This week’s lesson is all about setting a routine. With school, work and student clubs it can become easy to overlook your physical and mental well-being. That being said, a learning team member and I set up a weekly schedule involving library study hours, work-outs at the Marino Center and time for our jobs.
I’m becoming a regular morning visitor at the Career Center, taking advantage of their complimentary coffee, tea and hot cocoa (though I really don’t bother with the latter two, who would want less-caffeine anyway?).
On Wednesday I schedule a meeting with my career advisor so that she can get to know me, my career history and my future goals. We also go over my resume in more detail. I’m to have an updated version to her in a couple of weeks. The meeting is about 45 minutes long and I feel great about the specialized attention I receive; I’m not rushed out of the room like I would have been at my large, undergraduate institution.
Thursday is a big day for me. I’m on campus from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.! I go to class, fit in 3 hours at my work study position, hit the gym, grab a quick bowl of Pho for dinner at Pho & I and head to the graduate lounge in Dodge Hall for my first Marketing Club meeting. I’m excited and anxious since I’ve applied for two executive positions (Vice President or Secretary) and today I will find out the results of my applications.
I’m shocked to learn that I am elected Vice President! Now, I feel it important to dole out a bit of advice here. When applying to these leadership positions I underestimated my qualifications. I primarily applied to the secretarial position, feeling I wouldn’t (or couldn’t) be as qualified as my peers. I didn’t hold out much hope for winning either. What I found out is that out of 30 members, only three people applied to executive board positions! My friend was elected President and I share the Vice President role with the other applicant. So, if you want a leadership position in a club, go for it! You’d be surprised at how few people even bother to apply.
After the meeting, the former president pulls the three of us aside and gives us some pointers. I’m so excited to get going on all of the options available for the club; guest speakers, facility tours, consulting projects and social events are all activities they have taken advantage of in the past. We’re even allotted a pretty generous budget. My co-execs and I decide that we will definitely need more hands on board and send out requests for a treasurer and secretary.
Friday is “Dress for Success” in Career Management. Two employees from The TJX Companies (whose companies include T.J. Maxx and Marshalls) come to class armed with a wardrobe and the dos and don’ts of business attire.
After class I head upstairs to a mandatory Hoover’s Training session. At first I went begrudgingly, assuming it would be an hour-long discourse on all the minutia that make up online research, but it was quite the opposite. Northeastern subscribes to several databases centered on searching for our co-op, researching careers and exploring industries. Some even have details on average salaries and contact information for executives. I’ve already used Hoover’s to look up some of the marketing heads at residencies I’m interested in and hope to contact them as soon as I get a chance.
After some homework, my day closes with a visit to 28 Degrees, a swanky bar in the South End where I sip my muddled grape Caipirinha and take a breather.
Saturday is a day of buckling down. The coming week is rife with reading and I know if I don’t start now, I’ll be unable to finish. I pack up my backpack and grab a coffee on the way to Snell Library where I find a quite study nook on the top floor to call home for the next 4 hours.
On my way home, I cross Columbus Avenue and am greeted by a full-on Jazz festival. There’s free music, booths of delicious food and people, people, people. If I weren’t in study mode I would have grabbed some grub (or at least the fried dough! Yum!).
Plus, I have a dinner date tonight at Mumbai Chopstix, an Indian fusion restaurant on Newbury Street that just opened in April. Now, I’m not too familiar with Indian food, but luckily one of my classmates is from India so she and her husband graciously make suggestions (and what delicious suggestions they were).
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| Mumbai Chopstix Photo courtesy of Farah Naaz |
Afterwards I walk off my dinner with some friends and eventually end up at Our House, a local bar near Northeastern.
It’s Sunday and I’m so excited! A classmate and I have set up a girl’s brunch at Stephanie's On Newbury. I’m surprised and thrilled at the turnout. Out of the 16 girls in our section, 11 make it out for omelets, pancakes and my new addiction: frittered French toast! It’s a lovely way to start the day.
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| Stephanie's On Newbury Photo courtesy of Katherine Baroutgian |
Again, I finish off my weekend with some powerhouse studying, finally making it to bed around 1:00 am (my new 'regular' bedtime).
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| Frittered French Toast |
* The views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of Northeastern University, its staff, faculty or affiliates and are solely the opinion of Katrina Graves.
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