Final call for...

I'm writing this post as I wait for my flight, at the Schipol airport in Amsterdam. My exchange semester at RSM has come to an end, and now I'm going home for my winter break. As I sit here, waiting to board my flight, I cannot help think of the year gone by. As I started out on my MBA, I knew that I wanted a good international experience. Boy, was that wish granted and how!!

The year started on a great note, with my International Marketing course in Hong Kong and China (to read about it, click here). Continuing on with a fruitful semester, it got better with my summer internship in Washington D.C. and Milan, and has now culminated in an exchange semester in The Netherlands. Wow! That was waay more than I ever expected and I'm feel really fortuntate that this year turned out the way it did.

I'm now ready to go home after what has been a long period of absence from family. Another 2 flights and a 45 minute drive will get me home! Can't wait!

This will be my last post of the year. So here's wishing you all happy holidays and a very Happy New Year!

3 weeks left in Europe

Today it dawned on me that my stint at RSM comes to an end in another 3 weeks. It has been a fast paced semester - easily the fastest 4 months of my life! The sheer number of all the new experiences boggles my mind and I think I need a break for all this to settle in. The people, the places, the lifestyle, the experiences, the memories.. and there are still 3 more weeks to go!

Everything has been happening so fast, both personally and professionally, during the last few months that I literally feel out of breath. As one of my fellow exchange students said, "a week during exchange is like a month in real life!". I totally agree!! :)

PS: Last week I spent a few days visiting Paris with a friend. And I just loved the city!! Paris is definitely the most charming city I have ever been to... and now I know why so many others keep raving about this city.



Paris at night, as seen from the 'Arc de Triomphe'. Wish I had a better camera!!

Windmills!

The Dutch countryside is just so beautiful!






As you can see, a 20km bike ride can be tiring!

RSM Symposium

My personal take is that there's a lot more focus on sustainability in Europe, in general, and in The Netherlands in particular. You live here for a while and the differences are quite apparent - the biking culture (bicycles, not motorbikes!), focus on alternative energy, less use of plastic etc. 

Given this context, I think it is but natural that RSM should have a keen interest in sustainable business practices.

The third annual RSM Symposium was held yeterday and it was an excellent event. It was quite reassuring to hear from the corporate world that sustainability is indeed a focus for businesses today. The session with Prof. Michael Braungart, the proponent of "Cradle to Cradle design", was also very informative.

For more info on the RSM Symposium, click here - http://www.rsmsymposium.com/

I'm now more that halfway through my exchange semester and it is amazing how eventful the last couple of months have been. There has been so much packed in the short time I've been here, I'm excited about what the remaining couple of months have to offer!

The RSM Olympics and the German party

Last Saturday, we had the RSM Olympics as well as the kick off to the RSM party season - the German "Oktoberfest" party.

The RSM Olympics was a day filled with sporting events (as suggested by the name!); the highlight being the football game between MBA '09 and MBA '10. Unfortunately for us, the MBA '09s, we could not keep up the initial momentum we had in the game and the MBA '10 team walked away with the glories.

But all was not lost, as we headed to the German party for a night of grilled sausages, "sauerkraut" and beer. It was indeed a rocking start to the RSM party season! Coming up this weekend is the American/Canadian party and then there is... a lot more!

Interrupting my "fun schedule" are details like class assignments and career search! :)

Tomorrow we have the RSM Careers Fair and an quite a few firms will be here for a day to speak with us. Considering the current economic scenario, it is indeed an impressive of list of firms that we are looking at. Time to get those CVs and cover letters in order..

Boat trips & food festivals

The last couple of weeks have been filled with events to welcome the new batch of RSM MBA students. We had the "Spido" boat trip, the RSM Food Festival, the charity auction, the October birthday bash.. phew!

The boat trip was quite a fun time. I guess that was to be expected anyway - put a bunch of great people on a boat, send it on a picturesque ride, accompanied with good food and drinks and you are quite certain to have a fun time!

And the Food Festival... wow! The sheer variety of mouth-watering food from across the world was just amazing - a testimonial to the diversity at RSM. 

