Fall Break, Michigan Style

Fall Break was definitely too short. After less than 48 hours in Orlando, I hopped on a plane Friday at 11:50am, flew to Charlotte, got on another plane to Indy and was in my car by 4:45pm. I spent the next 5.5 hours hustling it up to the Detroit airport to pick up my friend Kyle, who was visiting for the weekend from DC (mostly to see the football game, I'm sure). The weekend was fun, although, again, way too short. I got to go to the casinos in Detroit (twice), freeze my butt off at the Michigan/Minnesota game (5-0 in the Big Ten!!!), watch the Mud Bowl (undergrads have some pretty questionable traditions), and enjoy some yummy meals courtesy of Kyle's parents (Kyle's youngest sister is a freshman and it was parents' weekend, so I got to spend a good chunk of time with two-thirds of the Mulgrew clan). I also spent way more time than I would have watching baseball playoffs, but that's my own fault for associating with Red Sox fans. Here are a few pictures from the weekend. Clearly, not great weather in the Ann Arbor area, but it was pretty much par for the course for the entire break.
MudBowl. Two frats playing touch football in the mud. It was raining and super cold. Honestly, what's the appeal?

Don't we look so cool in our matching sweatshirts?

Great final scoreboard, but take a look at the weather surrounding the scoreboard.

Once I dropped Kyle at the airport Sunday night, it was back to reality. Classes started again today, and even though I'm only taking 3 courses, it's still going to be a lot of work. The upside? I don't have 8am classes every day! Mondays and Wednesdays don't start until 10:20am. Thank goodness for that.

Fall Break, Florida Style

Here are a few pictures of my Fall Break trip to Orlando. Basically, it's just a photo spread of the World's Cutest Niece, Nadia (who is, of course, tied for 1st with Beatrice). And by the way, take a look at the bump on Tatum. Reese Marie should be making her entrance in mid-March 2008.

Surprise!

For about the last two or three weeks, I have been lying through my teeth to my parents. A few days ago, on this very blog, I posted that my plans for Fall Break included a drive down to Indiana to visit Joe, Tatum, and Nadia, a trip to NYC to visit companies, and a weekend visit by Kyle. Well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. But instead of heading to NYC, I hopped on a plane with Joe, Tatum, and Nadia on Wednesday morning, and we all flew to Orlando. They had already planned this long ago, as they were stopping in FL for a few days before heading to PR for a wedding. But, I was an unexpected guest. So, I kept telling my parents all about my plans for New York, and which companies I was going to see, etc.

Then, when we landed at the airport, I waited at the gate for a few minutes while everyone said hello and mom got to see Nadia and fawn all over her. When I finally headed over to baggage claim, my parents were both totally engrossed in their granddaughter, so I walked up to them and said "Hey." The look of surprise was priceless. I was so glad to have caught them off guard (although Dad claims that he knew something was awry.) It'll be a short visit, but I was glad I was able to come at all.

Home Sweet Home

My very first post of this blog promised that pictures of my apartment were going to be posted soon thereafter. That was September 1st, and still nothing. The reason why? Well, I've discovered that there is not a lot of time for housecleaning. And even if there is spare time for that, I would rather sleep. Although I would keep the bathroom, kitchen and living room clean for my guests, my bedroom was typically a different story. So now that Fall A is done, I had some spare time to clean before heading down to Indiana. (And the fact that I have a house guest next weekend really made it imperative that I clean). So, finally, seven weeks later, here are some pictures of my Ann Arbor digs.

My apartment from the outside. I've got the first floor (the door on the left). And that's my patio that I've never set foot on.

The living room (straight out of the Ikea catalog).

Living/Dining room. And my beautiful Michigan artwork (thanks Jenny!).

The kitchen (cabinets circa 1980s, or so I've been told). This is probably the room that gets the least amount of use (shocking, right?)

A Perez family tradition: my very own Costco closet.

My room, all clean, with all the boxes that hadn't been unpacked finally put away

NOW it's over!!!

Once again, planning that didn't pan out. If you look at my Fall Break schedule, I should be in Indiana right now. Well, that didn't happen. It was 5:30am when I finally gave up on the paper. I went to sleep, forgot to set my alarm, and almost flaked out on taking Nathalie to the airport (the only reason I woke up was because she called me at 12:20pm -- granted, I had already missed about two phone calls and three text messages). Fortunately, her flight was an hour later than I thought, so we made it in time. I got back to my apartment at 3pm, got back to work, and by 6:30pm, I handed in our manifesto: 50 pages on the video game industry and Atari vs EA (that includes 27 pages of exhibits). I'm glad to be done with that, and by tomorrow afternoon I will be down in Indiana, and ready to relax!

Study break

It's 11pm on Friday night, and sadly, our group paper isn't quite finished. Oh, crap!!! The past week has been pretty crazy. I did the math... since last Saturday night, I've averaged a little less than 4.5 hours of sleep per night, with a 2.5 hour nap tossed in on Monday afternoon. I certainly need a bit of a break, and Ross gives us a whole week off between Fall A and Fall B!!! (That was sarcasm by the way.) The last seven weeks have been jam-packed, and I think I'm going to need a month to recover. But, oh well.

