Life in LGO: Jo's Version

Life after LGO: 5 Months Later

2010-10-25T19:41:00.002+02:00

It’s been 5 1/2 months since I finished my last class at MIT, 4 1/2 months since I graduated and over 3 months since I started my job. In some ways it feels a lot longer and in other ways it feels like just yesterday...

For those who don’t remember, my full time job after LGO is at Apple as a New Product Operations manager and my first 3 months have been far from boring. Since I like bullet points, here’s a brief summary of the highlights.

Contributed to the launch of a the new MacBook Air:

In case you live in a cave: http://www.apple.com/macbookair/
I specifically helped launch this little device: http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/20/new-macbook-airs-come-with-software-reinstall-usb-drive/

Business Skills used:

Negotiations - RFQ and vendor procurement activities
Team & Relationship building - both with the internal Apple team and between the Apple/Supplier team
Communication - (effective) communication to upper levels of management
Project Management - prioritizing requirements, monitoring costs

Engineering Skills used:

EE stuff - USB drivers are way more complicated than I realized and now I know more about how they work than I ever cared to know
IE stuff - capacity analysis, supply/demand management, layout development, process optimization

Hourly work schedule:

Week 1: barely 40 hours
Weeks 2 - 5: ~55 hours
Weeks 6 - 13: avg 70 hours, peaking well over 80
Week 14: 40 hours
Week 15: <>

So, all in all, it’s been a really exciting time. Despite the crazy hours, I’ve enjoyed the work and I cannot even begin to tell you how cool it is to see something you’ve helped build being discussed and analyzed all over the web! (For good and bad).

What’s even better is I am finally catching up on lost sleep. :) And, the next few months will continue to be interesting because I get to move from the execute mode of product launch to a more strategic mode. Yup, that means lots of Keynote presentations and philosophizing!

While I miss the “carefree” days of grad school, it’s actually cool to reflect back on the work I’ve done and realize that I’m actually putting those 2 fancy degrees to use.

Graduating is kinda like finishing a really good book.

2010-06-08T01:42:00.002+02:00

You know that feeling when you're reading a really good book and you finish it? You're excited to reach the end and see how the story comes together, but, you're also sad that there's nothing more to read? Well, I think that's the best way to describe how I feel about finishing LGO.

As of Friday, it's official, I'm a MIT alumni! Yippee!

Graduation festivities were pretty fun, but also super busy. My Mom came into town on Wednesday and left just this morning (Monday). It was nice to have her here to celebrate with me. And, in between the festivities, we even managed a day trip up to Maine (which was my last New England state to check off before I move).

The week was a big whirlwind of emotions. While I'm SO excited to be graduated and moving to San Francisco and joining Apple, I know I'm going to miss all of the great people here and I'm not quite ready to transition from student back to professional. I must admit, I kinda liked the "irresponsibility" I allowed myself just because of my student status. ;) Fortunately, though, work doesn't start immediately for me. My first day is not until July 19th, so I have just over 6 weeks to work on this oh-so-tough transition.

With this new phase of life, I don't know what will happen with this blog. It's intended for students applying to LGO to get an idea of what it's really like in the program, but I think some others might read it too. So, I guess I'm open to suggestions.

However, for now, this is another goodbye and, also, a Thank You for reading and following along during these crazy 2 years.

I'm on a Boat ... Well, a Sail Boat

2010-06-02T16:29:00.004+02:00

First of all, lets get the business out of the way... if you don't know what I'm referencing in my title you must view this video. (Note: Lyrics are explicit). Then you must view this video, which is a spoof of the original that some of my MIT classmates put together and is called, I'm at Sloan. Both are pretty awesome, but I especially love the Sloan one.

Ok, now that that's done. I was, seriously, on a boat. For 8 days.

Every year the 2nd year Sloanies take one last trek to the British Virgin Islands and party it up while sailing through the area. The trip was absolutely incredible. I love the Caribbean. This was my fourth trip there and every time I enjoy it even more. Plus, this was my first extended sailing trip where you sleep on a boat and cook on a boat and actually sail the boat.

The boat I was on was one of two LGO boats. And, we had a great dynamic. Despite the actual surface area of the boat being pretty small, I never felt super confined. And, the trip itself was a great balance of partying with our Sloan classmates at bars on shore, as well as snorkeling in amazing coral and, of course, learning how to actually sail our Catamaran. Our skipper was a past LGO grad and he was just incredible. Honestly, I can't think of a thing to complain about. Oh wait, the bathrooms. Showering was tough, but, fortunately, there was a big sea just outside our door to jump into when necessary.

Oh, and one last awesome thing about the trip. We docked our boats on Saturday the 29th around noon and everyone was staying in a hotel Saturday night to fly home on Sunday. That weekend in Tortola was the BVI Music Festival and I was staying near by. After I checked into my hotel, I went to the pool bar to enjoy some drinks and food. I was chatting with this woman for a bit and then after the fact I put all this information together to realize that I just met a celebrity, Fantasia. She was performing for the festival and just happened to be staying at my hotel. I laugh at myself now because while we were talking I had no clue. It wasn't until after when I put together a number of details to realize who she was.

Anyway, that's all.

Check out my photos from the trip through the Picasa Photostream to the right. ;)

Finishing School and Starting the Celebration!

2010-05-18T02:36:00.004+02:00

So, I don't want to claim that I'm done, because there could be some unforeseen circumstances that come up. But I'm like 99.999999% sure that I've successfully completed my 2 year journey here at MIT!! I cannot believe how quickly the time has flown by and it just seems a bit unreal to me that it's been 2 years since I quit my job and embarked on life as a full time student.

I actually had a final today - for Finance 2. I'm not sure if it was hard or not - I felt I did good enough for a B, which, really is more than I even need. It's so funny how my perspective on grades has changed so much not just from undergrad to now, but even from 2 years ago to now. In any case, it was pretty much a formality. But, it's done, and although it doesn't yet feel any different, I know it will soon.

Graduation won't be for almost 3 weeks. I think they want to be sure that we actually earn our degrees before we graduate. In the mean time there are lots of parties and get togethers going on so that we can enjoy the last few weeks with each other. And, boy are we celebrating. On Saturday, we had our class' End-of-the-Program party. It was our last "informal" event to celebrate our 2 years together. Sadly, there's a number of people who won't be at graduation, so the good-byes are definitely starting. We sufficiently partied it up and had an awesome time hanging out together.

It's all bitter sweet. I think I've said before that my favorite part of LGO is my classmates. While I'm definitely ready to have no more participation grades, no cases to read and definitely no more exams to take, I know that I am not ready to leave my awesome classmates.

Famous People Like to Come to MIT

2010-04-23T03:44:00.002+02:00

This Wednesday, Bill Gates, came to MIT. He's kind of a big deal - being the past CEO of Microsoft and the #1 person on Forbes list of "The World's Richest People" from 1995 to 2007 and in 2009. I was lucky enough to "win" the student lottery to get a ticket and hear him talk in person. He's currently visiting schools right now to talk about his work as a Philanthropist. His talk focused on an interesting question: "How do we get the world’s brightest people focused on its biggest problems?"

This, of course, is a deep, intense and controversial question.

I have a lot I could say, but something I found concerning was that he kind of implies that brightness is defined by education. While I should agree with this since education has done a lot for me, I actually don't. Some times level of education is a personal choice, just because a person does not choose to get a PhD or go to a top tier college does not mean they are less intelligent than I am. And, just because a) I was lucky enough to have a family situation that allowed me to go to college and b) I was able to be successful in the relatively narrow education system we have and get into highly ranked schools does not mean I am any more capable than the next person. Anyway, my point is - there are people out there doing amazing things for this world without MBAs or fancy colleges on their diplomas. I would be interested to know if he plans to do similar talks to less "prestigious" crowds... maybe community colleges? Hospital administrations? High schools?

Also, world problems are so broad. His topics ranged from the quality of our teachers to death rates of children under 5 in certain areas of the world. How do you define what is most important? People of different age, ethnic background and social class would disagree violently on which issue deserves the most attention. So, who is right? I guess this is part of his point. There are A LOT of issues in our world. And, no matter, who you are, we should all try to do something to help the situation.

I must admit, overall I enjoyed the talk. I was impressed by his ability to speak intelligently on multiple topics; he bounced from nuclear energy to population growth just in the Q&A session and raised some important points. And, he's using his wealth to help. But, I am also a bit skeptical. I think, in the end, he's still a businessman and that must drive his motivations to some extent.

LGO 10s in the News!

2010-04-20T02:44:00.003+02:00

A bunch of the LGO 10s went to a Wine event on Saturday night. Last year there were just 3 of us - this year there was around a dozen. It was a blast!

Besides the tasty wine, the best part of the event is the photo booth! And, what's even better... one of the photographers at Boston.com captured a photo of us as we got situated. I am pretty sure this is the type of public relations that makes both MIT and LGO super happy... 2nd year students drinking lots of wine, wearing obnoxious costumes and holding slightly inappropriate signs. But, it's still pretty awesome. :)

Here's the LINK to Boston.com and the picture:

It really is a miracle that a checked bag gets to its final destination.

2010-04-10T22:01:00.016+02:00

On Friday, the Operations Management club hosted a tour of the American Airlines Baggage Operations at Boston Logan airport. Since I'm mildly obsessed with transportation and logistics, I had to go, even though it meant that I had to motivate myself to do something productive on a Friday morning.

I was totally impressed with the 3 AA personnel that gave us the tour. They were extremely friendly, took time to answer all of our crazy questions, and even made sure we got to see the process of un/loading with an actual plane on the ground.

It was so neat to see an operation that I personally have to deal with (and am frustrated by) about 10-15 times a year depending on if I check a bag. We saw how the bag travels from the agent check-in area, along conveyor to the TSA screening machines, then to a sorting area. The sorting area kind of reminded me of Amazon because the conveyors have lasers that scan the bar code on your bag and then identify which chute to send the bag down. Then once the bag is down the chute, an AA employee loads it on a cart to go to the airplane. We also got to see the control center where they monitor the flights that are landing and taking off as well as schedule time at each of the gates. It was just really cool. My favorite part through was when we got to go right up to an airplane on the tarmac and watch them unloading.

The one thing that was funny was that as I observed everything I was constantly thinking about how they could improve their operations. The whole process is so manual and there's tons of opportunity to change things so that our bags get through the system more easily. It seems like they could really use some IEs to come in and do a Value Stream map or something. ;)

In any case, it was a great tour and I'm glad I got myself out of bed on a Friday morning to see it. And, so you can share in my enjoyment from the tour, here are some photos!

Sorting of the bags before they go on the airplane.

The AA tarmac area.

Big plane at the gate.

Unloading a plane that just landed.

Putting bags on the conveyor - the other side of the wall is the baggage claim area.

I guess we really did learn a lot about Leadership

2010-03-13T22:43:00.004+01:00

Yesterday was the last day of H1, which means that some of the LGOs (me included) now have 2 solid weeks of no classes due to SIP and Spring Break.

An aside about the 2 weeks off... I don't say all because the 10s were the last LGO class that did not have a SIP (Sloan Innovation Period) requirement. So, this means that most of the 11s are around fulfilling their SIP requirements next week and some 10s are also still around because of engineering classes.

Back to the point of this post...
One of the required classes for the second year LGOs is 15.317, which is the last portion of our 2 year leadership class. It's an H1 class only and for us the class was from 8:30 - 11:30 am on Friday mornings. Kind of painful. But, the class was a really good opportunity to learn from our classmates. It was re-formatted from last year to include a lot more sharing of personal experiences from classmates and discussion about how to handle tough leadership situations. It really got you thinking about some of the tough situations we'll face after graduation.