Musings.. at the wrong time.

Writing this post is the last thing I should be doing right now - I'm working on a strategy report that is due soon, I have a team meeting coming up in a couple of hours, I'm behind schedule on my job applications... etc. etc.

But then I came across this poem, and I just had to share it with you.

Moments by Jorge Luis Borges 

If I could live again my life,
In the next - I’ll try,
- to make more mistakes,
I won’t try to be so perfect,
I’ll be more relaxed,
I’ll be more full - than I am now,
In fact, I’ll take fewer things seriously,
I’ll be less hygienic,
I’ll take more risks,
I’ll take more trips,
I’ll watch more sunsets,
I’ll climb more mountains,
I’ll swim more rivers,
I’ll go to more places - I’ve never been,
I’ll eat more ice creams and less (lime) beans,
I’ll have more real problems - and less imaginary ones,
I was one of those people who live
prudent and prolific lives -
each minute of his life,
Of course that I had moments of joy - but,
if I could go back I’ll try to have only good moments,

If you don’t know – that’s what life is made of,
Don’t lose the now!

I was one of those who never goes anywhere
without a thermometer,
without a hot-water bottle,
and without an umbrella and without a parachute,

If I could live again - I will travel light,
If I could live again - I’ll try to work bare feet
at the beginning of spring till the end of autumn,
I’ll ride more carts,
I’ll watch more sunrises and play with more children,
If I have the life to live - but now I am 85,

- and I know that I am dying …  

(To read the original version in Spanish, click here.)

Tippie MBA analysts featured on CNBC and BusinessWeek

"Squak on the street", the morning business show on CNBC, recently did a feature on the Henry Fund - the student run investment fund at the Tippie School of Management. The featured analyst was Gabe Hilmoe, second year MBA student at Tippie, who manages the health care portion of the portfolio. 

Click here to see the CNBC clip.

I had written an earlier post on the Henry Fund. To learn more about the MBA student managed US$ 1.5 million fund (yes, that real 1.5 million dollars!), click here.

On the same note - another Henry Fund analyst, Bill Aldridge, has been featured on BusinessWeek.

Way to go, Hawkeyes!!

And time flies by...

I had my first interview for a full-time job last week. I interviewed with a strategy consulting firm on campus and I had a feeling that it just crept up too fast on me. The semester is in full flow now - classes, networking events, interviews, team meetings, student functions et al. Amid all this, the primary casualty has been my efforts to get to the gym! Its now time to get a little better organized - after all, time management is something I'm supposed to get good at in B-school!

The new batch of MBA10 students arrived at RSM last week and we've had a few events to welcome them. There are a couple of events planned for this weekend too. It is a slight sense of deja vu, since I'd just helped to welcome the new batch at Tippie  last month. I guess its just double the fun for me!

First post from Rotterdam

It's been over a week since I landed in Rotterdam and most of this time has been spent in settling in - unpacking, getting a phone connection, internet, id cards, figuring out the public transport etc. Actually, public transport here is mainly bicycles! Yes, you have the metro and the trams but everyone moves around on their bicycles. Even to bars and clubs. Now thats a biking culture!

RSM seems to be a really nice, friendly place. Similar to Tippie in some aspects - RSM also has a relatively small class size, thus giving a very personal touch to the program. A very striking feature of RSM is the international mix of its student body. With almost 40 nationalities represented, it is probably one of the most international MBA programs in the world.

Looks like this will be an interesting semester. :)

Back in Iowa City, for a while.

It's been a couple of weeks since I returned to Iowa City, after finishing my internship in Washington, DC and Milan. It was an awesome, though hectic, summer but towards the end I found myself missing IC!
It's been only a year since I first came to IC, but it already feels like home. Like I belong here.

The last couple of weeks were pretty chilled out - and that is exactly what I needed! The new batch of MBA students are here now - the Class of 2010 just had their IMPACT week (Read my earlier post on IMPACT here).

