Retreat!
Tomorrow, I’m heading up to Marysville for the UW MBA Women in Business retreat. I’m really not a girly-girl, but I am interested in learning more about my classmates. Since my background in tech means that (unfortunately) 90% of my coworkers were male, being around so many smart motivated women is a little different for me. I’m excited about it but it’s not a dynamic I’m used to. I think the plan is to just hang out, eat, drink, and maybe get some homework done. I’m sure it will be more exciting than that sounds but I just want to relax with classmates AWAY from campus for a change.
Today was really good. I’m finally getting to relax a little now that 75% of my midterms and 100% of my presentations are complete. To celebrate the end of these exhausting two weeks, my teammates and I went out for a very nice, long, huge Korean lunch downtown. I ate so much I’m surprised I needed dinner tonight. Our waitress was really cute: she is Japanese and spoke a funny mix of Japanese, Korean, and English. I could pick up some of the Japanese and English but watching her try to converse with my classmates was really entertaining. Everyone had a good time I think. I’ll definitely have more Korean food in the future, but I need to find out the names of the dishes I ate today. All I know is kimchee.
Speaking of good food, I’ve been invited to the Sushi and Sake Festival being hosted by a local Japanese historical society called Densho. I found out about it from a wonderful woman who is very involved in the Japanese business community as well as women’s business ventures. I met her when she came to campus two weeks ago to speak at a Women in Business event and since then I’ve attended a local seminar called “Doing Business in Japan.” She was a great host and introduced me to many local leaders in the Japanese business community. Since I’d love to work in Japan once I get my MBA, this was a huge step in terms of getting my name out there and networking. Everyone was so so sweet and I really hope I have time to be more active in similar events outside of school.
Next week is only four days long because of Veteran’s Day. It will be busy (two early morning breakfast seminars before class) but I’ll get to end it by going to the sushi festival on Thursday night and then sleeping in and studying (a little) on Friday.
[…] Valuable experiences were had outside of the academic setting as well. With 12.5% of his MBA complete, MBA Gladiator is back from a trip to Chicago, and provides a great recapp of the Yale trip to a Kellogg-hosted NetImpact Conference. DomoDomo took a jog and found himself reflecting on important topics like his objectives for his year at INSEAD, and other experiences in Fontainebleau ranged from Hallonman’s forward-looking recruiting prep to Michael’s Halloween fun. UW student Sarah learned about her classmates at an MBA Women in Business retreat, while Noelle’s personality assessment for a certain second year class at IESE shed some light on her own traits. Other student bloggers continue to learn about their schools as well as about business: Hallonman learned - the hard way - about the cold call at INSEAD, Edmundo reflects on what he loves about Owen, Ash shares some realizations about the benefits of GND at Stanford, and God only knows whether UCLADawg would have seen Brian Wilson in concert if he hadn’t taken advantage of the larger university opportunities Anderson affords. […]