Europe, here I come!

In the past 3 weeks I have been busy graduating, reminiscing with friends, packing, finding an apartment in Minneapolis and moving out of Ann Arbor. All the craziness finally comes to a head later today, when I board a plane headed for London. Over the next 3.5 weeks, Meryl and I are going on a whirlwind tour of Europe - London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Munich, Austria, Rome, Venice, Florence, the Swiss Alps, Paris, and back to London. I'm super excited for my very first trip to Europe. I'm sure it will be completely exhausting but totally worth it. Check back in June for all the pictures from my trip!

EUROPE, BABY!!

DisO Week Thursday: Floss 'N Toss

DisO Week began with the traditional Floss 'N Toss bar crawl - I have no clue where the name came from. On Thursday afternoon/evening, hundreds of MBAs dressed in matching shirts were parading through the streets of Ann Arbor from bar to bar. After a full afternoon of alcohol and wings at B-Dubs, we headed to Scorekeepers for the weekly Ross Happy Hour at Scorekeepers. After 7 straight hours of drinking and eating, it's amazing people were still standing. Although it was a long day, our group wasn't quite done. We headed over to Fleetwood Diner for dinner (I'm not sure if you could call pancakes dinner), and then over to Alley Bar for a few more hours. After bar-hopping for anywhere between 8-12 hours, at midnight we finally called it a day. Final tally of Floss 'N Toss?

Cost to participate in Floss 'N Toss: $25 (or, if you're like me and you missed the deadline to sign up, $0, but no drinks and no t-shirts)

Dinner at Fleetwodd: $5.59 (does not include the cost of half the grilled cheese sandwich Hugh shared with me/I stole from him)

Conversations had and picture taken during the day: Priceless (but just as a disclaimer, I didn't take my camera to Floss 'N Toss, so all pictures have been lovingly borrowed from my friends)

Stop #1 - Jackie and Michelle enjoying the beautiful weather outside Conor O'Neill's. I wasn't there for this part of the bar crawl, but I felt like there needed to be full documentation of the day.

(Courtesy of M. Gezo)

Stop #? - Matt P. and Alden, the brains behind Follies, document the afternoon. The testimonials are going to be part of the MBA Celebration next Wednesday, and I am willing to bet that more than a few people will be surprised to see themselves on screen.

(Courtesy of M. Gezo)

Stop #2 - Geraldine, Michelle, Jackie and Emily pose for pics at Arena. Notice my strategically worn grey t-shirt? Hard to tell I wasn't even an official part of Floss 'N Toss!

(Courtesy of E. Weingart)

Stop #3 - Heidelberg. Rob (who I literally met right before this picture was taken - it's amazing that there are still unfamiliar faces after 2 years at school), Matt J, myself, Michelle. Matt J was ultra-excited because he had just received an email from the Prince of Nigeria saying that he was eligible to receive $35 million. He's so lucky!!!

(Courtesy of L. Sensenig)

Stop #3 - With Lorraine at Heidelberg. Lorraine was also an unofficial Floss 'N Toss participant because she was heading to a corporate dinner at the Chop House. Mmmm, steak.

(Courtesy of F. Ahmadi)

Stop #3 - Trying to leave Heidelberg while Michelle gives me a huge hug. And crushes my windpipe in the process (Courtesy of M. Gezo)

Stop #4 - Feelin' the Latino love at Monkey Bar with Patricia and Marlene.

(Courtesy of C. Tapia)

Stop #5 - Buffalo Wild Wings. Obviously we are way more concerned with food at this point.

(Courtesy of S. Klainer)

Stop #6 - Scorekeepers. The original subjects of this picture were myself, Sara Klainer, Ginny Lee and Sarah Raehl. Allen Coleman and Jason Fein are just added benefits.

(Courtesy of S. Klainer)

Stop #7 - Dinner at Fleetwood. I'm not sure what exactly is going on here, but Hugh's expression is pretty spectacular.

