Today was back to the grind of classes and craziness. Thankfully, the week started lightly: Organizational Behavior in the morning and just a short meeting with our MBA director in the afternoon.
A bunch of us went scrambling yesterday for the Organizational Behavior ("OB") textbook when we realized there was a ton of reading assigned for the first class. When we discovered that the local bookstore with most of the textbooks was out of this particular book, a slight panic set in (such a great way to start out!). However, a quick email to the lecturer by one of my classmates revealed that he didn't expect us to have read anything by the first class - whew! Nonetheless, I've discovered that this class will be plenty of work between all the reading and a seemingly significant group project. Thankfully the lecturer was great this morning, with a positive blend of lecturing and class discussion to keep everyone engaged. So while this class may end up being a bit of work, it thankfully will be delivered in a good fashion.
The afternoon brought an overview of our big company projects to be completed over the remainder of the MBA. Our director gave us a large packet of information on this report, with all significant dates pertaining to presentations to be given not only to professors at Trinity, but also to the top management of an assigned company. Finally, the news was delivered: our new groups were revealed along with the company assigned to each group for this large project. The new groups will be in place for the remainder of the year in order to coincide with the company project, and awaiting this news caused much anxiety and excitement now that we all know each other a little better. I grabbed ahold of the team assignments and breathed a sigh of relief: not only does my team look awesome but the project should prove very interesting - it's definitely not in any way related to my past experience, but this will hopefully provide plenty of learning opportunities!
So, with the first day down and a VERY busy schedule ahead of me, at least it is all starting off on a good note! And now, off to dive into the textbooks awaiting me...
Monday, January 5, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Christmas Break: Best Break Ever!
Upon completion of exams, the flight home to California was a great moment. Being able to see Kevin again after 3 months would be great, especially since the stress of classes would be put on hold and we could just enjoy the vacation. The 10 hour flight (thankfully, non-stop) was of course a long one, but none other than Kevin was there at the airport waiting for me. He was even dressed up in a shirt & tie with a red rose! All that time of talking on the phone made that moment worth it all. After reconnecting in the airport, we drove into downtown SF for some very yummmmy Mexican food, where I actually ordered fish tacos instead of other dishes. Then we drove back up to Windsor, and I was thrilled to see blue skies! The weather report said it would be cloudy and potentially raining, so to see blue skies was awesome. A few pictures from the drive back are below:
On New Year's Eve night, our three families got together for a delicious dinner of stuffed chicken and wine, followed by a game night consisting of Cranium. I must say the best part were the team names and each team's winning "cheer" - highly amuzing! Below are photos from dinner and the game night:
At midnight, my dad rang in the new year with his bagpipes!
Alas, the time came for everyone to leave on New Year's Day, and I got to enjoy the last night with Kevin before boarding a plane back to Dublin for the next school term. We got some great Chinese food for dinner, and even found a new great zinfandel in the process: J. Keverson. We are going to try and find this place to get some more of it perhaps. The one we had was a Dry Creek Valley Zin (Sonoma County again).
Over my first weekend home, there was much relaxing, sleeping, and of course, eating! On Saturday we enjoyed a nice dinner at Kevin's parent's place, we also went wine tasting at Limerick Lane since the previous time we were there we enjoyed delicious Zinfandels. So, we tasted again and purchased a few bottles of Zin as well as a Zin/Syrah blend (called 1023). Both are highly recommended! A picture of Kevin at Limerick Lane is below, along with more roses Kevin had waiting for me at his place =)
Sunday was Kevin and my 6 month anniversary, so we remained up in Windsor, chilled out and then enjoyed a delicious Italian dinner, along with some Turley Zinfandel (a big time favorite). Then on Monday, we headed down to Paso Robles to spend Christmas with my awesome Family! The Monday - Saturday in Paso was spent enjoying family, eating TONS of food, celebrating Kevin's 26th birthday, visiting the elephant seals at San Simeon beach, wine tasting, etc... Below are some pictures:
On Saturday night, Kevin and I returned to NorCal since Kevin was treating us to a 49er Game the next day! This was my FIRST ever professional football game, and the last one of the season for the niners (as they sadly are not going to the playoffs this year). Turns out the game was fantastic, with the niners winning in the last 3 seconds off a field goal. Pictures are below:
For New Year's, my family, along with the Duncans (my godparents) and the Karbousky's (Kevin's family) were planning on hanging out together. Our three families are close friends and we took this opportunity to get together since everyone was going to be in California. On New Year's Eve Day, Steve, Amy, and Kristen Duncan, along with Dan Karbousky and myself went on a little wine tasting trip through Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma (everyone else was either working or still traveling up to Santa Rosa). Below are a few photos:
On New Year's Eve night, our three families got together for a delicious dinner of stuffed chicken and wine, followed by a game night consisting of Cranium. I must say the best part were the team names and each team's winning "cheer" - highly amuzing! Below are photos from dinner and the game night:
At midnight, my dad rang in the new year with his bagpipes!