The best part, though, was the last class (and, no, it wasn't because it was the last class). It was the best, because we (the LGO 2010 class) were in charge of the content for class. We opted to try to mimic reality TV show style and create many video/photo montages of major events over the past 2 years with personal confessions from people discussing their leadership lessons from those experiences. The final product was about 100 minutes of reflection and way better than we could have imagined!

I worked with Jeremy Pitts on the Spring 2009 semester and I specifically put together two videos. For your viewing entertainment, here's a link to the video from the Triathlon: Triathlon Video!
(Note, I am by no means an expert on making videos, so don't judge!)

In any case, the morning was a great way to reflect not only on the serious, but also on all of the great memories that we have as a class. A lot of us were starting to get sentimental realizing that the end of the semester is approaching and soon we'll be going our own ways. It's definitely bitter sweet.

The New Edition: LGO 2012

2010-03-10T01:49:00.002+01:00

Rumor has it that the Class of 2012 has started to find out that they've got in to LGO. Yay! It's hard for me to believe I was in your shoes 2 years ago. Time flies!

My one piece of advice (for now): Do everything you can to come to Admit Weekend in April! I couldn't make it because I was in a wedding, but I definitely wish I had after hearing all of the great stories. Admit Weekend is a great way to bond with people you'll be spending A LOT of time with over the next 2 years. Plus, the 10s and the 11s work hard to show you a great weekend.

Congrats to all!

It's my last semester of school so I guess I'll take some classes.

2010-02-08T05:55:00.004+01:00

I won't lie. I have senioritis. FULL BLOWN. The problem is manyfold (is that even a word?): I have a job, I have a lot less classes to take than in previous semesters and I am wanting to enjoy as much time with my classmates as I can before we graduate. This means school work is pretty low on the priority list. Plus, it's been 8 blissful months of no cases, problem sets or participation requirements.

But, despite my complaining, I do still have classes to take. And, despite all the moaning and groaning I've been doing, I think they should be pretty interesting. So, here's a short overview:

15.223 Global Markets: This is probably the class I am most excited about. It is focused on discussing different countries and their global/economic environments in order to help us learn how to be successful doing business in a global world. It's an H1 class, with a follow on H2 class that should be just as interesting. The topics of the first 2 classes included the cause of the US Subprime Crisis as well as discussion about the government's role in Singapore.

15.317 Leadership: This is one of two classes required during our final semester in LGO. It's only LGOs and is the continuation of the class we took during our first semester in the summer of 2008. It's focus is on giving us some final leadership tools to take us into our careers.

15.402 Finance Theory II: Despite the fact that this class will be hard work, I am excited about it. I am taking it with Asquith who comes highly recommended. He's no nonsense (in other words doesn't tolerate people making comments just to pretend they're smart) and he sufficiently scared us on day 1 about the difficulty of the material. But, I have no doubt I'll learn (and be working) a lot.

15.769 Operations Strategy: This is the 2nd required course for your second spring semester in LGO. This semester the course is being co-taught by Don and Charlie Fine. So far, I'll admit, I'm not sure how I feel about this class ... BUT, as dorky as it sounds, there are a few cases on the schedule that sound really interesting. Plus, I feel like there's a lot to learn that could help me with my work after graduation.

15.900 Strategic Management: Most Sloanies & LGOs take this during the first year - but I am just taking it now. I'd heard that many people really enjoyed it and felt it was important to get some strategy with my MBA. The class is all case based and focuses on teaching frameworks to help you evaluate strategic business decisions. Some of the focus so far has been on how companies create and capture value. The professor is new and pretty young, but so far, no real complaints (besides the work). ;)

*phew* And that's that. Here's to a quick (and painless) last semester!

My Big News

2010-01-25T04:19:00.001+01:00

Admittedly, many of you already know this since this big news is actually over a month old… but I guess part of me couldn’t believe it was true and even though signing the papers makes it official, posting it on my blog REALLY makes it official.

So, the news… I HAVE A JOB! Paperwork signed and sent to…. Apple! Woo Hoo!

There’s a lot I could say about the process and my decision. But, ultimately, what it came down to was not the money, the name appeal or even what company “won” in the comparison matrix I built during a 4-hour drive to Amsterdam…. I chose Apple because when I walked out of the interview after meeting many Apple employees and talking about the work I could be doing there, I realized I wanted to be there and was really excited about it. And, fortunately they wanted me too.

When I graduate from LGO, I will be a moving pro.

2010-01-11T02:44:00.003+01:00

Getting accepted and coming to LGO means that you are going to learn how to move your belongings quickly and efficiently. Ok, well, they don’t TEACH you that, but it’s kind of a matter of survival.

It begins when you find out you’re accepted… school starts less than 3 months from that date, not 6 like most MBA programs. This is Move #1. For me, it involved finding a place to live without being able to participate in the usual LGO Admit weekend (since I was in a wedding), selling my beautiful convertible and all of my furniture, storing most of my personal possessions in one of those Door-to-Door pods and shipping my clothes and a few other things from Los Angeles to Boston. Then, I flew myself, my cat and 2 enormous suitcases to Boston where I had to buy new furniture (thanks, Ikea!) and get my life in order before starting school again after about 6 years.

Move #2 was a bit better because LGO helps a lot. Move #2 is for internship. Novartis did some of the tough work for me… finding a place to live in Germany. But, I still had to pack up everything and get it into a storage unit. Not. Fun. Plus, ship a few boxes of clothes overseas and pray that they actually made it there. (They did!)

Move #3 has been a month long event. It started with me packing and shipping 4 boxes from Germany to Drew’s home in Cambridge because I had nowhere else to ship them. Then I flew from Germany to Boston with 3 exploding suitcases, 2 which I left at a fellow LGO’s place while I spent the 2 ½ weeks couch surfing around California. Thursday was move IN day in Cambridge. The U-haul was rented, the lease was signed and the unpacking and furniture search is near complete. The place is fantastic and I have a great LGO classmate as my roommate, which is also fantastic.

I realized the other day that at one point during all of this I had my personal belongings spread across 5 locations:

- Germany
- Storage Unit in Cambridge
- My Aunt’s house in a suburb of Boston
- Storage Unit in Los Angeles
- My Mom’s place in Sacramento

(and if you want to get even pickier, there was those 4 boxes I sent to Drew’s place before him & I left Germany, so that’s a 6th… but who’s counting? ;))

Talk about diversified.

Anyway, after this move, there’s only one more left! And although, it’s another cross country move, I hope it’s the last one for awhile!

A Rant About Lines (aka Queues)

2009-12-30T04:36:00.004+01:00

Two posts in one day - this might be a first. But, I couldn't hold back, I just had to rant.

I, like most women, love to shop. But, I hate HATE waiting in lines. Especially lines that are arranged inefficiently. As an industrial engineer in undergrad, I took a course at USC, ISE 331, that included queuing theory. It was actually one of my favorite classes and I learned about efficient ways to set up queues. It's complicated and I know that my comments below simplify it, but bear with me. ;)

Today, as my Mom and I walked up to check out at a department store, there were 3 cashiers open and no line. We opted to stand in a location that didn't commit us to any line, naturally. A line formed behind us until one woman asked what cashier we were waiting for which led to a cashier stating that there should be one line for each of the three check out stands. This caused near chaos as everyone tried to identify the fastest line and re-shuffle.

This makes me want to scream. Anyone who has taken a queuing theory class has learned that the way to minimize average wait time of all customers is to offer one line that feeds ALL cashiers. ONE LINE. This then balances out those people that take a year to find their credit cards or who bring up items without price tags and allows no one to be "punished" for getting behind the slow pokes.

I know some people could argue with me about the details of service type, number of cashiers, etc... but, honestly, this is the way it should be. Group similar customers and put them in one stupid line. Just Do It. I promise, not only will it get customers through the lines on average the fastest but it will also limit the anxiety customers feel when trying to pick that "fastest" line.

Rant. Over.

Winter Break is a Great Time to... Watch Football!

2009-12-29T18:23:00.010+01:00

Ok, Ok, I know I probably should have said something like spend time with family or reconnect with old friends or enjoy the spirit of the season. But, bear with me. I was in Europe for all of football season so I am doing my best to watch as much football as I possibly can while back in the US and the last 2 weeks of December happen to be a great time to do that.

I must admit that not every game is exciting or one I'm even remotely interested in, but I can always find joy out of making fun of the announcers, watching terrible cheerleader squads and yelling at the overpaid NFL players who can't kick/catch/throw no matter which game. Yes, it's true. I'm a nut when it comes to football.

But, the absolute best part of my winter break and the culmination of the football season was the fact that USC landed in a Bowl Game 1 1/2 hours from where I was spending Christmas break and on a day I could actually GO to the game. So, I went. Yay!

The game was a blast. It was rainy and cold, a bit sloppy play, my cell phone died and there was a flood in our original seats. But, I enjoyed every minute of it and am so glad that I was able to make it to one football game this season and, that USC won!

And, now, some pictures:

AT&T Park - normally where the San Francisco Giants play, but for this game, it was transformed into a football stadium!
I *heart* Kettle Corn at football games. This is a photo taken after I removed my poncho and discovered I had "saved" some kettle corn from the bag I was eating earlier. Naturally, I ate those saved pieces. ;)

USC Won! That's the best part.

Tschüss Deutschland

2009-12-17T20:58:00.002+01:00

It was just 6 1/2 months ago when I showed up here in Germany with no idea what I was getting myself into except that I was living in Europe until December. It's now less than 48 hours before Drew and I get on a plane back to the US. I am happy to return "home." Missing the US is hard to explain. I actually am an incredibly independent person and thought living in Europe would be a piece of cake. But, I was so wrong. I have become 100 times more patriotic than I was before I left. And, I place a lot more value on being on the same continent as family and friends than I ever thought I would.

But, I am still very sad to leave Germany. I am sad to close this chapter of my life. I would venture to say that these 6 months have been both the most incredible and the most challenging for my mental sanity. :) But, I loved it. So, on that note, there are actually many things that I Love About Germany. Here are some of them:

Gelato & Chocolate. Wow, I had no idea how much the German's loved their sweets, but they do. And rightly so, they are good! So good, that I will in fact declare that Germany's Gelato is BETTER THAN Italy's. Insane, I know. But I spent about 2 weeks in Italy and had some Gelato while there and all I know is that the best Gelato I had was in Germany. Also, they have Kinder candies here which are typically for kids, but there are these Happy Hippos that are awesome. Awesome. Thank you Germany for giving me a severe sweet tooth.

The Autobahn & Driving. As I posted once before I learned how to drive a manual when I got here. It is so much fun. Also, I like having no speed limit. I drove over 100 mph. It was awesome. it would have been a lot better if we had an Audi instead of a Nissan. But, oh well. Either way I loved the no speed limits and the fun associated with a manual transmission. Oh, and even w/ no speed limits, Drew and I still managed to get 3 tickets... Parking Tickets. Ha.

German's Love & Abide by their Rules, but they also Lack Some That I Appreciate. I get it, I like rules, I like organization. But, come on, when the walk signal says stop but there are no cars coming, I cross. The German's don't. It's insane. Groups of people stand at the lights while no cars pass and don't cross the street until the light says to. This stressed me out because suddenly, I feel GUILTY when I jaywalk. So, instead, I waste my precious time Just. Standing. There. I get it, but I actually don't. I believe some rules are made to be broken. With that said, though, they do lack rules in areas that I love... Drinking anywhere and anytime. No Problem. Speeding. Also, no problem. Swearing on TV and Radio. Not a big deal. So, I guess it balances out.