And it is still to sink in that I'm halfway done with my MBA!! It has been a fabulous one year - I've learnt a lot, met amazing people, made some great friends and expanded my horizons. I feel truly amazed at how much I've grown over the last year. Which is why I'm feeling a little nostalgic right now, as I start packing for my exchange semester at RSM (Recap: I will be spending this fall semester on exchange at the Rotterdam School of Management)

I leave tomorrow afternoon and though I'm very excited, there is a lingering little thought... of how I'll miss this place. So I guess its a nice coincidence that I get to be at a tailgate before I leave! The Hawkeyes play their first football game of the season tomorrow and since my flight is in the evening, I get to enjoy the first tailgate!! :)

Time to pack..

A sleepy coastal town...

We spent a day in Chioggia (pronounced 'Kyo-jia'), a small coastal town near Venice.




And as we sauntered around the streets, we came across two people shrink-wrapping a car...




We just HAD to stop and see what the whole deal was about.
Apparently, there was a wedding inside the church..





And the shrink-wrapped car was their gift!





So finally, after a lot of effort..



And they lived happily ever after.. (Hope so, at least!)




And then we sauntered off again. In a sleepy little town called Chioggia.

Italy pics - 2 (Venice)

Italy pics

The Duomo in Milan -




Stained glass in The Duomo -




The real thing :)




Lake Como -

A sojourn in Milan

After three weeks in DC, I left for Milan. Accompanied by a couple of my new colleagues from the DC office, we set out to create an internationalization strategy for an Italian IT firm. The next few weeks were spent at the client's office - meeting, interviewing, presenting et al.
It felt good to be able to use stuff I learnt a few months back at Tippie to solve a strategic problem in the corporate world. In Italy. :)

A few weeks later, when we gave our final presentation to the client's executive team, I felt much more comfortable and relaxed than I've felt while presenting during the Marketing class at the Tippie MBA!! And my consulting gig during the spring semester definitely helped a lot.
After our final presentation (which, by the way, was very well received), I worked on my next project - an international acquistion deal.

I worked on the strategic analysis of the deal and helped in the intial business diligence. An awesome experience, especially since I got the chance to be involved at the very highest level. During this time I worked out of my company's office in downtown Milan - located at Corso Venezia, we were right at the heart of the city! A few blocks from the beautiful Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral) and the very trendy street of Via Montenapoleone, it was definitely a great place to work!

Amazing food, excellent coffee, great wine.. all in a vibrant, fashionable city - Milan just stole my heart. It was an excellent experience to be submerged in a totally different culture and I feel that this brief stint has definitely helped me grow - both as a professional and as a person.

An awe inspiring monument

The Lincoln Memorial

Standing at this vantage point, it is difficult not to feel overawed. And dwarfed.

Summer chronicles... contd.

I spent the first three weeks of my summer internship in Washington, DC. During this period, most of my time on the job was spent in getting to know the firm, the people and the clients I would be working with during the summer.

Over the last few years I have come to realise that work-culture, and the people you work with, are as important (if not more important) than the actual job itself. And my summer experience was made even more memorable by the fact that I worked with an absolutely fabulous bunch of people. Not only did I get to do some really good work, I had a blast doing it!

And DC is an awesome city! Of course, it was great to see the monuments and galleries, but DC in summer seems to have a unique charm of its own. Lounging on the lawns of the National Gallery of Art on a Friday evening, listening to jazz and enjoying your drink... aah... I can't think of a better way to spend a summer evening. :)

Another discovery that pleasantly surprised me... tucked away on Massachusetts Ave, opposite the British Embassy, is a memorial park dedicated to Khalil Gibran. One of my favorites, Gibran is a Lebanese-American writer/poet/painter/sculptor. (His book "The Prophet" was the bestselling book of the twentieth century in the United States, second only to the Bible!!)

Some pictures... :)

Summer chronicles

Hi folks.. I'm back!

Apologies for my prolonged period of absence from the blogosphere. For the record - it was indeed my intention to have at least a couple of posts on my summer experience before now. :)

But here we are, and to pick up from my last post - I decided to take the internship in Washington DC, implying that I would start working 3 days after finals week.

