So today ... after a monster nap... I feel revived and ready to jump back in and be a fairly productive member of the LBS community
Last week was dominated by two thinks, AT Kearney Global Case Competition and Finance exam. One thing about the MBA is they try to force you to prioritize and make decisions... so I choose AT Kearney.
Friday my team went to the European Finals and I think did quite well. We were able to maintain the LBS streak and won 2nd place, losing to INSEAD. After the last week, we almost burst into tears with joy because not only did we keep our pride, represent and get some cash money but we didn't have to do any more work for this competition. Woohoo. Then ATK took us to a very nice dinner right by the Big Ben and we had a fun time chatting with Amy and Kristen and some of the other teams.
However we had to rush off once dessert was finished (had apple pie for the first time since arriving in London and it was glorious) because we had a Finance exam the next morning at 10AM.
Here's where the decision making came into play... study or sleep. I choose sleep. And our team motto became PCPT (partial credit or private tutor, because apparently they are very generous with partial credit and if you do extremely poorly you get a private tutor, a win win if you ask me). I felt very satisfied with my decision because today I finished the test well under the allotted time... so at least I didn't look at it with a blank face... however because I finished so early I'm pretty positive I oversimplified things... oh well PCPT
Oh another fun tidbit I discovered... if you are the first one to finish your exam (all streams take it together) and are the first to appear at the Windsor (our school pub where everyone congregates when we finish) you get a free bottle of champagne.
But now I'm ready to tackle the next three weeks, which include putting together an application with my Wakeforest team (marketing plan), meeting to put together an executive summary with my Cerebation team (market entry case), meeting to finally brainstorm ideas with Alicia for GSVC (global social venture business plan competition), trying to put some framework together with google team (digital marketing case) as well as try to revive my near dead social life =) oh and learn enough Financial Accounting to pass the test.
On the positive side is I realized this week, I have NO classes Thursday and Fridays next term. Seeing as I HAVE to take Level 2 language in Summer term (and they HAD to have classes on Friday) I'm opting out of any electives for the Spring term and am going to just take them in the Summer. That means Spring term I have time to travel and do all the competitions that I've signed up for.. not to mention the FMCG Summit that I'm a part of happens in February.
I think it's perhaps because I've had to and will miss out on so much fun things this term (Latin America party, French Party, Treasure Hunt, Santa Pub Crawl, Stream Boat Cruise, Barcelona Rugby Tour, etc.) because of my Achilles that I've become super ambitious in both social and school activities. So some of my fun travel plans?
Dec 14-17 Mamello and I are going to visit Alicia in Madrid
Dec Trip with Family to ?
Jan Trip with Mom and Sis to ? (assuming I don't start recruiting just yet)
Jan 23-24 Cranfield Tournament
Jan 19-31 Marrakech, Morocco with Stream C and friends (I'm one of the "friends")
March 20-26 Vienna and Prague with Ko Ko and Eric
Starting April I have classes 5 days a week... but until that let me know if there's a trip you want to take I'm 80% sure I'll be down. Time to spend some of that prize money =D
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Good and Bad Start to the Weekend
I find that my most interesting weeks are my busiest... which means they rarely make it to the blogs except as a one liner of a list of Highlights...
So why am I writing today? I WAS going to write on Sunday night/Monday morning about an exciting trip to Barcelona. However, after taking a 4:40AM shuttle for a 7:20AM flight on EasyJet Girona(Barcelona). I made it all the way to the gate only to be told that because I have a cast on I needed a doctors note telling me I was fit to fly, which my doctor didn't mention when I asked him if I could fly. That was disappointing but not as annoying as the fact that the stewardess told me to sit off to the side instead of immediately telling me I wasn't going to be able to board.
Now, I slowly and safely made my way back home... but as I did I realized that this is probably for the better. Next Saturday I have a Finance exam (and I'm struggling here), and last two weeks were super intense as is next week, so a free weekend to get stuff done is much needed. Not to mention that my foot was already starting to ache from traversing the airport... so a weekend of taking it easy and elevating could only help.
One more plus side is about the good news of things. Despite my efforts to learn from my undergrad mistakes and not stretch myself thin (I even resigned my post as Industry/Consulting VP for Asia Club) but all the competitions at school are just too interesting to pass up. Last week I was participating in 2, Odyssey which was a simulation of owning an airport (despite not doing great it ended up being a lot of fun hanging out and working with Beng-fai and Alex, nice to have some easygoing friends in my Stream to chat and blow off steam with) and AT Kearney since we were one of the final 3 out of 15 teams participating. Friday we made our way down to ATK's office in the pouring rain to present to some partners. Much to my surprise we won first place... that means 500 euros each and we move on to the European finals. This is a lot of pressure because LBS hasn't won first place in the last few years and the London office of ATK is filled with LBS alumni... furthermore the European final is next Friday right before the Finance Final.
