International Field Study - India

After 10 days of independent travel it is now time to join the rest of the Northeastern MBAs for our International Field Study. I'm so excited! I've been waiting for this since before I began at Northeastern! Here we go...

Day 1: New Delhi

After recovering from my long train journey with a nap and some socializing with our group at the hotel lounge I call it an early night so that I can be ready for our early morning business visits tomorrow. Plus, while it was fun to hang with my classmates at the hotel bar, my direction to avoid ice leaves my beverage options sadly lacking.

Day 2: New Delhi

Our first order of business today is a feast of a breakfast in a private Taj Hotel conference room. I see pork product for the first time in weeks along with pastries and all those delicious American breakfast goodies I have been missing.  After getting acquainted with the entire group, including four students from the part-time and online programs, we leave the comforts of our Taj Hotel for an equally westernized hotel about 15 minutes away. Here we are given a series of presentations from companies such as Possible Worldwide, a global interactive marketing agency.

Alstom

We enjoy a buffet lunch before hopping on our air-conditioned bus to Noida for our first on-site company visit at Alstom, a leading supplier of transport infrastructure, power generation and transmission.  While this presentation was decidedly more technical it was nice to have access to the actual company site. We had several company representatives speak to us on everything from the India job market, the company culture and even the specifics of electrical currents!

Continuing down the line of our jam-packed day, we get a few minutes back at the Taj Hotel to refresh before heading back to the Claridges Hotel for dinner and more presentations by influential Indians.

One of our dinner presenters was of particular interest to me. Raju Mansukhani is a former journalist who is now the Director of Mansar Communications.  He was perhaps the most impressive speaker we had yet as his experience in the newspaper industry gave him an intimate and wide-ranging knowledge of many cultural and political traits of the subcontinent.  What's more, he spent a good while discussing Udaipur's tourism efforts, showing pictures of the city I had just come from. How cool!

While these presentations were quite interesting, I begin to see the toll of a long day and jet lag impacting my classmates. Even our professor looks exhausted! We don't get home until past midnight. Looks like we'll only get only a few hours of sleep before our 5:00am attendance call in the hotel lobby. But it's fine by me because tomorrows is the TAJ MAHAL!!!

Day 3: Agra (a.k.a the home of the Taj Mahal)

I'll admit, even with the Taj Mahal calling my name it's a rough morning wake-up. We all sleepily grab a boxed breakfast and somehow manage to board the bus and then the tourist train to Agra intact.

During the two-hour train ride to Agra you can see the class start to wake up with a visible excitement replacing once sleepy eyes. I just can't believe we're going to see one of the most iconic structures in the world. I wonder if it can possibly live up to all of the hype...

Tonga ride to the Taj Mahal

After some schedule shifting (something that will become the theme of the trip) our Accent Group guide informs us that we will be heading to the Taj Mahal first, rather than at the previously scheduled twilight hour. I'm a bit disappointed, yearning for a stunning sunset snapshot, but understand his logic: he fears that if we wait until the end of the day we'll be too exhausted to enjoy it. So we board another large tourist bus and head to the main attraction. I'm pleasantly surprised to see that we will be riding horse-drawn tongas to the Taj Mahal! I hop in a rickety (to say the least) cart and before I know it our driver has us racing his friend down an Indian street. I have to admit it's thrilling a super fun.

The Taj Mahal is everything it promises to be and more. I had always assumed that I would arrive at the site to see only the white marble structure, but in reality, the Taj Mahal is made up of a series of buildings in shades of white and rusty red. We spend the next hour exploring the grounds and taking more photos than is healthy.

By the time we leave the Taj everyone is visibly overheated and drained, understandable in 107-degree heat. We are relieved to get back on the bus to our next site: Agra Fort. I'm eager to see the giant red-orange complex but, unfortunately, several of my classmates couldn't seem to face the heat again deciding, instead, to wait out the tour napping on the bus. If only I had known that this was just the beginning of our groups ailments...

Monkeying around at Agra Fort

Agra Fort is a treat. I especially enjoy that I can take photos of the Taj Mahal from across the river. The large community of monkeys calling the fort home isn't too shabby either.

After about an hour we're back on the bus to lunch at the Trident Hotel. The 23 of us all but rush the door for air conditioning and a cool drink. Some of my classmates even jump into the hotel pool fully clothed, resulting in our group getting banned from the outdoor area. Whoops!

Fatehpur Sikri

Even though we've already completed a fair share of site-seeing we're off again in an hour- this time to Fatehpur Sikri, a two-hour drive outside of Agra. I really enjoy the drive and the chance to take in the countryside. Fatehpur Sikri is nice as well and we manage to catch it at sunset. I snag some of my coveted photos at the deserted site before we're back on the bus for a mad dash to the train station.

On the way we realize a sit-down dinner is not in the cards time-wise and so our driver drops all 23 of us off at a Pizza Hut were we overtake the take-out window. With much rushing we make it to the train station in time for our train, but not before a scary encounter with some slum-children who we are informed are under the influence of drugs. They grab at our food, try to pull our belongings off of us and even sneak peaks up some of the girls' skirts! It was a very unpleasant experience and I pray for the train to arrive on time (it is, of course, 15 minutes late).

We finally stumble into our hotel in New Delhi around midnight with a wake-up call of 7:00am.

Day 4: Delhi

I'm super excited for today! Not only do we have a community service project in the morning but we'll finally get a city tour of New Delhi, 3 days after we've arrived here!

With some students from The Oxford Square

The Oxford Square is an NGO that provides free education to slum-dwelling children. I wasn't quite sure what to expect but was extremely (and pleasantly) surprised! One man has sacrificed half of his home and converted it into a school for more than 200 needy children ranging in age from 4 or 5 to 16 or 17! All classes are taught in English and I am honestly impressed with the student's mastery of the language. I'm pretty sure this visit was one of the most rewarding for our entire group. We leave smiling and inspired.

After our great morning we stop by a local restaurant for lunch before heading back to the Taj Hotel. Here's were things start to fall apart. After much complaining from my group our professor and Accent Group leader decide to CANCEL the New Delhi city tour! I'm incensed to say the least! I have paid for this tour and now I'll be forced to pay for it AGAIN if I want to see Delhi. I'm fuming when my teacher comes over to me to apologize. After conferring with the tour leader he agrees to pay for a cab for myself and two online/part-time students to go to the same sites. While we still have to pay the entrance fees, I am slightly appeased.

India Gate

Let me just say that my group missed out. We visit Qutab Minar and take in its famous Islamic architecture (some dating as far back as the 4th century!), Humayuns tomb which was the inspiration of the Taj Mahal but which I thought was far more impressive and ended the day with a sunset tour of the government buildings and India Gate for some ice cream, sodas and local flavor. The Delhi city tour was one of my favorite parts of my IFS tour!

Day 5: Delhi -> Chennai

Today is the day that our group transforms from students to a walking cesspool of sickness. Perfect timing for our flight to Chennai.

