So got up this morning and didn’t feel any better. I would have loved to stay home but I felt I needed to go on the Academy trip for participation points. Picked up my friends and one of them was feeling as miserable as I was. After an hour or so of sleeping on the bus, we got to Eli Lilly headquarters. Their building was really nice and the presentations we were able to catch were really great too. We only lasted until lunch and then the two of us were done. We hoped to just hang out on the bus but our gracious hosts at Lilly took care of us and got us a cab back to Bloomington (thanks!)

Once back in town we headed straight to the health center to see what we really had. Long story short, we were both diagnosed with H1N1 (swine flu) So after dropping my friend off basically crashed on my couch. Emailed some professors to warn them about next week and emailed some classmates. Had to cancel an SAC dinner and a brunch we were hosting. And miss P&G.

Oink, oink…I hate being sick!

Give it a whirl!

Weds was a great visit to Whirlpool. However, I had started to get sick so it was hard to be on my A game. However, I did get some great questions in and we got to learn some great stuff about the company and have lunch with some recent full time MBA hires.

At around 2 we headed back to Bloomington, where we didn’t get home until 8. I was starting to feel really sick at that point but really couldn’t get ready for the bus ride today. Just went straight to bed. Thank god for Nyquil!

Best dinner in 2 months! And got to spend with my buddies in St. Joseph. Then spent some time walking around town, and it totally reminded me of the movie Pleasantville, its that cute. Then came back to the hotel for some much needed girl time and to plan my classes. Now its time to go to bed in my private suite. Tomorrow Whirlpool!

Off to Michigan

Today was another packed day! We were abroad the bus by 7:45 and headed toward Miller Coors. They took us straight to the in-house pub on the 16th floor. We got to meet with brand managers, media, sports marketing and on premise marketing. We got some great exposure to the brands, how they interact with retailers and distributors and try to postion their product. Then we grabbed a box lunch and headed to Itasca to meet with Jewel-Osco. It was good to get a sense of another aspect of marketing and how they work with various BMs.

Now we are we headed toward Michigan to meet with Whirlpool tomorrow for an all day visit. Should be exciting to peek inside a durable goods company. Now if I could fight off this impeding cold, I would be all good.

Bye bye Chi-Town!

It’s time to head to Miller & Jewel-Osco

Movin' On Up!

After having a fun filled day with Kraft and the Weinermobile it was off to Chicago for the CMA. While 4 hours of bus travel is never that much fun, I did get some reading in, some sleeping in and some episodes of Scrubs. And it is always nice to escape to a big city even if it is just for a little while.

However, I was really disappointed we didn’t find out that we would have the night to ourselves sooner. I would have definitely looked up some restaurants and really explored the foodie scene here instead of just going to Rock Bottom with a bunch of classmates (Although that was fun, we had like 1/3 of the CMA there so that was cool) Didn’t get to see much of the city, there just isn’t enough time. Hopefully I can make a trip up here after the core to really make use of being so close.

Tried to turn in early but yet I am still up! Better get to bed because I have a bus to catch at 7:45.

We’re here! Chicago watch out, Kelley CMA is coming!