After 2 days of farewell parties for the graduating MBA Class of '08, I landed in DC on a Sunday afternoon in what we shall charitably call "an exhausted state". And so began what has been, in hindsight, a fabulous summer.

As I'd mentioned earlier, I'm interning at a consulting firm that specializes in international business. Two swaying factors in my decision to take this internship - first, the work I would be doing seemed really great.

One project involved creating an internationalization strategy for an Italian IT firm; and the second involved working with a European Clinical Engineering firm that is trying to enter the Indian market through an acquisition.

The second factor was that I would be located in Milan, Italy for half the internship. Now, in addition to the fact that I'd never been to Milan before, this was enticing for better (?!) reasons too - I would working from the client location for a while and this meant more exposure and responsibilities and by implication, more challenges.

I would be getting excellent exposure to strategy consulting and would be able to work at a much higher level than regular summer internship jobs. And I would be in DC/Milan.
In the end, it was not too difficult a decision to make.
:)

Summer in DC !

I've (finally) decided on what I'll be doing in summer. And guess what? I took neither of the jobs I talked about in my previous post. I will be working with an international business consulting firm in Washington, DC.

They are quite a niche firm doing great work. Their main focus is on helping firms expand to emerging markets - Latin America, India, China, Africa etc. I will be working on two projects during the summer - both with clients based out of Europe. I have a good feel for the kind of work I will be doing and am I excited! :)

The flip side - I will need to start as soon as finals week is done (Thats two weeks from now). Which means no real break after the semester. I could have used a week off, but I guess I'll have to wait till summer's over. And then there is all the logistics associated with moving to DC for the summer. But I'm not complaining!

I've got a pretty packed schedule for the next couple of weeks.. the final presentation for our consulting class is due this Friday (we'll be presenting at the Zurich office in Chicago) .. got a couple of cases due this week.. next week is finals.. then I start my internship the Monday after that. But I guess its only a fitting end to what has been a hectic semester!

Decision time...

Not all decisions can be postponed indefinitely...
I now have two internship offers and both are great opportunities. One is with a strategy group of a multi-national media company - they have just acquired a competitor and if I were to join them I would work on the strategic integration of the two firms. Pretty cool stuff. And it is located in Iowa City. Considering that I have a lot of travel lined up in fall, I wouldn't mind spending the summer here.

The other offer is equally interesting - it is with a UK based engineering firm that has operations across the globe and the internship serves as a feeder to their full-time rotational program. The interesting part of this job is that the rotational program will have me working in different roles in least three different countries in two years. In summer I will probably be located out of Chicago, but that is still open.

And now comes the dilemma.. I will have to choose one fast! I need to reply to the folks in Iowa City by tomorrow and I think I know what my decision is. But I'll hold out till the last minute! And I'm also waiting on a consulting gig I interviewed for. This one's on the East Coast and I should hear from them soon.

The MBA Spring Banquet

Pics from the annual MBA Spring Banquet... It was a blast!! :)

TGITs and early Fridays don't mix...

There was a pretty good turnout at yesterday's TGIT.. which meant a late night for me. And today morning I had to be up early to make it for breakfast with the Tippie Board of Visitors. Just spending time with a group of distinguished personalities, as we had in the room today, is a fabulous experience. Later in the day, we had a CEO roundtable focussed on leadership and ethics. The roundtable was moderated by Len Hadley (retired Chairman at Maytag) and the panel featured Clay Jones (Chairman, President and CEO of Rockwell Collins), Mel Haught (President and CEO of Pella Corp.) and Donna Katen-Bahensky (President and CEO of Univ. of Wisconsin Hospitals & Clinics). An excellent opportunity to pick the brains of accomplished business leaders, the roundtable definitely lived up to its promise.

A fabulous day, tempered only by the fact that I'm sleep deprived.

Next semester in Europe!!!

A little background information I probably should have blogged earlier... the Tippie MBA now has an exchange program for the fall semester with the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasumus University, in The Netherlands. So the student who goes on exchange this year will spend Fall 08 (Sept-Dec) at RSM. I think its an excellent opportunity to further broaden your horizons and learn more about European and global business practices. At building a network at one of Europe's top B-schools is definitely a plus.

