CBS Orientation Week 1

Wow, I can't believe that I've finished my first week of grad school! Many second years have told me that orientation week is possibly one of the best parts of the entire business school experience and I can certainly see why -- awesome people, fun activities and free food... what more can you ask for!

Without further ado -- here's my recap!

Sunday, August 21
The night before orientation officially began, we had a student reception at Lerner Hall. The event was the first time that many of us all our entire class, squeezed into one reception hall (all 549 of us!). Walking into the building, I had no idea what to expect but I was blown away by the shear number of people in the room. I thought I had done a pretty good job of getting to know some of my classmates during the week I had been in town, but there were so many new faces!

The highlight of the evening was hearing Dean Hubbard and Mary Miller speak about our class and about the great things to come. We also got to hear from our GBA president and PA Chair. Everyone did a wonderful job getting us all pumped up about the school year. After hearing them speak, you couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. CBS has produced a ridiculous number of outstanding and influential alums and hopefully, maybe 10 years from now, it'll be us that the school brags about!

Afterwards, we headed to Pourhouse for the afterparty. Pourhouse is a bar near campus and supposedly a CBS tradition. The bar was packed and filled to capacity before I even got there so I never saw the inside... but the overflow bar was poppin' and I'm sure I'll have many other chances to visit in the future.

Monday, August 22
WOW. This was my first jam-packed day in a while and it definitely wore me out! Our day began at 8am and we had our schedules full until basically 3am the next morning. Arriving at school, we received our CBS swag (woohoo!!) and confirmed our cluster assignments (Cluster E, baby!). After a networking breakfast, we were shuffled into one of the main lecture halls in Uris for a presentation on diversity.

Diversity is one of those issues that I feel like gets brought up a lot in the workplace and in schools (and was even the focus of the non-profit I was involved in over the last two years). Typically, it results in a PC conversation about how we need to accept and be open to the culture/perspective of others. CBS hired a company to come in and talk to us about this issue and they did not disappoint. The facilitator warned us that she wanted frank conversation and boy, did she get it. The level of honesty in the room was so great, it both thrilled and terrified me. The conversation kept going to places that I never heard spoken aloud. All in all, it was a really eye-opening experience that brought a lot of key questions to light.

One thing that did happen was during that conversation, we were asked to break up into groups. My class at CBS is about 35% women, which is pretty good for a b-school but still means that women were outnumbered in the audience. Each group was required to have at least one women so we all became hot commodities! It was really interesting to be put in a situation where I was the sole "woman voice" during our discussions. A little uncomfortable at first, I soon really got into it and in the end, felt like I learned a lot and brought questions to light that I had never considered before. How do you become a women of power without becoming perceived as a bitch? Is it possible to get to the top without compromising who you are? Are women on top held to a higher standard? What do you do about it?

After that, we had our first meetings with our clusters. Man, it was like being back in high school again... and I loved it. There was a lot of cheering and chanting. It was great to switch gears after such an intense morning session. My cluster seems pretty awesome - lots of Texans and Californians and a whole bunch of international students. I'm really excited to see how we bond as a group over the next few days.

After lunch, we had two additional sessions on group dynamics and on the academic program in general. For the group dynamics seminar, we were challenged to create a product aimed at "improving the life of the ordinary NY public" using just duct tape. We only had 5 minutes to brainstorm and idea and then an additional 8 minutes to execute. My group ended up making a "MetroMit" -- basically a little mitt you can put on to wear on your hand as you grip the subway poles (which are really dirty). We even included a sleeve for your MetroCard! I thought it was actually quite clever and wouldn't be surprised if the idea caught on someday :)

Finally, we had a cluster wrap up session and we were introduced to our learning teams! My team is super diverse and includes a Spanish consultant, a Taiwanese PE guy, a finance girl from LA, an engineer from Belgium, and a former member of the military.

Tuesday, August 23
Tuesday was equally if not more insane than Monday. We had our first case study class and also our first actual assignment to complete as a learning team. It was really fantastic to see how we all interacted with each other. All learning teams are carefully crafted based off of your background and a CUTRI test that we were all required to take over the summer. The CUTRI test is one that helps you understand which team roles you naturally gravitate towards -- kind of like a personality test for teams. According to the test, I strongly gravitated towards the "team unifier" role (basically a team cheerleader). I can definitely see that in myself, but it was funny to see it on paper.

