What Weekend?

After a long and intense day of team-building across cohorts at the Warren Conference Center, I think BU wanted to give us all a little break. So our orientation actually ended on Thursday, giving us a nice ‘three day weekend’. However, I spent most of Friday AND most of Saturday at the SMG building doing homework, so I don’t really feel like I’ve had much of a weekend at all. Class hasn’t officially started yet! And I’m already buried with work. Welcome to business school!

Not that I mind being at SMG very much. (At least, not yet). For one thing, it’s gorgeous! See:

How pretty!

It’s also fun to see fellow classmates outside of class and continue to get to know them better. But the miserable fall-like weather today made studying a slightly damp activity.

Well, I’ve read two cases, many papers, and uploaded my resume today. Off to read another case and start my case paper outline.

Team Learning

One of the big ideas that is emphasized in b-school is team learning. From the very beginning we are sectioned off into our cohorts of 50-60 people, with whom we will do everything for the next year. Then we are separated into teams of 6-7 people. At some schools teams are selected very carefully (or at least that’s what they tell you). I believe that BU uses a computer program to randomly generate teams, with a certain required male-female ratio, as well as a domestic-international ratio.

This has resulted in a wide variety of team dynamics and working styles, at least from what I can tell thus far. My team appears to be a group of leaders. What this will actually mean for us is yet to be determined, but we have been working very hard on hashing out the details of how we will work together in the coming months. Some teams have taken a more, shall we say, laid-back approach to structuring their teams and team interactions. And then there are the teams that aren’t doing anything at all, but get panicky every time they overhear what other teams are doing, and rush to do the same.

The nice thing about BU is that this is not a competition. Everyone learns in a different fashion, and what might be good in terms of structure for one group of people may not be the best solution for another group of people. It’s up to you as an individual to determine what works for you, and then coordinate how your personal workstyle and skill set will fit in with the other 5 or 6 people in your team.

I came away from my team meeting this afternoon with a real sense of accomplishment. I have not worked in teams that much over the last 5 years, and I am looking forward to stepping out of my comfort zone and expanding my knowledge base. I hope that we can sustain this productive goodwill through the semester ahead of us. We haven’t even started classes yet, and already my free time is practically nil. I can only imagine how crazy and stressful it will be when classes begin, companies start recruiting, networking efforts get into full swing, and clubs and activities get going. There are so many things that I am interested in doing and accomplishing, and only so many hours in the day. After hearing about the Cohort Cup yesterday, a few of us first-years were left wondering when school had turned into Hogwarts (Quidditch, anyone?). Well, as long as we’re in the Harry Potter world, I’d like to find Hermione’s Time Turner and start making good use of it!

First Day Down

Things have been in such a whirlwind, I can’t even imagine what my schedule and workload will be like once school *really* starts. Today marked the first official day of Pre-Term, and we had a morning full of speeches and warm welcomes from the Deans, Admissions, Alumni, and the Graduate Programs Office.

One of the speakers said something that really stuck with me. He asked us to sit and think for a moment about one specific thing that would have changed or that we would want to change by the time we graduate, 2 years from now. He said, “you will walk out of these doors in 2 years a different person.” I definitely think that is true. I don’t exactly know what will have changed, but I am sure I will change and grow tremendously over the next few years. For one, I hope to become more self-assured about my ability to make sound business recommendations. It’s a start!

The Alumni speaker told us to think about our pursuit of an MBA as classified as either Passion, Money, or Power. I think I fall into the Passion category. I am a career switcher, and I do want to do something with my degree that I consider meaningful… something that has a social impact. I’m not in the Public and Nonprofit program just cause it sounds good, after all! There weren’t that many hands raised for the Money and Power options, and I wonder if it has anything to do with the current economic situation.

While it has been a bit odd to be ‘back at school’, the good thing so far has been all the people I’ve been meeting. We got to meet our Cohorts today, and it was great to interact with the people that I will be spending the majority of the next year with. I have met so many friendly, outgoing, and warm classmates, and I think it really says something about the type of class that BU has tried to build.