So.. guess who's going on exchange to RSM this fall??!!! No prizes for guessing - yours truly. :)
I'm quite excited about the prospect of spending a semester in Europe. I'm just hoping that the dollar will strengthen against the euro by September!

A Day in the Life of a Tippie MBA....

Last night, I got back from Chicago by 9pm after a day-long assessment for a summer internship. (Unfortunately, I'm one of the few people in class who have still not decided on what they'll be doing in summer). Anyways... a snapshot of a day in my life..

6:30am - Alarm goes off... snooze.
6:45am - Second alarm goes off... aarrgh.!! Wake up, play my morning songs (the wake-up playlist!), check if there is any new email.
7:30am - Getting ready to head out. Apparently, its raining heavily outside. I absolutely hate it when I have to wear a suit and it rains... (sigh..)
7:45am - Pick up the WSJ on my way out. I'd planned to drop off the car first thing in the morning, but the rains have made me change my mind.
8:00am - Meeting at JPEC (John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center). My job at JPEC is to make investment recommendations for a Venture Capital fund. We analyze the business plans and financial statements of the firms that seek funding. We've scheduled a meeting with one such client today, so this is a pre-client meeting.
8:30am - Meeting with the client at JPEC
9:45am - The meeting at JPEC got over few minutes early. This gives me time to drop off the car.
10:00am - Meeting with team from the Strategic Business Consulting class. (Recap: We are consulting on product management for Zurich Financial Services)
11:00am - Lunch with Laura Desmond, CEO - Starcom Mediavest (The Americas) and 4 other classmates. Laura is an alumna of our university and one of the youngest CEOs in the world to lead a marketing services company.
12:10pm - Attend presentation by Laura Desmond.
1:15pm - Catch up on pending email/phone communication. Most of it has to do with arranging team meetings, although the emails that take longer have to do with my internship search.
1:45pm - Need to work on a finance assignment. Head to the business library to use the Bloomberg terminal.
3:30pm - Leave for an interview with Pearson.
4:00pm - Interview for summer internship.
The interview went quite well. The role would be in corporate strategy and I'd be working directly with one of the VPs. Should know their decision soon.
5:15pm - Leave for apartment; get out of the suit! :)
6:00pm - Attend a class to make up for an earlier one I'd missed. Thank God this is not a regular class. A 6pm class on Thursday is definitely not my thing.
7:15pm - After being edgy for over an hour (I told you.. classes on Thursday evenings are just not my thing! ), I decide to head out to the TGIT.
This week's TGIT is at a local Mexican restaurant - martinis included!
10:30pm - Back at the apartment after dinner & martinis. It is actually quite early for a Thursday night, but today has been a long day. I'm ready to crash...
11:45pm - After an hour of emails/news/setting out agendas, I'm ready to crawl in for a good nights sleep.

Tomorrow's going to be a busy day too. I'll be attending a presentation, and later having lunch with Scott Heiferman, CEO/co-founder of Meetup, and a Tippie alumnus. Should be another interesting day.

Job Shadow - 3

I'm now back in Iowa City, trying to put some structure to my thoughts. As I think about the last few days, there is one oft-repeated, cliched expression that comes to mind - 'drinking from a fire-hose'! Not a very eloquent phrase, but it does sum up my job shadowing experience. I have learned so much just by observing from the sidelines, that I would not have thought possible before this.

As I now 'join the dots' over the events that finally led to the job shadow, I realize that it would not have been possible but for the support I got from the Tippie program at various stages - from the presentation they organized, which created my first point of contact with Manny, to the letter from the Dean which helped convince Manny of my keen interest in entrepreneurship. Without doubt, the value addition I have gained over the last few days had definitely made this one of the highlights of my MBA experience.

Job Shadow - 2

Amazing. Period.
I suppose that won't suffice, so...

