (-56 with windchill), driving to work while one lane of traffic was basically a snow drift, and running into the office. So, a dusting of snow and temperatures hovering around zero is nothing. But, as a dual degree student mentioned this morning, they only got a total of 3 or 4 inches of snow last year. So the fact that we are expecting 4 to 6 inches tonight is a big deal.

I'm hoping for a snow day tomorrow. I can't recall that I've ever had one.

On Toques and Toboganning (Or Hats and Sledding, If You Speak American)

Yesterday, I had a "Robin moment".

Robin, for those of you who do not watch How I Met Your Mother, is the quintessential Canadian in the show. On many occasions, she makes comments which are foreign to her American counterparts. Usually, on the show, these refer to inaccurate Canadian stereotypes, or are just flat out made up. (Sorry to burst your bubble if you are using the show as an encyclopedia for life in Canada.) I mean, seriously, when's the last time I heard a Canadian refer to someone as a hoser?

Yesterday we were discussing North Face jackets and the conversation drifted along to ski pants, or snow pants, and whether snow pants was an apt name for the garment. In the process of the discussion, I said, "well, I would call them snow pants because you wear them for other snow-related activities such as snowball fights, tackle football or toboganning."

"Toboganning?" was the curious response from my classmates.

"Yeah, you know, when you ride down a hill in a tobogan," I replied.

"We call that sledding."

"Right, and I suppose you don't wear toques either."

Anyway, in order to gain confidence that I was not making up either toques or toboganning, I posted a poll in my Facebook status to see whether anyone else had fond memories of toques or toboganning. The 32 comments that followed seemed to indicate that I had not, in fact, started making up random Canada facts. And that Canadians are indeed passionate about toques and tobogans.

So, my American (and international) friends, let this be a little educational moment for you. If you ever find yourself in Canada, you will need to wear a toque to keep your head warm. And should you wish for the exhilarating activity of flying down a hill at full speed on nothing more than a thin sheet of wood, it's called toboganning, not sledding.

Cville Scene

Last night I went to a Haiti Benefit concert (Hoos for Haiti) to see my Q2 Finance prof's band.

I saw a brand new side of Cville that I had never seen before.

I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting. Before my prof's band, there was a swing band, so there were remnants of swing dancers left in front of the stage. I anticipated that people would be standing around and listening to the music, as my friends and I were doing.

I was wrong.

The band began to play and the floor suddenly started moving, with people of all ages dancing in all sorts of styles. There were little toddlers bouncing around to the music, teenage girls doing their own thing, university students swing dancing, and fully-fledged adults completely rocking out. I have never seen such a concentration of long silver hair in one room.

So when we went to say hi to our finance prof after his band finished, we asked if this was normal for Charlottesville. Apparently it is. If I ever want to see it again, I simply need to wait for another benefit concert or make my way to Fridays After Five.

Maybe next time, I'll dance...

Q3, I Think We Can Be Friends

When my alarm went off at 7 a.m., I quickly brainstormed ways to hit "Snooze" - not for another 9 minutes of sleep, but for another week of vacation.

I dragged my butt into my new seat in Section V and quickly scanned the GEM (Global Economies and Markets) case for my 8 a.m. class. As Murphy's Law would have it, I got the first cold call of the quarter and completely fumbled my way through. (For the record, I don't think anyone else noticed my struggle quite like I did.)

A new quarter brings new sections and thus I am separated from my beloved Section B, forced to share a classroom with new people. The familiar classroom discussion dynamics are gone, and now we all must learn new backgrounds and names.

So going into the afternoon, I was pretty down on Q3. But then, I realized that the courseload is lighter. For the first time since arriving at Darden, I managed to make it to learning team and then get home in time to watch "How I Met Your Mother" at 8! (And that was with a triumphant discovery on how to use the new decision tree software for DA* which required us to completely remodel the tree for tomorrow's class.)

On top of all that, we only have ONE Friday with classes in all of Q3.

