Sunday, December 18, 2011

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

I am proud to share HEC Montreal's lipdub entry for the 2012 MBA Games. I am so honoured to have been a part of this project. You can view the video here or click on the image below.

Photobucket

It's crazy not to have spent a weekend doing readings and writing assignments. I've actually managed to take a break from schoolwork the entire weekend to do some Christmas preparations, including decorating the tree.

Tomorrow I will return to my school routine by working on assignments at 8:30 in the morning. For now, I am enjoying the silent days and nights.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Making the Team

The first thing I found out this morning:  I had made the team for the CSR case competition! Congratulations to Twill, Fabio, and Mukul, my new CSR teammates! I'm so excited and I just can't hide it! What's also great is that my academic team is doing an assignment for Globalization on IKEA that's a CSR case, so that will be good practice for me for the competition.

It's so hard to believe that I actually get to have a nice, relaxing weekend, basking in the glow of victory. Even though we haven't won yet, I already feel like we have a winning combination of talent.


This morning, I attempted to do some Christmas shopping but was unsuccessful. Instead, I bought myself a travel bag from Tommy Hilfiger that will certainly be used on my Toronto trip next month. For anyone who is interested, Tommy is currently having some great holiday sales!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

Today was a big day! I guess all the excitement for the week was saved for the very end. We started off the morning with the dreaded Finance quiz, but I feel like all of my daily studying actually paid off. Of course there were questions that left me dumbfounded, but for the most part, I felt that I finally had a solid mastery of a majority of the material. I am shocked, but I also know that with perseverance and determination, I can accomplish anything.


Between classes, we had a birthday celebration for the December babies. Happy Birthday from the AEMBA (and thanks for giving me an excuse to eat chocolate cake)!

In the afternoon, we had our final class in 2011. The next time we sit in a classroom, it will be a new year. After class, it was officially vacation, but I had to wait around at school since I had a CSR case competition try-out at 6:00. To kill time, I joined the students who were preparing for the MBA Games to see what they were up to. It turned out that they were working on their lip dub video and needed a short person to fill in, and there I was, ready to take on my surprise role. I'm looking forward to seeing if they use one of my takes for the final version! It was at least a fun and relaxing way to spend some time before trying out for the case competition. But that brings me to the other thing I'm anticipating - whether I made the team! I hope to find out soon!

This is now the first evening of my vacation and I will happily enjoy it. I wish happy holidays, a wonderful new year, and safe travels to those who I will not see during the vacation! Good luck at the MBA Games to those who are competing!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Mental Vacation


There is some international MBA news. Apparently, Yale has added a Master's in Management degree that will connect students from global universities. You can read more information about it here.

To be honest, this week has not been very exciting, except for the feedback and grades we've been getting back. Otherwise, I've just been focusing on studying for the Finance quiz. Ever since the weekend, I've been on a mental vacation and it's been hard to concentrate on schoolwork in a way that I'm used to.

Today I just have to attend my Globalization class and study a bit more for Finance. Then, I plan to have a nice, relaxing evening so I will be in tip-top shape for tomorrow's quiz. Wish me luck!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Having a Ball


Here is a photo from last night's holiday party with the International Affairs Committee. We had a professional photographer there, capturing the zany moments. Kudos go out to Chris, our VP of Student Life for organizing a fabulous evening.

As for the reality of schoolwork, we now only have three more days to go and then it's vacation! Unfortunately, my class will be hanging on edge until the end, due to Thursday's one hour Finance quiz. Even though I'll be working on papers and studying during the Christmas break, I will definitely be taking advantage of my newly purchased (but free for one month!) Netflix every day for much-deserved breaks.

Friday, December 9, 2011

To the Max


Considering I spent a large portion of the day discussing the upcoming Strategy case (IMAX:  Larger than Life), I thought that it was appropriate to share this Harvard Business Review article that gives five common strategy mistakes. As for Strategy, it was great to have the opportunity to discuss the case with two of my classmates. I definitely think I am on the right path now and I will have a lot to write tomorrow.

I sense that this will be a productive weekend filled with Strategy and Globalization writing, as well as Finance studying. At least I can look forward to our holiday party on Sunday night! I can't believe I only have to get through one more week and then I'll have three weeks of vacation!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Worker Bee

Busy, busy day! I felt like a little worker bee buzzing around school, hopping from class to class, and studying for Finance in between. During our IT class, we had another in-class group assignment and this time, we got a picture of the whole team.


