My (Kinda) Graduation

Break Week
(April 30- June 6)

Well blogosphere, it's my semester break this week and, sadly, the only 'time off' I'll be getting between school and starting work full-time. Fortunately, I have some exciting things to occupy me.

On Monday I head in to work (my boss has graciously allowed me to swap my Friday of work for Monday so I can participate in my graduation ceremony). The big event on my calendar today: a makeshift National Craisins^® Day in response to National Raisin Day. In an effort to take over the 'holiday' we hand out samples to employees with coupons for them to pass on to friends, initiate a "Make the Swap" contest online and even hand out freshly baked Oatmeal Craisins^® White Chocolate Chunk cookies and milk. Yum!

Besides all the fun activity surrounding the event, I also get some great exposure to new systems including our financial management program and the accruals process for budgeting. I make sure to pay extra close attention because pretty soon I will be tasked with managing the foods budget.

I round out my day with some more deep-dives into Nielsen data and what it tells me about dried cranberry consumption in our key accounts across the United States.

That night, after days of anxiously checking Northeastern's Blackboard system, I am pleased to see that Spring Semester grades are up. Amazingly, I somehow manage to get the highest GPA of my MBA career, and during my most stressful semester at that! Phew! This will have to buffer me for my Summer I term...ugh.

Tuesday I head into work again (it's been kind of nice to work three days in row - it almost feels like I'm full time!). It's a long day but a rewarding one. With my mounting responsibilities and trying to learn all the ropes, my day runs more than 10 hours. Included are some calls with prospective vendors who want to do sampling events for  Craisins^®, editing some Facebook and Twitter posts, reviewing the budget, a new foods product meeting and more! Phew!

As a nice break I get to have lunch with my Ocean Spray 'buddy' in the cafeteria. We catch up on our weekend activities and what's happening in the world of cranberry Foods and Beverage.

After a day of powering through tons of projects, I am happy to say my Tuesday ends with five days of break, free from school and work. I remind myself to savor it since it's the only semblance of a vacation I'm getting before the real world hits.

But, true to form, my grandiose ideas of sleeping in and watching TV all day are quickly brought back to reality. I spend the first day of my 'break' on Wednesday running errands to get ready for my parents arrival and graduation. I go to the doctor, get a haircut, get my nails done and pick up my cap and gown (which involved me entering the Cabot Recreation Center for the first time!)

Waiting to hear my number; it's nice to know that some things never change, regardless of what state you're in.

On Thursday I'm up early to head to the Boston Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) to officially surrender my California drivers license and become a Massachusetts state resident. As I sit in the waiting room listening for my number to be called I get a little sad that I'm renouncing my California-ness. While I've lived in other states before, I never officially became a of resident of anywhere except the Golden State. At least I get a new drivers license photo.

After I finish up at the RMV I clean my apartment, stop by CVS for some last minute items and get ready to pick up my Mom and Stepfather from Boston Logan Airport at 2:00 pm.

Mom and Stepfather at Faneuil Hall

After I manage my first drive to the airport in my new ride, my Mom, Stepfather and I somehow manage to make it to the historic Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market area for a late lunch at Union Oyster House. It's supposedly the first restaurant in America (founded in 1826) and my Mom was dying to go after seeing it featured on the Food Network. But, I have to say, while the chowder was good, the rest of our meal was lackluster at best, and the service was pretty poor (even at 3:00 in the afternoon). Oh well, it was fun and we follow it up with a tour around the powerful Holocaust Memorial, Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market before I take them to see my tiny studio home of the past two years, and drop them at their hotel.

I then head to meet my Dad, who flew in a couple of hours earlier. I join him at Lucca Back Bay (not my fave, but it's conveniently located) for drinks at the bar, dinner for him and dessert for me. It was so fun to catch up! I then proceed to show him my new car and my apartment, which has undergone some decorating improvements since he last saw it on moving day September 2010. 