Time to reset and see if I can survive the next 3 weeks... with charm in tact =)
Side Note: was talking to Beng-fai and Alex about trying not to flip the bitch switch (credit to Eugene for that one) and they actually said they wished they could see me when I did... never heard that one before haha
So why am I writing today? I WAS going to write on Sunday night/Monday morning about an exciting trip to Barcelona. However, after taking a 4:40AM shuttle for a 7:20AM flight on EasyJet Girona(Barcelona). I made it all the way to the gate only to be told that because I have a cast on I needed a doctors note telling me I was fit to fly, which my doctor didn't mention when I asked him if I could fly. That was disappointing but not as annoying as the fact that the stewardess told me to sit off to the side instead of immediately telling me I wasn't going to be able to board.
Now, I slowly and safely made my way back home... but as I did I realized that this is probably for the better. Next Saturday I have a Finance exam (and I'm struggling here), and last two weeks were super intense as is next week, so a free weekend to get stuff done is much needed. Not to mention that my foot was already starting to ache from traversing the airport... so a weekend of taking it easy and elevating could only help.
One more plus side is about the good news of things. Despite my efforts to learn from my undergrad mistakes and not stretch myself thin (I even resigned my post as Industry/Consulting VP for Asia Club) but all the competitions at school are just too interesting to pass up. Last week I was participating in 2, Odyssey which was a simulation of owning an airport (despite not doing great it ended up being a lot of fun hanging out and working with Beng-fai and Alex, nice to have some easygoing friends in my Stream to chat and blow off steam with) and AT Kearney since we were one of the final 3 out of 15 teams participating. Friday we made our way down to ATK's office in the pouring rain to present to some partners. Much to my surprise we won first place... that means 500 euros each and we move on to the European finals. This is a lot of pressure because LBS hasn't won first place in the last few years and the London office of ATK is filled with LBS alumni... furthermore the European final is next Friday right before the Finance Final.
Time to reset and see if I can survive the next 3 weeks... with charm in tact =)
Side Note: was talking to Beng-fai and Alex about trying not to flip the bitch switch (credit to Eugene for that one) and they actually said they wished they could see me when I did... never heard that one before haha
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Stitches
So yesterday I took a break from my 12 hour Strategy marathon to get my stitches out. After two weeks of my foot in my case I finally got a look at it. The wound looked really crazy, frankensteinish, the clips looked exactly as if they stapled my wound together and there was some cross stitching at the ankle. Definitely not what I expected.
The last week was intense and emotionally and physically exhausting. Hoping to spend this weekend recouping and being fresh for next week. Although today wasn't a great start.. spent a couple of hours working on the Odyssey competition with Alex and Beng-Fai. It's a simulation of running a business, pretty interesting.
And then making up a Finance class...yes on Saturday... finally realized how exhausted I am since everytime I ran out of sugar (from my regular consumption of chocolate) I would nod off.
Now I'm finally home and just getting started on my list of things to do... Barcelona is going to be my well deserved break/vacation... if I can only survive until then!
BTW... Ba cooked an amazing gourmet Chinese meal... been eating the BEST the last two days... very sad that Daniel and Ba are heading home.... no more entourage
The last week was intense and emotionally and physically exhausting. Hoping to spend this weekend recouping and being fresh for next week. Although today wasn't a great start.. spent a couple of hours working on the Odyssey competition with Alex and Beng-Fai. It's a simulation of running a business, pretty interesting.
And then making up a Finance class...yes on Saturday... finally realized how exhausted I am since everytime I ran out of sugar (from my regular consumption of chocolate) I would nod off.
Now I'm finally home and just getting started on my list of things to do... Barcelona is going to be my well deserved break/vacation... if I can only survive until then!
BTW... Ba cooked an amazing gourmet Chinese meal... been eating the BEST the last two days... very sad that Daniel and Ba are heading home.... no more entourage
Thursday, November 5, 2009
No Rest for the Weary
So I told Eugene he could write the next blog, he was suppose to write about his Treasure Hunt (which he won 2 Monopoly games from) and my surgery (which he so kindly took pictures of at every moment, including me in my dressing gown)... but he hasn't and thus why the big lag between posts.
So just to answer the question I've been receiving the most these days... I will be in a cast for 4 more weeks and then PT for 6 weeks and then hopefully I'll be up and running back to my normal clumsy self
The last two weeks have been great because the Monday after my surgery Daniel and Ba arrived, giving me an escort to school and people to take care of me when I got home. I love having an older brother... they dragged me out for dim sum and dinners and either because I walk to slow or they pity the site of me crutching along but I usually good a piggy back ride relay btw Eugene and Daniel to our destination. Yes I am spoiled! And after a couple of my teams had to come to our apt to work, bc I had to elevate the first few days ... they call me princess since the Chu men are so attentive.