In the morning session, a professional team coach was brought in to teach us how to work in a team. We did a fun team-building exercise that required us to use our collective brainpower (and physical ability) to solve a problem. Afterwards we recapped and analyzed our performance as a team, so that we could better understand the natural process that we went through and what we could have done better/should continue to do going forward.

Today we also had our first case study class, taught by Professor Jick. In this case, the protagonist (a business owner) had to make a decision about an employee, his top salesman who work style is disruptive to the established work norms. Going through the case, we analyzed the situation from a 360 perspective and the professor even pitted people against each other during the discussion. The experience was so different from anything I had experienced in the classroom before. In my UG days, class was an easy thing to sit through -- you just had to stay awake enough to take notes. In business school, class is an active engagement, where all the students assume some responsibility for contribution and insight. It was a pretty cool experience and made me pretty psyched for what was to come.

After class, my cluster decided to hit the town and we brought the party to Parlour. I had my first official (full!) glass of beer here, lost a game of ping pong and assumed the very important role of "judge" in many games of flip cup. It was fun to hang out with my clustermates and bond with everyone. I ended up getting home around midnight and got a good night's sleep in preparation for the craziness that was to come on Wednesday.

Wednesday, August 24
To be honest, Wednesday was a complete blur. On Wednesday, we had two main lectures - one on values-based leadership and the other on corporate social responsibility. The theme of the day was very clear -- learn what your values are and who you are as a leader, then make sure to live it out, even during tough situations. At CBS, the community is very committed to the idea of responsible leadership. It's really refreshing and exciting to see how positively and warmly the students are embracing this concept.

Wednesday evening was truly an evening to remember! After class, CSB had chartered buses waiting for us to take us to the Lighthouse, a restaurant just off of the Hudson River. The event was downtown so we got to see a lot of NY on the drive down. Dinner itself was superb and probably the best meal I had so far. Free drinks abound, great music and awesome people made for a really wonderful dinner.

After dinner, we headed next door to 300 New York, this really hip bowling alley. Even though it had bowling lanes, it had much more of a club feel to it. The lights were dim, music was pounding, and the bar was poppin'! Even though I'm an avid bowler, I didn't bowl too much and spent the night dancing and chatting up a storm with my new classmates.

After bowling, the school hosted a clubbing event. By the time we were headed out of the bowling alley, it was pushing midnight. A few of us ended up cabbing it home early, and I'm so glad we did because I was POOPED by the time I got back to my apartment.

All in all, an awesome night!!

Thursday, August 25
The theme on Thursday was effective communication. In the morning we had a section about communicating in the team setting and how flexible teams are able to improvise to adapt to whatever challenges come their way. We had an improv group come in and show us some of their techniques as artists and teammates. At first, hearing that there was an improv group coming in, I was excited, scared, then nervous. Excited to potentially see a comedy skit, scared that I would have to be in it, then just nervous about the uncertainty of what was to come. It ended up being pretty awesome. A lot of the exercises that we did reminded me of when I took an intro to acting class at UCSD. It was fun to be silly for a bit and, of course, to hang out with my new clustermates.

In the afternoon, the class was all about communicating when giving a presentation. Mackenzie Brown, the company that lead the session, trains a lot of different clientele, including major firms that we'll probably be recruiting with. We went over all the different nuances of presentation style. Much of what you communicate is through your body movement and facial expression, so we went a LOT of time going over and practicing techniques that focused on your physical expression. I'm naturally kind of a perky and bubbly person and so I really had to focus on not being so fidgeting and controlling my natural gaze. To be honest, I feel like this is an area where I could really use more practice so I was excited and happy to have this opportunity to work on this area.

Thursday night was a late night, but for academic purposes (see, I told you I was going to school!). We had to put together a paper and a presentation on the case study that we had been going over the entire week. It was the first time our learning team had to put together a deliverable and it was a good dry-run to see and understand how we'd work together as a team. I know that it sounds kind of menial (like something we've all done since we started school), but after all the discussions this week, we really did take the time to analyze how to approach this project and how we'd interact with each other. Understanding team dynamics is a really important skill as a leader and, personally, I find team psychology really interesting!

Friday, August 26
Friday was a long day, spread out across the day. In the morning, we had to present our case study to our peer advisor. Our team did a pretty kick-ass job. As we all worked together, it was really interesting to see how everyone really did bring something different to the table. We had our finance whiz, our industry expert, our McKinsey guy... everyone had a different area of expertise and it was cool to see how it all worked together to help us complete this first project.

