Boston Restaurant Week and a Little Trip to Western Massachusetts

Monday morning I wake up for my obligatory library session. This week I’m working on two scholarship applications. Each spring, continuing students have the opportunity to apply for scholarships. This year, the school will be awarding four prizes. The scholarships are worth $3,000 a piece so I made sure to hammer out the best application essays possible. I could really use some of the money for my IFS tuition this summer. Wish me luck!

After Finance class I stop by UPS on my way home to mail my India visa application! I‘m so excited to have it done. The process makes the trip seem all the more real.  In fact, I leave in just 8 weeks! Wow, I really need to buy my tickets...

On Tuesday afternoon after Supply Chain I meet with my Marketing Club executive board to review the final weeks of the club. We touch base on consulting projects and discuss the printing of our new logo on mugs for the group.  A multi-club harbor cruise is proposed for the end of the year and we set about seeing what our budget allows.

After that meeting, it’s on to my Operations team meeting. Our second assignment of the Boston Globe project is due tomorrow and we haven’t even started writing it yet.  Luckily, we have some great information from our site visit two weeks ago and plenty of pictures for illustrative purposes.  We spend the next several hours compiling eight pages of text along with several exhibits.

On Wednesday I start my morning with Operations before dragging my feet to Finance.  We are supposed to get our dreaded exams back today. Rumors swirl that the average for our section is a 63% with the range spanning 30-96%. I am certain that I’m that low-lying number. But, when the tests are handed back, I got a 71%! I’m thrilled, but even more so when I realize that with the generous curve, I have an A sitting in my hands. This is nothing short of miraculous!

That afternoon, while perusing Northeastern's eRecruitng website for newly posted residencies I came across a marketing position at State Street Corporation. I immediately set about doing research and coming up with my cover letter. I also set up a meeting with my career adviser to discuss the specifics of the job before applying to make sure it’s a good fit for me.

On Thursday in Statistics we get our exams back. I didn’t feel too confident about my performance but, after yesterday’s Finance surprise, who knows? I end up with an 84% after the curve, which is just above average for our section. I thank the heavens this week for whoever invented rounding.

That afternoon, after I get out of Strategy, I do some homework until my 2:45 pm appointment with my Statistics professor to go over questions I have from class earlier today. Since I didn’t do as well as I had hoped on the exam I feel it pertinent to step up my efforts. My teacher was so gracious in giving me an hour of his time. We even broached the topic of the big interdisciplinary project due at the end of the semester. I’m glad we did because he helps me start to make sense of our pages of excel spreadsheets and financial codes.

Tuna Tartar from Sibling Rivalry

After Statistics I head home to run a few errands and do some reading before getting ready for my first Boston Restaurant Week experience: dinner at Sibling Rivalry! For those of you not in the know, Boston Restaurant Week is a bi-annual event held in May and August where nearly 200 local Boston eateries prepare pre-fixe menus; every one with a $33.11 price tag for a three-course dinner. Since most of these establishments are of the finer variety, these prices cannot be beat. I’ll be hitting up two restaurants this year. Today it's Sibling Rivalry: a restaurant founded by two brothers that centers around dueling menus. The food may very well have been some of the best I’ve had in Boston. As I was with generous guests, we shared our entrees and appetizers. I sampled beef and tuna tartar, pork dumplings, a duck entree in a cranberry reduction, pistachio encrusted mahi mahi and a bevy of dessert including blueberry bread pudding and a chocolate profiterole. Heaven!

Afterward we hit up Punter’s, a dive bar right near campus and who do we find there but a gathering of our classmates! How fun.We spend the next couple of hours relaxing over cheap beers.

Friday morning I wake up early and head to campus. I need to work on my scholarship application that’s due at noon and begin research for my Statistics and Strategy team meeting this afternoon.

I arrive at the library at 8:30 am and get a good hour of writing in, putting the final touches on my scholarship application and submitting it to the business office. At 9:30 am I meet with my career adviser to review my cover letter for a new corporate residency. This one is for State Street Corporation. The job, while for a financial institution, is a classic product marketing position and would involve market research and analysis. I think it will be challenging, but very rewarding. The job was just posted on Wednesday and is already due Sunday so I had to do a quick turnaround.  I’ll let you know if I get an interview!  

After the meeting I feel much better and meet up with my group for some Statistics and Strategy work for our company, Ann Taylor. I relay some of the insights our professor gave me on Thursday and they all seem relieved to have a bit more direction on the project.

I spend the rest of my afternoon doing laundry and cleaning up. I haven’t had a moment to spare since Nick left on Sunday.

That night is round two of restaurant week! This time at a local Back Bay favorite: Lucca.  Having had such a great experience at Sibling Rivalry last night I have high expectations. Alas, it disappointed. My French onion soup was lukewarm and my chicken entrée, once it arrived 30 minutes after my appetizer, was dry and uninteresting. The only redeeming quality was the dessert: a chocolate mousse with orange marmalade, hazelnut crumble and whipped cream. The whole menu hosted only 2-3 options per course, compared to Sibling Rivalry’s with more options that I knew what to do with.

While the rest of group heads out to see a movie after dinner, I make my way home. I’m meeting a friend at 8:30 tomorrow morning for a trip to Western Massachusetts to see her family and I want to make sure I’m rested.

Deerfield Academy - A little spooky, don't you think?

Saturday morning my friend picks me up and we’re on an adventure to Western Massachusetts and her hometown of Greenfield. On our way we pass picturesque hills and rivers and I get to see the more rural side of the state. After a delicious French toast breakfast at her house we drive to Historic Deerfield – a colonial town minutes from her home.  Apparently, several prestigious boarding schools are located in the town, including Deerfield Academy, which many famous politicians and international leaders call their alma mater. 

Mmmmm....chocolates

After Old Deerfield we stop by her favorite chocolate shop: Richardson’s Candy Kitchen. I have never smelled anything like that store! I was almost overcome with the aroma of chocolate and sweets. We each pick up a half-pound box of truffles, caramels and the like.

Old-school candle-making

After that we drive to the Yankee Candle flagship store. Yankee Candle is huge in this part of the U.S. and is basically just a candle maker. But their factory would tell you otherwise. It is nothing short of a compound for shopping. You can make your own candles, browse their hundreds of varieties, shop for Christmas ornaments, make a teddy bear, visit the candy store, and on and on. I felt like I was walking in an indoor themed mall that never ended! But it was super fun and a definite sensory experience.

When I get home that night around 5:30 pm I buckle down to homework. I have several group meetings tomorrow and need to prepare.

Sunday morning I wake up early and hit submit on my State Street application before making my way to the library for what would turn into a six hour powerhouse study session. My Finance group meets and tries to hash out the case write-up we have due on Wednesday. After that we begin work on our Supply Chain case that’s due on Tuesday before transitioning to another Finance case due on Monday. Can you tell this week’s theme is case assignments?

But amid all this work, I do get an e-mail from my India IFS professor scheduling our next meeting! I’m excited and he says to have a group ready so we can begin discussion of our team assignments.

I leave the library around 4:30 pm exhausted. But I dutifully go home and finalize my portion of the Supply Chain write up, read a chapter of Strategy and try to make sense of my upcoming Statistics case due on Thursday. Phew! I make it to bed around 12:30am. It’s going to be a long week. 

* The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Northeastern, its staff or affiliates.