conference season

yesterday i went to my first industry conference.  many of the professional clubs put on conferences on fridays since we don't have class.  yesterday i attended the general management conference.  i see these as a great way to hear interesting speakers who are pretty senior and learn a new industry.

the cfo of gm spoke yesterday.  he was formerly a banker at ms so his transition in house and the steps he took to transform the finance function were fascinating.  he not only changed the people and structure but the way the function was perceived and interacted with the larger organization.

next week is the wharton women in business conference and the real estate conference. i guess i will be juggling two venues.

flights booked!

today at pub, a gathering beginning at 4:30 every thursday complete with free pizza and beer, the ski club revealed the secret location of the annual 80s themed ski trip and handed out neon colored ski club tshirts.  this year, the student body will invade breckenridge, colorado.  in previous years, the student body descended on park city.

apparently people get really into the theme and buy outfits for the entire weekend - think neon, leg warmers, spandex, etc.

i am not sure breckenridge is ready for the 1000+ students that will arrive in early february.

things i love

today i love sleeping in on friday mornings, having pictures i have taken put on canvas, pumpkins, fall weather, new and old friends, planning trips, surprises and colored sharpies!

surprised

on tuesday i gave a speech in front of 200+ people.  i hate giving speeches and i am not very good at public speaking.  actually i am quite terrible at it.  however, i figured, business school was a pretty safe place to practice this skill and i had nothing to lose.  i gave a speech because i was running for cluster treasurer. i will explain the terms class, cluster, cohort, pod, learning team, etc in a later post, but for now just think cluster = approximately 200 people.

despite my nerves, i did get up and speak.  even though i was not very eloquent, i was taken aback by how supportive all of my classmates were.  many made a point to go out of their way to wish me luck, praise my speech, etc.  i was and still am amazed at the level of support i received, even from complete strangers.

i found out today that i won the election.  i am cluster 3 treasurer.  while i am shocked about the victory and grateful for the opportunity, i am even more grateful to be going to school with such a wonderful group of people

food

i joined the culinary club aka the food club.  in addition to free food from fancy restaurants in the area, there are discounted culinary classes and small group dinners.  should be a good time.

kili

i won the auction and am going to climb kilimanjaro in may!  SUPER PUMPED!

for those of you who are confused by the word auction.  for classes and certain programs we have to enter an auction.  essentially, we get points at the beginning of the year, sometimes replenished, sometimes not and we have to bid on certain items.  the idea behind it is that people who really want to do something have a higher chance of getting to actually do it and that people are thoughtful on how they use their points.

i am sure i will post more in the future, but for now, this is all i got.

quote of the day

apples!

a couple of my classmates and i went apple picking yesterday.  to our surprise, they not only had apples, but also eggplant, peppers and tomatoes you could pick!

the farm also had pumpkins for sale - my favorite.  and the farm store was also excellent - having a huge variety of everything from apple butter to donuts to red velvet fudge - yes, i said red velvet fudge. 

after the farm, we went back to philly and baked apple pies for kristen's birthday.  overall - excellent day.

                                           

two balls and a cop car

by the title of this post you are probably confused.  the last couple of days have involved all of the above.

the first ball.  i am not referring to sports, but instead to our first themed formal event.  it was held on a boat near penn's landing.  even thought it was on a boat, the boat never departed from shore - sounds kinda lame, but it was actually fun.  the theme was red and blue - penn's colors.  when you entered the red and blue ball there was a big banner with wharton written all over it, similar to a red carpet event.  it was quite fun and the time flew by.




second, the usc football game.  FINALLY the trojans came to the east coast - super exciting!  although the weather was quite fickle - rain, sunshine, tornado warning (and subsequent game delay), no rain then finally rain again, it was fun going to a new stadium and seeing friends.  i was surprised that there were more than usc fans than syracuse fans and that the stadium was not full.  we also had fun tailgating in the parking lot ahead of the game.    while the trojans did beat cuse, they need to step up their game a bit.

i can now say i have been in the back of a cop car.  by the way, you can't open the door from the inside of the backseat.  it totally makes sense, but i had never thought about it before.  ok, now for the story.  i was in a cab going back into philly, when the cab driver got a flat tire.  he didn't know he got a flat tire, but i smelled burning rubber and the car started to shake a bit - i told him to pull over.  instead of pulling over to the right on 95, he decided to stop in the left hand lane.  turns out that the back right tire was flat - pretty hard to change a tire facing traffic.  after about 10 minutes a cop car pulled up and escorted the taxi to a shoulder about a quarter of a mile up.  i didn't feel safe going in the cab so the cop let me ride with him.  he used his microphone and lights and all!  once we pulled over it took the cab driver about 45 minutes to change his tire.  even though he claimed to have called the company twice to send a replacement cab, no one showed up.  i even called and they claimed that someone was on their way.  just as he was about finished, one of my classmates actually saw me and pulled over on the highway to check in on me.  he ended up taking me home - super nice of him.  the cab driver not only had the nerve to ask me for the fare (he put me in harms way, made me wait an hour and didn't take me to the city), but also followed us and threatened to report us to the ppa. ridiculous.  also, he went to my building (knowing where my destination was) and sat outside in his car.  how insane is that?  when in philly do not take phl taxi.  there are plenty of other cab companies.  at least i got a cool view while i waited.

rocky

i officially joined the wharton boxing club.  i am not sure how intense this will be...  however,  i figured i might as well follow the old adage, when in rome, do as the romans.  when in philly, be like rocky.

things i love

i am stealing this from molly.  she often makes her gchat status a list of things she loves for the day.  here is mine:

today i love the excitement of the first day of school, my apple slicer (always perfect wedges!), drinking coffee while reading the newspaper, football season, finding something on pinterest and actually doing it, farmers market, toms, polka dots, excuses to wear ribbons in your hair and walking home from class when it is still light out.

wharton

as our vice dean of student life says - remember whenever you are having a bad day, you go to f*ckin wharton.  translation - no matter how bad it is, your life really isnt that bad.  i am not having a bad day, but it doesnt hurt to remember how lucky i am.

i recently came across this video (again) from the follies presentation this spring.  the follies put on a musical every year mocking the student body.  i guess this sums up wharton.

visitors!

so i had my first official visitors in philly - the weitz family!

in addition to the sleepover, swimming and treats (decorating cupcakes, hot chocolate, brownies), we did explore some - we went to the philadelphia magic garden, the u.s. mint, caught a brief glimpse of the liberty bell and independence hall and explored some of penn's campus.



i think the winner was the philadelphia magic garden, which i stumbled upon by chance when i walked to whole foods on saturday.  the philadelphia magic garden is the 14 year long project of artist isaiah zagar.  basically he took all types of stuff - bike wheels, bottles, etc and filled three city blocks with outdoor and indoor mosaics and paths.  it was quite cool!

overdue

ok ok i know this is long overdue, but here we go...

preterm officially came and went.  preterm brought tons of social events, information sessions and some mini classes.  we had everything from cluster olympics (where i ended up with a nasty turf burn - who knew 28 year olds were uber competitive at football) to solving a a major world problem with our "big idea."  if i had to sum up the last two weeks in a few words i would use the following:

exciting: meeting new people, exploring a new city, seeing all of the opportunities wharton has to offer

exhausting: focusing in class again, introducing myself and my story to hundreds of people, general lack of sleep

enlightening: how amazingly talented my classmates are, how engaging the professors are and how many different things i can do in the next two years!

super encouraged for what is to come!