We all get up early and it's apparent that 'Delhi Belly' has claimed its dues. A good portion of our group can barely contain their illness on the ride to the airport. By the time we're through security, many can't even do that. Not to get into too much detail, I'll just say several of us couldn't make it to the restroom on time and I'm pretty sure we cleaned the airplane of its entire airsickness bag stock.

When we arrive at the Park Hotel it's all I can do to keep myself standing at reception to check out. I spend the rest of the day in bed, with the illness that had been hovered around me for days finally taking full hold.

Day 6: Chennai

Despite obvious stomach issues I can't bear to miss a day of site seeing so I force myself awake in the morning for our 2-hour drive out to Mahabalipuram. Unfortunately, about 20 minutes into the ride I'm feeling awful and I spend the next several hours trying to sleep on the bus while others take in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. When they return I ask our guide what my options are for heading back to the hotel; I don't think I can handle sitting on the bus for the rest of the day. We arrange for a cab ride home for me after lunch.

After my pathetic attempts at lunch (read a piece of naan and some white rice) I'm in the back of a cab.  When I arrive back at the Park Hotel I order room service, begging for some simple pasta or something. I'm starving but all of the India food seems to be upsetting my stomach.

My glorious meal arrives shortly (though with a nearly $20 price tag for noodles) and I sleep for the rest of the day and night.

Day 7: Chennai

Ugh.... I don't leave my bed today. I feel horrible for missing out on a company visit to Dell. The one thing that makes me feel not as guilty is that my roommate, a native of Chennai, has been gone for the past three days with visits to the doctor from stomach issues as well. It appears that India does not discriminate on who it gifts its stomach issues to.

Day 8: Chennai -> Bangalore

I wake up early today based on instructions from our itinerary. However, as mentioned previously, that itinerary changes every hour. After completing my check-out at 6:00am I wait with another classmate who was sick yesterday in the lobby. We sit for 3 hours before our professor rolls around to inform us that the schedule had been changed and we would now be meeting in a room of the Park Hotel (rather than traveling to a business) at 10:00am. Frustrated I head to the breakfast bar and then to spend $10 for an hour for internet.

Listening to a presentation by Hand in Hand

Our meeting  turns out to be quite interesting. We are visited by a firm called Hand in Hand and it provides microfinancing for villagers around India. Their efforts are much broader than I would have expected and I am uplifted by the presenter's stories of success. It's amazing what $100 dollars or less can do for an aspiring business owner or villager who barely makes that much in a year.

Next we head a bit outside of town for a visit to Accurate Products, a leading grease fitting manufacturer. The owner is actually our professor's old friend from college! We get a plant tour and a nice Powerpoint presentation before rushing off to catch out afternoon Kingfisher flight to Bangalore, the last stop on our IFS tour.

Day 9: Bangalore

After a glorious night's sleep and gourmet breakfast at the Gateway Hotel (an offshoot of the Taj hotels) we head to our final company visit: IBM. The IBM tour was one of the best of the trip. Located in a large complex of heavy-hitting international companies like Yahoo! and Ebay, the IBM building was a modern facility housing thousands of workers. After several presentations from such higher-ups as the Vice President of Operations, we get a tour, grab some snacks at their 'campus' cafeteria and return home.

I spend the rest of the afternoon browsing shops near the hotel. That night most of us make our way a couple of doors down from our hotel to an Irish pub (of all places) for some Kingfishers. Our professor even joins us for some drinks.

I excuse myself relatively early to rest up for what was supposed to be a full -day tour of Mysore tomorrow (about 5 hours away). Little did I know that our trip there was soon to be canceled.

Day 10: Bangalore

Due to lack of interest our trip to Mysore would not longer be running. Upon hearing the news I become visibly furious. I was literally the ONLY person who wanted to go. Everyone else just wanted to lounge by the pool. This having now been the SECOND time a cultural activity was canceled I approach our professor and tour leader to protest. They say there is nothing they can do and don't even offer a cab for me to go on my own or any other options to see the sights. UGH! I'm at my wits end with my sickness and the heat and the disorganization of this trip.

We finally come to some agreement that they will offer us a short city tour of Bangalore. It makes me feel a little better that my professor comes over to express his sympathies and apologize for the situation.

Luckily, the city tour ends up going quite well. We take a tour of Tippu Sultan's Palace, the Nandi Temple with one of the largest Nandi murthis in the world followed by a walk in the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens.

The rest of the afternoon is spent by the pool, shopping and with all the girls getting henna done! I guess the day didn't turn out as poorly as I thought it would. Plus, we were able to relax before our farewell dinner.

I get to bed that night around 11:00 pm and will have to wake up around 2:30 am in order to get ready for my 6:00am flight to Nepal. I travel to the airport with 5 other students and as we zoom through the early morning darkness of Bangalore I bid India goodbye.

Namaste from India

 
After a grueling 17+ hour journey I touch down in New Delhi on Sunday, May 1st.

It's around 9:00 at night here and my friend and I deliriously manage to collect our bags and head outside for what was supposed to be a hotel pick up. After 45 minutes we decide he is not coming and hail a cab. Hotel Eurostar is decidedly less clean and 'business-traveler friendly' than advertised but we're only here one night and the air-conditioned room and shower are just what we need.

Day 1: New Delhi - > Jaipur

Delhi Cantt Station

We wake up early the next morning for our first Indian train experience. Fortunately, I booked our train out of the less-popular Delhi Cantt station so it is more manageable to find our way around. We grab a sad breakfast of cashew cookies and curry-flavored chips (all packaged foods to avoid illness) and wait for the train. When it arrives there is, of course, no signage as to where our cabin is, how to board, etc. Nervous, we just hop on the train at the first cart - big mistake! We had entered the luggage carriage, or, the carriage where lower-fare ticket holders ride. There is no order and people hang from the ceilings, cover the floor and generally prevent our movement while simultaneously giving us dirty looks that say "you do not belong here".  We somehow manage to traverse about seven carts like this and eventually get to our AC 2 cart (2nd tier sleeper cars with AC). This seems like heaven comparatively. We bounce along on our 5-6 hour train ride and I venture to order some food on the train. It's quite good but I wonder if I made a fatal error judgement by ordering it.

We arrive at the Jaipur station around 1:30pm. After being hassled by rickshaw drivers we come across one who speaks English quite well. His name is 'Jimmy' and while I'm quite sure our ride will end in a sales pitch for some tour, we don't care at this point and just want to get to our hotel.

The ride does, indeed, end in a sales pitch and a sale. He has agreed to come pick us up this afternoon and give us a mini-tour for 400 rupees (less than $10). This seems fair so we both head inside the Umaid Mahal (a heritage hotel), cleanup and grab some lunch.

Flowers from Jimmy

We meet 'Jimmy' outside around 3:00 pm. He shows us a beautifully mosaiced temple of mirrors, the lake front and then takes us (of course) to a friend of his' fabric store. While I am generally opposed to being 'sold' things,  I decide buying a Salwar Kameez will be useful and is something I had wanted anyway. I get it specially made and they promise delivery by tomorrow evening. My friend picks up a bedding set, embroidered blanket and pashmina. We also get to see the fabrics being made, so while it was definitely a commissioned sale for Jimmy, I guess it all worked out.