And, finally, my favorite thing about Germany... the Festivals (aka. Awesome. Parties.) It is said that in Germany there is a festival in some city every day. We went to beer festivals, wine festivals, city festivals and Christmas festivals. We drank and ate currywurst and danced and totally rocked the festivals. The atmosphere was so incredible at every one we went to, even when it was raining or freezing cold. I love drinking. I love eating. I love dancing. Therefore. I. Love. Festivals.

And with that, my dear Germany, I bid you Auf Wiedersehen.

Is it possible for 6 months to go by that fast?

2009-12-12T23:24:00.004+01:00

I guess it is...

This time next week I will be back in the US and my LGO internship will be complete. Well, at least the working in an office part will be complete. The thesis writing part might take an extra day or two. Ha.

I am excited for a... hold your breath... 5 week break before there are any requirements for me to be back on the MIT campus. The first 2 1/2 weeks will be spent celebrating the holidays in California. 10 days in Northern California followed by 7 days in Southern California will offer everything a girl could want after 6 months in Germany... warmer winter weather, English, In-N-Out Burger, American football.

First, though, I must get through this last week of my LGO internship... (aka. The Time When Jo Sees How Many Places She Can See in Europe in 6 Months).

It's confirmed; German's are as crazy football fans as you think!

2009-12-07T22:37:00.003+01:00

On Saturday night Drew and I went to see the Eintracht Frankfurt football (soccer) team play in Frankfurt against Mainz. It was absolutely insane, but... I. Loved. It.

There's no denying the fact that I am a crazy sports fan. I jump up and down in front of the TV screaming when both good and bad things happen. I even set my alarm to get up at 3 AM on a Sunday earlier this football season so that I could watch the big USC/OSU game. BUT, the German fan's are for real.

I have some photos and videos in my Picasa Albums linked on the right that barely do it justice. But, here is my attempt to list my top 5 favorite experiences while at the game:

5. Police. In riot gear. Yeah, for real. Apparently it was a big rivalry game and they were prepared for craziness to ensue pre and post game time. For good and bad, I did not witness any riot gear in use.

4. The Rowdy Section. Standing room only. Die hard fans. Flags required. (There were flags in the stands seriously 20 feet tall!) I am sure you must be able to sing/chant every cheer (see #2) to get in. And, I am also pretty sure that you need to consume a minimum of 4 beers before entering. This kinda reminds me of the student section at USC football games, except then when we were under 21 drinking it actually was not legal. ;)

3. Finish a beer bottle? Throw it down the stairs. I don't totally understand it, but they did it.

2. Cheers: we all do it and we do it for the ENTIRE game. Seriously it was non stop cheering and it was loud, and it was AWESOME. I only learned the cheer for the score, it goes something like this:
Announcer: Eintracht Frankfurt
Crowd: Zwei
Announcer: Mainz
Crowd: Null
Announcer: Danke
Crowd: Bitte
I LOVE IT.

1. Fireworks... in the stands. Everyone loves a good fireworks display and my favorite holidays are those that include fireworks. So, why not bring it up close and personal... like IN THE STANDS. The Mainz fans set off some bright red lights in the middle of their rowdy section. And the security guards didn't even care!

My one regret? We didn't go to a game sooner. I could totally buy into this crazy football fan action in Germany. ;)

How I Plan to ENJOY Documentation

2009-12-06T11:24:00.006+01:00

So, it turns out I REALLY do not like to document things. I find it boring. I love to create something new and exciting and "solve a problem" but if I have to WRITE about it, I become unhappy pretty quickly. I have had to document a lot during the last 2 weeks at work (and for the remaining 2 weeks) and my fellow NV&D interns are getting instant messages from me nearly every hour complaining about how bored I am and posing questions such as "Why do none of my Facebook friends post updates when I am at work and looking for distractions?" On Wednesday evening, it got worse. I was in the taxi from Florence to Siena mulling over the next 2 days of training that I was doing for the inventory model I built when I suddenly realized that my thesis is a whole other type of documentation that will last til April! As a good friend of mine says, "Panic at the Disco!" Ok, I am being a bit dramatic, but this is what my life is right now.

Anyway, I kept pondering documentation for most of the taxi ride (yeah, really) and then it hit me... I love to blog. I like talking, I like typing, I like sharing my experiences, I actually really like to DOCUMENT MY LIFE. So, from that moment I decided to put aside my documentation complaints and approach documenting my inventory model and writing my thesis with the zeal I approach writing blog posts.

To my MIT thesis advisers,
I apologize if my thesis now reads something like this: After stressing over how to set up the calculations in the model so that they aren't obnoxious, I pulled out one of the books from my Supply Chain classes (a book that I am pretty sure I never read while I was actually IN class) and tried out method XYZ.... Method XYZ totally sucked, so next I decided to try method LMN and WooHoo! it worked, so that's why that method is in the inventory model.

On a side note: I really need to work on diversifying my transition words. I overuse the word "so."

And then there were 5.

2009-11-16T19:06:00.002+01:00

5 weeks, that is.

I am back in Germany after 19 days wandering around the US. My flight arrived around 7 am this morning. It was actually pitch black outside when we landed... yes, at 7 am. I got to my apartment around 9:30 am and at that point wanted to climb into bed and sleep forever. But, I am mastering jet lag and know that a nap would be the worst thing to do. So, I actually went in to work and had a semi-productive day cleaning out e-mails and getting myself ready to power through the last 5 weeks. Now, I am trying to keep myself awake for 47 more minutes because I think going to bed before 8 pm would be a mistake. The fact that it was already almost dark by 5 pm has not helped this process, but I'm trying.

So, what's on the books for the next 5 weeks? Lots of stuff, actually...
... travel: there's still a number of places to see in Germany... Hamburg and Cinderalla's castle, and we also have a trip planned to Amsterdam
...Christmas Markets: this is a special trip Drew and I will take to Nurnberg because we have heard that the markets there are some of the best.
...finish my internship: got to work on documentation and training. And, most likely try to find some time to fly to both Italy and England again to train in person.
...get a job: I have some great opportunities already and I am super excited that I actually have a decision to make. Of course, the hard part for me is making the decision. But, I hope that when I sit down and really think about it, the answer will be easy.

With that, I've successfully wasted, errr, passed about 5 minutes. On to entertain myself in other ways.

Is it really time to find a job??

2009-11-09T00:08:00.005+01:00

It took me awhile to get back into school mode, but I must admit, I have fully embraced being a graduate student. I like the freedom it offers. I can set my schedule, take what classes I want, and have minimal guilt if I need to take a personal day off for my sanity. But, of course, I loved working. Having an income, usually having my weekends free, having meaningful work and being a bit more stable are all good things.

So, now, in the LGO program, it's recruiting season. This past week many of the second year students returned to Boston, again, but this time to interview for jobs after we graduate. The LGO partner companies all come to MIT and interview during this week. It's actually really nice for those of us who have to travel far because it allows us to come for one week and get in a lot of interviews. The interviews were usually 30 minutes, and many of the partner companies were pretty quick about things; we often heard about second round interviews, offers and "dings" within 24 hours of our interview.

The week, however, was overwhelming; meeting lots of new people, being at the top of your game all day every day and doing personal soul searching. It's all pretty exhausting. However, I'm happy with how things have turned out for me. I have some terrific opportunities and still have some other companies that I am really excited about that I'm waiting to hear more from. I'm pretty optimistic that it'll work out for the best.

And, for now, I still have 1 more week to enjoy in the US. 2 more days in Boston because on Tuesday I give a presentation to the Novartis Vaccines CEO (I'm big time now ;)) and then I head to Northern California for more interview fun. Then, next Sunday, it's back to Germany for one more month of internship and European fun!

I need a 6th gear.

2009-10-22T22:35:00.004+02:00

Ok, so, that’s a pretty terrible reference to driving a manual car. But, I am kinda OK with being a big dork and doing that.

Anyway, the point is that I need to somehow kick my butt into a faster gear. Sometimes I think internship allows you to run in 4th or 5th gear for most of the time, at least compared to school. In my opinion it’s not nearly as intense as classes are and allows for a lot more time flexibility than we had with classes. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not all cupcakes and puppies (how I wish I could have both right now!), but it’s also not nearly as time or energy intensive as the normal school year.

(No more manual car driving references from here on out…)

And, internship is even different than a full time job. When I worked at NG, I was pretty easily working 50 hours a week. On a light week. And, it was sometimes stress city because I had so many people asking me for help and wanting me to get involved in new things. Since your internship project is typically something you own yourself and might not allow you to fully integrate with the organization since it's short term, the level of involvement is naturally much less.

BUT, there may come a time, as there has for me this week, when you realize that the laid back summer is over and the Fall is here – full-time job recruiting and finishing your internship project are upon you. This might mean a lot more intensity than before. Not just at the internship but also in the evenings. In July, I worked my 7.5 hours (I’m in Europe after all; I was just trying to blend in!) and accomplished what I needed to; I then went home, maybe played tennis with Drew or ran, cooked dinner, learned German on Rosetta Stone and still had 2 or 3 hours to stalk, err, catch up with people on Facebook or read my Google Reader articles. Times have changed. Now, I am not only working a lot harder, but when I go home I have to motivate myself to write cover letters, practice for interviews and really do some serious soul searching about what I want to do when I grow up.

So, with the new stresses (and possibly the fact that I turned a year older last week), I seem to be noticing more grey hairs. But, the bottom line is, I need to find that 6th gear again and push through the next 2 months (ok, I lied about no more driving references), cause come this time in December, I will hopefully have accepted the “perfect” job offer and will be enjoying the Christmas holidays and a 6 week break.

P.S. Our car actually doesn't have a 6th gear. It's sometimes a bummer.

My Newest Skill

2009-10-12T20:45:00.006+02:00

I kinda pride myself on being a rock star driver. I'm not perfect, but I'm pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. Also, I am a Californian, so I LOVE driving. But, sadly, I was missing a key skill, because I never had the chance to drive a manual. A good friend in High School let me drive his truck in the parking lot occasionally so I could do it in an emergency, but mostly, I just knew "the rules" but not really HOW to do it.

Fortunately, in Europe, nearly every rental car is a manual. This means, I can now drive one. And. I. Love. It. It was a slow beginning at first because Drew lives further from work than I do and loves driving, so he drove about 99% of the time. Until finally, I got so frustrated one day when I drove the car cause Drew wasn't around and I totally sucked. That's when I told Drew I needed to drive more. And, since then, it's been great.

I'm kinda proud of myself because it's almost a skill I never thought I'd have. Not because I didn't want to learn, but because in the US, there's really no reason to learn unless you want to drive something specific.

So, the best part about this is that the new car opportunities are now wide open for when I graduate. I am open to car suggestions. :)

P.S. I am sure Drew will make a more detailed post about this at some point, but our Ford Fiesta had to go back to the rental place (we think for an oil change and whatever other services were needed), so now we have a new car. Introducing the Orange Nissan Micra, the color might actually be duller in the picture than it appears in real life.

Midstream, Meeting the '11s and Rum & Diet Cokes

2009-10-01T00:18:00.007+02:00

Drew and I are currently "stuck" in Washington D.C.; our flight from D.C. to Frankfurt was delayed about 4 hours. This isn't great, but it means, I'm going to post a blog update about the past 2 weeks. Lucky you!

It was really a whirlwind 2 weeks. The original purpose of the trip was our LGO Midstream Review. However, we also had a lot of Novartis things to do, including a 3 day trip to the site in Holly Springs, NC.