I reached Manny's office at 8:45am. I was given a quick primer on the projects that are currently underway, so that I could make sense of the conversations/meetings/other interactions I would be observing. A quick overview of the work they are doing: They are working on the development of different medical devices, related to cardiac surgery. Each of these devices, if successful, will revolutionize cardiac surgery as it exists now. Most of the work I saw today was related to one particular project. Obviously, I cannot disclose any details of what I was privy to, but that is not too relevant to the main purpose of my visit.
What was really exciting was to see an entrepreneurial team in action, working on a product they truly believe in, excited about the difference they are about to make, led by a leader they absolutely trust and admire. It was mind boggling to observe how Manny could get tasks done on our drive to lunch... tasks that would otherwise take a person a major part of his/her working day.

Today's experience was akin to sitting on the sidelines of the field and watching a great player in action. You could try to learn the sport in many ways, but getting tips from a legend to improve that swing of your bat or to perfect your kick of the football... that is priceless.
In business school, we spend hours learning about motivating teams, managing products and trying to understand what separates the few successful product launches from the myriads that get lost along the way. Today, I observed all that and much more in action.

Job shadow -1

It is 7am on Monday morning and I'm in my hotel room in Minneapolis, getting all set for the job shadow. I drove up here last night from Iowa City, just so to avoid any last minute glitches. The office is just 5 minutes away from the hotel I'm staying in, so everything is going like clockwork so far!
I've got to admit.. I've got a nervous tingle just thinking that the person I will be shadowing today is the founder of a $3 billion medical devices company (and not to mention the other four multi-million dollar businesses he founded!).
Watch this space.. I'll keep you posted.

Back after spring break!

Spring break is over.. :(
Its been just a day since we started school again, and guess what? Life's going an full speed again!!
I've just confirmed the job shadow I will be doing next week. For two days, I will job shadow the CEO of a start-up medical devices firm in Minneapolis. A 'serial' entrepreneur, he has successfully founded five companies (at the last count!) including one of the biggest medical devices firm in the country. I'm really excited to see an accomplished entrepreneur at work! (websites describe him as a 'legend of the industry'!).
I can't wait for next Monday!! :)

The presentation in Kansas

This post has been 1 week in the making!

I started it in my hotel room in Kansas, the night before our presentation to the product team and the underwriters at Zurich NA (Recap - we are consulting for Zurich on product management)
The net connection at the hotel was terribly slow, which was surprising and tremendously frustrating (especially since it was one of those 'premier' ones). I wanted to write a post on that whole fiasco, but I guess I'll save it for another day.

Anyways... the next morning we headed out to the Zurich office all raring to go. And the whole affair was indeed quite a success! I just love it when we cause those 'aha' moments - when the folks listening to us go "aha.. dats so cul!". Well.. thats not exactly the expression used by the underwriters, but I guess you get the point. :)
The presentation was on the feasibility of a certain product launch, and it was very interesting to do all that research and analysis on a product we knew nothing about to start with, but became experts on in a very brief window of time.

And I just got to know yesterday that they will be going ahead with the product launch, based on our recommendations. Aha!!

My consulting gig..

This semester is proving to be way more hectic.. I guess that was to be expected, with my consulting class and Mandarin class over the normal course load.

The consulting class is proving to be a great experience. Our team is consulting for Zurich NA on product management. The way it works is that 4 of us will be consultants to Zurich for an entire semester. The work is what you'd expect from a regular consulting job - the same deadlines, client buy-in, task measurement etc. etc....
Our consulting project is split into three phases, mini-projects if you will. We have the final presentation for our first phase this Friday in Kansas. And most of my time this week will be taken up preparing for this presentation. We're almost done, but there's always seems to be some tweaking left!

We'll be flying out to Kansas on Thursday and should be back Friday night. And the Monday following starts mid-term week... and I've got a couple of internship interviews in-between.. which means that next couple of weeks will be a mad rush..
Time to buckle up for the ride!

Sleepless in Colorado

We reached Colorado on Friday morning for the Net Impact case competition at the Leeds School of Buisness. The case revolved around a business strategy for Sun Microsystems and executives from Sun walked us through the whole "problem" at the reception on Friday evening. It turned out to be quite an interesting couple of days.