After class, I got a haircut and now I have my bangs back! Yay! These are the exciting things in life that I look forward to now.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

I am Canadian

It's official... I'm a Canadian citizen! Here is a photo of me right before the ceremony, laughing about the guy who slept for the entire first hour we were there.


This is me during my celebratory dinner...

And now, I can finally say that I AM CANADIAN!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Koodo


Today was my new group's first presentation for P3. We did a Marketing Management presentation on Koodo Mobile. Here you can go ahead and view my portions of our assignment. The only positive feedback I have received thus far from the professor:  I wore an appropriate outfit. Finally, my fashion consciousness has paid off!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Roger That

So on this side of the border, the unemployment rate isn't looking too good; on the bright side, the Americans are doing better than before!


This morning, I had to make a couple phone calls to Rogers and BMO, and what I discovered was that I kept thinking of case studies and the material I've learned in class, and how it relates to these organizations. I have to say, actually, considering all the flak they get, these companies must be saluted for their excellent customer service and how they handled my situations today. Normally, I complain about the cellphone industry in Canada and how their fees are crazy compared to the US, but somehow the Rogers customer service agent made me feel like my bill was worth it. That's what we call paying excellent attention to post-purchase behaviour!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Seeing Eye to Eye


Here is a photo of my group (minus one member) during our IT class today. The best is that Stu is standing normally and I'm standing on a chair! Our group definitely has an awesome pool of talent and I'm looking forward to beginning our group assignments tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Zombie Girl

This semester is so busy that I don't even have time to get my bangs trimmed! I think I'll have to grow out my bangs, unfortunately, until this craziness calms down.

At the moment, most of my focus is on studying for Thursday's Corporate Finance quiz. Fortunately, I have truly talented students to work with as I mentally prepare for this test of my mathematical abilities. I was at school from 8:30 this morning until 9:30 this evening, making today one of my longest days in the HEC building. I hope all of my hard work pays off!


In Marketing, we talked about this video with Zombie Boy. Even though I've already seen the video, I was pretty impressed that my professor knew about Zombie Boy!

Monday, November 28, 2011

Path to Success

Corporate Finance, you will be my enemy these next 11 weeks but hopefully I will conquer you! Today I had the opportunity to study with two different classmates and solve the three questions that left me completely flabbergasted. At least I have a good basis to study for Thursday's quiz now!


This afternoon, we had an information session with Michael Wybo, Director of the MBA program. Topics of discussion were:  elective courses, course registration, Campus Abroad, and supervised consulting field projects. I'm trying to decide if I will apply for the Campus Abroad in Russia; I probably will, but in the meantime I will not look forward to writing two application essays.

After the info session, I met with Carine Nahman, HEC's MBA Recruitment Officer, since I am interested in working in her line of work. It was absolutely fantastic getting to speak with her and she offered some very helpful insight. Since our backgrounds are so similar, I feel reassured that I am on the right career path.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Back to Reality

All good things must come to an end. I had an awesome time this weekend with friends in town from LA and Toronto. Our activities included drinks out on the town, backlight bowling, board games, and a visit to the Dinosaurs Unearthed exhibit at the Montreal Science Centre. Sadly, the weekend has passed and only the memories and photos remain.




Today it was back to reality with some IT and Finance readings. We have a Finance quiz on Thursday, so I did some practice exercises today and actually got the majority of the questions right. As for the ones that I couldn't figure out, I'm hoping to review those with one of my classmates tomorrow morning.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

City Zen

My life is insane! People had told me that P1 is hard, P2 is worse, and P3 is the worst. I honestly did not even believe that could be possible. I thought everyone was exaggerating. But it is seriously true. It's not feasible to go straight from P2 exams into the first week of P3 and not already be behind within only a couple days. The crazy thing is that the profs are requiring us to do a lot of frequent readings and assignments, to be on top of everything every week.


After class today, I met with a friend of a friend to discuss job opportunities at McGill. It was great to have a chance to hear the truthfully good and bad sides of working there. We'll see where this might lead!

