A Year Ago...

As I see posts on Facebook about people moving down to Charlottesville and see the evidence of moving trucks in Ivy Gardens, I can't help but remember the intense stress I put myself under this week a year ago.

I know that I really shouldn't admit things like what I'm about to admit in any sort of public forum, but in the hopes that it could help someone else, I'm just going to be honest and vulnerable. Anyway, the worst moment of my pre-move week was the emotional breakdown I had in the Alberta Registries office (Canadian equivalent of the DMV) when I discovered that the new-to-me car I was registering was still listed as leased... Not a big deal in ordinary circumstances, but a big deal when you are trying to drive it across the border in a cross-border move.

Among the other "adventures" that I went through at this time last year were having to get a new I-20 issued two weeks before my move (something I discovered while I was in Iowa for a friend's wedding), realizing that there was no way I'd be able to fit everything into my car and ultimately vacuum sealing anything that could possibly be shrunk and a very intense border crossing in which I had to tell my sister that playing the Arrogant Worms song with the chorus "burn, burn, burn the White House" would not be appropriate border-crossing music. (Referring to the War of 1812, not any sort of Canadian terrorist plans!)

Before I get to a suggested survival plan, I'm going to let you in on the punchline - everything was just fine. I got the right papers to take "leased" off my car registration. My sister turned off the stereo. Although I had to go in to get "processed," the merciful border guard did not attempt to open my vacuum-sealed trunk. And everything was A-OK.

Anyway, the best thing I did in my pre-move week was turn off my cell phone, leave my laptop at home, and head to the Canadian Rockies for a few days of camping, hiking and relaxing with my best friend. So, while most of you (and yes, this blog post is targeted at the Darden Class of 2012 - both of you who are still reading my posts!) may be tempted to check and re-check those lists of things to do, do yourself a favour and get away to RELAX! I'm not going to remind you of what's in store over the next few months... but trust me, relax while you can. :-)

Motor City

Detroit doesn't have the best reputation.

When I told one of my friends I was headed to Detroit for the weekend, she referred to it as the "crotch of America."

My first impressions of Detroit were less than stellar. Although the airport was cool (I walked through a large tunnel with changing coloured lights and sound effects), the fact that domestic Delta flights came through the international terminal resulted in me waiting for an hour until my friend (who was new to the city) and I figured out we weren't in separate wormholes - he just needed to come to the other terminal.

After that, Detroit just started to pop up with sweet surprises. For starters, we drove down Michigan Ave. - a long street filled with abandoned buildings on either side. But our drive took us to this fun, cool, delicious and BUSY BBQ restaurant, where the wait to get in was over an hour. It just seemed such irony to wait so long for a table when the abandoned store just two doors over had a sign filled with bullet holes.

Over the weekend, I found all sorts of pleasant surprises in Detroit - the gorgeous DTE Energy concert venue where I lay on the grass watching the Goo Goo Dolls perform with the sunset in the background, Greenfield Village with its Model Ts and a tavern right out of the 1830s, Belle Island Park surrounded by beautiful blue water and a quaint neighbourhood in Dearborn with ivy-covered parking garages and brick houses.

So, as it turns out, Detroit isn't so bad after all. My main impression of the city was that it just felt empty - like it used to house many more people who all left after the crash of the American auto industry. But shoots of life are springing up all over the place. As my friend liked to point out, Ford is now at the same quality ratings as Honda (and even better in some cases, though I am loathe to admit it as an avid Honda lover). And with real estate prices at rock bottom (we saw a house listed for $300. Not $300k, but $300), it could be a good place to be if you have a reason (read: job) to be there.

Always Be Ready

My roommate got me hooked on Good Morning America, so now I watch it every morning as I eat breakfast as a more peppy alternative to the regular news. (As a bonus, they show local news and weather right around the time I tune in.)

This morning, there was a moment that had the potential to be awesome. Some of the cast of Project Runway, including Heidi Klum, were doing a Q&A for the audience. A 16-year-old girl, asking as an actress hopeful, stepped up to the microphone and asked Heidi Klum when she had gotten her first big break. Heidi told the story of her first modelling contest and then the hostess (Robin? I haven't been watching that long) invited the girl up, giving her the opportunity for her first big break.

The girl choked. She got on stage and messed up an opportunity to show the world what she was capable of... not by messing up a song/dance/joke, but by not offering one at all. To be fair to the girl, she wasn't expecting this opportunity. But, think of what could have happened had she been ready.

The moment reminded me of recruiting. Everyone dreams of having an audience with the HR director/high-up partner, but few are prepared when that moment comes. I wasn't always ready because I wasn't expecting that kind of moment. But seeing GMA this morning, I realized that we can't afford to let those moments go by without being prepared. Just like an aspiring Broadway star should be ready to bust out a song and dance at a moment's notice, I should always be ready to tell someone exactly why they want me on their team.

So... Although I know most of the prospective/incoming students have stopped reading my blog for the summer (at least that's what Google Analytics would suggest :) ), if you are reading, the biggest advice I have for you as you get ready to come to Darden is to get your story ready. Know why you are the best candidate for the jobs you are seeking and be prepared to tell that story given the proper audience.

Meanwhile, Back in Cville...

Although I haven't blogged much about it in my last few posts, I have still been working at my internship and hanging out in Charlottesville. A while back, I thought I hit the halfway point of my internship, but my project manager and I mutually agreed to extend my internship so I could do some more analysis for the company and get some more experience, so I've lost track of my progress at this point.

