Final Exams and Festive Friends

Esha and I at Holidazzle, last weekend's black tie holiday ball

Today was our first HBS final exam and I feel drained, wiped, burnt out...any and all forms of the word exhausted now apply. I have a to-do list miles long, yet somehow I can't find the motivation right now to get out of bed and do a single one of them. I will regret this tomorrow when I realize how much precious time I've wasted, but for now I am content to blog, check e-mails and remember a more pleasant time where my muscles weren't so tense that it takes effort to physically hold up my head. Sigh. 4 exams to go and then...freedom!

If you can't already tell from my dramatics (that are scarily more reality and less drama), the exam was hard. It was this extraordinarily complicated case that I just couldn't wrap my head around. My essay was bad. Thankfully, everyone else says their essays were bad too, but I distrust them. These people are so smart that I'm sure they did fine. And I bet they are saying exactly that about me. Only time will tell (results for all exams, and the final semester grades, are released Jan. 11, which means I must find a way to not stress out about whether or not I've flunked out of HBS during what is supposed to be a fun winter break).

Back to the exam. The worst part is that often you think you did bad, and then you go back and re-read your essay and the more you read it, the more you come to think that maybe you didn't actually do that bad. Yeah, I did that bad.

Okay, my friend just came into the room and slapped me around a bit (figuratively, don't let your imaginations run) and told me to stop dwelling. I can't change my exam and I did relatively okay on the other aspects of the course, so I need to stop worrying. She's right. Worrying done. We're having pizza in the dorm at 6 and then going into Harvard Square for dessert. Mmmm chocolate is exactly what I need right now!

A really quick aside: This week Section G held one of our long-standing traditions called Festive Friends. Every year, Gs do Secret Santa with a twist: in order to receive your gift you must complete a dare chosen by your Secret Santa. Mine was to dress up as a fortune teller and walk around asking strangers if they wanted their fortunes told. See picture below -- it was fun! Some of the other dares included selling water from the water fountain for $1 a cup (the girl sold 5 cups!), walking through the halls with a bell reminding people to get to class on time, serenading strangers with a love song, etc. It was a fun way to finish out our last week of classes.
Speaking of last week of classes (my final topic before heading off to said pizza party), this week we found out our new seats for next semester, our new professors, and said goodbye to our current profs, who we will all miss greatly. It's amazing how much they have all grown on me as the semester has gone on. Initially, I must admit I was a bit skeptical, but now I look back and wonder if I would have wanted any other professors. I especially will miss my favorite of the group, our LEAD teacher Michel Anteby. I can't put my finger on why, but I just loved everything about this guy: his sweet, shy demeanor, his French accent (especially the way he pronounced my name), his teaching style and the way he related to the class...it was all just great. Next semester's professors have huge shoes to fill!

All right I'm off -- I will try to update once more before I leave for winter break next Thursday, but after that I will be gone without computer access until roughly Jan. 10. Spring semester starts Jan. 13, so I'll definitely get back into the swing of things by then. Take care and have a great holiday season everyone!

1 comments:

Thomas Crown responded on December 13, 2008 at 3:15 AM #

Just wanted to let you know that I saw a commercial for the behind the scenes look at HBS that CNBC is doing. It's supposed to air at 10pm on December 17.