When I got home, I had a piece of mail waiting for me from Citizenship and Immigration Canada. I was getting so jealous that Jimmy, one of the other MBA students, had his Canadian citizenship ceremony today, and I still had not heard from CIC. Fortunately, this was the news I was waiting for - my citizenship oath will be in two weeks!

Round 3

Yesterday was our first day of class for P3 and fortunately we started off on a good note with Marketing Management and Strategic Management. Our other courses for the semester will be Globalization and the Firm, Corporate Finance I, and Information Technologies.

For Marketing Management, we have two written team assignments and one oral presentation. I'm looking forward to my team's first meeting on Thursday to discuss our company or brand for the assignments. I've sent my team my brainstormed list already and I hope they see this as a positive step, rather than being frightened of my proactive nature.

Last night, I had the opportunity to go to Else's with my friend Frank (dark and poorly lit photo below). Even though it's so hard to make time during my busy school schedule to see my friends, it is completely rewarding when I do. I feel bad that I am so unavailable for everyone this year (I can't even attend my friend's wedding in July, since it is the weekend of final exams!), but hopefully the experience will all be worth it in the end.


On a separate note, today is the first official snowfall in Montreal! The streets look like a Dickens village. Photos from my apartment balcony below.


Monday, November 21, 2011

United We Stand

Even though we only just finished our last final yesterday, we were expected to attend a mandatory conference at 8:30 this morning with Thomas Bowler, Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Organization for the United Technologies Corporation. I feel like it was probably an excellent networking opportunity for those who are interested in working in the field. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people and I am still hoping for career opportunities that are less corporate. Oh well.

During the conference, we got emails telling us about our new team formations for P3! Although I am sad to depart from Team E (aka Team Excellent or Team Baba Ghanoush), I'm looking forward to see what the new dynamic has in store. It will be interesting to see how things change, going from a four-person team to a group of five. In the meantime, here is last night's photo of Team E formally ending our 13-week relationship at Candi Bar.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Finally

It is finally time to update my blog! I can't believe all that's happened in these past three weeks. During the weekend of Week 4 during P2, I was a bridesmaid in my friend Shari's wedding. It was a lot of fun and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go home to see my friends and family and wish Shari and Mike the best in their new wedded bliss.


After the wedding, though, the moment I got back, I was rushed back into the reality of Weeks 5 and 6 of P2. I worked on my team's paper for Managing within Organizations, and met with my group to work on our oral presentations for that assignment, as well as for Ethics and Governance.

Once those were securely underway, it was all focus, all the time on finals. Just a couple hours ago, I officially finished my last final for P2. Four finals in three days. The only thing I have left to do now is a final edit on my individual Ethics paper and then I'm officially done with P2.

I'm looking forward to going to Candi Bar tonight! I definitely need a drink to relax and calm down from this intense finals period. These past three days, I've had an annoying eye twitch, which I've learned can develop from lack of sleep and lots of stress. Uh, yeah, well that explains it!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

In the News


There were really cool things in the news today! First of all, there was an article that talked about why corporate America needs to train its women to be future leaders. Okay, so it was an article about Girl Scouts, but still, it emphasized the point that more women need to be in executive positions!

Also, there was an article about Pixar, which was timely considering that our Managing within Organizations reading for the week is about Pixar. The article is a perfect thing to note during our class discussion, especially since it points out Pixar's unique culture.

Lastly, there was an ethics-related article on the Harvard Business Review Blog Network. It perfectly sums up the theme for Week 6 of our Ethics and Governance class, which will be coming up quite soon. The article even mentions Google, which is the company my team will be investigating!

As for my day today, I had a meeting with Genevieve Cote in the Career Management Services and had an AEMBA 5@7 where we discussed our student association objectives for the year.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Spooky, Scary


I'm such a nerd! I totally wore those earrings today. Happy Halloween!

Today we concluded our Finance workshop and I'm happy that I won't have to see that material again for another two weeks. I also worked on my Ethics and Governance individual paper today. I'm so scared to hand it in. My prof is a Harvard graduate, which is pretty intimidating. That reminds me, though, I should talk to him about career opportunities at Harvard. They have an amazing international program for their MBA students that I would love to manage.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Budgeting Time


I should start off by saying that I have finally entered the modern age. I am the proud owner of an iPhone 4! Out with the old and in with the new.