First, my time in Boston back at MIT.
The main event during midstream is the presentations that we give to our classmates, advisers and company representatives on the current status of our projects. The presentations are only 8 minutes long, but are followed by poster sessions during which we stand next to our pretty posters and try to sound smart as we answer questions about the work we are doing. I was kind of skeptical, honestly, but it turned out to be really great to share lessons learned and it was neat to hear about what others were doing, and of course, to hear about their fun adventures over the summer.

One of the best aspects of midstream is catching up with the rest of the Sloanies and getting to know the other LGO class. I was able to hang out with a lot of Sloanies when I went to the U2 concert with a lot of them, and, of course, at BHP. It was so nice to see everyone - it's like coming home. Also, one of the annual traditions of LGO is a 2-class camping trip the weekend after midstream. This. Rocked. (well, besides the freezing cold weather) It was great to get to know the new class outside of the confines of the Sloan walls and they are a lot of fun. I am guessing when the 10's return in the Spring we'll have a blast hanging out with them.

Finally, Novartis. Besides all of the crazy MIT sessions we had to attend during the week, the 4 of us at Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics (NVD) had a kinda big presentation to give to the NVD Operations Management Team. We presented from the Cambridge, MA office between 7 and 9 am so that our Europe managers could participate. It was a video conference between MA, NC, England, Germany and Italy. It was neat - yeah, I'm a dork. The second big NVD event was a trip to Holly Springs, NC. This was 2 days spent visiting the site, learning about the future plans and goals and meeting a lot of people that we'd interacted with on the phone. It was a terrific trip, and I can't emphasize enough how great NVD has been. They've really showed us all sides of the business and allowed us to integrate into the organization. It's pretty awesome.

Now, I know I didn't touch on the rum & diet cokes... but really, do I need to? The point is that in Europe coke is expensive and beer is pretty tasty. As a result, I was missing my all time favorite drink. So, I made sure to enjoy a few rum & diets while back in the US of A.

I'm gonna write me a thesis.

2009-09-03T21:17:00.002+02:00

Yes, it's true. (or in German, since I am trying to practice, Ja, das ist wahr.)

A big part of LGO is the 6 month internship, which happens to be the basis for the 60 (or so) page thesis that we have to write to graduate.

I won't lie. LGO sounded perfect to me when I applied. I loved everything about it... but the thesis was something that I just couldn't believe I would have to do. Even when I was accepted, I wondered what I was getting myself into. I don't mind writing, or talking, but I am not really (and by not really, I mean not at all) a researcher. Fortunately, I learned that although our thesis requires research, it's not because we are writing a research paper, it is because we need to gain knowledge about subjects to help us implement or solve our internship projects. This made me feel a little bit better about it.

Now, it's not only internship time, but it's also thesis writing time. And, in an effort to brag to my classmates (and help motivate them), I would like to state publicly that I have about 6,000 words already written. Oh yes, 6,000 beautiful words in Times New Roman 12 point font discussing how I am creating the best inventory policy every seen. Now, let me step back a bit: 1) 6,000 words includes things like my bibliography, my Table of Contents, and my Title Page. But, still, it's a lot. 2) If it weren't for Drew, I doubt I'd have progressed nearly as far. I've said this before... having another LGO in the same city (if not company) as you Is. The. Best. We are constantly talking about LGO stuff and have made a goal to have our theses finished when our internship finishes. Yes, you read that right, and I think we both will do it. Or at least be 90% there with only fine tuning required. We are the bomb. :)

But, seriously... the hard part is just getting started. Once you get going, it's so "easy." The first 2 chapters can be written pretty early on and the rest just comes together as the internship progresses. The best way to make progress is to use your downtime to write instead of playing on Facebook or surfing the internet.

So, to all of you who are considering applying but feel nervous about the thesis and to all of my classmates that are reading this and need some motivation... just do it. After all, you don't want Drew and I to "beat" you...

My Favorite Part of LGO? Well, my classmates, of course!

2009-08-24T20:18:00.008+02:00

Going on internship has its pluses and minuses, like anything. I've talked a lot about the pluses (at least mine... Travel, new country, lots of free time, etc.)... but what about the minuses? Well, the biggest one, in my opinion, is missing the rest of the class. I am lucky that Drew and I are together, having another LGO on internship has been awesome. Especially, since being in Europe makes it particularly hard to see people since a quick trip to Europe doesn't really happen. So, the result is, you miss the rest of the class.

Well, this past weekend was the first chance to see many of my classmates in the same place - one of our X-classers, Kash, got married in Chicago. So, I decided to make the trip back to the US to celebrate with him and his wife (who totally rocks) and hang out with other LGOs.

I am so glad I went. Despite it being a whirlwind trip, it was a blast. When our class is together, it seems we just pick up where we left off. It's like a terrific relationship, where you are just totally comfy with one another and can let loose and just be yourself, except there's 47 other people, not 1. ;)

Now, onto the wedding - it was INCREDIBLE. It was my first Indian wedding and I thoroughly embraced the chance to experience everything... from getting a Henna tattoo to dancing my feet off during the Raas Garba to eating as much Indian food as I possibly could. The traditions and ceremony (although I didn't understand most of it) were beautiful and, Kash and his wife, Payal, looked amazing. The entire weekend was just a great celebration and those of us from LGO who were able to make it, did our best to represent MIT. Here are a few of the PG photos from the weekend.

Becca and I with our Henna tattoos.

Dancing at the Raas Garba.

The bride and groom looking awesome!
Most of the LGOs with the bride & groom at the end of the reception.

Jo Meets Blogger, Readers Meet Jo's New Blog

2009-08-19T19:14:00.005+02:00

So, with the program name change and other system changes, the X-class bloggers were given the opportunity to find a different blogging tool. So, now, you've got me on blogger.... It's rockin'!

And, the BEST part about this new blog is that I customized some of the HTML myself. Oh yes, it is true, this Industrial Engineer knows how to write and modify (some) HTML code.

But, wait, there's more (I bet you can't contain your excitement) - I'm seeking reader input. There are a few things in the HTML that I could not figure out:

I'd like to add a divider line between the two frames, or at least see how it looks
I want to add underline formatting to my individual blog titles

These both seem like they should be easy... so, I am sure someone can help!

In the meantime, ENJOY!

Things I've Learned While in Grad School

2009-08-16T16:38:00.000+02:00

I like talking - a lot - which I guess is why I blog. I think some day I'll write a book entitled: "Things I Learned While in Grad School."

Now, I know you're probably thinking - "Well, that'll be lame - who cares to hear you regurgetate information about NPV, Options, Supply & Demand curves, Leadership theories and marketing strategies?" Don't worry, no one does - so that's why it won't be about that type of stuff. Here's a taste of what it will be like:

Where you sit really does matter.

When I was at NG, I was once told to choose my seat in meetings very carefully. It could result in attention you do or don't want and certain seats can be better or worse for having power or influence during the meeting. I never forgot this and frequently used very careful strategy when choosing a seat in meetings. Watch others as they enter a room some time - it's quite interesting.

The thing about this is - it also holds true for grad school. To start, some times in the first or second class lecture you will be forever (for the semester) assigned to a single seat. It is important that the seat allows you to be engaged when you want to be or totally quiet (and hidden from cold calls) if you're paying for a late night out. The kids who really want to show how much they care actually do the reading every night will usually sit front and center. It's good that they exist, especially since I'm not usually one of them (Come on, don't judge, like you read every assignment you were given?). Then there's the kids who'll sit far on the ends or pretty much out of sight and don't plan to participate all that much (or at all). I am also not one of those - because as we previously discussed, when I have an opinion, I want to be heard. As a result, I will often sit in the last row of the center section. I like seats in the back because I'm a multi-tasker and often find that boring slow lectures are a great way to get other things done. But, I like sitting in the center so that if I want to actively participate, I can. Another important factor is who you sit next to. This can make or break ANY seat. For example, lets say you choose to sit in the far right corner just out of Professor's sight to take a less active role in this particular class - but, Mr. Statue of Liberty is right next to you and constantly has his hand up, drawing the Profs attention constantly to your area of the room. This makes day dreaming/napping or reading a case for another class even more challenging. Thus, seat selection is important. Choose wisely.

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Now since this IS a school blog, I will make my obligatory caveat: What is even more important, though, is finding the classes and professors where you aren't worried about this type of stuff because you want to actually sit engaged for 80 minutes and listen to them talk. Plus, I might guess that the Professors are not at all fooled by our seat selection game, but just like to play along.

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Ok, so on second thought, maybe no one wants to listen to that stuff either... but who knows... if my career doesn't work out, it might be fun to give writing a book a try. :)

LGO Year 1: Photo Montage Style

2009-08-11T19:09:00.000+02:00

Today, instead of talking your ear off, I will post some pictures from my first 14 months in LGO. Enjoy!

(Note: If any of you are active readers of Drew's blog, you'll notice I "stole" his awesome idea of a collage.)

Summer 2008: It all begins...

From top left clockwise: Summer team dinner, X-class taking a Duck boat tour, our first LGO house party, our end of the summer class party (with Don & Brad in attendance), my first trip to RI - beautiful!, some of the LGO ladies during a pub crawl.

Fall 2008: Meeting the rest of the Sloanies... kind of ;)

From top left clockwise: Karaoke - a favorite activity of many in our class, my Sloan Core team showing some C squared pride, my first Red Sox game!, our last night in Boston before Winter Break, LGOs at Fall Ball, a trip to Vermont during SIP break.

IAP 2009: Domestic Plant Trek - X-Class Style

From top left clockwise: It's snowing !!, X-class at the Harley dealership, Mark's Bachelor Party in Austin - on stage at a piano bar, Tough guys with their new Harley shirts, the west coast crew enjoying drinks and snacks while the rest of X-class was on a plane from Boston delayed hours due to bad weather, more snow in Boston - my fire escape.

Spring 2009: This school thing is a piece of cake.

From top left clockwise: LGOs in Munich during International Plant trek, Ski trip to Vermont, the streets of Warsaw, LGO ladies at Spring Gala, Tiger Team love at the end of the year party, Prague castle

And in the center - a group of us did a triathlon in May!

Summer 2009: How much of Europe can one see in 6 months?

From top left clockwise: Drew and I enjoying the Marburg festival, view of the city - Marburg, Pisa is beautiful!, for some reason Guinness tastes much better in Dublin, vineyards in Tuscany, Formula 1 race track in Budapest

Putting the "G" in LGO

2009-07-31T05:51:00.000+02:00

If you're not hip with the name change, the "G" in LGO stands for Global. And, I am doing all that I can to live the Global of the program.

First, and the most obvious, I am living in Germany for my internship. This means (as you might have read in my previous blogs) that I am learning a new language and a different culture.

Additionally, I am traveling like a maniac; so far I've been to Stuttgart (Germany), Dublin, Liverpool, Frankfurt (which is only an hour or so from Marburg) and Budapest. Upcoming travel includes trips to Siena, Italy and the US. And, there are still some trips remaining to be planned to France, Amsterdam, Rome and Spain... plus, other cities in Germany that have been raved about... and possibly other locations if good plane fares turn up. To be able to travel and explore Europe to this extent is awesome. Being a West Coaster, travel to Europe never seemed easy, so it's great to be able to take a 2 hour plane ride to anywhere on the continent.

