We Laugh in the Face of Sleep

On Monday it’s back to the grindstone. But, far from being refreshed from break, I return with a cold trailing close behind me.  But no time for that! Right away I hit the ground running.  Tomorrow my Living Document (LD1) paper is due and I’m only about 75% done.  While the writing portion looks solid, I know that entering all of my graphs and tables will consume hours.  After class, it’s straight home and on to that essay.  I’m up until midnight fine-tuning it, but finally, it’s done, coming in at a whopping 47 pages.

Tuesday I wake up early to get my Living Document bound at the copy center in the basement of Dodge Hall.  Staples will simply not suffice for that puppy.  It’s a whopper and I end up paying $25 for the color print job and binding.  The beginning of class that day is hilarious as my classmates and I all scramble to hand in the paper.  Our teacher stops us and says to wait until the end of the day.  What can only be described as despair spreads across our faces as we all just want this darned thing off our hands.

After class I head to work for a few hours, followed by a learning team meeting to hash out our Information Resources presentation on Cathay Pacific Airlines and their transition to outsourcing their data centers.  I’m pretty impressed with our ability to complete the project that afternoon.  I think we are all so exhausted from the LD1 that we just want to go home!

Even though I’m pooped, I stay up until midnight reviewing our presentation materials and slides and begin working on the hefty accounting case analysis due on Thursday that’s worth 10% of our grade.

Wednesday I get to school early today to turn in my International Field Study application! I’m so excited! In just 10 days I will know which of the four fabulous countries I will be visiting.  Just in case you forgot, my options are:

·         India

·         China

·         Russia

·         Argentina/Brazil

Cross your fingers for me that India gets enough people to sign up so it can actually run.  After dropping off the application I meet my group in the graduate business lounge for a dry run of our Information Resource presentation before heading to Marketing.

After class, despite my delirious state and increasingly severe cold, I dutifully stay on campus until 4:30 pm to work on the accounting case analysis that has us looking at direct cost and overhead variances for a bicycle production company.  That night I stay up later than I have the entire program to finish that same case.  I had severely underestimated just how much time it takes to transfer calculations from hand-written notes to Excel and then to Microsoft Word.  My formatting was butchered in every transition.  I finally call it a night a 3:30 am, eight pages of typed charts and calculations later. 

A mere three hours later it’s Thursday morning and I rush to print out and digitally submit my accounting assignment. 

After going through my morning in a surprisingly awake-in-a-delirious-sort-of-way state I grab a large gingerbread coffee from the Dunkin Donuts on campus and head to work.  After a power-nap, and despite my better judgment, I head out for drinks with some friends tonight.  It has been a crazy and FAST week and I just need a couple of hours to unwind. 

Also, it’s looking good for my India trip! After questioning most of the people in the program I believe I have 12 confirmed India travelers with me so far. Woohoo! I can’t wait to buy a sari and begin planning my pre and post trip travels.  I’m thinking a couple weeks in Northern India and a week in Nepal?

That night I head to the appropriately named bar Drink with some friends.  I think this may be one of the best bars I’ve ever been too.  It’s in the basement of a building on Congress Street in the Seaport District, with exposed brick walls, dangling, bare light bulbs and display boxes of museum-quality categorized insects.  The bar tenders are dressed as if from the early 20th century and there is not a beer bottle or liquor cabinet in sight.  Instead, you simply walk up to the counter, tell them the flavors you like and they whip you up a beverage using tools as precise as eye droppers to get the concoction just right.  They’re like mad drink scientists!  For me: I told her I liked sweet and fruity drinks and was rewarded with a "20th Century" made with creme de cacao and lemon! Yummy!

After that we cross the street to Lucky's Lounge for some delicious grub.  I grab the bar steak and spicy blue cheese fries.  Delicious.  Despite my sleepyness, I’m not quite ready to head home so we make our way back to my neck of the woods for dessert and drinks at Parish Café, a restaurant that's a mere block from my house.

Friday afternoon I meet with my learning team to set up our Information Resources presentation for next Friday.  We have been assigned to come up with an innovative way for a company to use digitized records.  We’re thinking of incorporating it into a personalized shopping experience where customers can log their style preferences, sizes and more into a digital platform so that every time they enter a store, all of their information, past purchases, etc. are just a click away.

Photo courtesy of Mary Alice Hewitt

That night, on the suggestion of a classmate, we make our way to Boston Common to see the newly lighted Christmas tree.  We walk all around the park, observe the ice skaters and enjoy the chilly evening before picking up some dinner at PF Changs.  The City during the holidays is just amazing.  They decorate buildings with wreaths, string trees with lights and play music on the streets. So festive!

This weekend is not the most pleasant one for me. While I do make it out for an hour of shopping to pick up some cold-weather accessories (the first snow is forcasted for next week!) the rest of it is spent in the books.  The coming week will be an intense one.  I have two projects due on Monday, our final Accounting test on Thursday and my Information Resource presentation on Friday. 

This weekend is dedicated to working on my final Marketing capstone case memo and my Economics analysis, both of which are due Monday.  I round out the weekend with another measly 3 hours of sleep on Sunday.

Oh boy.  They better not give us any pre-work over the winter break…

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