In the afternoon, we had a long break and a couple girls and I decided to use that time to hit up a happy hour :) It was fun chatting with the girls to share our initial impressions on orientation, the cluster and the experience overall. It was very SATC and got me really hopeful that I'll end up with a few good girlfriends after business school!

The afternoon class was all about self-awareness. I feel like this lecture was really timely and honestly, could have been really helpful when I had graduated undergrad too. The primary purpose of this lecture was to understand how you want to live your life -- on your own scorecard or on the scorecard of others. It's really easy to be swayed by society but for something like your career and life goals, it's important to really try to listen to your heart and do what makes you happy. At CBS, it sounds like the bulk of people try to go into banking or consulting. That's great and really cool, but it's important to stay grounded and remember why YOU came to school, so that at the end of this we all end up with our dream jobs :)

Friday night, we had our dancin' shoes on!!! CBS organized another clubbing event at 230Fifth, a super nice and trendy club/lounge in Union Square. The venue was really nice and its rooftop had unbelievable views of the city and the Empire State Building. It was PACKED with CBS'ers and their S/Os. We danced the night away and did some inter-cluster mingling. My cluster (cluster E baby!!) met up at several points throughout the night and did some cheering (though I'm pretty sure we got drowned out by the music). It didn't matter though -- we were having a good time :)

All in all, orientation was truly an awesome experience. Honestly, before coming to school, I got really nervous about moving to NYC, going to business school, making this huge career leap, etc. But now, I'm actually really excited about the challenge. I think the next two years are going to be a huge growing opportunity for me and I'm really excited to step up and run with it.

I'm humble but I'm also really hungry. The world better watch out!!

(Also during this week, there was a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Virginia and a hurricane. You know, just in case the week wasn't crazy enough...)

Till next time,
xoxo

Empires and Allies

My empire in all its glory!

Today I decided to quit Empires and Allies. Probably the last time I will play a Zynga game in a while!! Now, I must focus on conquering the NY empire and making new allies at school :)

The first day back in school was super fun and super tiring. Write up to come later this week...

Till next time, xoxo

Bar Speak

At a night outing with my classmates today, without any prompting, someone asked me if I was from California.

Yeah, I answered surprised. What gave it away?
Oh, how bubbly you are and the upbeat way you carry yourself.

That really made me miss Cali.
I miss the WC with a fiery passion!!

Till next time, xoxo

Crazy New York Weather

It's summer here in NYC, which means it is humid all the time. Yesterday, I experienced my first "summer rain", which is in fact, not just rain but a sudden flash flood complete with thunder and lightening. I had to stop by school yesterday evening to pick up my laptop after the IT team had configured it. Walking to school, I found that it was still sunny and hot. One hour later, as I left the building, I saw blackness behind the school doors and sudden flashes of light. Then I heard the thunder. Other students backed off too, saying that flash rain like this typically only lasted 10-20 minutes, and so we tried to wait it off together. The rain came down in sheets, so thickly that you could only maybe see 10 feet in front of the door. We had to wait nearly 45 minutes for the rain to subside enough that you could probably walk home in it.

Now I know why people warned me that I should always carry an umbrella!

Till next time,
xoxo

Mostly Settled, I think?

I'm now pretty much settled and have my room mostly put in order. My apartment is great because it's super close to school and my room is surprisingly "large" (by city standards). After starting to unpack things, I finally caught up with the reality of my move and so, now in addition to absorbing into my new surroundings, I want to adapt to the culture and the way of life here. This prompted me to make a list (because you know how I love lists!).

Things I've learned about NY/myself being in NY so far:

• Things, especially groceries, are expensive! Lesson: buy only what you can consume/need. If it can wait, buy it online.
• If you smile at strangers, they will either scowl back at you or catcall. (This doesn't seem to apply on campus, but the definitely the areas around it). Lesson: don't smile at strangers.
• I am definitely scared of pigeons. Lesson: avoid pigeons.
• Bedbugs are a real and constant concern. Lesson: worry about dirty neighbors.
• Food is delicious! Lesson: watch what you eat. preemptive work-outs are key.

I'm sure this list will continue to grow as I get more acclimated to my new surroundings. Even though I only moved from California, I still feel like there's quite a difference in culture and how people interact with each other. I totally give major props to all my fellow international students...I can't even imagine how huge of a transition it is for them.