On New Year's Day, our families got together again for brunch, and finally got an updated photo of EVERYONE in the three families! Here is that shot:
Alas, the time came for everyone to leave on New Year's Day, and I got to enjoy the last night with Kevin before boarding a plane back to Dublin for the next school term. We got some great Chinese food for dinner, and even found a new great zinfandel in the process: J. Keverson. We are going to try and find this place to get some more of it perhaps. The one we had was a Dry Creek Valley Zin (Sonoma County again).
Then, on Friday morning, Kevin once again took me to the airport and we said goodbye. Thankfully, it will only be one month until I see him again, as I get a week break in the middle of this next term (similar to last term), but this time I am going home to California for a bit of a break and a change in scenery. I truly have to say though, that my time with Kevin better than I could have imagined. It was hard to know how it would be as we reunited after 3 months apart - despite all the phone calls - but it was not even an issue. It only helps reinforce why I love him so much!
At any rate, I am now back in Dublin and got an awesome 13 hours of sleep last night to kill the jetlag. Classes resume tomorrow and I am already behind on my prep reading! At least I can say that I had the best vacation.
EVER. =D
Exam Week - Super Craziness
Classes for the first term ended on November 28, and we then got a week and a half off to study for the 6 exams coming up. The lineup was as follows:
Thursday Dec 11: Accounting
Friday Dec 12: Economics
Monday Dec 15: Statistics
Tuesday Dec 16: Business in Society (aka Ethics)
Wednesday Dec 17: Corporate Finance
Thursday Dec 18: Management & Organization
The week before, as well as my time during exam week, was spent constantly in either the 1937 Room (a graduate-only study room), or on the 4th floor of the business building studying (except the 2 hours of exams on each exam day). This time can only be described as the ultimate marathon of studying. The week starting Dec 15 turned out to be extremely tough from outside stresses as well, resulting in me getting very little sleep Sunday night through Tuesday night. Needless to say, I was completely operating on coffee! It actually got to the point where I was afraid of going to sleep at a normal time lest I get enough sleep to where my body craved more and the lack of sleep became more painful. However, exams finally ended and the class celebrated by going to a pub for a few drinks. At 12pm. The whole class (well, all but one or two I think). Drinks was followed by a delicious lunch (don't ask me what it cost, but it was not cheap - although highly delicious), after which I bid adieu to the group in order to finish some Christmas shopping and pack my bags since Friday morning I was catching a flight back to CA =)
The relief that came with the end of exams was huge. Just the knowledge that I could put away my books and go spend Christmas with Kevin and my family back home was the best thought imaginable. For a few pictures of the after-finals-drinks, see below:
Thursday Dec 11: Accounting
Friday Dec 12: Economics
Monday Dec 15: Statistics
Tuesday Dec 16: Business in Society (aka Ethics)
Wednesday Dec 17: Corporate Finance
Thursday Dec 18: Management & Organization
The week before, as well as my time during exam week, was spent constantly in either the 1937 Room (a graduate-only study room), or on the 4th floor of the business building studying (except the 2 hours of exams on each exam day). This time can only be described as the ultimate marathon of studying. The week starting Dec 15 turned out to be extremely tough from outside stresses as well, resulting in me getting very little sleep Sunday night through Tuesday night. Needless to say, I was completely operating on coffee! It actually got to the point where I was afraid of going to sleep at a normal time lest I get enough sleep to where my body craved more and the lack of sleep became more painful. However, exams finally ended and the class celebrated by going to a pub for a few drinks. At 12pm. The whole class (well, all but one or two I think). Drinks was followed by a delicious lunch (don't ask me what it cost, but it was not cheap - although highly delicious), after which I bid adieu to the group in order to finish some Christmas shopping and pack my bags since Friday morning I was catching a flight back to CA =)
The relief that came with the end of exams was huge. Just the knowledge that I could put away my books and go spend Christmas with Kevin and my family back home was the best thought imaginable. For a few pictures of the after-finals-drinks, see below:
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