Although I know that the workload is about to increase exponentially, I still sort of enjoyed my homework reading tonight. First case study ever! I’m sure I’ll be singing a different tune in a matter of weeks. Off to bed, long day tomorrow.

Time until school starts– 15 hrs, 17 min. Can’t believe it’s finally here.

Busy Busy Bee

Well the move was successful, and I’m (mostly) settled in my new place. Can I just take a moment and say how exciting it is NOT to have a roommate???? I have had the year of roommates from hell, and I am SO EXCITED to finally live on my own.

I’m still getting to know my new neighborhood, and have been trying to explore a little. It’s been a little difficult since there is so much to still get done before school starts next week. (School. Starting. Next week. WOW. Pinch me now…. no seriously….).

The apartment is slowly starting to feel like home. I’m not one of those people who can just pick up and go wherever they like with a bag or two. I am a collector. I like STUFF. And I have a lot of it. Granted, I pared down quite a bit when I moved from JP. But I still have lots of THINGS, and these things need to be put away. They need to go in their proper places. Or else I just have a very very messy room. And I can’t function in mess.

So as I’m slowly getting my STUFF into place, putting up pictures, arranging my knick-knacks, I’m slowly starting to settle in. There is also that learning curve everyone has when moving into a new space– you know, the period of time in which you have to learn the habits of your new apartment. Like, the kitchen tap takes a loooong time to get hot water, and the room is so dark at night that you’d better make sure you set your alarm in the morning or you will NOT wake up, and the trash people come on Mondays not Fridays, and the bathroom light is on the OUTSIDE not inside the room like the way the rest of the world’s bathrooms are designed, and oh you’d better forget about parking your out-of-state car in the neighborhood ’cause you WILL get ticketed– twice– on the same day. Sigh.

Yes, there are still pictures to put up. There are still minor housekeeping issues that need to be addressed by the landlord. There are still tickets to pay, and packets of accounting material to read and review. But they will all be dealt with, and I have to say– I’m looking forward to a great two years in Boston.

PS: Did you know that I am a Tropical Storm?

Hand It Over

My second deposit for my BU MBA is due next week. I have been getting nice little reminder emails from the admissions people asking if I have had any issues sending in my money, since they haven’t received anything yet…. I still have seven days people!!! Let me hang on to my $500 a little bit longer, please. I’m going to be giving you enough $$ soon enough anyways. OK thanks. BIG SIGH. (Can you tell I’m not looking forward to my impending lack of money in the bank?)

I had a minor panic attack yesterday. I had to pull some paperwork from my financial aid folder to complete my Grad PLUS loan info, and realized that the sheet of paper I had to send in to secure my Stafford loan was due by April 23rd and here it was June 9th and I hadn’t sent it in!!!!!!! OH MY GOODNESS LET ME JUST HAVE A HEART ATTACK NOW AND GET IT OVER WITH ALREADY. I raced to work and called the grad program office as soon as humanly possible, heart racing and palms sweating. Someone up there is looking after me because everything was fine and they let me fax over the necessary information with no penalties or problems. This is SO unlike me. Usually I’m really on top of that kind of thing. Hopefully this isn’t an indication of what the next two years are going to be like. Brain, don’t fail me now!

A Habitat for a Felish

It has been a whirlwind week and weekend! In the space of 7 days I have literally gone from the depths of despair, a 2 hour crying jag, and multiple panic attacks to complete and utter relaxation, quality time spent with friends, and happiness. I do tend to have roller coaster emotional changes (runs in the family), but this has been a tad extreme, even for me!

Last Tuesday I stumbled across the description of an apartment downtown. It sounded intriguing but there were no pictures– usually not a good sign. I called anyway. Wednesday I went to go see the place during lunchtime. I liked it, and by 1 pm Wed I was the new lessee of my very own apartment in the heart of Back Bay!

