Settling In

Okay, so first things first I promised to tell you about my interview and presentation from almost a week and a half ago.

                The interview was for a graduate student spot on an economic trade mission in São Paulo, Brazil in October. The interview went well but it was highly competitive and I didn’t get, which isn’t that big of deal because I don’t as if I need the week off from school and work. (I did learn that one our terrific MMBA students got the spot, so at least it stayed in the MBA program.)

               Then, I had to present an overview of my summer internship as part of the first round of the MBA presentation competition. I succeeded in reaching my goal, which was doing well but not winning my round. Why, you ask? Because I didn’t want to lose another Friday morning prepping and presenting. It’s a priorities issue; I had better things to do –like sleeping in and not wearing a suit. (My Fridays are precious, okay?)

In other news, I’ve been working away. I met with my entrepreneurship team a couple times last week (and, yes, I will eventually post a picture of them) to start lining out our goals and product pitch. We’re really excited about this project and are just glad to finally get rolling on this. GWIB (Graduate Women in Business) has been working busily on getting our website up and events planned. It’s exciting to be leading this group and especially as we work to establish something new in the Walton MBA program. I know that my hopes are greater than we can achieve this school year but I want to build this group to the point where those hopes become a possibility. Finally, I’ve been working on a partnership with the NWA Women’s Shelter and we’ve started meeting again to do some financial planning and fundraising work for them. I love how helpful everyone in the administration has been to us and that we can expand what we do in the MBA program to more than work and class.

Alright, that’s all for now….

A Lovely Weekend in Fayetteville: Or How I Wish I Could've Taken Pictures but My Camera's Broken

After a rather hectic week, involving both an interview and a presentation and all that these entail[1], I got to have some fun this weekend. I started Saturday with a trip to Arsaga's, the local coffee shop chain, which was packed with people gearing up for the game. Then, of course, the game. This I actually watched on TV in the comfort of air conditioning. In my defense, I spent my four years of undergraduate spending all day waiting to  get into the game, sitting in the student section  for 3  hours before game time, standing the whole  game and then celebrating/complaining afterward. I deserve my air conditioning and cushioned seat. Anyway, the game was great and I will definitely get out there at some point this season.

               Also on the agenda this weekend was a trip to Greenhouse Grille with my friend Lauren, who is also in the program. Greenhouse is a great local place that specializes in what I call gourmet organic. It’s not as snotty as it sounds; it does hamburger and fries, just organic. Then we went to TheatreSquared for their first play of the season, Boeing, Boeing, a 60s comedy. The theater did a terrific job with it, as they have with everything else of theirs I’ve seen.

               Today, I hit up the Annual Clothesline Fair in Prairie Grove with another friend from the program, Megan. The weather felt like fall and its making me excited for the real fall to come. Summer has just been around too long and I want to start buying sweaters.[2]

               Alright, that’s it for today. I’ll try to post and tell you a little more about my interview and presentation. But I thought I’d lead with the fun stuff. [3]

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[1] Read buying/ripping 3 pairs of pantyhose and searching NWA for a sleeveless shirt to wear under my suit.  Dillard’s loves me.

[2] You will find that someway, somehow my logic always  relates back to shopping. 

[3] Yes, all these groups paid me. See previous footnote. 

Week One

               So the first is of the new semester is done. Here’s a quick list of how things stand:

                    1) I made it to every class thus far. Granted, I had Google Calendar remind me via both my phone and computer but, hey, whatever it takes.

                    2) I still don’t have all my textbooks. Evidently ordering the week before classes and paying for expedited shipping means they’ll all arrive the day after you needed to have 3 chapters read.

                    3) I’m without an internship, again, so at least I have some time to breathe between classes and extracurricular activities.

                    4) I’m enrolled in a Public Administration course, Community Development, and its intense and I spend a lot of time wondering if I can do all the work up to my standards.

                    5) I’m doing the entrepreneurship track. I’ve got a team started and a product picked and now we just need to write a plan….so all the fun stuff is yet to come. I also spend a lot of time in this class staring at a largely metaphorical pile of work. (One perk of the digital age is that you are able neatly store daunting tasks out of sight.)

                    6) I’m President of Graduate Women in Business and also working on a team that is doing some work for the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter. It’s fun work, but that metaphorical pile of work just got a bit larger. 

Let’s hope my organization skills come through for me.