As for school, this was a highly productive weekend! I finished the first draft of my team's Ethics paper on Google. Also, I worked with one of my teammates (Reagan) and another classmate (Mehdi) on our Budgetary Control assignment. I'm extremely proud of the work we did and I'm looking forward to class on Thursday, when we'll be discussing the Eastclock Corporation case. It's hard to believe that Budgetary Control is actually one of the classes I enjoy, but for some reason it's a lot better than expected. I also reviewed material from Managing within Organizations and Statistics with Reagan, Mehdi, and Jorge, so I feel that I have a strong foundation as we get closer to finals.

Hopefully, my team will be able to schedule our interviews for our Managing within Organizations assignment this week, so that I can get a good start on the paper for that class. After that, it will mostly be preparing for our oral presentations and studying for finals.


Friday, October 28, 2011

Listen to the Math


This morning was our Finance workshop, where I was sufficiently frightened for P3. For P1, Accounting was my biggest trouble. In P2, I have Statistics. Obviously, in P3 it will be Finance. At least I am tackling things that scare me and I'm clearly challenging myself. In the end, I will probably learn more about myself than I will about the actual material. Fortunately, I will have many opportunities in the future to enhance my budding business math knowledge.

We are now halfway through P2 and these next three weeks are going to be crazy! I'm already starting to think about finals, especially since I will need a lot of help with Stats. Hopefully, our professor will post some sample finals on ZoneCours soon, so I can start reviewing with the more advanced students. I can't believe this final is going to be worth 70% (and I can say that with over 99.9% confidence)!

As for my career prospects, I am happy to report that my network seems to be responding positively to the messages I'm sending out. It's definitely exciting to think about the future possibilities! In related news, I have agreed to be an MBA tour guide for the HEC open house on November 13. It's the weekend before finals, but I know the experience will be more valuable than a few extra hours of studying.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Somewhere Over the Rainbow


For those who dressed up, the costumes were great at the Halloween 5@7 tonight! I had a blast as Dorothy and I'm glad I had a chance to speak with so many people from other classes who I don't normally get to see. I can't believe I have a Finance workshop at 8:30 tomorrow morning!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Happy Diwali

I'm so happy! The Diwali event was fantastic! The food was delicious and the conversations were flowing for hours. Enjoy the photos below.


Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Closer

Every day, I feel like I am getting closer and closer to my new career goal. I am reaching out to all the friends and contacts I can think of and everyone is so helpful! I hope that, by this time next year, I am gainfully employed in a new, exciting position.

I'm looking forward to meeting with our Ethics & Governance professor tomorrow, so we can discuss the group assignment. At least then I'll be able to finish up one of the projects I'm working on. As for Managing Within Organizations, I hope we can schedule the required interviews with our two interview subjects, so we can move that team assignment along, too. In the meantime, I should probably be focusing on the next Budgetary Control assignment. Always fun over here in MBA land!


My friend just sent an email with the Coldplay "Paradise" music video. It definitely lifted my spirits and reminded me that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Monday, October 24, 2011

City and Colour


Wow, this day was going so well! It was a beautifully perfect autumn day, sunny and bright, with colourful fall foliage. I was feeling so good about running my errands, finishing up some readings, and heading to school after a relaxing weekend.

It was not until this evening that my bubble was completely burst! As I mentioned before, I have been planning a Diwali event for this Wednesday. Unfortunately, due to complications, miscommunications, and an unexpectedly high interest in the dinner, I am faced with a stressful situation. I hope that it all works out in the end, but in the meantime, this is probably the only thing I will be thinking about until it's all settled.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

A Friend Indeed


Unfortunately, I was probably not as productive today as I should have been. However, I am happy that I had a chance this weekend to see friends and have fun. This semester is really crazy with the number of assignments and readings that we have, and it doesn't help that I'll be traveling to Jersey in a couple weeks to be a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding. So yes, insane semester, but I still think it's absolutely necessary to take much-deserved breaks, even if it means having a lazy Sunday.