The case was given to us by Friday evening and we had to submit our final presentation deck by 8am on Saturday morning. We stayed in a "zero waste hotel", which was so appropriate for a competition on sustainability. The flip side was that our hotel was not quite equipped to handle all these folks trying to log in to their Wi-Fi.. so we were left driving around to find a coffee shop that was not already 'claimed' by another team. Anyways.. lots of coffee later, we had what we believed was a winning presentation; so it was a little disappointing not to win the next morning. :(
But it was effort well spent. A great learning experience, a nice chance to network and a perfect time to visit Colorado!

'Drop Jaw' moment of the trip - folks climbing/rappelling over frozen waterfalls. Amazing!! That one goes on my 'to-do' list for sure. It'll probably be a loong time before I'm able to attempt that one, though..

Tip - if you ever visit Boulder, drive out to the "Oh My God" road. Abandoned mines, dirt roads et al... Definitely worth it.

Life on Skis

Last weekend was skiing time!
Considering that I've never skied before, I was quite pumped up for the whole trip. A couple of hours from Iowa City gets you to the ski slopes. Its not the Alps, of course, but its a great time to spend a weekend (and pretty inexpensive too!)
After falling/rolling/skidding as much as I skied, I think I've got the hang of it now. I'll have to admit - the thrill of the slopes is quite an addictive high.

I'll be going to Colorado this week for a case competition. I'm hoping I get time to go skiing in the Rockies. That should be fun!

Ice storms & Mandarin classes....

I'm taking Mandarin Chinese classes this semester and.. its tough!!
I don't know if I'll ever be able to read Chinese, but I'm hoping that by the time I'm done with B-school I'll at least be able to speak basic Chinese.

And as if the class wasn't tough enough, the weather seems intent on making things a little more difficult. We've had some bad weather last week.. but I hear that the worst is over. I like a little bit of snow (emphasis on little bit) but this may be pushing things too far! And the only place I like ice is in my drinks. Period.

Alumni reception in Minneapolis

2008 is proving to be the 'year of travel' for me... and pretty hectic travel at that!
And I have a lot more travel lined up - the consulting course I'm taking this semester, the case competition, the job shadow and of course the networking trips... Well, it seems like I'll have a lot to blog about!!

We had an alumni reception event in Minneapolis a few days back. It was just fabulous!
Over and above the fact that it was a great networking event, it was overwhelming to see how passionate alumni are to help current students.
And I think thats the best part of being a Tippie MBA. You can feel the strong sense of community the day you walk in; and it seems to stays with you for the rest of your life.
Well.. once a Hawkeye, always a Hawkeye!!

We also managed to squeeze in a a few company visits while we were up there. Considering that internship season is in full swing, it was a good opportunity to check out companies we'd like to work for in the summer.
Talking about internships, its probably time for me to get a little more focussed!

HK/China pics

One country, two systems...





A rare pic of Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai Shek toasting the Chinese victory over Japan
(At the Foreign Correspondents Club in HK)




Time to say goodbye...

Hong Kong again... :)

After a few fun days in China, we headed back to Hong Kong.

Though China was fun, it was difficult to move around due to the language barrier.
Hong Kong, on the other hand, is quite easy to navigate. The public transport system is excellent and I particularly like the subway system - extremely well connected, easy to use and a high frequency of trains (a train every 2-3 minutes). Also, you are more likely to find people who have at least a basic knowledge of English. (English hardly works in China, which is why I intend to learn Chinese before my next trip!)

Another highlight of the trip was our dinner with the Chief Economist of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, David O'Rear. It was great to hear his insights on the HK and Chinese economy and their way of business.

Like all good things, this trip too had to end.
If I had to choose one 'best' part of the trip it would be the time we spent with the Hong Kong MBA students. [Recap..we attended the Tippie exec MBA classes in Hong Kong]
An extremely talented bunch of people, they ensured that we had a fabulous time in Hong Kong. The authentic "hot-pot" dinner we had is just beyond words.....a lot of great food, great conversations... even new drinking games!

Thank you folks, for the great memories!!

"Don't be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again after a moment or lifetime is certain for those who are friends."

- Richard Bach