In addition to the obvious travel aspect, I have the unique experience of working on a project that spans across countries. A lot of LGO internships may be site focused, but mine is anything but, which makes me pretty lucky because I get to travel to places like England and Italy for work. Naturally the travel is fun, but the really cool thing is experiencing first hand the different work environments of each country. It gives you some great insights into cultural difference (good and bad) and adds a whole new level of complexity to my project.

MIT offers a lot of different classes on international business and relations. With my schedule being so busy, I haven't taken advantage of those... BUT, this internship experience is really invaluable. I am not sure that a class or case study could teach me some of the thigns I am learning now.

Free Time...What do I do with it?

2009-07-13T17:52:00.000+02:00

After a year of taking classes and working on two degrees, internship comes like a breath of fresh air. I think every one of us was looking forward to a break from the chaos of classes. The non-stop projects, homeworks and exams are tiring. And, even with a relatively "light" semester (which I think I had last Spring) there is still tons to do and no down time.

Now that internship is here, and I'm 6 weeks in... I am "overwhelmed" with FREE TIME. Being in a different country makes it even worse, because the things you might normally do to occupy yourself (TV, join a club, etc.) are not as easy to do when you don't speak the language. It's a tough thing because you go from being extremely busy to very NOT busy. So, the question is how do you fill the time?

Being in Europe, filling the weekends is A LOT easier than filling the weekdays. Drew and I are taking day trips and traveling often (he's even posted about our recent trip to Dublin on his blog), but what to do after work?

Drew's trying to teach me tennis, which I am loving... and he might not be.

I'm reading a lot and plan to read the Harry Potter series, just a few years after the hoopla... ;)

I should be exercising more, but it is odd that with an abundance of time, it's hard to fit in.

Learning the language, I spend a minimum of an hour with Rosetta Stone each night, but there's only so much that can be done before I'm over saturated...

Cooking dinners... something I did MAYBE a dozen times during school.

Stalking my friends on Facebook. Well, I made time for that even during my busiest days, so I've become rather efficient at it. ;)

I suppose as my project gets rolling along, I'll be able to spend the evenings working on my thesis, but still, it's quite a change of pace from school days, and although I'm not complaining, I am still trying to get adjusted.

But, for now, off to search The Internets to see if I can find any after work activities near by...

Back to work…it’s not quite like back to School

2009-06-15T15:46:00.000+02:00

LGO internship is a pretty important and big part of the entire LGO experience. The first summer and fall are spent pondering what internships will be offered by the partner companies and if there’s one that you’ll really want… Domestic Plant Trek through Feb/Mid-March are spent preparing for the interviews (or trying to) and then hoping you’ll get one of the internships you want… then the rest of the Spring semester is spent in a whirlwind of activity to prepare for Internship. Then, suddenly, you show up at your first day of work and wonder what the heck you’ve got yourself into. Or, maybe that’s just how it happened for me…

Living in a country where I don’t speak the language… Check
Working in an industry that I have no background in… Check
Doing a project on topics that I’ve spent a lot of time studying in classes and had limited experience applying in “real life”… Check
I feel like there should be something that’s priceless here… but I think you can figure that out on your own. ;)

Anyway, I think the combination of all three of the things mentioned above have made the experience a bit overwhelming for me. I came from a job and company where I had become the person that knew it all (well, of course, not ALL, but a lot). I’d had the opportunity to have about 6 different roles and had learned a lot about both the manufacturing and business management details of building fighter airplanes. It was a pretty comfy place and even though I had some challenging assignments, I had built great relationships with my co-workers and I could always find someone to help me out. It has been a long time since I really started fresh… and, with school, you have instant friends because you’re all thrown into the same situation together. But, with work, especially some place where your culture is different, the language is different and you’re “THE INTERN” it’s an added challenge.

Things are coming along though. All of my co-workers are willing to help me, despite the fact that they are swamped with work. My officemate has even been helpful beyond work stuff and is teaching me some German, which is great!

And, I’m getting a grasp on my project and am really excited about it. I feel very lucky because both my supervisor and my project sponsor have expressed how glad they are to have me here and the importance of the project. It makes me feel good to know that I can/will have an impact on the organization and company. Warm Fuzzies! :) Plus, something that’s exciting (and also a bit dorky) is that as I am learning about my project, I am discovering that there are some things I learned about in school that are actually going to be useful in my project!! AND, there are also things that I did in my past work life that will be useful. So, as people talk about accruals and write-offs, I smile a bit inside about the A in accounting that I worked my butt off for during the fall. And, when people mention that they use SAP and Business Warehouse for data reporting, I am thankful I fumbled through it at NG so that it’ll be a bit more familiar now.

All in all, things are coming along. I’ll add a post about Life in Germany at some point in the near future… but, as a reminder, Drew and I are here together and as he usually does, he’ll be posting much more frequently than me… including lots of our traveling experiences, so check out his blog too!!

Internship (& Germany), here I come!

2009-05-27T23:56:00.000+02:00

June 1st is a big day in the LFM. The class of 2011 will start school and many of us in the class of 2010 start our internship.

There's four of us going to Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics (and lucky for you, we're all bloggers!), and we all start with "orientation" on Monday. It's actually pretty neat - NVD has monthly operations leadership team meetings and this month it's here in Cambridge. So, they decided to have us participate as part of our first week & orientation. We actually had the opportunity to meet this group of people once before in March, so hopefully that will make it a bit less nerve racking. It's exciting, though, being interns with NVD because it's the first year this divison has participated, so we're getting a chance to help influence the future of their participation - hopefully we don't mess it up! :)

Starting work this time seems a bit different. I did lots of internships in undergrad, but I feel there's more pressure now... they pay a lot of money for us, and we have to write a thesis on the work we do. Now, I've worked hard, but, I'm not sure I've done ANYTHING that I could write about for 50+ pages... oh well, I'm sure it'll come together.

Part of the excitement of my internship is the international aspect. There are 10 of us going to Europe and a few others headed to other parts of the world. It'll be pretty interesting learning how things work there and seeing the differences of the cultures. I'm sure it'll be a challenge at times - beyond the language, but I can't wait.

7 days until the move across the ocean!! Now, back to some packing since the Uhaul is scheduled for Friday...

How time flies!

2009-05-02T16:34:00.000+02:00

Spring time seems to have finally hit Boston. I am probably happier than any other person in this city to see/feel the warm sun on my skin... SERIOUSLY, it feels amazing!

The last few weeks since returning from Spring Break have been busy but also a lot of fun.

My class load actually got lighter because 2 of my classes were only in the first half of the semester. USC did not have this - I really dig it! So, with that lighter load, one might think that now I have extra time to dedicate to the other classes ...but, I've chose to focus more on enjoying time with my classmates than spending more hours in the office. ;)

Last weekend was the Sloan Spring Gala. Many people joke that it's a MBA prom. Everyone gets all dressed up, and we have a "fancy" night of dinner, drinks and dancing. This years event was in Providence, RI at the Botanical Gardens. It was a blast... also it was great to hang out some place besides our old and true Boston/Cambridge bars and in something besides my jeans and t-shirt.

Internship preparation is progressing well. I did learn that I will be based in Germany instead of in Italy. The reason for this is that my manager is in Germany. The good news is that I'll be having to travel a lot between three sites: Germany, Italy and the UK. It turns out that I am more than OK with that. :) Drew and I should find out in the next few days exactly where we'll be living. Which is good, since we'll be moving in a month!! I'm also learning German. It's one class a week through the Cambridge Adult School and it's awesome. I am learning a ton, but realize frequently that there is still a lot I don't know. I'm eager to get to Germany - I think I'll learn a lot more while immersed in it.

Overall, I'm really enjoying the spring. The last 2 weeks of classes will be busy with wrapping up group projects and final assignments, but it won't be as rough as the previous semester. I definitely think it's true when people say the Summer and first Fall at LFM are the worst. It has at least held true for me.

And with that, the sun has just peaked through the clouds and I'm off for a class BBQ at Travis'.

A 2 week taste of Europe

2009-04-08T20:29:00.000+02:00

Lets see, since my last post, the most exciting thing would be spending 2 weeks traveling around Europe and getting a taste of what it will be like living there for 6 months.

A quick summary of International Plant Trek - INCREDIBLE! I did pre-trek activities with 5 other LFMs and we had a blast doing the sight-seeing thing and taste testing all of the fantastic European beers. I'd post a lot of details, but as luck has it, Drew was traveling with me and his blog is already updated and fantastic. So, read that for details. And, here are some highlights from my perspective:

Beer is so much more tasty! I never used to be a huge beer drinker, but grad school changed that. And, I anticipate, living in Europe for 6 months will sway me even further towards being a true beer drinker.

Food is tasty! I absolutely love food - my favorite part about the trip was our groups willingness to read a menu and just walk in on a whim if it sounded good. We had some VERY good local food and funny experiences as a result.

Being 1/2 polish, it was absolutely incredible to see and learn about a country where my family has a lot of history. I don't strongly associate to my Polish roots for a few reasons, but there was something oddly overwhelming when I first stepped foot in the country and got to witness all of the amazing aspects of it.

It's eye opening to travel some place where you do not speak the language. We had very few problems since most people speak English, but you still realize how much you take for granted when you know the language.

As much as i hate to admit it, I am a naive American. I know very little about European history and current government. It actually makes me sad, and I've made a personal vow to learn a lot more about it in prep for my internship and just because it's good to be aware of what's going on in the world.

Corporate culture is SO different. Again, it was a great way to get some exposure before beginning my job in June...

And, finally... I LOVE TRAVELING! I can't put into words how excited I was every day we went out to explore a new city. It might sound silly, but it was like a constant high. I actually like the uncertainty and unfamiliarity and the discovery.

If you didn't get the drift, the trip was great. I think there's only thing that would have made the trip better... SUN!!! But, really, it was everything I expected. And, I think one of the best parts was the people I traveled with.

How could I have forgot how wonderful Spring Break is...

2009-03-13T23:47:00.000+01:00

Since the new Admits have now learned who they are and might be considering what decision to make, I'll point out one of my favorite parts about returning to grad school - breaks and traveling!!

As we all know, while working, vacation is limited, no matter how great the company. And, even if you have a good amount of it, you have to bust you butt to clear your plate before you leave, it's still on the back of your mind while you're gone, and then when you return, it is inevitable that there's a big mess to clean up.

I've realized that there is no other time besides the time I have now to go away for weeks at a time with no responsibilities holding me back. So, with H1 (the first half of the semester complete) and 2 out of my 7 classes also over, I'm off to spend 2 weeks traveling in Eastern Europe, without my laptop and cell phone. The second week is the International Plant Trek (there's about 40 students from both classes going to tour plants and explore) but the first week is what I'm most excited about - there's a much smaller group of 6 of us. We'll be doing the hostel thing and being major tourists. I can't wait - I have no doubt it will be a blast!

And with that, I should try to do some packing since my flight leaves in less than 24 hours and I made the responsible decision to stay in on a Friday night just for that purpose. :)

6 months to get in touch with my Italian side

2009-02-21T12:55:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday night, the announcement of Internship matches came out. The timing almost couldn't have been better (or worse). Many of us were out at Beacon Hill Pub (BHP), where Sloanies spend Wednesday night enjoying a tasty adult beverage to help get through the week, when the e-mail came through. It was a flurry of iPhone & Blackberry action, as everyone worked through the list to find their name.

I am THRILLED about mine. I will be working for Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics in... Siena, Italy. Yay! Personally and professionally I am pretty excited...

Personally, I am actually half Italian, so I can't wait to get the chance to learn more about my family. Also, there are many other LFMs going to Europe so it will be an incredible chance for me to explore Europe.