Day 2: Jaipur

City Palace, Jaipur

After a brief discussion, Jimmy agrees to pick us up tomorrow morning for a full day of site-seeing. We hit up the City Palace, the eery ancient astrological park Jantar Mantar and the Amber Fort just outside of town. I LOVE the Amber Fort. When we pull up to it I feel like I'm in some period piece film that takes place in the Middle East. After a bit of a hike up to the actual fort, my friend gets sick. The heat has become too much and she insists I proceed through the fort without her. I make a quick round before meeting her outside. We rush back to the hotel, unfortunately, stopping along the way when she gets sick. I hope this is not an indicator of the entire trip to come! Yikes!

We decide to break for the afternoon and Jimmy says he will pick us up in the early evening. When that time rolls around, my friend is still  not feeling well so I head out alone. I hit up the Monkey Temple (literally littered with the critters) and then fall victim to another of Jimmy's sales pitches. He takes me to a jeweler friend despite my protestations and leaves me there. Great. At least the store owner quickly realizes I'm not interested and leaves me be. They call Jimmy to come pick me up.

Frustrated with him I ask to be taken home. Relentless he tries to sell an early morning tour of Jaipur the next day but I say no and tell him to pick us up at 2:00pm for our flight to Udaipur.

Amber Fort, Jaipur

Day 3: Jaipur - > Udaipur

The next morning my travel companion and I decide an Ayurvedic massage is in order. We head down the street to a location recommended by Lonely Planet. It was certainly an experience as we were drenched in gallons of oils. I won't say I would do it again, but at least I had that experience.

We spend our remaining hours in Jaipur at the hotel restaurant eating some bland Chicken Byriani and playing cards with large Kingfisher beers by our side.

Jimmy picks us up and drops us off at the surprisingly modern and clean Jaipur airport. We each grab a soda and wait to board Kingfisher airlines (yes, the beer company has an airline).

After a brief 40 minute flight we touch down in what will become my favorite Indian city: Udaipur.

The friendly hotel driver greets us and takes us the 30-minute drive to the city. He stops along the way to explain some sites and give us a chocolate candy. We're staying at the Jaiwana Haveli. It is lake-front and has a roof-top restaurant. The service here is amazing! Our room has great views and the food here is actually good!

We spend the day resting, strolling the narrow European-esque streets and enjoying dinner on the roof. There we meet a friendly Canadian flight attendant on a 5-week vacation in India. After chatting for a while we all agree to do some site-seeing together in the morning. She also gives me the most amazing travel tip: apparently you can use internet and Skype on your iPhone if there is wi-fi for free! You just have to disable some of the phone capabilities!  I will definitely have to try this out.

Day 4: Udaipur

We meet our new friend in the morning during breakfast. Our first order of business is a stop at the City Palace of Udaipur. We will learn that most of the major sites in the city are within walking distance from our hotel. Fabulous! The City Palace is quite large and the three of us spend a good couple of hours maneuvering its lavish rooms filled with paintings, mirrors and brilliant colors.

After we've had our fill of the palace and our new celebrity status (we are CONSTANTLY asked for pictures), we wander down the hill for our hour-long boat tour of Lake Pichola - including the Jag Mandir Palace. On our way to the boat the path directs us through a park where every tree is literally infested with large fruit bats. While I enjoy the site I make sure to avoid hanging out below them for too long.

The boat ride ends up being amazing! The breeze on the open air boat cools the 105 degree temperature substantially. We circle the Taj Lake Palace (which refused to allow my friends and I onto the island for lunch- snobs!) and then land at Jag Mandir Palace which appears to float in the middle of the lake.

Jag Mandir Palace

By the time our boat tour ends we are all a bit tired from the heat and so agree to meet in the hotel lobby a couple of hours later to share a cab to the Monsoon Palace, perched high atop a mountain that overlooks Lake Pichola.

Thankfully, we get our kind driver again. He takes us the 40-minute ride up the mountain where the three of us marvel at the abandoned Palace, which has since been inhabited by bats, the 360 view of Udaipur and its lakes and the large family of monkeys that chased our car down the hill.

On our way back to the hotel our driver takes us through a detour around the second large lake in Udaipur, past a festive Indian wedding occurring smack dab in the middle of the street and finally to a large gated garden where, again, the three of us become the stars of the locals photographs and cell phone videos.

That night the three of us enjoy a nice dinner on our rooftop restaurant before joining a new American friend for drinks at HIS hotel's rooftop restaurant. I'm liking this theme!  

Day 5: Udaipur -> Jodhpur

Caroline and I get up early the next morning in order to grab breakfast and a quick visit to the Jagdish Temple down the road. We then rush back to the hotel to grab our cab to the airport for what was supposed to be a 40-minute flight to Jodphur. But, alas, things don't always work out as they are supposed to.

When we get to the airport we are informed that our flight is cancelled. Air India, whom I will never fly again, had been experiencing strikes for three days but never considered letting its passengers know that all flights were cancelled. The manager casually dismisses us and tells us to take a 4-hour cab ride to Jodhpur. We reluctantly concede. Too bad that 4-hour ride would turn into one of the biggest nightmares of the trip.

What should have taken 4 hours took 7.5, three stops for our driver to pray, use the restroom, 12 stops to ask for directions (he didn't know where we were going) and a complete exposure of all our drivers deepest secrets ranging from his three mistresses from all over the world, to his wife, etc.

Kingfisher: Extremely necessary after our journey

When we arrive at the Jodhpur city limits our driver gives up his task of getting us to the hotel and hands us over to a rickshaw driver who finally gets us there. By this time my friend and I are so exhausted we rush into the hotel, demand Kingfishers and directions to the hotel restaurant.

Day 6: Jodhpur

Mehrangarh Fort in the daytime

For our day in Jodhpur we hire a rickshaw driver to guide us around the blue city. He takes us to Umaid Bhawan Palace, the Mandore Gardens and an attempt to enter the Mehrangarh Fort for panoramic views of the famed blue buildings of the city. However, we were informed that the Fort was closed until 7:00pm that night for, get this, filming of the new BATMAN movie! What!? How cool is that? We decide to return later that night since the heat is getting to us anyway.

After resting for a bit, we stroll the markets nearby our hotel, see the clock tower and enjoy some lunch. At 6:30pm we meet our driver and he takes us up the hill to Mehrangarh Fort. We hope that, since we're a bit early, we may be able to sneak a peek of Christian Bale but alas, he stood us up.

The Fort at night!

The fort is amazing and, in fact, I think I prefer it in the cool of the early evening. My friend and I maneuver the beautifully intricate rooms and shop the museum shop. It's easy to see why Hollywood producers would choose to shoot such a big-budget movie here: it's beautiful.

After dinner we call it an early night since we've agreed to meet our rickshaw driver at 4:00am for a ride to the train station.  

