Kendra Wilkinson (Hugh Hefner's former girlfriend) is pregnant...

...God help us...

...More about first day of work later!

Welcome to the Nation's Capital!

Yesterday I arrived in DC thanks to my very generous aunt and uncle who drove me down from Pennsylvania. I was up in PA for my cousin Aven's wedding (Congratulations Aven!) and spent a few days just relaxing with family and eating way too many cookies (Aven's aunt brought homemade almond butter cookies and they were delish!), pieces of cake and scoops of ice cream. I think I'll be entirely sugared out for weeks!

My first afternoon in DC was quite the adventure. After getting my keys, I did an initial shopping trip, unpacked, said goodbye to my aunt and uncle and proceeded to cook myself a sesame ginger chicken and mushrooms dinner, which was delicious at the time. I spent the evening watching TV and relaxing after being exhausted from traveling and planned to go to bed early only to witness the power go out in the entire apartment. New to the apartment, I had no idea where to find a flashlight, if the tenants even left one, so I'm walking around with my iPhone as light searching for matches to light the few candles in the bathroom. After a few minutes without the power turning back on, I start to get a little freaked out hanging out alone in this pitch black apartment, so I use my iPhone to call the office and they tell me the power is out on the entire block! I tried to fall asleep, but without AC it's awful tough to get comfortable. The power finally came back on at 2am, at which point I nodded off only to be woken up by the loudest thunderstorm I've ever heard at 6am. To make things worse, my chicken and mushroom dinner turned out to be poison to my stomach and I have felt sick all day with a churning stomach ache. What a welcome!

In more positive news, I did go exploring a bit today and found my office for work, wandered through Franklin Square and went to Columbia Heights to Bed, Bath & Beyond and Target. I experimented with the Metro and discovered the two stops within walking distance of my apartment. And the apartment is beautiful! The furniture is simple -- just my taste -- and the place is stocked with practically everything I will need for the summer (minus a flashlight). I definitely think I got a good deal with the sublet as it's also in a great area and is super secure (you need a card to get in the building and one to get the elevator to take you to the floor you live on). I was hoping to get back in the gym today (there is one in the building), but thought it might be a better idea to take it easy considering my stomach ache. Hopefully I can start working out again mid-week.

The living/dining room and view of the balcony from the front door.

The view of the living/dining room area from the balcony.

The bathroom...

The kitchen...

And the bedroom!

Tomorrow is my first day of work at GFC, so I'll be sure to blog and let everyone know how that goes. And then hopefully I'll get a chance to start exploring all of the touristy stuff this week and weekend!

Year in Review: Last Day of RC Classes

Today was the last day of RC classes, and as such, I'm in a particularly nostalgic mood. It's truly funny how things cement in your mind once they come to an end, and even if you didn't always realize it in the moment, you come to understand the gravity of it all, and how much fun you really had, when it drifts from reality into memory.

With that in mind, I wanted to count down some of my favorite experiences, professors, classes and moments from RC year. In no particular order...

My Learning Teams

(The Analytics Crew: Sonia, me, Matt, Jesus, Nowshad, David and Charlotte [not pictured])

(The RC Team: Phil, Reji, Qiao, me, Craig, Aneal)

I think I laughed the most in the time I spent with my learning teams. Whether we were arguing over Gantt charts or frustrating finance that none of us understood during Analytics, or discussing the merits of an axe in surviving the subarctic in the fall, we had a great time learning from, and with, each other. It's a little sad, because as always, the friendships inevitably fade a bit as you see, and rely on, each other less -- don't you sometimes wish you could stop time and just stay in the moment? Thankfully, I'll always remember and cherish the times we shared (why does it sound like I am writing a greeting card here?) and be ever grateful for the knowledge these people passed on and the good times we created.

