:Nintendo Widow

It’s 7am and I’m chatting with my global project team. As part of my Managing Across Cultures class, I have to complete a project with students from three other countries. I’m chatting with a student originally from Brazil who is studying in Finland, a student from Hong Kong in Hong Kong, and an east Canadian student in California. We have to create a PowerPoint presentation by the end of next week and present it to each of our classes.

Despite what I had originally thought, the language barrier is not the biggest challenge. Instead, it’s the time difference. We cannot communicate over email alone. Instead, we must use live chat to agree on our plan before moving forward. Despite having three time zones to deal with, our team is much more flexible than other teams. I got lucky that one other teammate is in my time zone. Otherwise, we’d be juggling four time zones!

The project is interesting. However I wish our deadlines were pushed back by two weeks. I have a full-day interview on Friday and then I’m offline for my Women in Business retreat this weekend. I have Monday off, but I’ll be up early again to chat with my team that morning. Still, it’s easier to chat in my pajamas than catch the early bus to school for a conventional meeting.

I’m home sick today so I’ll be working from home. I have two phone meetings this afternoon. I’m missing one class but my classmate Yoshi has my back. I would normally never miss school, but I think my professor would rather have me stay at home than infect the rest of my classmates with my sore throat. Plus, I want to feel better before my big weekend! Sigh. The timing of this illness sucks.

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Over the last three weeks, I’ve been busy organizing MBA club events, interviewing for post-grad jobs, taking midterms, and volunteering. Although this sounds like a lot, I’m much less stressed than I was this time last year.

To start off, my 30th birthday two weeks ago was really fun. We had a TG the night before and I got to enjoy the last remaining hours of my 20s with many good friends. On Saturday night, Danny and I opted for a dinner and a movie. We saw Michael Clayton, ate at ZTejas (one of my favorite Texas-style restaurants) and just chilled.

Regarding school, my scholarship speech on the 18th went well. I was completely exhausted by the end of the day because I had the speech, a project interview, a job interview, a club happy hour and a mentor reception. After that day, I was ready to never put on my suit again! The interview was a bust but I wasn’t too upset. I was surprised that I was asked to interview in the first place. The interviewers were nice, but it almost seemed like they were qualifying leads rather than interviewing actual candidates. I might interview for a different job at the same company, but that interview was just….strange.

After that day, things have gradually picked up in intensity. My part-time research project is coming to a close. I’ve had two more interviews and I have two more 2nd round interviews scheduled for next week. I completed a midterm last Tuesday, let two club lunchtime events, and then rushed off to volunteer at this year’s annual sushi and sake festival. The festival was very fun, I got to meet lots of local business leaders and I got to fill my belly with wonderful sushi for free! How can a starving student turn that down?

This week will be hectic but I’m not too stressed. It will end with the annual MBA Women in Business club fall retreat. WiB rents a gorgeous cabin on Puget Sound for two days. We relax, drink, eat, go shopping, eat some more and basically just relax in a beautiful setting. I’ve been looking forward to it for six months. Also, by then my interviews and research project will be over. I’ll just need to relax and enjoy the company of my fellow female classmates.

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