Day 7: Jodhpur -> Jaisalmer

Just chillin' in the Thar Desert

It's a rough morning as my friend and I try and stay alert for our train ride. Luckily, we've learned a bit since our first trip and are better about finding our cart.

The 6-hour journey gets us into Jaisalmer in the heat of the day; a heat that hovers around 111 degrees. Yikes! Luckily, with the heat comes lower price and we are able to snag an AC cab ride to our hotel for a little more than 1 dollar. Nice.

Our hotel is really nice and new, if not slightly empty. We quickly befriend the owner who asks us for design advice on everything from rattan patio furniture to the direction his new pool should face. Luckily he agrees to take us that night on a camel ride in the Thar Desert!!! I am SO thrilled! I thought that the heat would preclude us from such an activity but he assures us the early evening is much cooler.

We spend the rest of the time until our adventure resting, using the internet and befriending the young waiter at the hotel restaurant.

When 5:30pm arrives we are on our way in the hotel owners brand new Toyota Fortuner out the dunes. On our way he stops to explain some sites to us while he takes a smoke break. It's easy to see how close we are to the Pakistani boarder (less than 50km!) as everything is just desert all around.

After passing some nomadic huts, goats and camels we arrive at our camel trek starting point. I am happy to see that it is literally just my friend and I and two camel drivers. There are no tourists around and I feel that we might get a more authentic experience. Our hotel owner agrees to pick us up from the dunes since he wants to try out his new car, four-wheeler style.

The ride is amazing and one of my favorite parts of the trip. We jog out into what seems like the end of the world to watch the sun fall behind the desert floor.


After our ride home the hotel manager agrees to drop us off the next morning at the Jaisalmer Fort, free of charge. Yes!

Day 8: Jaislamer

Jaislamer Fort

The Jaisalmer Fort is quite the site; resembling a giant sandcastle rising up from the dry earth. It is basically a compound for what has now become an eclectic mix of ancient temples and palaces and decidedly less ancient hostels and restaurants.  We take a guided tour of the main fort area and museum but don't last all that long as I have started to get sick.  After about 2 hours we make our way to the streets directly outside the fort to look for some souvenirs before the heat gets to us and we grab a rickshaw home.

Because of the heat, the summer months in Jaisalmer are not very tourist friendly. In fact, the Jaisalmer airport closes for six months out of the year because they figure who would really want to visit a desert in the middle of summer (well, crazy American MBA students, obviously). So, while we had originally hoped for a flight into New Delhi to meet our IFS group we had to settle for a 17-hour overnight train.

After resting up in the afternoon and grabbing our last dinner my friend and I get dropped off at the train station for our long journey. This time we splurged for an AC Tier 1 cart. In our cart we meet a girl who had been traveling in Nepal for two months and was getting ready to meet her boyfriend in Instanbul to bike ride to England. Yikes!

I try and stay up and converse for as long as I can but I've gotten quite ill at this point and decided to crawl up to my nook of a bed, drug myself with Tylenol PM and pass out.

Day 9: Jaisalmer to New Delhi

This is what an AC Tier 1 cart looks like

The journey ends up taking 20 hours and by the time we stop at the New Delhi station my friend and I can't wait to get our of our mouse-inhabited train cart and to the Taj Hotel and see our group.

Day 10: New Delhi

We grab a rickshaw and direct him to the Taj Hotel. He tells us he knows where it is, but we soon learn that he does not. After some direction-asking we finally pull up to the lavish, 5-star hotel, in a rickshaw, filthy, exhausted, starving and with clothes ripped and stained from our train journey.

We all but run to the front door. Unfortunately, as soon as I step up to the reception desk I start to get light-headed and know that I will faint if I don't get a seat soon. I frantically scan the lobby and find and find a chair where I collapse, visibly scaring the hotel staff. They must have thought we were the craziest pair of travelers yet!

Concerned, they grab me some water and juice. I realize I haven't eaten anything but a few cookies on the train in a full 24 hours.

After checking in I stumble to my room, rid myself of bags and head to the restaurant where all I want is the most boring item on the menu. Unfortunately, that is a chicken sandwich costing me $20. Yikes! I can tell the IFS portion of the trip will be notably more expensive that the first part.

After food and a rest I join some classmates at the hotel lounge and wait for the rest of our group to arrive and officially begin our International Field Study in India!

The Final Countdown

I can't believe that I've already reached finals week!

Monday morning I wake up early for a last-minute cramming session before my 10:50 am Finance final.  After about an hour, I realize that, at this point, I've done all that I can and switch gears to working through my Operations take-home exam. I also make sure to call and e-mail Hamilton Sundstrand to cancel my on-site interview this Friday. While the opportunity sounds amazing, I think moving to Connecticut would have been just too much to coordinate with such short notice.

I manage to struggle through the Finance final and as soon as I finish I rush to change into my suit for my interview with Vention Medical. Fortunately, it's on campus so I don't have far to travel. I think it goes really well and I seem to connect with the interviewer. The position is a marketing one, and is centered mostly around social media. I'm told to expect a decision shortly.

After the interview I don't have much time for reviewing how it went as my Supply Chain essay final is tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to two hours of in-class writing and am having a difficult time figuring out the best way to prepare. After a couple of hours, I switch to Operations.

Around 8:30 that night I get my second residency offer, this time from Vention Medical! I'm so happy! The saying seems to hold true: when it rains, it pours. I have a difficult decision to make and only a couple of days in which to make it.

Tuesday I'm up early again, this time I'm cramming for Supply Chain with some intermittent breaks of Operations preparation.  The test ends up not being that painful - on the contrary, I wish I hadn't spent any time at all preparing!

After class I manage an hour or so of studying before making my way to the Beth Israel Travel Clinic for my immunizations for India. As expected, I am instructed to be injected with virtually every vaccine known to man. Luckily, they're all in one arm so I can still work on my assignments. Unfortunately, I had to sacrifice a Statistics review session (which would have been well used) to prevent typhoid but I guess that's a fair enough trade.

As soon as that's done I meet with my group to write our final Operations essay and prepare our PowerPoint slides for our presentation tomorrow.  We are at the library until 10:00 that night and still have some final questions to answer on my Operations take-home exam. Luckily, that portion isn't due until tomorrow afternoon so I have some time to finalize it after the presentations. I can't believe how down-to-the-wire everything has become.

Wednesday's Operations presentations go smoothly and I'm told by the professor afterward that he enjoyed our discussion of The Boston Globe's production process.

Today is also the day I have to decide between my two corporate residency offers. After much review and advice gathering from the Career Center, family and friends I decide to accept GE Aviation's offer! Can you believe it?! Finally a co-op, and with only 2 days to spare before I leave for India. Last minute indeed!

Again, I don't have much time for revelry as I make my way to the library for Statistics studying and starting (again, last-minute) my Strategy case write-up (there is no in-class final).  I get several hours of Statistics in but still feel lost. I'm pretty sure this exam is a lost cause and I enter it certain that even a "C" grade will be a struggle. Ugh.