For kicks, here's a picture of my shoe collection (pun intended!):

It is too early to be homesick??

Till next time,
xoxo

Day One as a New Yorker

Finally in New York!

This past weekend, I finally made the big jump and shipped me, my parents and 25 of my favorite pairs of shoes to NYC. We were greeted with rain... and a lot of it (think thunderstorm, torrential downpour rain). Combined with the heat, it ended up being kind of a hot, sticky rain, which reminded me of my trip to Asia last month. All in all, my parents and I made it safe and sound and all my luggage is ok so no complaints from me!

Our first day in NYC was largely uneventful due to the constant rain and  jetlag/lack of sleep (btw Amy, you totally called it on the Virgin America seats). As we drove around Manhattan, I felt like a tourist but kept having to remind myself that this wasn't a vacation spot anymore... this is now home for me! I know I've had almost all of 2011 so far to digest the fact that I'm moving NYC, but even now, it feels so surreal!

Tomorrow I am moving into my apartment. I'm so excited about moving  all my stuff in so I can put together my room and put everything I learned from watching HGTV to work!!

Till next time,
xoxo

A Love Letter

 
Dear West Coast,

Thank you so much for everything. The last 12 years of my life have been truly magnificent and I would not be the same person without you. You have blessed me with so many rich memories and wonderful friends and for that I am truly grateful.

Tomorrow, I am venturing out east. I will miss you dearly, but I'm ready and excited for a new adventure and a new challenge.

I love you. I will be back, I promise!

Love,
Vi

Totally Random Shoe Review: NF Base Camp Ballet

North Face Women's Base Camp Ballet

I originally bought these shoes just for my trip to Thailand. I wanted something light and comfy, and for it to be compact/easy to pack. Something that was closed-toed but wouldn't get stinky. Something that I could wear for both physical activities and with sundresses. Demanding... I know, and in all honesty, I was pretty sure that such shoe did not exist.

Enter North Face's Base Camp Ballet.

When I originally tried this shoe on, I knew it had the look I wanted -- it's essentially a sporty looking ballet flat. I could tell it was light and "smushable" (read: easy to cram into an overpacked suitcase) but when I walked around the store in them, the egg-crate like base felt foreign to my feet. I have wide feet so I was worried that the shoes may be too narrow and that I wouldn't be able to break them in on time. Overall, I knew that I liked them, but I wasn't completely sold. After some debate, I decided to bite the bullet. I figured I would always return them if I changed my mind or found a pair of shoes I liked better.

I am SO glad that I kept these babies. I basically lived in them during the my trip to Asia this past summer and even now that I'm back and these shoes compete with all others in my closet, these are the shoes that hold the key to my heart (feet?). I wear them so much now that I contemplated not bringing any other shoe with me to NYC! (Ok, well that lasted just a millisecond).

Admittedly, they don't go with everything. But I really wish that they did because these shoes make my feet so happy!

On a different but related note, I've been thinking about maybe adding a fashion component to my blog. Not because I think I'm particularly fashionable or anything, but because I've been following some fashion blogs and thought it might be fun to record the evolution in my personal style as I change coasts and switch gears in my professional life. Stay tuned on that one...

Just over 50 hours before the big move.... I think I'm still in denial!

Till next time, xoxo

Meet Tristan!

This weekend we were blessed with a very happy surprise!

I guess to explain how we got Tristan, I first have to tell you a little bit about my wonderful boyfriend. We've been together for over 5 years now and the same thing that I caught my eye 5 years ago is the same thing that keeps me in love with him today -- his big heart. Yeah, he may act all tough but inside he is a big softie, especially when it comes to animals!

This is probably really more of H's story to tell, but I'll retell it to you...

This past weekend, H had a track day in southern California. Normally, this is something that I'd normally tag along with him on, but because it's my last full weekend before my move, I wanted to spend the time with my family. As H was driving back, he started to have some issues with his motorcycle trailer and pulled off the side of the freeway in the middle of nowhere, with the unforgiving sun blasting down. As he inspected his trailer, he was confronted by a small, malnourished dog with giant wistful eyes. Uncertain as to whether or not the dog was okay to interact with, H continued to fix his trailer until he saw the dog near the front of his car, resting so serenely, so happy to have found some shade. Filled with compassion, H made a split-second decision. He scooped the dog up and placed him gently into the car, realizing that if left here, the dog would have no hope for shelter or food or water in the terrible heat.