This is big, folks. Not only is this a neighborhood that I have always dreamed about living in, but everything is working out– rare for me. I’ll be living on my own for the first time in my life– I. Can’t. Wait! The studio is very large, and has enormous windows which mean lots of light– very important for yours truly. There is a separate kitchen and bathroom, a foyer, two closets (one of them is a walk-in!). Laundry in the building. Heat and hot water included. A 13 minute walk from school. Less by train. August 1st move in date, which means I get to avoid the madness that is Boston on September 1st. I can’t be happier about how everything has worked out.

Back

It was a great weekend. Bright, sunny– albeit a tad cool. Definitely sweatshirt weather! I spent three days doing nothing but reading (I managed to race through two and a half books), sleeping, and walking to and from the beach. Oh, the walking! I may not have officially started my Couch to 5K yet (due to extreme laziness), but I did get in more than my fair share of walking. I didn’t bring my car across the ferry, so I spent the entire time on my poor two feet. I also made the brilliant decision one day to walk to South Beach, which is a good 4 miles away. By the time I realized what I’d gotten myself into, it was too late and I had committed to the trip! I was lucky enough to hitch a ride back for part of the walk with the owner of Smoke ‘N Bones in Oak Bluffs. Thank goodness! I was definitely hobbling around the next morning.

Now it’s back to reality, and I have a busy week coming up. I saw an apartment tonight, and assuming everything goes well I should sign the lease by the end of this week. I wasn’t able to see the actual apartment itself, but I saw one that is the ‘mirror image’ (supposedly). It was cute! The kitchen was small but serviceable, and it even included a dishwasher. (I have gotten spoiled by my dishwasher, so that was nice to see.) The apartment I would move into just had the kitchen and bathroom updated, so they are both modern and new. The room itself was of good size, and had a huge mirrored wall-length closet that would be more than sufficient for all my junk. I have high hopes. Once I see the actual apartment on Friday, I’ll make the deposit and submit my application. YAY!!!!!!!!!

Thursday I have another BU Admitted Students Reception, and Sunday I’m participating in a Public/Non-Profit Management study. I’m looking forward to meeting more of my future classmates and hanging out in my future neighborhood! In a little less than four months I will be starting school all over again. I always thought that I would be one of those perpetual graduate students in school until my hair turned gray. However now that I’ve been on my own and making a living for the past five years, the thought of going back to school is scary. Exciting, but scary. The next few months should be a real roller coaster ride.

Money Money

I am getting a little freaked about becoming a student again. Just a few short months, and I’ll have no source of steady income, and $100K worth of loans in my lap. Yikes!

This past Friday I took off some time from work in the afternoon and got on the phone to negotiate a good price for a studio I’d looked at last week. I managed to get the broker down to $1175 per month, H/HW included– not bad for a studio right around the corner from Fenway Park! I was really excited, the weather was gorgeous, I couldn’t wait to start measuring the space and downsizing my junk…

Then I decided to start nosing around online. I tell you, the internet is really really great (Avenue Q shout out!). But sometimes it really throw a wrench in your plans. I started off by looking for public parking near my future studio, and ended up reading horror stories about muggings and rapes and unsafe neighborhood alerts and undergrad parties and noise and OH MY GOD I CAN’T LIVE HERE!!!!! 2 AM and I was thisclose to a nervous breakdown. I am not one for having breakdowns and panic attacks, but I think I was in the grips of a full blown panic attack. I nearly called A. up to tell him I was going out in the cold and rain and dark to drive over to his place so I wouldn’t be having a breakdown by myself. I didn’t though, I felt too bad about waking him up. I couldn’t get to sleep, so I finally had a sip of Nyquil and the last dregs of the red wine, and slipped into a fitful sleep sometime around 3. Not. A. Good. Night.