Professionally, it's fulfilling exactly one of my major goals for LFM - the chance to do something COMPLETELY new. I don't think you can get any further apart than fighter airplanes and vaccines. ;) Plus, the way the project is described right now, it's much different than my shop floor/manufacturing IE experience.

All in all this is an exciting time.

Also, being the "fill-in" Internship Committee chair, I am SO glad that the chaos of the matching is over!

It's Spring Semester, but not really Spring Weather

2009-02-15T21:39:00.000+01:00

I am so thankful for MIT's policy on days off. Even though it's only been 2 weeks of classes, I am in need of an extra day off. I've already fallen behind in classes. Not necessarily because I'm overwhelming busy, but because I just can't seem to get motivated. The odd thing is that I picked my classes this semester, so I should be a bit more excited than I am... I think it's just getting back into the school mentality. After having 6 weeks without school I got spoiled. And although I went 6 years without school before last May - I was actually excited for classes when we started in June. Now, I'm thinking more clearly and know what I've got myself into. ;)

Ok, so here's what will be keeping me busy this semester:

Sloan Classes

Finance: Now, given that my title for the last year I was at NG was Financial Analyst, you'd think that I'd be more excited and interested in this class. But, I am not. I know Net Present Value, Bonds and various other stuff is important, but I actually think there's more interesting things to do with numbers ( wow, could I be a bigger dork? :) ). Also, our professor is a disaster. Fortunately, he's a visiting professor, so hopefully, none of you will have to take it. One good thing about the terrible class is that we've formed an LFM study group to minimize our classroom torture and to help each other learn what we don't get in lecture. It's a good chance for me to get to work with new people in LFM.

Sustainability Lab: This class is all about implementing and being aware of sustainablity initiatives in business. It's actually been one of the most interesting so far. It's primarily case discussion based. But, one of the neat things the professor has done is contacted people at the company that we've read about and getting them to call in and provide an update to us during class. It really makes it a lot more enjoyable, plus, I feel like I'm learning a lot about sustainability, which is new for me. (Yeah, I'm behind the times.)

Engineering Classes (at least those that count for me in my CEE degree)

Supply Chain Planning/Design: This is probably the most analytical engineering class I am taking this semester. It's a lot of supply chain modeling - inventory planning, etc. It should be pretty similar to a class I took in the fall, but not nearly as complex (thankfully!!). The only big downside is that it's at 8 AM (MWF) but that's because it's broadcast in Singapore.

International Supply Chain: Because I am hoping to go international for my internship, I thought this would be a great class for me to get some international business knowledge since I've never worked there. It's primarily case based and I haven't learned anything ground breaking, but the professor is a lot of fun, and I think some of the future case discussions should be interesting.

Case Studies in Logistics & Supply Chain Management: I think this is so far my favorite class. It's entirely case based (obviously) and the professor does a great job of managing the discussion and highlighting the key points at the end. I also find the readings pretty interesting. So, that helps. ;)

Product Design & Development: (The surprise of the semester!) A design class is a requirement for LFM and I was really not excited about this class. BUT, the professor who wrote the book is back this semester and the classes have been surprisingly a lot more interesting than originally anticipated. The class is focused on us learning how to do product development through lecture and a project. Our project teams were just assigned - I'm working on a team focused on developing a better solution for travelers trying to sleep on planes/upright. There's 8 people on the team, 5 of us are LFMs, 2 sloanies and 1 person from Rhode Island School of Design. Even though it seems like a lot of work, it should be real interesting.

So, that's that.

All in all, my classes are much more interesting to me this semester, now I just need to get into the groove. In the meantime, I'll keep wishing for spring days!

It's interview time!

2009-01-25T23:40:00.000+01:00

Starting this week, prospective students for the class of 2011 will be coming on campus to interview. And, instead of preparing for my internship interviews, I thought I'd offer some tips to those of you coming to campus. So, here's X (aka 10, but we use X for our class... class of 2010, aka X class) things I recommend you do to prepare:

Relax. I know it sounds obvious, but, seriously. At this point, the committee has already decided you look like a good candidate on paper, now you need to convince them with your sparkling personality.

Show Passion. As you probably know, grad school applications increased this year across the board. This means, you've got to be better than you might have had to be if you applied last year. So, when asked WHY NOW? Speak from the heart, don't be afraid to share personal as well as professional goals. Remember, just like you can tell when others are being fake, so can the interviewers.

Situation. Think of some situations you've been in where you've learned a lot. These can be from work or from other environments where you've been a leader.

Task. What were you tasked to do in those situations? What was your role? Was it tactical, strategic?

Action. What did you end up doing? Be specific - formed a team, analyzed a process, developed a plan, implemented a solution, etc.

Result. Quantify, Quantify, Quantify! Be specific, show that you've had results. Or, if it was a "learning experience" don't be afraid to talk about what you learned - and talk specifically about when you applied the new knowledge.

Do program research. Be prepared to answer specific questions related to the LFM program. I was asked a few questions that I would have answered better if I'd done a better job reading the LFM website. ;)

Practice. Have friends ask you questions, do a mock interview with someone you trust, anything! Just get yourself back into the interviewing mode.

Socialize and explore. Meet the other people interviewing, meet the current classes, walk around campus. In general, just get a feel for the atmosphere and attitude of the people involved in the program. This while help you determine if you really see yourself here.

Prepare questions to ask interviewers and current students. If you ask similar questions to different people, it's really great to hear the different answers and responses you get. It will help you learn a lot. Also, at the end of the interview, you will inevitably have your chance to ask some questions - prepare some smart ones that you really care to know about. I also think if you've done your research, it's OK to say "I've read through the website, been reading the awesome student blogs and think my questions have been answered." :)

Well, with all the said, my final caveat is that I (and all of the students) have no impact on the application process. So, take everything I've said with a grain of salt - do what is right for you.

Good Luck!!!

Although there's still one more week to talk about, on to a new topic - INTERNSHIPS!

2009-01-21T22:36:00.000+01:00

During the past few days, when I took a break from writing about the two weeks of Plant Trek, some of my classmates posted great summaries. Check out their blogs here: Becca, Jeremy and Paul. As a result, I think I'll spare everyone another "boring" blog about plant trek and instead move on to a new topic:

INTERNSHIPS!

One of the major parts of the LFM experience is a 6 month internship. The whole process is very different from the regular Sloan students who go on a 3 month summer internship and have the ability to recruit at any company.

Here's what happens for us: The LFM class has a selection of internships (primarily from our partner companies) that we choose to interview for, after interviewing and learning more about the position, we rank each internship and the companies rank each student. After that, a crazy algorithm performs voodoo magic and suddenly we are assigned our internships.

Ok, it's not THAT easy or simple, and actually it's a pretty complicated process. Adding to the challenges is that since many of the LFM activities are student run, it's no surprise that the Internship Committee is as well. Unfortunately (for me, but good for him), the Internship Committee Chair is going on an off-cycle internship (that means his internship goes from February to August instead of June to December) and couldn't do a lot of the final planning details cause he hass a big task moving his family. So, it turns out I am Internship Committee co-chair. Yippee! I say this with sarcasm, but it is really a great lesson in managing details and logistics for a pretty big event and it means that I am now intimately familiar with the internship process and the companies.

The interview process for internships spans over 4 days and most students will interview for nearly 15 internships during these four days. Thus, scheduling rooms, coordinating student interview schedules, managing time constraints and keeping the company representatives (and my classmates!) happy is quite a challenge. It's been a whirlwind 2 weeks since I took over, but I'm thankful for my classmates who've been flexible as we wade through the details.

Some advice for the Class of 2011:

Make sure you have a strong and committed team for the internship committee, come January it's a very important role - your classmates will appreciate your hard work!

Don't sweat the small stuff, things won't be perfect, but it will all turn out well. (I guess this is really TBD based on next week's events.)

Do as much of the internship planning and research process before going on Plant Trek as possible.

That's it for now, especially since no one will likely remember this by the time InternshipFest roles around next year. :)

Coming Next... no clue... it could be more Internship stuff, or maybe some talk about InterviewFest for the prospective students, or maybe some talk about Spring classes...

As always, let me know if there are any topic requests!

Domestic Plant Trek: Two Weeks, 9 Companies & 5 Cities

2009-01-18T19:15:00.000+01:00

It's hard to believe our Domestic Plant Trek is already over. I remember when I first got into LFM and met the current students, I heard frequently that this would be the highlight of my two years here. I don't want to hype it up too much, but it was really pretty awesome!

Before I go any further, I'll just highlight things, but Drew did a GREAT job of blogging every night, so if you want more details, you should check out his blog too.

Below is a "brief" day-by-day breakdown of week 1 events, I'll post week 2 in another day or so.

Sunday 1/4:
Myself and a few of the West Coast people flew into Seattle separate from the large group. It turned out that it was probably the best decision we made, as the weather in Seattle was snowy, which caused the flight from Boston to have to make a pit stop in Montana (I think) for re-fueling and a flight that lasted 4 hours longer than it should have. Those of us already in town enjoyed happy hour dinner and drinks and a nice night of sleep before the official trek started.

Monday 1/5:
Our first plant visit was to Boeing's 737 manufacturing plant. I don't want to down play Boeing, but I must admit this was the least exciting plant visit for me since I'd worked in aerospace for 5 1/2 years and I find Fighter Airplanes a tad bit cooler. BUT, I must admit, the highlight was the afternoon's visit to the delivery center, when we got to go into a brand new Delta 737. It smelled like a brand new car, and I did feel a bit like a kid in a candy store, wanting to open and close every door, despite flying probably hundreds of times in my life. The day was capped off by a visit to the Museum of Flight, dinner and a Q&A session with LFM grads now working at Boeing.

Tuesday 1/6:
The first half of the day was another visit to Boeing, this time to see the 747, 777 and the 787 Dreamliner assembly lines. I thought these tours were a lot more interesting because we were actually on the manufacturing floor and the planes were HUGE!!! Boeing also took us on a tour of their 787 Dreamliner Gallery where they bring customers to customize their airplane. It was another kid in a candy store experience. The highlight of which was playing with the various types of First Class seats!

After finishing our tours with Boeing we were off to take Amtrak from Seattle to Portland, Oregon. This actually proved to be very exciting and a lot of fun! I'd never been on a train like that and I loved that it offered a lot more freedom to walk around than a plane. Our group did get "scolded" a few times for being a bit rowdy, but that's what made the 4 hour ride even more fun.

Wednesday 1/7:
This was the first day when plant trek activities did not involve getting up really early... but, because my Dad and Brother live in Portland, I still was up early to meet them for breakfast. After a tasty meal, I met up with the rest of the group at Intel in Hillsboro. This was my group's day to do the plant review, which means we observe the company, making notes about culture/environment, the plant and offering suggestions for improvement. Intel put on a great day for us. They even brought in a Fab manager and one of their Vice-Presidents. The tour was just a window tour of Fab 20 since it's a big effort to get us in bunny suits, but it did give us some appreciation for the complicated process of manufacturing chips. In the evening, Intel hosted a reception with drinks and finger foods and a great chance to mingle with their company representatives. After the company events, our time in Portland was caped off with an evening of drinking and socializing. We thoroughly enjoyed Portland's reverse Happy Hour where drinks and food go on sale from usually about 9 PM to close. The unfortunate thing about Portland is we were there on odd week nights, so bars were closing at 11 PM or midnight, causing us to frequently re-locate. But, that just meant that we saw a lot more of the city!