Treks and Travels

(Entertainment and Media Club Hollywood Trek - Jan. 2009)

(Vermont, Section G Retreat, Fall 2008)

(Birthright Israel Dec. 2008-Jan. 2009)

(New York City -- numerous times 2008-2009)

(Dillsburg, PA, Thanksgiving 2008)

Although many of my sectionmates had far more exciting weekend jaunts than I did ("Nothing to do this weekend? Let's go to Iceland!"), I've traveled more this year than ever before. Whether it was side trips to Vermont or Pennsylvania, trips home to Florida to see family, weekends in New York City or my first overseas experience in Israel, I've come to really enjoy traveling. I'm hoping to make it to Europe this winter and maybe save up to go on the China or Japan trek next spring!

The Section Experience

(Queensday, Spring 2009)


(Holidazzle, Fall 2008)

I've said quite a few times that I was disappointed in the section experience -- most notably around the holidays when I still felt like I didn't know diddly squat about the majority of my sectionmates -- and I can't say that I've entirely changed my mind. However, there are days such as today, when we play our section song ("Love Generation by Bob Sinclair (I think?)), dance on the desks (a G tradition), sit in our first semester seats and have the chance to look around the room and really feel the bond that's been created. I can't say that I've really made 89 close friends, but I can't say that I've ever really been the social butterfly -- what I can say is that I've made 89 connections deep enough that should I ever be in a pickle, I know these people would be there for me. And don't get me wrong, I have made some great friendships. I looked around the room today and envisioned the world travels I'll have to make to visit my friends in India, China and Japan, to name a few. I'll definitely miss these people.

(Section G, Class of 2010)

And then there are the random things I've enjoyed:

1. Professors: I've truly been blown away by how engaged the professors are at this school and how much they care about the learning experience of their students. Overall, I've enjoyed most of my professors, although the favorites (Michel Anteby from Fall, Rawi Abdelal and Joshua Margolis from Spring) will always stick out.
2. My dorm and hallmates: I've made some of my closest friends simply by living side by side. Tanya and Qiao, I'm so happy we'll be neighbors again next year!
3. Seasons! Seriously, guys, seasons rock. I don't think I can ever go back to year round summer after I've seen how beautiful the flower blossoms are in spring, how mesmerizing the fall colors can be, and how soft and inviting fresh fallen snow appears. Next year I swear I am making a snowman and having a picnic in the Boston gardens in the fall/spring.
4. Dessert at Top of the Hub, sweet potato sushi in Harvard Square, movies, malls, lots of Starbucks, foie gras with the marketing club, asking Bob Iger a question thanks to EMC, playing a consultant in a video, dressing as a gypsy for festive friends, presenting the first skydeck of the year, being skydecked numerous times for having this very blog, sitting next to an eye surgeon, sitting next to a Malaysian banker, commiserating over finance woes, dominating negotiations, L-O-V-I-N-G strategy ;), buying a section fleece, dancing on the desks, being terrified of a cold call, praying for a cold call, fro-yo at the Grille, lunches with professors, and realizing I've learned more in a year at HBS than in all the rest of my school experience.

Here's to the conclusion of a great year, the start of an awesome summer and looking forward to the good times ahead as the big man on campus....an EC!

Spring in Boston...

...is beautiful! I love seasons!

And I finally got to ride in the swan boat downtown! :)

3 weeks left of RC!

Hiatus Over - One Month Left of RC Year

If anyone is still faithfully checking this blog, you have my thanks! Sorry for the month-long hiatus. Dealing with my grandfather's death and catching up with real life took more time than I imagined and blogging wasn't exactly high on my priority list. A lot has happenend in the last month, though. Firstly, I secured my summer internship, which is exciting and such a relief. Although I'm still disappointed that I wasn't able to secure the entertainment internships that I was hoping for, the internship I accepted should be a great learning experience with a very nice group of people.

I'll be working for an organization in Washington, D.C., called The Global Fund for Children. I'll be their MBA Summer Associate working on their books division (they publish children's books and have just begun dabbling in documentary film and photography) doing online/direct marketing, strategic partnerships and alliances. The pros are that it's a small organization with a mostly young, entrepreneurial staff, so I should have the opportunity to really dig into my projects and take on a lot of responsibility. Furthermore, I've always wanted to go to D.C. (and still have latent anger that my mom wouldn't let me go on my 5th grade safety patrol trip), so now I will have two months to explore the city! I'm most looking forward to the Smithsonian Holocaust Museum, the Lincoln Memorial and hopefully taking a tour of the White House (if it's open to the public by then).