The next morning I made A. go out with me in the miserable weather (rain rain go away!) to check out the apartment. We first stopped by this gorgeous place, and I had Ashley show me and A. the apartment again. I so want to live in this building! It is so beautiful. With marble. And glass. And clean carpets. And hardwood floors. And it is a 7 minute walk away from my future school. But it is $100 more than the apartment I’d been negotiating for. Plus there isn’t any open unit in this building yet. But I have hope that something will open up later this summer.

Then we drove behind Fenway to the second apartment. We couldn’t get inside, but I stopped a guy walking by on the sidewalk, and asked him if he’d mind answering a few questions. He was SO NICE and took the time to answer ALL my questions! (There were a whole bunch). Anyway, at the end of the conversation I was certain that there was no way I was going to live there. Reasons being: mostly undergrads, lots of noise, mice, heat, thin walls, crappy building, not the safest to walk around at night, lots of gay sex going on in the park across the street, etc. etc. EEK!!!

I felt a lot better after deciding not to go any further with the apartment. It was disappointing though, since I’d thought I might be done with the whole apartment search. Sigh.

After getting thoroughly soaked in the rain, A. and I decided to venture out again to Zaftig’s in Brookline. This place has the best comfort food ever! My favorite is the grilled cheese on challah bread, it is truly decadent. I can’t eat the whole thing because it is too rich, so I let A. order it instead and I just stole a few bites.

In an attempt to detox from the culinary excesses of the weekend, I decided to pack my breakfast and lunch last night, so I wouldn’t be tempted to run around and spend my money buying out today. I had Cream of Wheat with brown sugar for breakfast (this is my new favorite breakfast food, thanks to the surgery). I took a small plastic baggie filled with some sliced almonds and a few flakes of unsweetened coconut with me to work, and stirred them into the farina before I microwaved everything. It was DELICIOUS! For lunch I had some rice with mashed Indian eggplant, which was super yum and a really large portion– I saved half for lunch tomorrow. Dinner was just a sandwich, but I am on a mission to eat food that I have in my fridge and pantry before I buy new groceries, so that was fine. Now I’m watching some Wire episodes, and doing laundry. Off to bed in a bit!

Quote of the day: “It’s Baltimore, gentlemen. The gods will not save you.” -The Wire Season 3

Road to Recovery- Pt. 1

So the dreaded day finally arrived. I’ve been resisting the idea of getting my tonsils removed for quite some time now, but considering that I’d gotten chronic tonsillitis five times over the past two years, I decided it was time to bite the bullet (so to speak). In January I went to see the surgeon, and we scheduled the surgery for March 24th (yesterday).

Mom came up to stay with me and take me to the hospital. Monday evening we drove around Boston, and I got to show her BU’s campus, and the building where I’ll be spending the majority of my next two years. We poked around the neighborhood for a little while, tried not to hit parked cars while maneuvering amidst the cramped streets, and even did a drive-by of the apartment building I’m really interested in. Once we’d exhausted the sightseeing, we headed back to JP and drove over to the Alchemist for my ‘last meal.’ I was joking that the choice of locale for dinner would be really important, because I wouldn’t be able to eat anything normal for quite some time. Honestly, I’d probably have preferred Indian food, but I thought it might not sit in my stomach too well.

We each had a lovely meal at the Alchemist– asparagus, mashed potatoes, and steak tips for me, and pesto penne with chicken for Mom. A few glasses of wine later and our bellies full, we went home, watched some NCIS and Law & Order, and went to sleep early.

I’m one of those people who, if I know I need to be awake for something in particular, will wake up every hour to check the time, even if I know there is an alarm set. So after going to bed around 10, I woke up every hour until 4:45 AM. My alarm was set for 5:10, but I couldn’t get back to sleep so I just got up and started getting ready. The hospital recommends that you wear loose, comfortable clothing, so I pulled on some sweats, a t-shirt and my sweatshirt. We did a last-minute rundown of everything we needed to take with us, and then we drove over to the Brigham. At that hour there was practically no traffic (unheard of!) so we made it well in advance of our 6 AM scheduled arrival.