Strategy also takes way longer than anticipated (doesn't it always?).  Again, our professor has graciously extended our deadline to Friday morning at 9:00 am and you can be sure I will take every last minute of time on that one.

Thursday morning I trudge to Dodge Hall for what will certainly be my doom. The exam is difficult but I feel that, perhaps, it was not as bad as I anticipated? Maybe?

After the exam I rush to the library to get down to business on my Strategy write-up. With only 4 pages and two exhibits I am instructed to discuss the entire strategy of Gucci (yes, the famed fashion-house). I tend to have difficulty with brevity (can't you tell from my lengthy blog posts?) so I know cutting this paper down will take some serious time.

After a couple of hours, my writing is interrupted as I make my way to the mandatory end-of year-lunch at the Alumni Center. It's nice to get some fuel before what I'm sure will be a long night and it made me feel really good to have some of the administration come up to me to congratulate me on my residency offer. It showed me how much they really cared.

I'm up well into the night and up again at 6:00 am on Friday morning to finish the paper. I hit submit at 7:47 am, done with my first year of a Northeastern MBA student.

While all I want to do is relax, that is just not in the cards for me. I leave tomorrow for a month abroad (three weeks in India and one week in Nepal) and have packing to do, errands to run and a drug test for GE to complete.

The journey for my drug test is a long one and consumes my morning. I'm also instructed to complete roughly 30 pages of applications forms, background checks, etc. for GE, scan and e-mail them all individually before I leave. I somehow manage to get it all done with enough time for me to run around Boston like a crazy person completing travel errands.

I pick up high-percentage DEET bug spray, a sleeping bag liner, medications, hand sanitizer and the like all in a desperate attempt to ward off the Indian illness I am told will most assuredly come my way.

Saturday morning is filled with more errands. I finish around 3:00pm, just as my friend buzzes me from downstairs to take me to the airport.

Well everyone, it's been a crazy, fulfilling and educational year. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I will continue to write while on my IFS trip and throughout corporate residency but on a less frequent basis (probably every-other week or so).  To all of you who will be stepping onto the Northeastern campus this fall, congratulations, good luck and please, keep in touch!

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

My First Offer

After the long weekend it’s right back at the corporate residency search on Tuesday. 

Following Supply Chain, I quickly change and catch the commuter rail out to Lynn, Massachusetts for my interview with GE Aviation. Thank goodness for GE’s kind employees. Apparantly, the commuter rail stops right at GE but only certified employees are allowed to exit the train at that location. After hearing of my destination, a GE employee riding the T with me offered to help me get off the train. That was a close one! I wait at a guard station until a police officer arrives to escort me through the GE Aviation site to the visitor’s center. I guess that’s what I get for interviewing at a company that manufactures jets for the military. How exciting!

My interview goes well (I hope) and the position ends up sounding much different (and better!) than what I was originally told. I leave hoping to get a call back.

That night I review my Operations assignment as I had submitted my portion to my group early so that I could attend my interview.

I also finish up the rest of my Operations and Finance homework (the last of the semester!) before preparing for my interview with Hamilton Sundstrand tomorrow.

Wednesday I anxiously survive classes before meeting a Hamilton Sundstrand representative at the Career Center for my interview. It would be neat to end up at this company because six other Northeastern students have already signed on there. Again, I feel that the interview goes well. My interviewer says to expect a call by the end of the week to set up a second interview on site next Friday (as in the day before I leave for India). I feel very honored that he was willing to alter his interview schedule to meet my travel restrictions.

That night I spend working on my Strategy readings and case.

I didn’t have to wait long for that second interview at Hamilton Sundstrand because at 7:30 am on Thursday morning I get an e-mail inviting me down. I’m thrilled, particularly considering the fact that the position seemed quite technical.

After our last Statistics and Strategy classes of the year I head over to the Curry Center for our end-of-the-year Marketing Club picnic. While we originally had the noble intention of holding this event on the grasses of the Boston Common, the City has not quite given up on winter and it is raining today. But we enjoy sandwiches and cupcakes from Au Bon Pain and reminisce on the year that has passed by so quickly.

Friday is our final Career Management class: a joint session with the second half of our Human Resource management course. We will be getting that lovely (sarcastic) Living Document 2 back today. As this one essay is the sole source of our grade for the class, I’m a bit nervous.

After hearing about what to expect on our corporate residencies, including learning teams, site visits and a write-up, our Human Resources professor takes over to let us know what we can expect to complete with our corporate residency learning teams. The work with these teams will be a big part of our Living Document 3 that is due the week we return to class in January 2012 (that seems so far away!).

I’m feeling a bit left out of the whole conversation because I STILL don’t have a residency. I start to get anxious.

Then, the papers are returned and I get an A-/A. I’m thrilled!

Now, while I would have loved to run home, I have to stay on campus until 3:00 pm for my final India trip meeting.

But the waiting is made easier when I get a phone call from GE Aviation with a job offer!!!! OH MY GOODNESS! FINALLY! It’s all I can do to calm my voice on the phone.  I am given until Wednesday to give them a final answer. A huge weight is lifted from my shoulders. I run to the Career Center to tell my adviser and the director and can’t help but to start crying.

But I don’t get much time for revelry because it’s off to meet an India-trip classmate who will be dressing me in a Saree for our meeting! Sarees and job offers! What a good Friday.

I love the rich reds and light yellows of my Saree and vow to pick one up while in India in a couple of weeks. During the meeting we discuss our case on Samsung electronics entering the Indian market, have some Indian appetizers including delicious mango lassi and a Bollywood film. After class I join a friend for some wine and dessert at Giacommo’s in the South End before we decide a huge slice of New York Pizza is necessary.

 I go home and relax for what feels like the first time in long while knowing that I will not be without a job next semester.

Saturday I’m at the library in full finals mode. I pull a 6 hour finance stint before breaking for my friend’s birthday party that night. It was super fun and a perfect reward for my day of powerhouse studying.

Sunday I’m at the library for another 6 hours of Finance and Operations review before joining my friends for Easter dinner at one of their family’s homes out in Deedham. It was so nice to get a real meal and I thoroughly enjoy the evening.

I get home that night and attempt some final Finance efforts and set the alarm for 6:00 am to hit the library for a couple of hours before our 10:50 am Finance final.  Here goes hell 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.

India Calling

I have finally booked my India flights! My itinerary, you ask? I depart April 30th from Boston for my flight to New Delhi (yes, I’m leaving just two days after finals are over).  I’ll spend 10 days backpacking around Northern India with a classmate, hitting Jaipur, Pushkar, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Jaisalmer before meeting our group in Delhi on May 10th.  From there we’ll spend four days with the program in New Delhi, three days in Chennai and three days in Bangalore.  On the 20^th I’ll bid my group farewell and head north to Nepal for six days! On May 27^th I’m home to California for as long as possible before returning to Boston to begin my corporate residency (wherever that may be).

It was nerve-racking to book tickets before having a corporate residency, but at the same time, it’s a huge relief to have that done.