As for my plans over Fall Break? Nothing too relaxing, unfortunately. So, here's the schedule:

• Fri 11pm-Sat 2pm: Finish and hand in the group Strategy paper, clean my apartment, do laundry, pack and drive Nathalie to the airport (I'm such a good friend)
• Sat 2pm-Sat 6pm: Drive to Indiana
• Sat 6pm-Tues 2pm: Relax in Indy with Joe, Tatum and Nadia
• Tues 2pm-Tues 6pm: Drive back to Michigan
• Tues 6pm-Wed 8am: Pack, clean, laundry, go to airport
• Wed 8am-Fri 7pm: In New York, visiting companies
• Fri 7pm-Sun 9pm: Back in Michigan, driving Kyle around, going to the Michigan/Minnesota game, and trying not to think that classes start back up on Monday

Truly a busy week (and not originally intended as such), but it should definitely be fun.

And by the way, I mentioned in an earlier post that I was selected as a Ross Ambassador. I just got an email the the new website is up, so feel free to take a look at my profile. What do you think? Would you ask me for advice about applying to school? http://www.bus.umich.edu/Admissions/Mba/Tours/ambassadors.htm

Yay, it's O-V-E... oh, wait

So the Thursday 6pm deadline has passed, which was supposed to mark the end of Fall A. Unfortunately, as the say, "the best laid plans..." So the revised estimate is noon on Saturday. At that point in time, I am dropping off our group strategy paper and driving off into the sunset (really Indiana, but who's keeping track). So while I don't get to fully enjoy tomorrow, at least I am done with exams (YAY!), and all we really have to do with the paper is formatting. Three cheers for (ALMOST) being done.

Hiatus

It's a busy time here in Ann Arbor. It's hard to believe, but the end of Fall A is almost upon us. Of course, nothing ever comes easy, and the next few days are full of finals and papers. I'm apologizing in advance... there will likely be no new content until this is all over, but feel free to stop by and check on my progress. Fall A has been reduced to a ticking clock...

UPDATE

Completed-Individual strategy paper, BE final, Statistics final, Accounting final, Group strategy paper

Remaining-NOTHING!!!

Timing...

Isn't this how it usually happens? You have so much going on, you really have no time for anything BUT your work. Your schedule is packed, you're way too stressed, and, inevitably, you get sick.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise. For the last 6 weeks I haven't been getting enough sleep. We're all packed into the Exec Res building, so germs clearly circulate at a higher rate. Plus, there was the whole travel to Houston issue. Breathing in recycled plane air never helps either. So, for the past few days I've been carrying around my Kleenex, sitting with my mouth agape because my nose is completely stuffed up and otherwise there's no way I can breathe. It's not a pretty sight, but the funny thing is that since so many of my classmates are also sick, there's no spare sympathy to be spread around. I can only hope that this doesn't last all through finals. Which, if you've been keeping track, are over in 8 days. Then I get one week of "freedom" to relax.

More about my Fall Break plans in a later post!

Yum

It's no secret that I have an offer for a summer intership at General Mills. While at NSHMBA, I was able to speak to some more Mills reps, which was good. I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet, but the people at Mills certainly want to make this happen.

When I got home from Houston, I had a package from MN waiting for me. Inside, all kinds of Mills goodies to "keep me going through semester late nights." I'm so excited about my freebies... I'm like a little kid at Christmas! And the best part? Front and center, CARAMEL BUGLES!!!

NSHMBA

I made it back from Houston tired, but in one piece. Of course, I didn't take as many pictures as I should have, and it's tough to describe the atmosphere at the Career Expo. Imagine hundreds of students walking around with resumes, talking to company after company in hopes of getting a job. There were over a hundred companies from all industries (CPGs, tech, consulting, etc), and giveaways everywhere. Some not so good things I saw? A poor girl, who when asked what her favorite General Mills brand was, answered something NOT made by General Mills. When the corporate rep busted her on it, the girl turned bright red. Then there was the guy who tried to challenge the CIA rep by asking if the internship was focused on "training or development?" When the CIA rep tried to get the kid to establish the difference between the two, there was a lot of flustered ums and wells.

Possibly the craziest thing I saw at the Expo, the giant Waste Management garbage truck. Nathalie and Marlene's suggested tag line for the company? "Come dump your resume here!"

On Thursday, our grand dinner plan was to go to Pappasito's located at 1510 Polk St, where we were going to meet Xavi and some other Michigan people. After walking about 10 blocks in the steamy Houston evening, we arrived at 1510 Polk, home of the Toyota Center, NOT a restaurant. Of course, Xavi's cellphone had died, so we never met up with him. After lots of walking we ate at some random pub. Good food, but not Mexican! We finally found a Pappasito's at the airport. This picture is courtesy of the random drunk guy we found at the Food Court. "What does that mean?"

So little time

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. There's really not too much to report, except for the fact that the end of Fall A is RAPIDLY approaching! This means that the quantity of work has really stepped up. Only two more weeks of class, and then finals begin. Yet somehow, in this time, we have two stat quizzes, two econ problem sets, an accounting quiz, and a strategy paper due. Toss in three finals over three days and a group paper (theoretically due October 20th, but with a self-imposed date of October 11th), it's really a wonder that I get to sleep at all. Also, since I head out for Houston on Thursday for NSHMBA, I'm feeling more than a little stressed. But, it will all get done in the end.

Plus, that doesn't mean that I'm locking myself in my apartment for the next three weeks. Tomorrow I get to experience something of a Michigan tradition (or so I've heard)... Whirly Ball. Not that I have any clue how to play, but who cares? I'm looking forward to making an ass out of myself and hopefully forget about all the work that is waiting for me. I'll try to post pictures before I leave for NSHMBA.