In the very beginning of the MBA program, students were already investigating companies and getting job interviews. Even though I didn't want to do one of the standard leadership programs that needed to be applied for in the beginning, I felt like I was late to the job search. However, I knew that the type of job I wanted would not demand such a head start. Now that I am moving along on the job search, though, I see just how addictive it is. I look for jobs on Indeed all the time, simply to get an idea of what kind of jobs are available.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

University


I can't believe how much I've done today! I started off the day with a couple school readings about Pixar and Procter & Gamble. It was perfect timing, since I had just spotted a great job opening at Pixar University, their training and education unit. After reading the article, I want to work at Pixar even more than I did before. It's also funny how the available job is so similar to the university environment I'm seeking.

Later in the day, I went to the L'Oreal sale, where I picked up my first ever red lipstick. I'm looking forward to wearing it at our school Halloween party for my Dorothy (Wizard of Oz) costume.

As part of my International Affairs Director position, I've also been planning a Diwali event for the Indian "festival of lights" which we will be celebrating on Wednesday. I hope we have a good turnout at our Indian dinner!

Friday, October 21, 2011

Time Flies

I can't believe it's been a week since I last posted. How fast time flies! It's the end of Week 2 in P2 and you can definitely feel that we are well into the swing of things. We have started getting grades back from P1, which certainly helps for making appropriate adjustments this semester.


Today I have an appointment with Christian Denis, the Director of Graduate Career Services. As I have been working on discovering exactly what type of job would be ideal after my MBA, I came to realize that one field that is perfect for me is the academic sector. If I have the opportunity to work at a university, it is an excellent way for me to combine my international interest with an employer that provides great benefits. There are, of course, other advantages to working at a university but I would say that those are the strongest pulls for me at the moment. Since I am targeting California, New York City, and Montreal, I am looking at:  NYU, Columbia, University of Southern California, etc. I'm looking forward to my meeting with Christian today, so I can hear about his experience in the field.

As for the news, there were a few articles recently that I found interesting. If any students or teachers in Quebec are curious to find out what my Canadian citizenship test was like, there is now an option to enrol in a Canadian Citizenship Challenge. Pretty cool! You can find more information about it here. Also, I am happy to report that the Quebec government will be spending $7 million to work on fighting anti-gay bullying. Lastly, since my classmates are multilingual, this article was of particular interest to me. Slowing Alzheimer's could be a benefit of being bilingual. That is great news for HEC Montreal students, who often speak three languages or more!

Friday, October 14, 2011

¡Arriba!

This has been an endless day. I woke up early this morning to run some errands and do my Budgetary Control reading for the assignment that is already due next week. Yikes!

During the day, I discovered it was my team member's birthday and was invited to lunch with her and some other Latin American classmates. It was awesome to celebrate at Arepera, a new Latin American restaurant that serves delicious arepas.


Since then, I have mostly been focusing on my International Affairs duties and applying for my first post-MBA jobs! Later this evening, I will be going out to a bar with two friends, one of whom I haven't seen in five years. I'm looking forward to catching up!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

The Simulator


Here is a photo from yesterday's potluck. I just wanted to say thank you so much again to everyone who participated!

Today was quite a day! It seems to me that Thursdays will be trying, ending the week with both Budgetary Control and Statistics. As for Stats, let's just say that I will never think of the word "simulator" in the same way again. If anyone has any mathematics or statistics jokes, feel free to share them with me. We are encouraged to say them in class.

It was so nice to top off the week with a drink at Else's with a friend from outside the MBA program. As much as I like everyone at school, it was wonderful to hear about non-MBA stresses and talk about something else, if only for a couple hours! I should note, though, that HEC Montreal was ranked at #96 by The Economist in the 2011 full-time MBA rankings.

For our team assignment for Managing within Organizations, my team must come up with two people from an organization that we can interview. The organization must be facing, or have recently faced, a particular issue, change, or project. It's a huge challenge to find two people who will give us the type of access we will require for the assignment and have their approval in less than a week! If anyone can offer any help, please let me know!


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

A New Beginning


I'm taking a break from my very dense Budgetary Control reading to post an update. P2 has begun! My new classes are as follows:  Macroeconomics, Managing within Organizations, Ethics and Governance, Budgetary Control, and Statistics. We already have team assignments for the two theory classes that we should begin working on.