So, despite getting off to a rocky start, I think Q3 and I are going to get along just fine.

The other interesting dynamic of Q3 is the role of recruiting. Some students are lucky enough to have internship offers sewn up already. (Banking recruiting all happened last week.) Others are more focussed on interview prep than classroom prep. Personally, I am trying to balance coursework with practice interviews. I'm optimistic about a few great internship opportunities in the pipeline and will probably wait to say anything more until I've been offered and accepted an opportunity.

*DA = Decision Analysis

Remnants

It's still there.

My friend pointed it out the other day, and now I notice it every time I walk outside.

Last night I couldn't bring myself to park beside it, leaving an empty space between the abandoned SUV that Justin used to drive and my Acura.

Today the reality was heightened as I walked past his SUV into my apartment building, having just finished practicing the hymn a friend and I are leading for the Darden memorial service.

Grief comes and goes in pulses. The timing of Justin's death makes it all that much more difficult to deal with. Many of my friends are still away on holidays, so it's not unusual that he's gone. But every time I walk past that SUV, I'm reminded that I won't be able to call him up when I have extra pancakes, that he won't randomly stop by to say hi if I haven't talked to him in a few days, that I won't see him behind the grill for a Sunday afternoon BBQ.

He may be gone, but he is not forgotten.

Back in the 'Ville

After over four weeks of being gone from Charlottesville, I arrived back on Sunday night, relieved to discover that my car still starts and my apartment was not broken into.

Travelling from C'ville to Toronto to Edmonton to New York and then back to C'ville seemed to be a showcase of all the different aspects of my life. As I travelled from place to place, I found different facets of who I am resonating with the people and my surroundings.

Through all this time, and given travel time to think and ponder between places, I came to two conclusions. First, that there is no place in the world where every part of who I am connects with other people. There are always aspects of my personality that connect really strongly, and others that don't quite match. In many ways, I found myself at odds with Edmonton before I left, because I found myself different in significant ways. (Namely that I was not married with children, nor about to have children.) But being back, and hanging out with my married friends, I found it fun to be able to dive into competitive strategy board games (Settlers of Catan, Agricola, etc.) and have fun on that level. On top of that, my friends there have known me for 5, 10 years, some even longer, and there's something comforting about being with people who know you.

Heading to New York, I got back in touch with friends from school, who are in a much closer place in life to where I am. But we have differences, too. Differences of faith, background, ways of seeing the world. So while in the career aspect, who I am resonates much more closely to these friends, in other aspects I am different.

But the realization that I came to through all of this, which any kindergarten teacher will tell you, is that we are all unique. It would be impossible to find someone exactly like me. Thus, it makes sense that I connect with a broad range of people and can't find anyone at exactly the same place in life that I am at.

And the second realization is that getting to know these people, being in their world and connecting with their friends will open you up, stretch your comfort zone and help you grow as a person. One of my many favourite moments of the trip was visiting with my friend's friends in their NYC apartment and seeing NYC from a resident's perspective.

Public Transit

The man sitting behind me on the NJ Transit train is snoring.

In a conversation on Wednesday night with a few New Yorkers, we were
discussing the pros and cons of living in New York. While there were
many pros, what one guy said was that about once a month, you have a
"bad New York day," which usually involves taking the bus and coming
across some interesting characters.

When I took the bus yesterday, I must admit I was surprised to see
people from a wide variety of walks of life. One of the advantages of
living in a city with a great transit system is that everyone takes
transit.

I grew up in the suburbs of the city with the worst transit system in
the world. Well, it may not be the worst, but it definitely ranks up
there. And being in the suburbs definitely compounded the problem.

In the past month and a half, I have spent time in cities with great
transit systems. There are two characteristics which make these
transit systems great. First, I have been able to take transit to and
from the airport. Second, as a relatively new visitor to the city (in
Munich, it was my first visit, and it was my second visit to Toronto
and NYC), I was able to figure out and use the transit system while
being on my own, without a resident of the city. To be fair, of
course, I did have people letting me know what to look for.