The ticket purchase, combined with the arrival of my India-themed reading for our class and I’m in full-blown travel mode now.  Three weeks can’t come soon enough.

Besides all that fun jet-setting stuff, our course load continues to grow.  Monday morning I’m at the library again, fine-tuning my Supply Chain case write-up on a fertilizer company (thrilling) before setting up a communal Google Document for our Ann Taylor interdisciplinary project.

Finance passes and I head to work and then meet my Supply Chain teammate to finalize our paper. She promises to turn it in for me, as I’ll be at my interview in New Hampshire during class tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Tuesday I wake up early and try to get as much homework done as possible before leaving at noon for my interview with Transparent Language in New Hampshire.  I don’t get as much completed as I would have liked, what with prepping for the interview and getting all dolled up, but at least I start my Statistics deliverable.

The interview goes well (I think). I meet with the Social Media Manager and the General Manager for about two hours. They give me a nice run-down of the company and what I might expect to accomplish during my time there. I’m told to expect a call by the end of the week with their decision. 

Driving home that day I can’t help but get nervous.  I’m really cutting it close with my residency. I have just two and a half weeks before I’m on a plane to the other side of the world. I just have to take a deep breath and selectively ignore the looming time pressures if I hope to keep my sanity.

On my way home, since I have my Zipcar until the end of the day, I stop by Old Navy and Target to do some shopping for my India trip.  I manage to make out well: snagging some linen pants, capris, t-shirts and flip flops to help me battle the 100+ degree weather there.

That night I fight a losing battle with my attention span as I desperately try and study for my Operations quiz tomorrow and prepare for my interdisciplinary project.

Wednesday sees me living on campus- again.  I arrive at school early after waking at 6:00 am for some coffee and last minute cramming.  The quiz was more challenging than I expected, but at least my group got an A on our third Boston Globe project! After Finance I grab an energy drink and some pizza from our second Wednesday lunch and head to work.

While at work I receive an e-mail from my career adviser asking me to stop by her office as soon as I can.  While this could very well be good news, I can’t help but feel that it most definitely is not. A ball begins to form in my stomach.

After work I hop into the Career Center to see my adviser. I sit down and she proceeds to nervously tell me that she doesn’t have good news for me. Transparent Language has decided to go with someone else. Originally the company had planned for two residencies, but, with my luck, it appears as though they have decided to just have one intern.  I sit there shocked. This was a job they had told me was all but mine.  While a week ago this might have resulted in tears, I’m just too exhausted. I sit there in shock; anger and fear starting to grow.  My adviser and I talk for a bit and she tells me there is nothing I can do but wait for more jobs to be posted and prepare for my April 25^th interview with Vention Medical. 

With the burden of a corporate residency not yet off my shoulders, I drag myself to the graduate lounge for some interdisciplinary project group work before breaking for my scholarship awards ceremony at 5:30 pm.

It is then that I learn I also did not get the teacher’s assistant position for the India trip. Fantastic…

The scholarship ceremony was a much bigger deal than I had expected. There were what looked to be nearly 100 people from the entire college of business.  We had an flowing supply of hors d’oeuvres and an open bar.  I meet with two of my fellow scholarship recipients as we make our rounds, chatting with our past and present professors, administration and the like, including our Strategy professor who is up for the teacher of the year award. 

During my rounds, I come up to the Associate Dean of the graduate program and she gives me a kind smile and lets me know that she heard about my interview.  Well, I guess that’s a good thing: that it’s so shocking that I don’t have a residency yet that everyone knows? Right? Right? Ok, just throw me a bone here.

We are soon seated and who is the first award recipient in this sea of people but me? I am introduced and walk up to the stage to accept my reward.  How ironic that I’m up here receiving an award as an outstanding student and I don’t yet have a residency.

I excuse myself at around 7:30 pm and my friend and I grab a frozen yogurt and put off working on our Statistics homework for an hour. 

That night I’m up past 1:30 am working on my deliverable and when it is finally time for bed, I can’t help but toss and turn fretting about what will become of me in two weeks. Ugh….

Thursday is a short class day as Strategy was canceled to give us time to work on our interdisciplinary project. After Statistics my interdisciplinary project team rushes to the lounge for a powerhouse group session.  We’re not out of the lounge until 7:30 pm. 

During our 8+ hours of work I sneak away for a few moments to partake in the student employee appreciation reception in the business office.  I make a quick ice cream sundae and grab a word with my career adviser.  She tells me that I have an invitation to interview with both GE Aviation for a customer service role and with Hamilton Sundstrand for a platform operations position. While neither is remotely related to marketing, at this point, I’ll take what I can get.  I’ll be interviewing with GE on Tuesday and Hamilton on Wednesday.

My career adviser also puts me in contact with a second year student who held a residency at GE Aviation last year to see if I might garner any useful information from her. It is comforting to know that everyone really seems to care and wants to help me get a residency.  Plus, their patience with me deserves some sort of reward.

Then it's back to the lounge with a brave face to take on group tension and mounds of work when all I can do or think about is my non-existent residency.

When the sun sets, I join two of my classmates for a drink and appetizer to unwind before heading home to practice my presentation.  I, along with one other teammate, are carrying the presentation tomorrow. Since we all finished so late, she and I will not have time to practice until 15 minutes before our presentation tomorrow morning. As if I needed any more stress.

I get less than four hours of sleep that night as I fine-tune the slides, edit the paper and practice.

Friday morning I’m up at 5:30 am to dress in my suit and get to campus early to print our slides for the panel and meet my co-presenter to practice. Then I have a breakdown.  My stress, compounded with a week of little sleep percolates inside me and I’m in a horrible mood. I snap at my teammates and have no patience. I begin to panic.  This is not me. I'm not an angry person and I usually am quite patient. I feel horrible at my attitude but don't have the energy to fix it. Please let me just pull this together for the presentation.

Luckily our presentation is smack dab in the middle- the perfect position for obscurity. In reality, I think our presentation turned out to be one of the best. When it’s over I breathe a sigh of relief.

After the presentation, awards are given for the top three groups.  Unfortunately, my team is not one of them.  But I don’t care about that because two of my groupmates and I are off to lunch at Sel de la Terre and it is nothing short of amazing. I get a delicious burger with crispy pancetta and a spicy aioli sauce, rosemary french fries, a glass of wine and a fabulous sundae of brown butter ice cream, salted caramel and candied nuts.

I go home after that and send out a somewhat desperate sounding e-mail to my executive mentor for his advice about my rather unfortunate residency situation.  I then proceed to watch about 5 episodes of Glee in a row before falling asleep. What a week…

Saturday I’m up early for a haircut, pedicure and general errand running. It’s been so long since I’ve had a spare moment to take care of 'me' that I relish in this day. I also get a response from my wonderful mentor. He sends me kind words and some helpful guidance. I’m so lucky to have been paired with him. It’s been very nice in my situation to have some outside insight from someone who has had a successful career.