Speaking of which, I think I go to school with some of the nicest people. I had people dropping by with flowers, magazines, ice cream (thanks Laura), and books (thanks Mamello). The day of the surgery, news traveled like wildfire and I got innundated with text, emails and facebook messages of good luck and let me know if you need anythings =). I even had escorts to the Halloween Party.. yes I went for a little bit.. I couldn't help myself ... but I left immediately when it looked like people were getting too drunk and it was getting dangerous (someone trying to dance with someone in crutches is usually a good sign that common sense has left the building).
This week is going to be insane for me because not only do we have a group midterm today, a group midterm tomorrow, and friday we have 3 homework assignments due but my team got selected to be the top 3 for AT Kearney case competition and my team for the Odyssey challenge got selected for prequalification round, all happening next week. Not to mention the first Women's Rugby Tour is next Saturday in Barcelona and as one of the Reps I have to prep. Let's ignore the fact that I just signed myself up for a couple more competitions. Daniel asked me the other day why I do all the extracurriculars and quite frankly.. it's because this is the cool and fun stuff. These are the opportunities to experience and learn that you don't get outside of MBA. Plus I really like having the opportunity to work with different people on different teams. Although Venu will claim that I am a pushover and have a hard time just saying no.
But I do save time for some good fun...on Tuesday Ba, Daniel and I went to the Wolseley for High Tea. They gave us 5 different sandwiches (crusts cut off), scones (deliscious but raisin) with clotted cream (think decadent butter) and strawberry jam, and 6 little cakes. It was really fun and quite a nice experience. The place was really nice and located next to the Ritz.
On Monday I took Eugene, Ba and Daniel to The Volunteer (a pub a few blocks down from our house) where they serve English comfort food ... but more importantly they have Strawberry Beer (wasn't just made up in Beerfest, really exists and is delisciou) and Guinness.
Well enough of my break and back to the grindstone... pictures to come
So just to answer the question I've been receiving the most these days... I will be in a cast for 4 more weeks and then PT for 6 weeks and then hopefully I'll be up and running back to my normal clumsy self
The last two weeks have been great because the Monday after my surgery Daniel and Ba arrived, giving me an escort to school and people to take care of me when I got home. I love having an older brother... they dragged me out for dim sum and dinners and either because I walk to slow or they pity the site of me crutching along but I usually good a piggy back ride relay btw Eugene and Daniel to our destination. Yes I am spoiled! And after a couple of my teams had to come to our apt to work, bc I had to elevate the first few days ... they call me princess since the Chu men are so attentive.
Speaking of which, I think I go to school with some of the nicest people. I had people dropping by with flowers, magazines, ice cream (thanks Laura), and books (thanks Mamello). The day of the surgery, news traveled like wildfire and I got innundated with text, emails and facebook messages of good luck and let me know if you need anythings =). I even had escorts to the Halloween Party.. yes I went for a little bit.. I couldn't help myself ... but I left immediately when it looked like people were getting too drunk and it was getting dangerous (someone trying to dance with someone in crutches is usually a good sign that common sense has left the building).
This week is going to be insane for me because not only do we have a group midterm today, a group midterm tomorrow, and friday we have 3 homework assignments due but my team got selected to be the top 3 for AT Kearney case competition and my team for the Odyssey challenge got selected for prequalification round, all happening next week. Not to mention the first Women's Rugby Tour is next Saturday in Barcelona and as one of the Reps I have to prep. Let's ignore the fact that I just signed myself up for a couple more competitions. Daniel asked me the other day why I do all the extracurriculars and quite frankly.. it's because this is the cool and fun stuff. These are the opportunities to experience and learn that you don't get outside of MBA. Plus I really like having the opportunity to work with different people on different teams. Although Venu will claim that I am a pushover and have a hard time just saying no.
But I do save time for some good fun...on Tuesday Ba, Daniel and I went to the Wolseley for High Tea. They gave us 5 different sandwiches (crusts cut off), scones (deliscious but raisin) with clotted cream (think decadent butter) and strawberry jam, and 6 little cakes. It was really fun and quite a nice experience. The place was really nice and located next to the Ritz.
On Monday I took Eugene, Ba and Daniel to The Volunteer (a pub a few blocks down from our house) where they serve English comfort food ... but more importantly they have Strawberry Beer (wasn't just made up in Beerfest, really exists and is delisciou) and Guinness.
Well enough of my break and back to the grindstone... pictures to come
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