What Happened?!

It's almost been a month since my last post, that is completely unacceptable! Even if you consider that I have no time for myself, let alone time for blogging. So I will try to bring you up to speed without the whining, and try to make it as brief as possible.

Where did we last leave off? I was in Israel, or Jordan, being bussed through the desert. The trip was amazing, I got to see so many things that people wait their whole lives to see. Meanwhile, learning about business and culture. And I think I have eaten my lifetime quota of pita bread.

The trip was a whirlwind, but I didn't expect the tsunami that the second 7 would bring! 4 new classes, to be topped with a redo of our KIP presentation and residual CMA project work. Doesn't sound too bad right? You had 8 classes at a time in Core, this should be a piece of cake! WRONG! With the responsibilities of Kelley Women, SAC, my parents in town (thanks Mom and Dad for the bed & all the dinners) I am getting 4-5 hours of sleep a night. Addie has been pretty depressed as we are gone all the time. The weather has been fantastic and she has hardly been able to enjoy it.

So where does that leave us? With 2 1/2 days before the end of the week, I have:

• 3 more team meetings
• 3 more class sessions
• SAC meeting
• A presentation
• Experience Weekend activities

Pray for me!

Innovation and Ideation

Today was the kickoff of our second Academy Week. Our speaker was Ralph Blessing, Managing Director of Chicago Office and Senior Partner at GfK Strategic Innovation. He talked about his career and some of the amazing products he had a chance to work on: Coppertone Sport Continuous Spray, Degree Antiperspirant, and Axe to just name a few. He explained the needs approach that GfK uses to help develop products to fill in shelf "white space." It was a really great presentation and it got even more interesting when we went through the process to create a new product. We picked Quick Service Restaurants as our category and then just brainstormed ideas, concepts and positioning. Look for our Mediterranean/Tapas QSR soon with our own branded olive oil and hummus (which we will expand into grocery) soon!

After we finished our scheduled activities we were able to work on our team projects...my team split up and worked on our own, we should come back together tomorrow ready to knock this out of the park.

Holding on for Dear Life

The last two weeks have been intense. I don't even know where to start, last week seems like a year ago and the week before (gala, etc. even longer!) Finals have been killer with the wrap up of my Tiffany & Co. brand valuation and recommendation, my market research analysis report, KIP presentation, Diesel brand valuation, CMA project work and an accounting final. Phew! Makes me tired to even write it out!

And it hasn't just been schoolwork tying me up; there has been volunteering, Kelley Women Speaker Series, Pilates, Yoga, Dinner with Friends, researching Japanese cooking at the Asian Cultural Center, Carnival, Kelley Women farewell dinner, blogging for school, and trying to have some semblance of a life (watching the Olympics with Charlton and the pets)

Both of us are really burnt out, was it possible to be more exhausted than when we were in Core?! Any 2nd year that said this would be easier was definitely lying.

So to try to make up for the torture of the last few weeks...I slept in (after having fallen asleep on the couch until 6 am), then I did a little research for CMA, made lunch, gave Addie a bath, did a little laundry, took Addie to the dog park and watched Public Enemies after picking up some Mexican food from La Torre.

I wish I could sit around all day tomorrow, but still have some laundry left to do and some reading for Academy Week 2 (ugh!) Can't wait for spring break in Israel.

Gala!

No matter how old you are, when you are in school there will always be school dances. Gala, the MBA equivalent of prom was last night in the IMU's Alumni Hall. There was an open bar, gambling and a nice seated dinner and HOURS and HOURS of dancing. It was a lot of fun, but having just got back from Minneapolis, I felt like I wasn't able to get much done this weekend. Oh well, sometimes you just got to cut loose.

Monday Flashback

I was up bright and early to take my first midterm/quiz for this semester. 15 multiple choice questions of cost accounting goodness. I think I did okay, finally was able to get answers that were choices (which I am hoping is a good thing!)

Next up, Brand Management. We talked about Azko Nobel, a case on brand portfolios and finding the right size and number of brands. It was interesting and had more information than I have ever seen in a case.

I headed to Kroger after I got out of class and stocked up on the necessities. I quickly unloaded all of the food stuffs and took care of Addie before heading back to school. Our KIP had another Hebrew lesson and a humanities professor speak.

Then home again, where I got almost nothing done before turning in for the night at midnight.

It's Thursday?

Where has this week gone? I had every intention of blogging all this week, but like life it got away from me. I am on my way to class and then have a meeting with my Academy directors to discuss our CMA project and then I should have the rest of the afternoon and evening to myself. So a real update should be coming soon...I promise!

Manic Monday

Day started at 6 when my Blackberry started chirping. *Time to get up!* I straightened my hair and then grabbed a few more minutes of sleep before stumbling out to the kitchen to feed Addie.

I grabbed my laptop and got to writing some emails while I watched the Golden Globes' Red Carpet (they were on Sunday?! Where have I been?!) I made a salad for lunch, packed it up and got a bunch of work done. Then off to school to start my marathon day.

Monday's are always packed, 3 classes my most all week. But on top of that I had 2 team meetings and an informational interview I did for a project. Kelley Women had a bunch going on today too, as our budget was due to MBAA and we are trying to update our website.

Tonight's KIP has been my favorite so far, we had a professor speak to us about the Israeli Special Forces and their selection process, so cool.

Didn't get home until 8ish or so and then it was time to catch up on emails and finish up a few projects. I have a bit more that I had wanted to get done but I am planning on getting up early again tomorrow...and the whole process starts all over again!