Once we reached the Day Surgery waiting area, I checked in and then settled in to wait. Right around this time, I started getting very nervous. I’ve never had any surgery before except for my wisdom teeth, and I will definitely admit to thinking how bad it would be if I were to just jump up and declare that I didn’t want to have my surgery anymore…. “I’m keeping my tonsils with me! These little gobs of bacteria aren’t going anywhere, buddy!” … but no, I meekly sat and waited until my name was called, and then followed the nurse to the pre-op prep room.

I was led to a small corner of the room, which was partitioned into roughly 10 changing and waiting areas, complete with hospital beds, IV drips, and computer monitors. The nurse gave me two plastic bags for my clothes, a hospital gown, and orders to strip completely. I also got a pair of beige totes to keep my feet warm. I disrobed, packed everything off, and settled down to wait with Mom. It was pretty busy, with tons of people coming in and out! Matt the anesthesiologist came by to inform me how that would happen, and I was visited by two other nurses to confirm my medical history and schedule procedure. I was also visited by Jeff, the surgical assistant, and my surgeon Dr. Saxon. At this point I was reassured by everyone and how nice they were, but I was definitely getting more and more nervous. As I was hooked up to the IV, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if the anesthesia didn’t work and I was still awake as they started to cut into me… or what would happen if I didn’t wake up… or what if I had an unknown reaction to the anesthesia and something went terribly wrong…

But before I could properly allow these fears to run rampant, I was given a cap for my hair and Matt took me on a wild bed ride through the corridors of the pre-op wing. I guess the anesthesia must have started to kick in, because I remember entering the operating room, being shifted to the operating table, and then… lights out. The next thing I knew I was lying in a different room and staring at yet another nurse who told me the operation had gone just fine. I was instructed to breathe deeply into the oxygen mask over my nose, but I was having problems breathing– I could breathe in through my nose just fine, but I couldn’t breathe out unless I breathed out through my nose. They poked and prodded, and told me it was nothing to worry about.

I drifted in and out of consciousness for a while, and then I was moved to a rolling chair version of my hospital bed, and transferred a few feet away to a different corner. Here I was tucked in with a warm blanket, given a cup with crushed ice and a spoon, and reunited with Mom. I was also given the first of my drug doses, and surprisingly enough I felt pretty good. Another nurse, Donna, sat with us and ran through all the instructions for the medicine and care I would need in the next week or two. She was pretty impressed with how well I was doing. (I was impressed, too). It actually didn’t seem that bad; the only issue I had was a buildup of mucus in my throat that I was too afraid to cough out for fear of disturbing the stitches.

After some time, I was pronounced ready to be released, and given the option of having a wheelchair take me or walk out myself. I chose to walk, even though I was feeling a little unsteady on my feet still. We gathered up all my prescriptions and took off. After running around to three different pharmacies to find the medicine I needed, Mom was finally able to get everything I needed, and we returned home.

It hurt a lot to swallow, but after I took the next dose of my pain medication it wasn’t so bad. I was advised not to talk very much so I could rest my throat. We ended up having a light dinner, continuing our crime show marathon, and started watching Godfather II. I think both of us were pretty beat, because we couldn’t keep our eyes open and had to abandon the movie to go to bed early.

During the night I again woke up every hour, but this time it was due to a severe case of dry mouth. When I got up this morning, my throat hurt a lot more than it had yesterday, and my neck and chest muscles were sore as well. However, it was no worse than what I had experienced with my strep outbreaks (before getting on medication), so I was actually pretty relieved. The pain medication is also a huge help, because it lets me swallow with minimal pain. It is also VERY strong and makes me very drowsy and tipsy-feeling.

In any case, I was feeling pretty good (all things considered) so Mom left around 1:30 pm, and I’ve been spending the day reading and napping. Here’s hoping that I won’t suddenly feel a lot worse tomorrow.