In other news, we've started the preregistration process for our EC year, which is exciting. There are like 80 courses available to choose from, although their selections in marketing are fairly limited. Some of the courses I know I want to take include Consumer Marketing, Strategic Marketing in Creative Industries, Competing Through Social Networks and Digital Marketing. There are also some cool leadership courses like Authentic Leadership Development, The Moral Leader and Leading Teams that are high on my list. And then there's general business courses like Executing Strategy, Building a Business in the Context of a Life, Managing Human Capital and Entrepreneurial Leadership that look interesting. We also have the opportunity to work on Field Study or Independent Study projects, so I'll be brainstorming about potential project ideas over the next couple of months.

Last week we had our first final exam (strategy), and we've got 5 more scattered throughout the remaining 5 weeks of the semester. It's hard to believe that my first year of business school is practically over! This summer is going to be crazy busy for me, although I won't be doing any grand traveling like a lot of my classmates (there are treks to China, Japan, Israel and Eastern Europe among other destinations, but the trips are like $4,000+, which is far out of reach of my budget!). I'm leaving Boston May 22nd to go home to Florida for two weeks, jetting to PA for my cousin's wedding the first weekend of June, working in D.C. for 8-10 weeks with a side trip to Boston for my other friend's wedding, and then heading back to Florida for 3 weeks before school starts again in August. I'm excited because I'm finally going to hit my TrueBlue target and get a free JetBlue flight at the end of the summer. Now I just have to find a destination to use it for (I'm thinking Hawaii, Cali or Las Vegas).

Got to get back to my case-reading, final exam studying routine. Take care!

RIP Irwin Fisch 2/19/27-3/17/09

I have been missing from the blog scene for several weeks as my grandfather turned ill the second week of February and passed this morning. He was 82 years old.

Fraught with emphysema for years, we were convinced that it was his breathing condition that would eventually kill him. We never foresaw his rapid diagnosis with Stage 4 colon cancer, emergency surgery to remove a tumor the size of a grapefruit, and the endless complications (pneumonia, MRSA, fluid in the lungs, edema, malfunctioning chew/swallow response) that would keep him in the surgical ICU for 15 days.

Last night my mother and grandmother made the decision to move him to hospice after he began running a fever. He passed away this morning around 11am.

Rest in peace, my darling grandfather...You were the only dad I ever knew and I will love and miss you forever.

I'm going to be a Maid of Honor!!!

I apologize, for this has absolutely nothing to do with HBS, but I am so excited that I have to shout it to the world. Today, one of my newly-engaged best friends from high school, Lauren, asked me to be her Maid of Honor at brunch (we went to a really cute restaurant on Newbury St. called Sonsie and I had perhaps the best french toast of my life -- it came with rum bananas and caramel and 2,000 calories, but it was so worth it!). She's getting married this summer at her sister's property in Sudbury, which she says is amazingly beautiful. Her sister is also acting as her Matron of Honor, so I will have a partner in crime, as well as four other bridesmaids (two of whom are also best friends from high school) to help make her special day that much more amazing. Today, Lauren and I went to Priscilla bridal boutique for her first round of dress exploration and then we went to Borders and bought her this massive bridal planning bible. I can't wait to start brainstorming about Bridal Showers and Bachelorette party themes (and I even bought a "How to be a Bridesmaid" book at Borders!)~!

I promise I'll blog soon with some actual MBA news. Things are pretty blah right now as we just chug through the semester and continue the very long, very exhausting internship search. I'm heading to NYC next weekend for the Entertainment & Media Club's NY Trek, so I'll have stuff to add once I return. Also, Admitted Students Weekend is in two weeks and I've volunteered to host one of the lunches, so if any of you readers will be up in Boston, give me a shout!