Thursday 1/8:
This was primarily a travel day, flying from Portland to Reno, NV. Once arriving in Reno, we had a few hours to kill before a dinner with Amazon... many slept, some went for runs, my group and I had to do our debrief from the Intel visit the day before. But after it finished, I still had some time for a quick nap. The Amazon dinner was great. They have such a relaxed culture and all of their employees really were easy to talk to. Their presentation was great because they focused less on inundating us with information and more on allowing us to ask questions. Which, with our group, might be a mistake, but it's still a lot of fun to be able to ask questions and hear various leaders answer.

Friday 1/9:
Amazon tour day - and boy was I impressed. The distribution center was amazing. I've been in a UPS plant, but this was even more mesmerizing. The amount of conveyors and automation was overwhelming and the rate at which the product moved through the facility was overwhelming. It was a great tour, and our tour guide did a fantastic job of explaining the process to us, but also offering us time to pause and just absorb everything that was happening. Amazon also did another great Q&A session after the plant tour - but this time with some of the LFM grads currently working there. Overall, this was my favorite plant tour of Week 1!

Friday 1/9 evening and Saturday 1/10:
Free time in Reno! Friday was spent out enjoying the city - we found a local brewery that turned into a bar with a live band. It was great for dancing and we shut it down around 3 AM. Saturday was spent relaxing and enjoying the NFL playoffs. About 6 of us locked ourselves in one of the hotel rooms and watched the games back to back. The only thing that pulled us outside was In-and-Out burger for dinner. :) It was nice to relax and of course catch up on sleep. Up until then I'd been averaging less than 6 hours a night.

Coming next... week 2!

And all of a sudden...

2008-12-22T01:37:00.000+01:00

.. the semester is done.

Ok, not as exciting as you might have hoped, but it's hard to believe that I am now halfway through my academic requirements for school and that's exciting for me. Something to consider... with two degrees being earned, it's comparable to me already earning one. ;) Ok, I know it doesn't quite work that way, but I got to motivate myself somehow. What's left? Well, a lot, actually - 2 more semesters of school, a 6-month internship and writing a thesis. Piece of cake, right?

From what I've heard, the Summer and first Fall semesters are the two most difficult, and as far as workload, I think I'd agree. The Core classes weren't overly difficult material wise, but the quantity of work at the end of the semester was definitely intense. During the last 2 1/2 weeks of school (classes & finals week), I had the following to do:

- 1 individual and 1 team assignment for my engineering class (each required easily 20+ hours of work)
- final exam in my engineering class
- 8 page research paper & 15 minute presentation for Power & Negotiaton
- 15 page research paper for Organization Processes and 20 minutes presentation for Communication (forunately, both were on the same project)
- Economics final exam
- Accounting final exam

As I've found throughout the entire semester, unless you decide to give up on sleep and socializing, you can't do it all to the level you want to. So, I ended up focusing on the classes where getting an A was most important to me. For various reasons specific to me, I selected Accounting, Communications and my engineering class. This meant the other classes, although I still did a lot of work for them, took the back burner.

I'm not yet sure how the grades will turn out, but the one thing I've come to realize is that it's not so important. As I studied for finals and worked on final projects, I discovered that I actually learned a lot in my classes. It might sound totally cheesy (and I admit I question how useful some of the material is) but it's really rewarding to know that I've come out of this with a little more knowledge. Afterall, I quit my comfy job in the warmth of Southern California and came to grad school with the intention to gain knowledge and skills to help me in my career. It's re-affirming to know that as I "suffer" through the long nights, the rising credit card bills and the crazy wind chill factor, I'm accomplishing what I wanted.

With that slightly serious note, I'll end with some pictures from our social activities of the end of the semseter.

Maureen, Becca & I - with Rob "ruining" the photo from the background. ;)

Drew, Anuj, Jon, Lisa (Drew's SO) & Nitida sporting their ugly Holiday grab.

Me, Margo, Jeremy, Maureen, Mike G and Becca in the warmth of Dapo & Abishek's during the LFM end of the year/semester party.

Outside after the end of the year party - my last night in Boston included some light snow and brisk temps in the 20's. Fortunately, I left town before the major storms hit.

Coming next, some updates from/about the January LFM activities - plant trek and InternshipFest...

Sometimes classes get in the way...

2008-11-15T19:35:00.000+01:00

I think the biggest challenge about LFM and MIT, is not understanding what you're learning in classes but managing your time - there are WAY more things to do on any given day than you have time for. They've actually coined a term here called FOMO - Fear of Missing Out. With so many opportunities, one feels like they have to do everything to get the most of the experience. And, in any given day there's dozens of things to balance: classes, company presentations, club meetings, internship search/networking, general socializing ... oh, and don't forget homework & studying. It's really a miracle anything gets done.

One neat thing I've been able to be involved in, that's a bit different from the normal LFM activities, is something called Retail Lab. My team is working with Victoria's Secret helping them improve their peak holiday season hiring strategy. It's a pretty neat experience for a few reasons: one, it gives me the opportunity to meet Sloanies that I wouldn't otherwise meet, and two, I'm getting exposure to an industry that I'm interested in but have had no previous opportunity to be involved with.

Company presentations are another big thing in the Fall and can sometimes be tough to manage, since LFMs don't have to recruit through the normal channels for an internship, attending a company presentation is really only necessary if it's a company you think you might want to work for after graduating. In which case, it never hurts to begin the networking.

And, speaking of jobs, the past few weeks have been a flurry of internship & interviewing activity. The '09s all returned from their internships to interview with the partner companies for full time positions. 3 days of interviews, and a lot of people had pretty full days. Additionally, the off-cycle internships for our class have all been posted and the discussion of whether or not to submit a cover letter and resume has been a popular convo around the office. This year there are 12 off-cylce internships, which, if they all get filled, would be the most off-cycle internships yet. Going off-cycle is a tough decision, I actually spent a lot of time debating what I should do and for many reasons decided to stick with the normal cycle.

On the fun side, this Fall some of the LFM X's decided to start an IM hockey team. One of our classmates played competitively in undergrad, so he's our coach. But, most of us had no hockey experience. I had never played hockey and probably hadn't been on skates in around 10 years, but it turns out it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be... and I had a blast!

All in all the Fall is as busy as they said it would be!

As always, if you want to hear about something specific, let me know!

Fall at MIT - The good, the bad, the ugly

2008-10-25T21:59:00.000+02:00

October happens to be one of my (if not THE) favorite months of the year. It's the peak of football season, the weather is usually great, Halloween means it's normal to get dressed up in crazy costumes and it's my birthday month. This Fall is proving to be different than my recent Falls (one might argue there's no seasons in Los Angeles... but still), all in all, despite the continued craziness of school, I must say that I'm really enjoying the Fall semester in Boston. And, I am even going to say that I like Fall better than Summer (in Boston). So, I'm going to break down my Fall so far, in reverse order from the title above.

The Ugly

Midterms: Most of the Sloan Core class midterms happen in October, and it so happened that the two of the toughest happen in the same week. It made for a pretty stressful first couple of weeks of October. And I think a lot of us discovered that for the class (Economics) that does not require us to turn in completed homework, we were a bit behind... sure made studying fun. ;)

The Bad

Cold Weather Already: (this would be Ugly, but I recognize some people might LIKE cold weather) In any case, the recent mornings in the 30's are a bit cold for my taste. Good thing for layers and scarfs! Plus, people have said it's a bit unseasonal! But, what I really dislike is that I bundle up for my walk to the T (which is fortunately barely 5 minutes), get on the T and sweat because the heat is so high, get off the T to walk to class and freeze again. It's rather uncomfy, but I guess that's the way it is in places with winters. One thing I am actually enjoying about the colder weather - wearing a scarf. I'm discovering they are a fun accessory! (I am sure the men especially appreciate that comment!)

The Good

The Colors: Ok, so this will sound weird for many of you, but being from Southern CA, I had NO idea what "peak" meant in reference to the Fall. I have now learned that it's the peak time of the Fall when the colors change on the leaves and everything looks amazingly beautiful. I really am enjoying it - especially since this may be my only Fall in Boston. It actually makes me understand why people love New England and makes me happy to be seeing it for the first time.

SIP Week: This is one of the great benefits of being LFM. Basically, SIP (Sloan Innovation Period) is for the Sloan students to take various workshops on leadership & other professional development topics. Since LFMs have many other requirements and not a lot of "extra" units, it is not a requirement for us. Which leaves us with a week of only engineering classes. Or... for some, vacation. I'm not going to lie, it's been super relaxing, and although I had a pretty tough engineering homework set due on Weds, I still managed to relax, catch up on some TV and pretty much enjoy not having hours of class and homework.

There's much more I could say, but I will keep it to that for now. As always, let me know if you want to hear about something specifically! And, for those of you attending the Info Session and/or the Ambassador Visit day on Monday, I look forward to meeting you!

Applying to Grad School - My November Part Time Job

2008-09-21T22:35:00.000+02:00

I've noticed that many of my fellow classmates have provided very useful posts about the application process and figured that it might be worth sharing my process (I use the word process very loosely) to offer a different view on how things can turn out well. In other words, I hope to point out that there's many ways to put together a great application.

To refresh your memory on my situation (or in case you are not an avid blog reader - shame on you!), I am one of those people that did not know that I wanted to go to grad school. I never had a master plan that involved an MBA, and although I had thought a lot about it, this time a year ago, when most of my classmates were in the throws of the application processes, I had not even registered to take the GMAT.

I tell you this, because for those of you who are interested in applying, but feel like you are behind the curve, I really believe that it is not too late. Yes, I acknowledge that putting together the application, writing your essays & studying for the GMAT is a lot of work, but the application deadline is still almost 3 months away. And, since I feel like I was a rockin' (aka - good) candidate, I am sure there's more people like me out there.

So, now....

Johanna's Tips

Tip 1: Decide which school you want to apply through.
LFM allows you to apply through either the School of Engineering for the engineering degree you'd pursue or through Sloan. This makes a difference for 2 reasons: 1) If you don't get into LFM, that school will review your application for their degree program and 2) GMAT versus GRE. I applied through Sloan.
I'll leave it at that since I think this is largely a personal decision.

Tip 2: Figure out who your recommendors will be & talk to them.
I think this is a big one because it is important to find people who will represent different strengths that you have. No one person knows everything, so the key is finding people who have worked with you in different environments and that can accurately capture your EXCEPTIONAL qualities. Once you've identified someone, talk to them! I had very candid conversations explaining not only why I was applying but why I wanted THEM to write my recommendation. I gave them over 2 months to submit the recommendations and am thankful that all of them finished WELL before the deadline.

Tip 3: The essays are very important.
In my (not so professional) opinion, I think the essays are the most important part of the application because they offer the best insight to who you are... forget the GMAT scores or your undergrad GPA - in the essays this is your chance to talk about who you really are. This is the portion of the application where I spent the most of my time. Yup, while others spent close to or even over a hundred hours studying for the GMAT/GRE, I decided to invest time in my essays. The reason I decided to do this? Well, because a number is a number, but a story... now that's something that people remember.

Tip 4: Study for the GMAT or GRE. (Ok, you had to know this was coming next.)
Don't get me wrong, I studied and bought books. There were two 9 hour plane rides between Los Angeles & Puerto Rico during which I am sure I did dozens of practice problems. Sunday afternoons were spent in front of the TV rooting on my fantasy football players while doing practice problems during commercials I put my hours in and felt prepared. And, since I didn't start studying until October, I waited until 17 days before the application deadline to take the GMAT. In hindsight, sure I wish I had more time to study and to get a score that I could brag about to my kids (ok, not really), but the reality is, life was busy, and I couldn't do everything. Plus, I know standardized test taking is a weakness of mine, so I focused on making my strengths even more prominent.