Sent from my iPhone

Test Mobile

There is a setting on Blogger that allows you to update your blog by
sending an email to a secret address. As I was currently reflecting on
public transit and wishing I could blog about it from my vantage point
on the NJ Transit train, it seemed a useful feature and so I am
testing to see if it works. Blogger hasn't yet developed an iPhone
app, which is slightly unfortunate.

Sent from my iPhone

Trials and Tribulations of Interview Season

It's Friday night. I'm in, in my humble opinion, one of the best cities in the world - New York. And NYC on a Friday night offers a plethora of incredible options. There's Broadway, great restaurants, stores still open for shopping, and the list goes on and on.

What have I chosen to do?

Interview prep.

Yes... Interview season at Darden officially kicks off on Monday morning. 10:15 am on Monday for me. And I am not quite as ready as I'd like to be.

Interview prep in my life before Darden was so much less work. I was naive and foolish and thought that having a few good examples of my leadership skills and work ethic were sufficient to land me a job. And, indeed, they were. However, I am now up for jobs against people who have all the same great qualities as I do. And all those people are likely also spending their Friday evening prepping for interviews.

Making the decision to stay home and work today was quite difficult, but with NYC close by and no second chances for interviews, it was a necessary one. And it's not that I can say I've been busy spending my entire break prepping for interviews. I've gotten in some skiing and sightseeing (highly recommend the Tim Burton exhibit at MoMA!) and visiting and board game playing. But tonight I work so that tomorrow my friend and I have time for fun and celebrating her birthday.

For those of you prospective students who have tuned in to read about my thrilling interview prepping life, I'll give a quick background of on-grounds recruiting at Darden. First, companies spend the entire first semester doing company visits and wooing you with closed event parties and dinners. The next step is dropping resumes, which for me occurred mostly on December 4, the last day of classes. After that, some of the companies which previously wooed you break your heart, others surprise you with interview invitations. Interviews then run from January 11 onward, with second and final rounds, depending on the company. Classes do not start until January 18, giving companies a jump start on the interview process.

In addition to being invited for interviews, you can also bid on interview slots. Everyone is given a certain number of bid points, and you allocate these points to each company, depending on your level of interest.

Oh the Places You'll Go...

Sometimes I wonder whether the world is more similar or different than we think.

I left my home of 18 years to move to another country. Although I have always thought there was little difference between the US and Canada, having spent three months in the US, and now three weeks back in Canada, I'm noticing the little differences.

Words.

After three months of being mocked for calling the evening meal "supper," I have now been trained to call it "dinner," which gets me somewhat odd looks from my friends here, because dinner is generally a fancier/bigger meal which can occur at midday or the end of the day. So nobody orders pizza for dinner.

Soda. Pop. Soda Pop. Coke. I've always called it pop. But it seems that with my smorgasbord of friends from across the US, there is no consensus on which is correct.

Eh? After going three months with people generally pointing out at least on occasion that I have used this quintessentially Canadian word, I have been noticing that Canadians really do say it a lot.

Washroom, Restroom, Bathroom. A washroom does not have a toilet. A restroom does not have a bathtub or shower. A bathroom has all three. Thus, in a restaurant, you are most likely to be looking for a restroom. But when I tell my sisters I am looking for a restroom, they tell me to stop being so American.

Values.

It seems that different parts of the world value recycling to different degrees. For example, I have not been able to find a bin for recyclables in my apartment complex, nor do the boy scouts come around regularly to collect my cans. In Edmonton, we have blue bags for recycling, which are collected the same way as garbage. Even further, there are people that sort out the trash after it has been collected and THEN some of it gets used to produce energy. But all of this is paltry compared to what I experienced in Germany. In Germany, they separate packaging from compost and who knows what else, but the ultimate result is that very little ends up in the trash. There are bins for all of this in convenient locations, at least as far as I could tell from my sister's neighbourhood.