Sunday is another day of relaxation. I’m just too darned tired to do anything except for my Supply Chain reading, Operations case and some India trip required reading.

Monday is a state holiday: Patriot’s Day.  Oh bless Massachusetts for all of their holidays.  I wake up early to meet my travel buddy for some India trip planning.

The Boston Marathon - Go runners, Go!

 It’s also the 115^th running of The Boston Marathon today.  What a fun event that was! The whole city is shut down for the race.  Vendors line the streets hawking their free samples to thousands of onlookers.  Nearly 26,000 people ran the 26.2 miles today. It was so inspirational and the energy in the air was contagious.

That night it’s down to business.  I do some necessary trip planning: stopping my mail, pre-paying my rent for the month of May, calling my bank so they don’t block my card when charges from India start showing up, suspending my Comcast service, etc. It’s crazy how much there is to do when you’re leaving for a month!

I also start some research (even though I told myself I wouldn’t be as preparation-happy as I usually am) for my GE Aviation interview tomorrow.  Dare I say, wish me luck?

Are You There Co-Op? It's Me, Katrina

There’s no library session for me this Monday.  Instead, my morning study routine takes place from the comfort of my tiny apartment.  I fine-tune my new State Street residency application, prepare for an afternoon meeting with my Statistics team, submit my additional Strategy assignment and organize some consulting team projects- and all before my first class!

After Finance it’s right to work before my 3:30 pm meeting with my Statistics group. With our Living Document 2 due this week everyone is working ahead of schedule to ensure enough time to finish that monstrous essay.

That afternoon while explaining hypothesis tests for my write-up I learn that Fisher Price has decided not go with any students from Northeastern for their marketing co-op. While I had anticipated this (it has been, after all, nine weeks since I submitted my application) it is still is a downer to know that one less option exists for me.

However, along with this cloud, my Yahoo account gives me some positive news.  First, I’ve been invited back for a second interview at Transparent Language!  I’ll be meeting with the Social Media Manager sometime next week. How exciting! I also get an e-mail from my executive mentor offering to have me stop by his office at Gatehouse Media for a day of job shadowing. I’m very excited about this opportunity and hope I can find some time in my hectic schedule to make it work.

Before heading home that night I stop by the bookstore to pick up a copy of our Samsung case study for the India IFS trip.  Sometimes I forget that our IFS trip is an actual class with homework due. It’s easy to get caught up in the travel portion and forget that it's worth three credits!

Tuesday afternoon finds me doing more statistical tests. In between two-tailed sample tests and a regression analysis I get an e-mail confirming my second round of Transparent Language interviews for next Tuesday in New Hampshire. I immediately book a Zipcar and begin my research.

After my group is satisfied with our Statistics assignment, I set about finalizing the Marketing Club’s revised submission to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. They had requested some changes to our initial defected member survey and we’re putting together some edits.

Wednesday is a big day! I have another interview; this time with Au Bon Pain for a  category management position.  It would be great to land this job since it’s located in Boston and the position seems interesting: it would be dealing with competitor analysis. The interview goes well (I think) and my interviewer was very nice, even bringing me a free ceramic travel mug from Au Bon Pain. He says I should know whether I make it to a second interview in a couple of days.

Later that day I receive an e-mail from the Career Center letting me know that another company would like to interview me. Vention Medical, a Massachusetts company specializing in integrated solutions for medical companies, has an opening in their social media department.

The rest of the night is spent pounding away at my computer keys in an effort to finish my Living Document 2.

Thursday, after a long day of classes, I head to a Marketing Club meeting to help hand out our new mugs! The mugs are decorated with the new, official Marketing Club logo from our design competition a few weeks ago.  We order Upper Crust Pizza and the whole group catches up for an hour or so.  After that, it’s off to meet my Operations team to begin work (early!) on our fourth assignment for The Boston Globe project. We compile a bunch of questions for our contact and send him an e-mail. While the assignment isn’t due until the week after next, schoolwork has been piling up and we all agree an early start is essential.

On a side note, my section is already getting e-mails from our Finance tutor hoping to schedule review sessions for our Finance final. While I really appreciate how on top of things he is, I barely have a moment to think about this week, let alone time to prepare something that isn’t due until three weeks from now.

After the Operations meeting I head home and spend what would be several hours working on my LD 2. I’m not in bed until 1:30 am.

Friday I’m up early to get to the library and finish my Living Document 2.  It’s due by 4:30 pm. Luckily, with all the work I had put into it earlier this week, it only takes a few hours before I have the 40-page paper printed and bound.

After submitting it I check my e-mail to find that I have not been selected to move on with Au Bon Pain. I’m pretty upset and getting a bit tired of rejection, but at this point, I have so many other things to worry about that I don’t stay depressed for too long. Instead, I meet a friend at Panera (do you see how spiteful I am?) for some coffee.

After an hour of relaxing it’s back to campus to send The Massachusetts Horticultural Society The Marketing Club’s revised defected member survey. I begin wrapping up the consulting project. While we had originally planned to present our findings to the Mass Hort executive board, considering the time crunch, this does not seem like a viable option. Instead, I offer to have our findings professionally printed, bound and delivered to Mass Hort so that they can get it into the board members' hands.

I also meet with my financial aid adviser, trying to coordinate my financial needs for the coming months.  For all you future Huskies, it's important to remember the role that the IFS trip and our corporate residency plays in financial aid.  For example, the financial aid you will receive when you enter the program does not cover the IFS trip because the trip is technically in the summer and thus, a different academic year.  Also, because of the six-month corporate residency, the Northeastern MBA program technically runs for three academic years.  This means three FAFSAs while your here. Just keep all of this in mind when budgeting for your MBA program.

I meet with my teammate to hash out our portion of the interdisciplinary project around 3:00 pm.  We work for a couple of hours on Ann Taylor’s competitor analysis but soon realize our brains are fried from the Living Document.  We agree to finish our respective assignments at home and e-mail them to each other later tonight.

Invitations were also sent out today for an end-of-the-year Marketing Club picnic at the Boston Common. I’m very excited because hopefully it will be spring by that time (we had snow last week) and we can all enjoy some sandwiches and frisbee-playing in the sunshine.

Saturday and Sunday are no fun. On Saturday I’m back at Snell Library at 9:00 am and after hours of working on our interdisciplinary project I don’t leave until 5:30 pm that night.  My friend and I stop by Unos Chicago Grill for a drink and appetizer before heading home to work on our project some more.

Sunday is the same story.  I’m on campus at 9:30 am to meet for my Supply Chain write-up after which I’m at it with my interdisciplinary team from 1:00 pm until 5:00pm before I head home to try and finalize my flight itinerary for India (I’m leaving is just 3 weeks! Yikes). My travel plans are due to The Accent Group on Monday. I also work on the Finance homework that’s due tomorrow. With all these big deliverables it has been easy to forget that we have regular assignments as well.

I go to bed early in anticipation of the upcoming 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.