Internship - check, Schoolwork - ??

Everyone thinks I am on easy street now, my dream internship under my belt and the rest of the semester should be smooth sailing right? Um, no. Now that we are out of the core the number of teams I am on has grown exponentially (from one to four!) and now that I have a leadership role in Kelley Women, that seems to fill in any of the space not already allocated to school projects.

Accounting thankfully is not a lot of group work, but we have lots of cases to prepare for every class. Thankfully, for me Charlton is forced to take the same class so I have a study buddy at home to make sure I am not allocating costs to projects based on some silly driver like times they turned on the light switch.

Brand Management has a fairly in-depth project where we value a brand. My team (of 6) is valuing Tiffany. We have to look at the consumer perceptions and then a few different valuation methods. The good thing about having a team so large is we can have mini-projects within the project. Each pair has their own valuation, mine being product based. We also have a survey we all created to gauge customer preferences, so if you are reading this and want to help out...click here.

Market Research has a project too, teams of only 4, but so far it seems fairly straightforward. It is more of an exercise to get us using SPSS so our professor is walking us through it. Perfect!

Then there is my KIP class where we have teams of five to work on case write-ups and our industry presentation in a few weeks. Our first case write-up was on the Israeli Special Forces and really interesting. As for the industry presentation we are going with agriculture as CPG was too hard to find resources on.

Lastly, there is my CMA project where we are working on a global entry strategy for Kitchenaid...something like what we would see in our internships. It is fairly vague and we haven't gotten too far in, but I already know more than I ever thought I would on Japanese cooking tastes and trends.

And if that wasn't keeping me busy enough, there is our readings, homework, housework (still haven't done laundry this week!) and try to keep up with my friends. Pulled in 500 directions, and this was supposed to be easier than the core?

In the middle

Yesterday was nuts, but most of my days are now. Had accounting and brand, a mock, a Kelley Women exec meeting and a brief visit to the museum. Then I got home and spent 2-3 hours updating what we want to do with the website so my chair can fix it up for us. Fun times! Have a feeling today is going to be worse, on campus from 9:15-8:00 pm. Wish me luck!

And its over!

We finally finished plowing through the Wire. Just in time for us too, things are ramping up like crazy here.

Today wasn't so bad itself: Market Research, tons of Kelley Women stuff and my first Pilates class at the HPER. Oh and my first tour for SAC.

Tomorrow is another story with Accounting, Brand Management, Kelley Women Exec meeting a mock interview, and an event at the Art Museum. Buckle up!

No School Monday

Yesterday we had off for MLK day. It was nice to get a little break so early in the semester and let me adequately catch up on my homework and work at finishing the Wire. I stayed in my PJs all day only leaving the house to take Addie on a walk. Wish we had more Mondays like this!

MIA

When we were immersed in the Core all we heard was it would get better second semester. Well, now I am not so sure. My time seems even limited, and I only have 4 classes. But now I have 2 class teams so far, 1 academy team and then Kelley Women Exec activities taking up my time. Oh and don't forget mock interviews! I had 4 mock interviews and then a GCS sponsored slam-a-thon in the span of 3 days. And their not even over yet, I have another one already lined up for next week, and maybe an interview if I played my cards right.

The atmosphere at school has changed a lot too. Can't say they didn't warn us, that things would change once preference lists for companies came out and I definitely feel it. More competitive, a little jealousy, and a lot of people who are torn between being excited and being depressed. It's a weird time: new classes, new attitudes and new commitments.

Where is my seat?

The start of a new semester and my first day of non-core classes, its weird to type that. While it is fun to have new classes and ones I picked I already miss some of the familiarity there was in the core. I don't have the same seat, I have to move classes and second years mixed with the first years changes the dynamic a lot. I am sure it will take some getting used to and then by then it will be summer right!?

Today I had my most filled day class wise with 3 classes: Managerial Accounting, Brand Asset Management and KIP Israel. So far I like all of them and I am really pumped about KIP Israel, and yes they bribe us with food from Falafels, but I am really excited at all we are going to see and experience. In an effort to get to bed before 1, here is the rest of my day in a nutshell:

• Waited in line forever to mail our textbooks we sold
• Signed up for the wrong pilates class after getting lost in the HPER
• Switched my pilates class to the one my friends are in
• Watched an episode of the Wire
• Fast forwarded through a whole episode of Martha Stewart watching only 2 minutes
• Wore my new boots in the house for a good 2 hours
• Danced when I got a present from my aunt of new silverware!
• Talked to my dad on the phone
• Read my case for Brand Management's Weds class on Samsung
• Read a chapter of Accounting
• Made appointments for 3 mock interviews this week
• Tried to kick this cold
• etc.

There is no warm-up, just go!

Welcome Back!

So tonight marks the end of winter break. I had a great time visiting my family and being back in San Diego. I miss them and the food already! The last week has been packed with a whirlwind trip to Minneapolis to visit Land O' Lakes, 3M, General Mills and Target and try to make nice with the -9 degree weather. I brought back with me loads of new clothes (thanks mom and dad), Banana Nut Cherrios (thanks General Mills) and my coveted Bullesye stuffed dog (thanks Target). Since being back I have had some time to catch up with some of my friends, take Addie for walks in the snow and watch as much of the Wire as humanly possible and just relax. It's been nice, but I have to say goodbye to it, and hello to my 2nd semester.