(Courtesy of K. Gillilan)

Stop #8 - Section Six boys Mark G., Jose, Matt J. and Hugh at Alley Bar.

(Courtesy of K. Gillilan)

Free at Last!

Ok, so it's definitely not MLK quote-worthy. BUT, as of Wednesday, April 22nd at 7:15pm, I am officially done with school. No more lectures, papers, group meetings, problem sets or exams! Now I get to enjoy the next week before family comes in for graduation, which is on May 1st.
As is Ross Business School tradition, the next week (Thursday-Wednesday) is called Disorientation Week. We all take the time to decompress after two years of hard work. DisO week is characterized by heavy drinking, reminiscing, nostalgia, drama, the senior scramble, and more heavy drinking. Basically it's a chance for so-called adults to act like they're back in high school! The schedule of events is as follows:
Thursday

• Bar Crawl

Friday

• Canoeing

Saturday

• Spring Fling (semi-formal dance)

Sunday

• Kickball tournament
• Bowling/Karaoke

Monday

• MBA Gladiators
• Talent Show

Tuesday

• Baseball game (Yankees v Tigers)

Wednesday

• MBA Celebration
• Diamondback (country/western bar)

It's a packed week, and I don't plan on participating in all the activities (because at some point I'm going to have to be at home cleaning for my commencement guests). But my time at Ross is coming to a close, so you'd better believe that I will out and about Ann Arbor having fun!

P(retty) T(errible) Cruiser

On Saturday night I left my apartment to pick up Lauren and head to East Lansing for a Death Cab for Cutie concert (video to come later). I had just put the car in reverse when I realized something was clearly wrong. The button on the gear shift didn't pop back out, and when I tried to shift into all other gears, the car refused to go into park. Since the car was actually driving fine, I went to the local VW dealer, but they were already closed for the evening. The panicking started, because I had no idea how to resolve the situation. A phone call to VW Roadside Assistance later let me know that there was nothing that could be done until Monday when the Services department opened back up. So, I left the car in neutral, turned the engine off, LEFT THE KEYS IN THE IGNITION because I couldn't take it out, and just left the car in the VW parking lot for the rest of the weekend.

On Monday I found out I had a broken gearshift that would have to be replaced. Fortunately, the car was under warranty. Besides no payment, this meant that I would get a free rental car while my Jetta was in the shop. The big winner? An ivory PT Cruiser. The verdict? Awful. Big, bulky, lots of blind spots, no acceleration, and the world's worst turning radius. Fortunately, it was only a 24 hour deal, because I got my Jetta back this afternoon, as good as new. I will definitely be treating my car better from now on, and the next time I get a rental car, there's no way I will let them give me a PT Cruiser. Pretty Terrible indeed. And yes, we made it to East Lansing in time, thank goodness!!!

The behemoth I was driving around Ann Arbor this weekend. UUUUUUUUUUUUUGLY!!!

August 2008: Ms. Perez goes to Washington. Eventually.

Last summer I took two days off from my internship to fly out to Washington DC to go to Roxana and Eric's wedding, which was taking place on Friday, August 1st. I had decided to take the opportunity to visit everyone from my pre-grad school life, so I scheduled a 6 am flight on Thursday, and scheduled a crazy afternoon of lunch with former co-workers, drinks with Rob, more drinks with Nicole, and dinner with Kyle. My inability to leave my apartment on time, combined with the mistaken belief that Midwestern Airlines was located in the Lindberg terminal of the Minneapolis Airport led to me missing my flight. I literally sprinted up to the gate and the plane was still there, but since they had already closed the door, the gate agent refused to let me get on the plane. Some tears, fury, and rescheduling later, I was booked on a flight that left Minneapolis 4 hours later. When combined with a two-hour layover in Milwaukee, this completely destroyed my carefully planned Thursday schedule, so I missed out on lunch and drinks. The gate agent's advice to me? "Next time you should plan better!" Really? Thanks for the tip...