I think Canadian stores often offer credit cards (either for in store purchases or a Visa/Mastercard with the store's logo). I know American stores do, and my American friends seem much more willing to sign up for these aforementioned credit cards. I get offered them on a basis that is much more frequent than I ever did in Canada, but have no Social Security Number to actually take advantage of their offers.

2009: Rewind, Review, Reflect

It's that time of year... the time when I take a moment to write a highly self-indulgent blog post to ponder a year gone by and anticipate the year ahead.

While I thought that 2008 was a year filled with travel, 2009 raised the bar and gave me many new opportunities and new places. In total, I took 10 flights in 2008, but 12 in 2009.

The first set of flights in the year were to Dulles airport in Washington DC, going down to my Darden interview in Charlottesville. At the time, Charlottesville was a horribly foreign place, a place that I had reconciled myself with living in, should I get the opportunity to attend the Darden Graduate School of Business.

At the end of January, I got the phone call that changed the direction of my life... the phone call from a nice lady in admissions at Darden informing me that I had been accepted. I spent the next few months planning for a cross-country move, wrapping things up with my job, and spending as much time as possible with friends, and enjoying Edmonton.

Between finishing work, flying to Sioux City, Iowa for a wedding, and leaving for Charlottesville, I had exactly a week to pack up my life, say goodbye to everyone, and fit in a final camping trip out to the Rockies. There was definitely some stress that week, but being in the mountains for a few times was a good relaxer, and one of the highs of the year was standing on the top of a mountain that I had worked hard to climb. I had a big birthday/goodbye party, and on August 1, my sisters and I took off on a five day road trip to Charlottesville, Virginia, stopping to visit family and friends along the way.

And then Darden began. Since I've spent many, many blog posts discussing the details of my life at Darden, I'll try to sum it up quickly here. I feel like I've lived a year in the few months that I've already spent there. It's crazy how much an experience can help you change and grow, but I definitely feel that way about the last few months. I've already made good friends (who I miss being home for Christmas!), felt new things, experienced challenges I've never faced, and stretched myself to the limits.

During American Thanksgiving, I made my first cross-Atlantic trek, and visited the final of my three new places for the year: Munich, Germany. It was great to discover that all those years of high-school German were not in vain. I thoroughly enjoyed being immersed in the culture, and having my very own tour guide: my sister. It was a great first trip to Europe, and I'm already in the midst of planning my second, so I anticipate this is a new trend in my life.

Fast forward to winter break, where I flew to Toronto for a week, then back to Edmonton. Add up all the flights and connections, and you get twelve, a new record for me. Being in Edmonton is a nice bookend for the year, but I am finding that five weeks off from classes is too many, and I am itching to get back at everything.

What does 2010 hold? Well... I am taking a week-long "global business experience" in Spain over spring break. I'll finish up first year at Darden, and then start the new year in the spring, but what the summer holds I do not yet know. Although I have a few interviews lined up for internships, it is impossible to determine how it will all shake out. Perhaps those interviews and that internship will determine the remaining two of the new places I need to visit in 2010. I hope to continue learning and growing, and checking a few more things off my bucket list.

Happy New Year!

Christmas, Darden Style

It's the Eve of Christmas Eve. I am home in snowy Edmonton, reunited with my family after nearly five months apart.

My agenda for the day: clean up after last night's Gingerbread House Making extravaganza, research companies that are interviewing me (yes, I am in demand! Yay!), prep for case interviews (which will include training my family on how to deliver case interviews) and finish off with decorating sugar cookies.

My total case interview tally to date is eight. Before heading back to school in January, I hope to have completed 30 to 40, so I have a long way to go. Also on the agenda before leaving Edmonton: write the last of the cover letters, look into a few more off-grounds opportunities and prep the behavioural portion of the interview.