In between classes today, we held a very successful international potluck. I am so appreciative of everyone who participated and I am so grateful that everyone took the time to make and bring in their dishes. It was such a great opportunity to taste cuisines from around the globe. This week I'll be working on two upcoming International Affairs projects that I hope will be as successful as this one.

I was so happy in Ethics class today when the professor explained that he will be using a blog on Blogger to post interesting articles! Great thing I already check Blogger frequently!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Happy Belated Canadian Thanksgiving

How did I spend my one day off from school? I ate Thanksgiving leftovers and carved a pumpkin!



I'll be heading back to school today to start P2. It's going to be a busy week:  International Affairs meeting and potluck, career services appointment, and new classes. Also, I should probably start to prepare for my friend's wedding that will be in a month. I'm a bridesmaid and I don't even know where I'll be staying yet!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Two Down, Two to Go


Two exams down, two to go. This has actually been the craziest exam period of my life, and I'm not just talking about the timing. Yes, they are back-to-back on the weekend after our final week of classes, but that's not the problem. They have been so much harder than I ever expected them to be! After the exams, I was happy to hear that they were hard for everyone, and it wasn't just me!

For a few minutes now, I'll be taking a brief lunch break and then it's off to study for Accounting and a bit for Being a Manager. I hope I'll be able to have a video chat with one of my classmates this afternoon. It'll give me a chance to sit outside on my balcony for a bit, while learning to analyze ratios for Le Chateau.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Making Economic Sense


Well, here I am. Just a couple hours before my first MBA final exam and I'll soon be heading over to school. I hope I studied enough for this Economics exam. We'll soon find out!

It's good to focus on the ultimate objective of this program, though. It helps to put everything into perspective. There is some excellent news regarding the Canadian job market. I've also been spending some time this morning looking at MBA and international business job opportunities in Montreal, New York, and Los Angeles. I'm pleasantly surprised by the number of jobs that interest me and that suit my qualifications. On Monday, during Canadian Thanksgiving, I plan to update my resume and start applying to some of these jobs. In the meantime, back to focusing on exams!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Final Countdown

So much to do, so little time. Studying for exams is exhausting and I cannot emphasize enough how much I'm looking forward to Sunday at 4:30 PM, when it's all over. It's so unfortunate that, when the rest of Canada has a three day weekend with Thanksgiving, we'll actually have only one day off!

I am glad to see, though, that both McGill and the University of Montreal have made the Times Higher Education top 200 universities in the world. Great news!


Here is a photograph of the Models and Decision Making spreadsheet that we worked on in class yesterday. It may not look that impressive to you, but let me tell you, it was quite exciting to get that Solver solution. It took three people and 20 minutes of computer calculations to get that total.

I am looking forward to the first event that will be hosted by the International Affairs VP and Directors. We're having a potluck on Wednesday, October 12 during lunch. I hope it turns out well!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Final Frontier


Canada is chosen by Forbes to be the best country in the world for business! See the Gazette article here.

In other news, this is the final week of my P1 classes! It's crazy how fast time flies! Six weeks is a really short period of time, but somehow we've learned a ton and everything is winding down. Yesterday, I officially finished my Management Skills class since there is no final exam for the course and my final paper is already submitted. (Wish me luck.)

Today we're handing in our Being a Manager paper and doing the oral presentation for it. Once that's done, the rest of the week will just be about attending our final classes and continuing to study for finals.

Monday, October 3, 2011

International Relations


This article about globalization at business schools really piqued my interest. It's something I've been thinking about ever since I started my MBA at HEC. What's funny is that the article points out the lack of globalization at American business schools, but at HEC, I find that the opposite is true. It is the most diverse environment I have ever been in! In fact, my group consists of four members and we come from four different countries. I've had the opportunity to learn so much from my classmates due to our international backgrounds. Furthermore, I noticed that in Phase 2, we have a globalization course. I really have to applaud HEC for incorporating an important aspect into our program:  the international component.

When I studied Linguistics at McGill, I felt so fortunate to learn about languages in a prominently bilingual city. It created a perfect setting to demonstrate the linguistic theories we were learning. Once again, I feel that I'm in the same position. I think that studying International Business at HEC will give me a great chance to learn from my peers about their previous work and cultural experiences.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Rock On


It's a rockin' Saturday night over here. It's been study, study, study all day with a minor break of meeting my group at school. In fact, we were rushed out of the Cote St. Catherine building before closing at 5 PM due to a power interruption, so the break was shorter than intended. Essentially I've been closed in all day, studying as much as I can. Fortunately, it's freezing outside so it's the perfect day to cozy up with my laptop. Luckily, I have my Jango radio station keeping me entertained.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Best Image Ever


Introducing you to my friend's new kitten, Penny!