After finally making it to DC, I got in my rental car and drove out to my hotel. As soon as I pulled up, I immediately started looking for alternate sleeping arrangements. Somehow, I had made reservations at a hotel that looked like a set for a horror movie. If something were to happen to me, I doubted very much my body would ever be found. I eventually found new accomodations in Tyson's Corner and fortunately the rest of my weekend was a lot smoother.

Highlights of the weekend included:

Thursday

• Travel hell
• Dinner with Kyle

Friday

• Closing my Chevy Chase bank account, after months of non-use
• Lunch with some of my former co-workers (unfortunately Maryellen, Jeff and Ron P were unable to join us)
• A fish pedicure! You stick your feet in a tank and the fish nibble away the dead skin. Let's just say I don't plan to do it again.
• Roxana and Eric's wedding (::tear::)

Saturday

• Brunch with the newlyweds and their families
• Shopping at Potomac Mills
• Baseball game at the new Nationals Stadium

Sunday

• Lunch at Bertucci's

The weekend was lots of fun, the wedding was beautiful and I was very glad to see everyone. I don't think I necessarily realized it at the time, but since graduation is now right around the corner, I have started thinking about the whole process of moving to a new place and having to say good-bye to all your friends. And I have to say, even though I don't miss my old job, and I probably won't miss being in a classroom that much, I do/will miss all the great people I've met along the way (::sniff sniff::). And that means I need to do a better job of keeping in touch with people!

The swollen Beast

Yesterday Beasley and I took a trip to the vet so she could get her vaccinations. While the vet warned me about potential side effects (vomiting, diarrhea, etc.), I didn't really think anything of it. Everything was totally fine until I was getting ready to leave for dinner tonight. Beasley seemed unable to sit still and kept shaking herself off every couple of minutes. So when I took a closer look, her snout was all puffed up. Scary! I called the vet immediately and had to go to the doggy ER. Two shots, some Benadryl and a hefty bill later, her face is slowly getting back to normal. Why can't she ever get sick during regular vet hours?!?

On the way to the vet - swollen snouted and bumpy headed Beasley

Last. Class. EVER.

No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks!

I'm not quite done with work (I still have Excel work, 2 final exams and 1 group paper to do), but at 10:20am on Thursday I walked into a classroom for my last lecture ever. Since I got back from my internship this summer there have been a lot of "this is the last time that..." moments, and I'm sure there are going to be a LOT more of these moments in the next couple of weeks. But today was definitely a big one. After 114 hours in lectures and class discussions (in theory, since I have missed a few class sessions since I've been in school), it's OVER. And since I can't for the life of me forsee going back to school to get another degree, no more classrooms, professors, textbooks or coursepacks for me!

Is this thing on?

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3... Am I coming in clear? About 8 months ago, my computer went bust and I put a pause on my blog writing. Then classes started and by the time I got my laptop back I was so busy that I never got around to updating my blog. So, what has happened since then?

• I co-chaired UpClose, the diversity weekend for prospective students
• I accepted my offer at General Mills
• I watched first-hand as the Michigan football team had their worst season in like, forever
• I had dinner at the Chop House
• I went to a Coldplay concert and a Killers concert
• I went to my first college hockey game and my first (and only) Michigan basketball game
• I drove to Indiana 4 times
• I went to Florida for Christmas
• I went to Prom
• I spent my Spring Break in Panama
• I drove my car into a ditch during a really bad blizzard
• I ordered my cap and gown for graduation
• I lost all motivation to do school work
• I picked a move-out date, looked for apartments in Minneapolis and picked a start date

In a mere 16 days I will be an official graduate of the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. It feels like I just started, but in reality, it's all coming to an end, and rather quickly. So check back often in the next two weeks so you can see what I've been up to since the summer ended and what my plans are for life after Ann Arbor (posts that start with a date are those that are long overdue!).