After that I bid my Dad goodnight and hit the hay. I have to be awake to pick Nick up from the airport by 7:00 am tomorrow morning; not to mention it's Graduation day!

Friday is the big day! The day I (kinda) graduate from the Northeastern MBA program. I say 'kinda' because as I know all too well, I still have two classes to complete during Summer I, while working full-time. I am anything but 'done' with the program. Nonetheless, I am a huge fan of formalities, ceremonies and other such fanfare so I'm  going to try my best to pretend away (if only for today).

I start my graduation day very early (like, out of the house at 6:00 am early) so that I can pick Nick up from the airport. I'm so grateful for him to have flown out to Boston just for the weekend to see me walk. After I grab him from Boston Logan (man, having a car makes this process so much easier!) we go home and crash for a couple hours.

At around 10:30am Nick and I head to The Colonnade Hotel, where my Dad is staying, for graduation breakfast at Brasserie Jo with the whole family. I have been wanting to go here for quite some time so I'm happy to have an excuse. Since it's a French restaurant I feel it only fitting to order up some breakfast crepes!

After we wrap up, I head back to the apartment to primp before my graduation ceremony. I have to report to our MBA station outside of Matthews Arena by 2:00 pm.

Hanging out in the graduation tent before entering Matthews Arena

Of course, we really didn't need to get there until probably an hour later but it was still nice to mingle with all the graduates outside of Matthews Arena and say goodbye to many people who are leaving the area for great job opportunities in other states/countries.

The ceremony itself was nice and brief. David Ferriero, the 10th Archivist of the United States, gave our commencement address. The whole process was done before 5:30 pm.

After the ceremony lets out, I participate in some obligatory photos in front of Dodge Hall before heading into the Graduate Business School reception party. It was so fun to introduce my family and boyfriend to everyone who has been so influential during the program and who have helped me so much, career-wise.

It wouldn't be a blog post without some pictures of food!

By 6:30 pm, I bid my Northeastern colleagues adieu and head to my graduation dinner at Sibling Rivalry (my favorite!). I loved being able to share a great restaurant with my family and liked it even more given the fact that it lasted well into the night. 

Saturday I'm up relatively early again. I grab a Dunkin Donuts breakfast with Nick before we meander over to Fenway Park for my first ever Red Sox game! My father was generous enough to buy the whole family tickets to see the Sox play against the Orioles. While the Sox lost, I had an amazing time eating ball park fare,buying an obligatory Red Sox baseball cap and enjoying all of the fans.

Look at that snazzy Sox cap!

After the game, my Mom and Stepdad head over to Harvard University to check it out (though I think Northeastern is FAR more interesting) and I show my Dad my future Fenway apartment.

We then walk back to the Colonnade where I get a lovely graduation gift and see the mini confetti cannons that were intended for my graduation ceremony (that didn't arrive in time). You see, my Dad owns a company that manufactures confetti and confetti cannons for large-scale events like concerts, sporting events, etc. and he was going to shoot them off during my ceremony. Alas, they will have to be reserved for another time.

At around 7:00 pm we head to Newbury Street to meet my Mom and Stepdad at Cafeteria where we spend a good while drinking Sangria and enjoying 'Tray Chic' comfort food.

We then wander over to the Trader Joe's to show my Sepdad (a Trader Joe's employee for the past 40+ years) the smallest store in the country. It was such a blast to see how excited he was to explore the store and chat up all of the employees.

Sunday I get to sleep in. My parents both left early today but said I was off the hook to drive them to the airport. I spend the majority of the day running some errands with Nick, grabbing a movie at the Fenway theater (we saw The Five-Year Engagement) and grab lunch at Temptations Cafe before I'm forced to drive him to the airport. After he leaves I'm left with nothing but homework, homework and more homework for my first week of Summer semester.



*The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Northeastern University, Ocean Spray Cranberries, either entity's staff or affiliates.