As usual, it was a busy day! I started off the day at 8:30 at school, finalizing the Power Point for our Being a Manager presentation that will be on Wednesday. After that, I had a meeting with the International Affairs VP, as I have been appointed as a Director of International Affairs! It was great discussing our plans for the year. I hope our future events go well!

After that, it was pretty much a haze of finalizing our group projects. I was at school for over 12 hours, but I'm finally home and our assignments are ready to be printed and submitted. Now that that's over with, it's onto studying for finals! My plan of attack is to rotate among each of the subjects so I can ensure that I have an equal chance of succeeding at all of them. 

This is going to be one crazy week ahead! We finish classes on Thursday, and then we have finals on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We'll be done on Sunday at 4:30 and then our next batch of classes starts up again on Tuesday! Sounds fun, eh? I'm in great spirits, all things considered.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Not Sour Yet


I can't believe it's Thursday already! This week is passing by so quickly! Last week was ridiculously stressful with so many assignments thrown at us, but this week was actually quite enjoyable. Right now, we're in the midst of finalizing three assignments (Accounting, Being a Manager, and Models & Decision Making). Fortunately, my team only really has Accounting left to truly focus on but I think it will be dreadfully looming over us until the minute we print it.

To top off the week, there was a Latin American-themed 5@7. I was only able to stay for a brief while, since I have a dinner tonight, but I was so eager to go to get a pisco sour. Love those! If anyone ever wants a good restaurant recommendation, Raza and Madre are two of my favorites - good Latin American food and good drinks (pisco sours obviously)!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Night by Night


In honor (yes, American spelling) of the Chromeo concert last night, I'm posting their "Night by Night" music video. It also sums up my approach to this MBA program. Day by day or night by night, I will make it through!

I did discover something at the concert last night. All of a sudden, I felt so elated to hear music and I realized that, since I've started my MBA studies, I've completely cut music out of my life. Now, this is in complete contrast to my working life, when I had my iPod on all day at work. Essentially, I went from 100 to 0 and was wondering why something felt awry in my life. I cannot survive without my music! I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me that it was not okay to eliminate it during my studies. I have promised myself that I will listen to music whenever I can. It feels weird to have to remind myself of that, but ever since I started my MBA, my priorities got all skewed.

I can't believe it was such a beautiful day today and I didn't have one second to get outside and enjoy it. I know this sounds crazy but I'm actually looking forward to winter coming. At least then I won't feel bad about staying inside working or studying all day.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

A Softer Side


It's the end of Week 4 (out of a 6-week session) and it's not surprising that I haven't had time to update my blog. In addition to the endless amount of work we've been given, I was also busy with birthday festivities for the special someone in my life. It was one week of madness!

Today was actually the first day I can recall in the past few weeks that I haven't woken up to the sound of the alarm clock and I've had the chance to wake up to my body's natural rhythm. It was pretty much the best feeling in the world. It was also perfect timing, since I went out to Garde Manger and Philemon Bar last night and really needed a morning to sleep in a bit.

My leisurely morning quickly transformed into a rushed project day as I made my way to the school library to meet my group to work on our three projects. Insane! We basically divided the projects to work on the ones we're each most comfortable in. It's such a pleasure to have a positive group dynamic and really complement each other. I hope my future groups work as well as this one!

Tonight I will be continuing my work on our Being a Manager project, which is an analysis of an interview. We had interviewed an Associate Producer at Ubisoft Montreal, which proved to be quite insightful. I'm looking forward to moving the project along and getting a significant amount of work done this weekend.

Later this evening you'll find me at the Chromeo concert! I'm so excited!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Test Day


I'm counting down the minutes until I have to leave for my Canadian citizenship test and I can't focus on anything else. I've already read through the study guide all morning, and since then, I've tried doing a reading for class, but I keep getting nervous and distracted. I'm happy that when I get back from the test, I'll be able to move forward with some course work!