Once in the car though, H's sentiment shifted from concern and pity to bemusement. A mix between "omg, I can't believe I just did that" and "err, so what happens now?". Unsure of what steps to take next, H decided to try the next exit off the freeway, about 5 miles away from where the pup was, to see if anyone knew of a missing dog. The exit revealed a sparse neighborhood, with only a few houses. It was a long shot, and he got shot down, as homeowners opened their doors with confusion and suspicion. After realizing that was probably a dead end, he continued on his way before noticing the dog's heavy pants. H pulled into a gas station to buy the dog some water, leaving the dog in the car, windows rolled down slightly. As he was in line to pay, a lady rushes into the station yelling, "Does someone own a small dog?? There's one running around the pumps!". H immediately steps into action and steps outside of the station. Seeing H, the dog pauses its frantic running and beelines to H, jumping into his lap and licking him happily. Witnessing the dog's apparent love, many of the gas station patrons assumed that the dog belonged to H. The lady approaches H and talks to H a bit and he reveals how he ended up with the pup. As luck would have it, the lady was a vet and offered to take a quick peak at the dog. Her quick examination concluded that he seemed okay, but underweight and probably very hungry. Already attached to the dog, H declined her invitation to take the dog to an animal shelter, determined to find him a home.

By this point, it had crossed H's mind a few times to keep the dog himself, but the impulse was quickly erased when he thought about his working hours (H works a LOT) and his current apartment search in SF. Logistically, it would be very tough to figure out. Remembering that my mom has been in the market for a dog for the last few months, he gave me a call asking if we had any interest.

And the rest is history I guess!

Tristan is the sweetest puppy, ever attentive and mild-mannered. He's like a shadow, constantly following people around just one or two steps behind. We took him to the vet today and the entire staff was won over by his gentle and non-fussy demeanor!

It's hard to say what Tristan's been through in the past, but I'm really excited for his future and to get to know this dog a lot better in the future. My mom has been through a few trying things over the last year and this dog is truly a God send. As she always says, "Trust in God and he will provide!"

Trust in = Tristan

Till next time,
xoxo

Adventures in Packing

Well, you should be all proud to know that I have officially started packing. With just 10 days to go, it is imperative that over the next few days I train myself to become an expert at cramming things into little spaces and at letting go of things that I do not need. Being a self-proclaimed hoarder, I admit that this is going to be no easy feat.

Luckily, I'm moving into a furnished apartment so I (probably) won't need about making a trip to out to IKEA. That means the bulk of what I'll be bringing is clothes... which doesn't sound that intimidating until you realize that I have a LOT of clothes.

So the other day, as I'm talking over the logistics of the move with my mom, she says something that totally changed my life.

"Vi, do you know about those vacuum-suck bags for packing?"

GENIUS!!, I thought, as I sent up a quick prayer that I inherited my mother's wisdom and critical thinking skills.

As I started my search for said bags, I quickly realized that I basically had two options: 1) invest in the OG brand (SpaceBag) which certainly came with a premium on the "brand" or 2) find knock off products. In the end, I actually didn't even have to worry too much about this decision as I randomly found some knock-off products one day while walking through Big Lots (a discount store). At $3 a box (which included 4 bags), it was hard to say no (Space bags are typically about $6-10/each according to my research). Option #2 ftw!

In the end, I've found that the bags have been a mild space saver. They definitely help compress and remove the "fluff" from your clothes (though I'm anxious to see what the clothes will look like coming out of the bags). As can be expected, they are most effective with things that have a lot of air in them, which explains why in the commercials, they always demo the packaging of a down blanket. Because honestly, down blankets are 50% air anyway and feathers basically have no dimension.

At this point, I'm expecting that my total move will amass to 4 suitcases (3 carry-on, 1 large) and 1 box (full of shoes!). This puts me between the two benchmarks I had -- two of my friends also moving to business school (2 luggages vs. 6 large luggages and a few duffel bags... take a guess at which one is a guy!). I'm planning on moving everything by air with my parents (i.e. as checked bags for our flight), so hopefully everything works out as planned! I think Virgin America offers each person 1 checked bag without fee so maybe I'll be able to ship everything over for free. Which would be awesome because that means... more money for FOOD!!!!

Till next time!
xoxo