Updates!!

It's been a few weeks and a lot has happened since my last post! We finished up Term A at school a couple weeks ago, which meant midterms and finals (boo). It was a pretty rough week with back-to-back tests. A complete flashback to college, it made me realize how old I've gotten -- I was so worn out by the end! I'm actually starting to get some of my grades back already and I got my first H! Columbia uses this weird grade point scale, where the GPA is actually out of 10. The way the curve is designed, the bulk of the class gets a "HP" while the top 10% of students or so get H's. A lot of business schools try to de-sensitize the the GPA process to foster a collaborative (versus competitive) environment at school. At CBS, GND, as well as a completely confusing grading system, accomplishes this goal. But, being the little nerd I am, I still enjoy doing well. Hopefully as the rest of my grades come back, I'll get more happy surprises :)

This new term, I'm taking courses on operations management, marketing management and strategic innovation management as well as continuing my finance and accounting classes. So far, the big surprise has been how much I enjoy operations. I think a lot of it is the professor, but the content itself is actually really interesting -- how to optimize processes and drive efficiency. I'm actually really excited to pick out classes for next semester. As we finish up the core classes, we start to have a lot more space on our schedule for new electives. The only bummer is that our cluster will probably take fewer and fewer classes together, which is sad because I love my clustermates.

On the recruiting front, most of the corporate presentations (at least for me) are over and now it's time to get those last minute informational interview sessions in before we start working on our cover letters. For on-campus recruiting, most of the applications are due in early December. Interview invites are extended shortly after (about a week after you submit) and interviews are scheduled in early January. It's so crazy that this time is here already -- so far school has been a blur and I can't believe I'm almost a quarter-way through! I'm hopeful the next few months will go well.. that'd make second semester THAT much more fun!

Aside from school and recruiting, I've been having a lot of fun trying to adjust to the NYC lifestyle. Ironically, even though I'm out here in NYC, most of my close friends at school are from California. I guess you can't deny that California swagger! A few weeks ago we went apple picking, which is apparently a very big deal out here on the East Coast. Basically, you drive to the middle of nowhere to visit an apple orchard and then harvest apples from trees. I totally didn't realize how many different kinds of apples there are and how distinct they actually are in appearance. It was a fun experience, though next year we'd probably want to go earlier in the season in order to have a full selection of apples (we went so late this season that there were only really Fuji, Delicious and Braeburns left).

We also went to go visit the outlets in New Jersey on our way home from our apple picking trip. It's so weird trying to go shopping on a student budget. Almost anything you buy is tinged with a guilty sensation. Even when I was an undergrad, I had a part time job (sometimes even 2!), so I was sheltered from this guilt. So far, I've been pretty good at staying within the budget that I allotted myself, but as many people have pointed out, you only live once! Plus, since I hope to move back to California after school, this may be the only time in my life where I really live on the East Coast. My goal is to eat well, travel lots, but be stingy on material things. We will see how this pans out...

Right now, I'm actually visiting SF for the long weekend. It feels SO good to be home. I love how everything feels familiar... even SFO is reassuring in its familiarity. H is in a new place now and it's great to see him enjoying SF. In a weird way, this time apart is really healthy because it's giving us the chance to enjoy our mid-20s as faux-singletons. Hopefully we'll be reunited after school is over and hopefully it'll be in SF, my beloved city!

All in all, life is good and I can't complain. I'm a lucky girl.

Till next time,
xoxo