I was talking to a good friend from Darden the other night, and we were dreaming of everything we will be doing next Christmas, once we have full-time offers in hand. Not that I can complain, but it would be so nice to just sit back and RELAX for four weeks!

I have no words...

Tonight the worst kind of email went out to the Darden student body. It's never a good sign to see an email from the Dean that contains the name of a friend and fellow student, but as I digested the contents of the email my worst fears were realized: he had passed away.

Justin was the most talented guy I knew. He would wow me with his salsa dancing skills (and impress me with his patience as he tried to teach me) and then I would discover that he was fluent in Spanish and had climbed mountains. He was this amazing griller, which is the best kind of talent to have in a neighbour. And my neighbour he was, living directly below me. He also gave amazing hugs, one of which I could really use right now.

We went to church together, too. I remember sitting beside him as he tried to balance his Bible and his journal on his knee. We always had amazing conversations about faith and God and worship, and perhaps one of the only silver linings in this whole situation is that I have faith that I will see him again.

To my Darden family, I wish I had more words. I wish I could say more than, "I don't know what to say." But that's all I've got for now. If anyone needs to talk, please call or shoot me an email or Facebook message.

Second Coldest Place on Earth

Right now, my hometown of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada is the second coldest place on earth, with a temperature of -46C, though at that point, Celcius and Fahrenheit are fairly comparable.

It sure makes me glad that I decided to make my first stop in Canada a visit to Toronto for some job trekking. It's raining here today, suggesting that the temperature is hovering pleasantly around 0 (or 32 for all you Americans out there). The temperature for Edmonton on Friday, when I arrive, is forecasted to be somewhere between 0 and 2.

It's great to be back in Canada. There's nothing really tangible to point to that makes me love being back here, but even though I haven't spent a lot of time in Toronto previously, there's still something about the French on the signs and the colourful money that makes me feel like I'm back at home. Although it's slightly too cold for an iced cappucino, it makes me happy to see Tim Horton's around here. I feel a huge surge of pride when I see Canadian flags or maple leafs at random places in the street.

And That's a Wrap!

This surreal feeling is settling around me right now.

I've turned in my final exam for the week, officially concluding my first semester at Darden. All that stands between me and my vacation is figuring out what needs to go into my suitcase before I take off tomorrow!

My roommate left town about half an hour ago. I find it funny how in such a short time span, we've gone from stranger-showing-up-on-the-doorstep to sharing everything we've shared all semester. It's weird that I won't see her for a month! On the same vein, I am finding it weird to reflect on the amazing friendships that have developed with people who I coordinated U2 tickets with prior to Darden, people who showed up my first day here offering to help move my furniture across the very large apartment complex and people who came up and say hi because they also liked road trips.

Anyway, I could reflect on all that, but we'll all be back together for more adventures next semester. For now, I get to look forward to hanging out with old friends and family. Sisters who I shared a cross-country adventure with just four months ago, a friend who I was randomly assigned to the same project with in undergrad, and friends that I've known so long I can't even remember how we met.

Hello Hurricane, You're Not Enough

Hello Hurricane, You're not enough
Hello Hurricane, You can't silence my love
I've got doors and windows boarded up
All your dead end fury is not enough
You can't silence my love

Everything I have I count as loss
Everything I have is stripped away
But before I started building
I counted up these costs
Ain't nothing left for you to take away

- Taken from the song "Hello Hurricane" from the latest Switchfoot album of the same name

Over the twelve years that I've been listening to Switchfoot, my life has taken some very different paths. I've worked for not-for-profits, built houses in foreign countries and spent my summers working at camps with inner-city children. To someone looking at my life, it may seem a mystery that now I've ended up at one of the top MBA programs recruiting for corporate jobs.

With all this in mind, I find it ironic that one of my favourite Switchfoot songs is Company Car. As I drove back from the concert last night with a friend who also has a strong not-for-profit background, we discussed what it truly means to live a sold-out life, rather than being sell-outs. My cell phone ring for the past several years has been "we were meant to live for so much more... have we lost ourselves?"