So, what's summer like in Charlottesville? Well, it's HOT. I used to use "it's 100 degrees outside!" as a hyperbole. There have been a few days here where we've approached that temperature. Of course, when I used the expression previously referring to the temperature in Celcius, it has certainly been much hotter than my poor Canadian tundra conditioning can handle. My dad was telling me about his cold camping trip this past weekend, and I was envious.

I've been playing on a softball team with a bunch of people from Darden, Darden partners and some law students, and it's been fun. Today we had our most stellar victory... didn't even have to show up since the other team forfeit and we got an email informing us we'd won this afternoon.

Yesterday was my first Fourth of July in the US. I think one word pretty much sums it up: fireworks. Americans like fireworks! We were delayed going to the fireworks Charlottesville shot off because people were lighting sparklers in the middle of the street. I managed to get in a few quintessentially American activities yesterday: played softball, watched a hot dog eating contest on ESPN, ate a hot dog at a cook out and watched fireworks. I didn't light off any fireworks myself, but the adventure of the evening was when my friend who's an ER resident at the UVA hospital had to attend to a child who got second degree burns from some amateur fireworks shooting.

The internship continues to go well. I am a huge fan of the virtual office. The company's entire file system is done through cloud computing, so I can access files anywhere I get Internet. Even more importantly, the files are synched to my computer, so I can work offline and sync once I have Internet access again. This was really handy when I took the train to NYC a few weeks ago and could work on the trip up. From the sounds of it, this set-up is way better than what some of my classmates have in terms of technology.

Even better than the virtual office, I do feel like I'm both accomplishing something and learning at the same time. It's been great to see there is life in Charlottesville outside of Darden!

Powerless

The power went down in my apartment, the rest of the complex, and pretty much all of C'ville just over 24 hours ago. Cell phone signals are spotty, the Darden email server is down and I am bringing this blog to you from my office - a generator-fueled oasis of power and AC.

I find it ironic that I grew up practically in the tundra, still making it to work when it was -40C with blowing winds and three feet of snow, but a 15-minute storm can send an entire city into a tizzy. As a result, there have been only a few times in my life when I have had to live without power, and most of those times have been on camping trips. ;-) Boy, I wish I had a cooler and a Coleman stove right now!

Over the last 24 hours, I've discovered just how inextricably my life is linked to technology. For example, what do you do when you are out of communication with friends (no phone signal or Internet access), have no power for your computer or TV, and can't go for a walk because the street lights aren't working (a bad combination when the sidewalks are littered with fallen trees)? Well, a lot of people may take that opportunity to read. So, I did that, but since I have my books on the Kindle app on my iPhone, it only lasted until the low battery warning came and alerted me I may want to save that power to serve as an alarm clock in the morning. (Still died, but managed to wake up on time without it... Julie: 1, Technology: 0)

Anyway, like a true junkie, I am at the office charging up the following items before returning home to sweat it out (AC not working) in my dark apartment: portable DVD player, iPhone and laptop. I did have plans for tonight, but with email and phone signals down, I have no idea where I'm supposed to go! Until the power returns, this is a great place to bunker down, since some of the restaurants on the Mall have power, and a restaurant is definitely more appealing than beef jerky and pita chips at home.

Happy Father's Day!

It's the time of year where kids all over present their dads with school-crafted neckties and celebrate fatherhood with BBQs. Although I outgrew the construction paper tie phase of my life many years ago, and, being 2,300 miles away, am not able to prepare a BBQ dinner for my dad, I want to honour him through a special tribute post.

My dad is one of the most giving, selfless men that I know. I can't say for sure, but I would almost bet that he is spending this Father's Day with his "adopted family" - a group of Congolese refugees who he delivered winter jackets to at Christmas and has since invited into his life. My dad has spent his life seeking out people that he can love through various ways, whether by helping single moms with construction projects around their homes, being an adopted dad at father/son events for boys that have no fathers (which worked out well for him, seeing as how I have only sisters!) or just generally inviting his friends to truly be a part of his life. Ever since my family moved to Edmonton, my dad always sought to make sure we had as many people over for Christmas or Easter dinner as we could possibly find who didn't otherwise have family in town. My dad was a model of what it means to love others, unconditionally.

One of the things that always drove me crazy when I lived with my parents was that it seemed as though the house was always under construction. My dad loves to build and remodel and dream about what could be. While my parents' house (and the house they are building) definitely reaps the benefit of this, there are also houses and camps everywhere that have benefited from this passion. My dad gives his Saturdays (and often evenings) to drive out to camp and build cabins or do renovations. In addition to this, he started a ministry at church called "Tool Time" which provides home renovation help to people who might not otherwise have the talent or money to get projects done on their own.

Although my dad was quite disappointed that I never became an accountant, he's supported my career decisions. One of the best parts of our relationships now is that we've moved from a relationship where "father knows best" to a dialogue where I share what I'm learning and give him input into his own business based on what I am learning and experiencing through my own career and education. I think the best gift my dad could have given me, and both my sisters, is the confidence that we can do anything, and then backing that confidence up by listening to what we are learning and letting us make our own decisions in life.

All in all, I am very truly blessed with the family that I have. I can't even express in words how appreciative I am, and I know that others are not as fortunate. But my dad has not just been a blessing to us - he's given the same love and support to countless others.

Happy Father's Day!

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.