When It All Falls Down

After my typical Monday of morning library studies, Finance and work I grab my friend and cross Huntington Avenue for some Panera study time.  We both put in an impressive show of endurance, making our way through both lunch and dinner during our multi-hour session. While we don’t pack up our Statistics problems until 8:00 pm I feel substantially better about my understanding of the subject matter and much more prepared to face the review session tomorrow afternoon.

Tuesday morning I meet my Operations group to hash out our next Boston Globe project that is due tomorrow (I know, last minute). Upon working our way through each section we realize we are lacking some vital information and so call up our contact at The Globe. We are so lucky to have as responsive a contact as we do. He immediately sends out an e-mail answering all of our questions. We divvy up the work before heading to our morning Supply Chain class.

In Supply Chain today we have another set of awesome guest speakers; this time two representatives from Staples spend the next couple of hours breaking down their supply chain and logistics practices.

After class the majority of the program makes its way across campus for a massive review session hosted by our Statistics professor. 

After two hours I excuse myself because I have a 4:30 pm phone interview with Transparent Language for a marketing corporate residency! I’m so excited and nervous. It’s been a while since my last interview and I hope I’m not too rusty.

I feel like it went well and the opportunity sounds amazing. I’m told to expect a response for a second interview sometime next week.

I also received my Indian visa in the mail today! I’m so excited and relieved that  I have one more thing checked off my to-do list.

That night, though, is one of the worst I’ve had in business school. I spend hours finalizing our submission to The Massachusetts Horticultural Society and doing the final edits for not one, but two Operations assignments. Just to give you an idea, it’s around 11:00 pm when I hop on Google Chat with my team to try and solve our efficiency equations for our Assignment #2 rewrite. It is 12:30 am before I can even look at my homework that’s due tomorrow.

That night I crash, upset at all the work, exhausted and unable to complete my assignments for tomorrow even if I stayed up all night.

I greet Wednesday knowing it is going to be a rough day. I’ll admit that besides the Operations deliverables I have not prepared anything for class.  I grab a double latte, print my Operations assignments and await a long day. After class, where I do receive an A- on my Operations exam, it’s off to work before studying for a few hours for Statistics and then the mentor reception.

The mentor reception turns out to be much better than I anticipated. The students meet their mentors at the Varsity Club at Matthews Arena. After my mentor arrives we grab a drink at the bar and some delicious hors d’oeuvres and set about catching up since our first meeting a couple of weeks ago. While we have been communicating via e-mail since our first meeting, I fill him in on some recent developments in the residency arena. We socialize for about an hour before the event ends and I head home to cram for my Statistics exam tomorrow.

For most people, the mentor reception was the first time they met with their mentor. I was pleased to see a good turnout at the event and heard many positive comments the next day from my classmates. It seems as though most people genuinely enjoyed their time that evening.

The rest of the night is not as fun and I stay up past 1:00 am working out practice problems.

The exam Thursday morning is rough. Not a single person turned their papers in before the cut-off time and our professor was even forced to give us some extra time.  We head into Strategy that day dazed and confused to say the least.

In between classes I receive an e-mail informing me that I have an interview with Au Bon Pain next Wednesday! This is for a market analyst position. I’m thrilled and think it would be a perfect fit. Things seem to be looking up. But as we all know, that never lasts long…

Noticing the state of our the class as we filter into Strategy, our professor decides to conduct class in a slightly different way in hopes that it will keep us all awake and involved. He breaks the class into two teams so that we can have a lively debate regarding the assigned case. Unfortunately, this is the part where everything goes wrong. As my side of the room confers together, we quickly realize that not a single person has read the case or book chapters for today. After some debate on whether or not we should say anything to our professor, we decide to face the consequences of our actions and tell him we are utterly unprepared. It would have become quite apparent anyway when our side had nothing to say during the debate. Understandably upset, our professor asks the class how many had completed the case and book reading. Only five students had read the case (out of 35) and none of us had read the book chapters. Our teacher cancels class because, in all fairness, we would just have been wasting his time. He leaves the room and tells us to expect a new assignment within the hour. Embarrassed, we all just sit in our seats silently for a minute after he leaves.  I am so ashamed.  Dejected we filter out and begin the catch-up process on our reading.

But my section is not alone.  I find out later that day that the other section behaved no better than we did. Though they have a different Strategy professor, I learned that half of the class skipped lecture to study for the Statistics exam. The consequences for their actions will be weekly quizzes to measure participation. I can only imagine the repercussions that await all of us when this makes its way to the administration. Sigh.

I feel like, despite my best efforts, I'm just slipping academically. I need to shake myself out of this - even if it means a continuous stream of energy drinks and coffee to get me through it.

That night, in dire need of something to look forward to, I join two friends in Cambridge for an amazing Mexican dinner at Olé. It is heaven and their homemade guacamole is just what I need.

I go home that night still feeling upset by the events of today. I’m really embarrassed, especially since this professor is one of the nicest we have. I can’t help but think that if we had pulled something like this in the real world, we’d all be sending out resumes for a new job.

The stress of this semester has gotten to a lot of people. That being said, my learning team dynamics are beginning to deteriorate. While we had planned for a sort of intervention and airing of grievances today, the events of Strategy found everyone dispersing before we could. We decide to conduct a preliminary e-mail correspondence, an open discussion, of each member’s concerns. As I dread confrontation, I do not look forward to this added stress.

Friday morning, still drained from the week, I meet a friend for breakfast at Espresso Royale. We each order up one of their delicious breakfast sandwiches and spend a casual morning chatting over coffee. When we’ve had our fill of café culture we make our way to Fenway to visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I love the student discount ($2 with your ID) and the beautiful courtyard rich with Indian and Asian architectural influences.

I bid my companion adieu by mid-afternoon and, while I had the noble intention of doing homework, I just can’t face it. The work is so overwhelming that it somewhat panics me to even begin. So, in a not-so-wise move, I log onto my Netflix account and spend the evening watching the life drama of actors in a place far away from Boston.

On Saturday I meet my friend at Espresso Royale again, this time for some homework. We spend the next 4 hours reading our Finance chapters for the week. We part ways around 2:00 pm and I head to the library where I run into some classmates and put in another good 2-3 hours of work before dragging myself home.

Again, the night is filled with homework. While the Strategy incident was not pleasant, it has put even more of a motivational fire under me and I try and suppress my guilt by reading 50 pages of our Supply Chain textbook.

Sunday morning is again spent studying, this time I’m pounding the keys of my computer as I write my Living Document 2. I send out a survey to my Marketing Club consulting team asking their input on some elements of my managerial style and set about pulling quotes and charts for the 20 page paper.

At 1:30 pm it is time for a break and so I meet a friend at the bus stop and we head to Union Bar and Grille for a late brunch. I order up some huevos rancheros and their famous garlic chips and try to spend the next hour unwinding. We part ways around 3:00 pm and I’m right back at my desk, this time preparing for a Statistics write-up that’s due on Thursday and submitting my extra assignment from Strategy.

I fall asleep around 1:00 am to anxious thoughts of ways I can manage everything that needs to be done in the next few weeks.

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