What does it mean to live a life that is beyond myself? How do I get past the lure of company cars and Prada handbags to living a life that brings lasting value to the rest of the world? Without running down the resume list of things I'm involved with at Darden that go beyond myself, I'll say that I am still giving back to the community. But is that really what life's about? Doing what you need to for your career, and then doing some charity on the side?

I want my contribution to the world to be deeper than that. I'm not sure it means that I don't pursue my career as it is. But deep down, I'm hoping to eventually be able to use the skills and abilities and connections that I've developed to accomplish something bigger than mergers and acquisitions or growth strategies or operational efficiencies or branding. I've been talking to a few companies that show some promise with CSR, and hoping that as my career grows I will have more opportunities to contribute to companies in ways that do more to enhance the bottom line and allow them to contribute to the broader global community.

At the same time, I am challenged to hold loosely to the blessings, especially material ones, that I have been given. It's hard to figure out what a life "with nothing left to lose" looks like. Pondering these Switchfoot lyrics after being on Maximillian Strasse (the most expensive street in Europe - think Jimmy Choos, Prada, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, etc.) last week has definitely got me thinking. There was part of me that dreamed of Burberry handbags once I am finished school, but as I turned over the price tag on a scarf last week - 250 Euros - I realized that it's shallow and empty. I want my investments in life to be bigger than a brand name stamped on a, albeit high quality, handbag.

But there's a big range of materialism between pauper on the streets and obsessed with Jimmy Choo shoes. I'm trying to figure out where the best place is on the range and what it means to hold loosely to what I have.

Just some lighthearted thoughts for a Sunday afternoon. ;-)

Here's to Section B!

Today is a sad day at Darden.

Section B sat in on its last class together this morning.

It's funny, because it doesn't seem like it was all that long ago that I was reading the Excel spreadsheet to find out who was in Section B in the first place. There was a balance of names that I recognized, and names that were unfamiliar.

Just over three months later, those names are all familiar, and Section B has developed a life of its own, greater than the sum of all its parts. Section B raised more than double what any other section raised for the Building Goodness in April auction. Section B still leads at Darden Cup, as far as I can tell. In sum, Section B is definitely the best section. (And if you don't believe me, just as the rest of the bloggers... I guarantee more than half will agree!)

We finished off the semester on a great note today. One of the guys in Section B did impersonations of the profs and many of the students. They were astutely accurate, and laugh on the floor funny.

Oh Section B, I will miss you!

Atrocities

It is far too easy for us to get wrapped up in our own lives. In fact, even as I sit down to write this, I am more tempted to just start whining about the mountain of cover letters I should be writing.

But being in Munich this past weekend reminded me that while I have been insanely blessed, there are people around the world who are suffering and have suffered. Before I get further into this post, though, I do want to highlight that Munich has nearly nine centuries of beautiful, fascinating history. It is, however, impossible to ignore the years that came around 1920 to 1945 when exploring the city.

The picture above is a sign posted discreetly on a wall on a building in downtown Munich. It translates to something along the lines of "Here stood, until the year 1938, the department store owned by the Uhlfelder family." As you can imagine, the Uhlfelder family was Jewish, and their business was destroyed as part of the Holocaust.

The more I ponder this reality, the more teared-up I get. Here I am, working hard at establishing myself as a businessperson. I have invested large sums of capital and time into developing my skills. On the same vein, the Uhlfelder family did the same with their department store. Then, one day, a man, a charismatic man feeding on the desperate plight of a nation overwhelmed by hyperinflation, decided that the Uhlfelder family didn't deserve to own their business anymore simply because of their heritage.

The whole thing gives me chills. I wish that we could point to the Holocaust as a one-time event, but history has repeated itself. Genocide has occurred in Rwanda and Sudan.

I wish I knew what we could do about it.