Tip 5: Don't forget the details & don't wait to submit until the last minute.
There's a lot of little things that need to be completed for the application... a transcript, a list of classes taken during undergrad, filling out a lot of random information. I actually logged in and started filling out some of the easy stuff (name, birth date, etc...) well before I needed to. This way, the last thing I did was a few days before the deadline

Ok, that's it! Hopefully it's not too general to be useless, but I really did not want to get into details and duplicate the great advice of my classmates, because you can read it there.

I'm going to end with a few caveats/notes.

First, I'm not on the admissions committee. This means, I don't really know the answers, I just know what worked for me.

Second, I am not going to promote my methods as the best. But, I think, as an individual, it's important to know your strengths and do everything you can to play them up so you look as rockin' as you likely are.

Third, Once I committed to applying (paid the GMAT fee), I was totally in. I built a spreadsheet to track everything that needed to be done and I got myself focused. So, despite my laid back approach, organization and dedication were absolutely required to get it all done.

Fall means it's Football Season!

2008-09-09T22:33:00.000+02:00

....oh, and also the start of a new school semester and classes.

But, before I get into that, I'm obviously very excited for football season. And, since I am from California, my teams of choice are not highly followed here in Boston so, I'm making sure everyone knows where my loyalties lie. This weekend is the big USC vs. Ohio State game and in order to be as supportive (aka - obnoxious) as possible, I'm going to start wearing USC shirts to school tomorrow for 4 days straight. (Don't worry, I have plenty of USC shirts to wear and not have to re-wear a dirty one!) Also, in the NFL realm, some of us LFM Xers (10s) are in a Fantasy Football league and I'm excited that I won the first game of the season. Off to a good start, which is better than the Chargers did.

Ok, enough football, I could go on for pages.

Classes!

So, if I could offer you one piece of advice (besides wearing sunscreen) for those who are here next summer, it would be to take time in the summer to learn about the classes you can take for your engineering degree. I chose my engineering major as Engineering Systems because I thought it'd offer me the best opportunity to take classes that interested me, and aligned with my career plans. Once I got here, however, I realized that I had really strong interests in Logistics & Transportation and the ESD program didn't give me exactly what I was looking for. The great thing about LFM & ESD is that I've been able to take the initiative to shape my own program with this focus. While it's definitely a good thing, it's also bad because I've had to meet with various people to negotiate classes that would form a good course plan for my engineering degree. I unfortunately, have been scrambling and doing this for the past week and a half since Registration Day. It would have been time VERY well spent if I'd done a lot more due diligence before classes started. While it's intimidating to look at all of the options out there, it's much better to do it when you're not being e-mailed daily asking how things are coming. :) Fortunately, tomorrow, I should be able to get all the signatures needed to finalize things. Phew!

So, what am I taking?

Well, all first year MBA students at MIT participate in the Core Curriculum, as LFMs we take Accounting, Economics, Communication for Managers & Organizational Processes with our core. Non LFM students are also required to take Finance or Marketing and Data Model Decisions in their first semester, we take DMD in the summer, and can take Finance/Marketing at a later date if we want, depending on our schedule. On top of those 4 courses I am taking 1 Sloan Elective - Power & Negotiation and 2 Engineering Electives - Logistics Systems and Logistsics & Transportation Planning Methods. It's a bit of a heavy course load and I think I'm going to regret it at many times this semester, but the nice thing is that the classes do actually feel very practical and a lot of the professors seem like they'll be very engaging (which also helps!).

Another highlight of the first semester of the MBA program is the Core Teams. Just like in the summer, we are put in study groups with other individuals in our cohort that we're to work with on group projects and help each other learn the core material. The LFM students are separated so you are the only LFM on your team. It's always a nerve racking experience meeting the group, but I'm really pleased! My group, the Caribbean Cranes, has been productive in all our meetings and are working together real well up to this point.

On that note, I'll leave you with a photo from one of our team building events during orientation week.

And now... 350 more people to meet!

2008-09-05T20:33:00.000+02:00

One of the greatest things about LFM is that we start school in the summer and have 3 months to get settled, get to know each other and meet the rest of the class. We become very close and comfortable with one another, and pretty much have a good time among ourselves. It is a great time because we have the run of the Sloan buildings, the LFM office and pretty much anything we want.

But, I think it also makes the Fall and meeting the rest of the Sloan class a bit of a challenge. The social experiment (at least this is what I call it) begins when Sloan Orientation starts and we are forced outside of our "comfort zone" (which 3 months ago did not exist because we were all strangers!) and integrated with the rest of the Sloan class. Surprisingly, it's hard -- it's intimidating, the rest of the Sloanies are pretty impressive people and are very excited and motivated... but, worst of all, they are new people! haha, It sounds silly, but I am sure everyone knows the feeling!

We're lucky to have such a great LFM class, but it's easy to fall back on each other. As a result, I've actually been trying pretty hard to get to know a lot of people outside of LFM. It seems silly to consciously avoid other LFMs when there's a group at a table or talking together in a bar. But, it pays off -- the rest of the Sloanies are awesome.

Also, I'm actually very excited about my Fall study group. The 6 other people in the Caribbean Cranes pretty much rock, and although I know nothing is ever perfect, I think we'll have a good team experience.

Despite all of the fun of meeting new people, I am admittedly glad to run back into the "arms" of our classmates for an occasional boost to continue with the slightly daunting task of meeting the other 350 people!

It really is crazy to think that 3 months ago us 48 LFMs were all complete strangers!

Coming Next.... more about Sloan Orientation and fall class selection.

Summer Semester

2008-08-22T18:26:00.000+02:00

It's pretty hard to believe that I've been living in Boston and leading the life of a college student for the past 3 months. Time has pretty much flown by and I'm still deciding if I'm happy or sad about that...

Regardless, I figured it'd be a good time to reflect back on my first semester as a grad student.

Before I jump into it, I had so many people tell me when I decided to return to school and come to LFM that I'd work hard but I'd also have a lot of fun. And, all I can say is that it was so true - all in all, as I look back on the past 3 months it's been a fun time, a lot of laughing, exploring, meeting new people and learning (can't forget that ;)).

The school part was admittedly tough. We took 5 classes this summer: Leadership, Lean & Six Sigma, Operations Management, Systems Optimization and Probability & Statistics. The work load started out relatively normal but it quickly ramped up to the point where our summer teams became critical (and not just because of group assignments). For the most part the material in the classes wasn't terrible (difficult, confusing, etc.) but there's always a few concepts I get stuck on and naturally, a few classes I wasn't as enthusiastic about. This is part of the reason the summer teams were so important - there's usually at least one of the 6 people who understands the material and/or feels passionate about it. Thus it helps to have people focus on certain areas and take the divide & conquer approach. But, a big lesson learned from our team was to not get so wrapped up in dividing & conquering that we forget to give each other the opportunity to learn new things.

Some of the highlights from the classes were 2 leadership building/team bonding days. The first was for our summer teams which was an Outward Bound trip during the first week of classes. It was a great time to learn about each other, but not quite as exciting as we had hoped because the rain put a damper on our opportunity to climb ropes and do other physical outdoor activities. The second was with a new group of 6 people (randomly selected) at Fort Devens Army Base, and this time the weather cooperated and everyone
seemed to have a blast challenging ourselves mentally, physically and getting to know some new classmates better. My team of 6 for this challenge was arguable the best team - we spent about 90% of the time laughing so hard our stomachs hurt PLUS we were able to successfully complete almost all of the challenges.

There were also some fun group assignments - one was a paper helicopter design contest (for Statistics). Unfortunately, our design did awesome when we prototyped and did our final practice drops. However, the pilot must have had bad nerves, because during the big event, we looked a bit sad. Although, we take pride on the fact that we weren't last. ;) We also tried to tackle a challenging System Optimization project of optimizing the seating chart for a wedding reception. A good friend of mine is getting married in August and we used her as our customer. It was fun to tackle something different than the usual production mix question! It was also really interesting to hear from our classmates what they did and see how practical the material we learned in class really is (dorky, I know - but learning is much easier when that's the case)!

Ok, I'll stop dorking out now and move into the SOCIAL side! Our class of 2010 - some of us are pushing to change from being referred to as the "10's" to the "X's" - is a blast. We've had numerous parties to celebrate birthdays and .... well, just about anything that we can. Most Wednesday nights were spent at the Muddy Charles (on campus bar) followed by Beacon Hill Pub (BHP) where we were claiming our territory since that's the normal Wednesday night hang out when the rest of the Sloanies show up. We've done a lot of fun touristy stuff and I've had a blast seeing the city with others who are not from the area. It's true that it takes some time to find those people you connect with, but I'd say that for the most part, when a big social event is planned, you can count on at least 20 people from the class joining in on the fun. We are all very social people and know how to have a good time.

Wow, this post has become very long. So, I'll spare any other details for now and return to enjoying my last 3 days off before Sloan Orientation starts.

As always, if you want to know more about something, feel free to leave me a comment and I will gladly share more!

Images from the Summer

2008-08-15T01:20:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow is our last day of classes for the summer. It's hard to believe how quickly the 2 1/2 months have gone by!

Although there is a lot to talk about, for now, I thought I'd post a few photos to capture the craziness (aka - excitement) from the last couple of months.

Also, if anyone has any specific questions about the program or wants to hear more about anything specifically, feel free to leave me a comment and I'll incorporate it in one of my posts!

The LFM class of 2010!

Pictures from the 4th of July in Boston

Fireworks on the Charles River

LFMs with the city in background

Leadership Reaction Course (LRC) at Fort Devins

Hanging out with other LFMs

A Little Bit About Me

2008-08-09T17:43:00.000+02:00

Hello! Welcome to my blog. Over the next two years, I hope for this to be a great way for me to share as much as I can about my experiences living in Boston and as a student in the MIT Leaders for Manufacturing program.

I tend to be a talker, and can often go on and on about anything that interests me and since we're almost done with our first semester of school, there is a lot to talk about! But, for now, I think it's best to take the time to introduce myself a little bit.

My name is Johanna, I'm currently a student in the MIT LFM program, class of 2010 and I've been living in Boston now for about 2 1/2 months and am finally feeling settled. Before moving to Boston, I'd been living in Los Angeles, CA for the past 10 years. (So, this is a BIG CHANGE!!!) I am one of the "few" people living in California that are actually CA grown. :) I was born in San Diego and have lived in California for most of my life.

I found my to Los Angeles for school - I graduated from the University of Southern California (Go Trojans!!) in 2002 with a B.S. in Industrial & Systems Engineering. After I graduated, not only did the football team get a lot better, but I decided I loved L.A. and stayed there to work at Northrop Grumman (one of the LFM partner companies) as an Industrial Engineer. I spent 5 1/2 years at NG (before coming to MIT) and was fortunate enough to have many diverse opportunities while there. I worked on 2 different major fighter plane programs and worked both on the manufacturing side and on the business management (finance) side of the world.

Deciding to leave NG and California was not just one of, it was THE toughest decision I've made in my life. Now, don't get me wrong, when I applied (this is the only school I applied to), I knew that if I got in, I was coming. But that didn't make it any easier -- I didn't leave L.A. because I was not happy or felt trapped in my job or hated where I lived. I decided to embark on this adventure because I felt like there was something more out there and I realized it was my responsibility to get out and figure it out. LFM was the best place for me to do this because I already had a great foundation - both education and work experience, engineering and business - and I've always had a passion for learning.

So, here I am... sitting in my studio in Boston, still not quite believing it all, but excited about what's to come.