Last Week of the Spring Semester!

Sunday (4.22) – more Finance! I have to admit, I don’t do much on Sunday morning. I’m not much of a morning person, and I never have been. Instead, I sleep in and watch cartoons (ha). I tune into the first few minutes of the Flyers game before I have to head out for our third and final study session for Finance! We do a review of all the topics we’ve already discussed and go through some sample problems. I am so much more comfortable with the material after an entire weekend of studying! It definitely helps that I took a little time each day to study, and didn’t cram it all into one night.

A few of us head off to get food and take a short break from all the financial terms and concepts – and to catch part of the Bruins game. My team has already secured their spot in the next round, so I only watch with passing interest. The Bruins manage to eke out a win, so they’re still in the playoffs. After the study break, I finish up adding some key equations to my (professor-sanctioned) cheat sheet as well as some more info about Black-Scholes option pricing model. Then I spend some time researching and trying to book the rest of my flights for my upcoming month in Asia!

Our IFS trip to China doesn’t start until May 17^th, but I’m traveling before and after the trip. This means coordinating a ton of flights from (are you ready for this?) Boston to Seoul to Bangkok to Phuket to Hong Kong, and then from Beijing to Tokyo and then back to Boston. Yeah, just a little crazy! After booking two flights, I have to call my bank and inform them I am trying to book more flights so they remove the security block on my card. By the end of the evening, I have most of my flights booked! Then I turn in for the night to get some sleep before my final!

Monday (4.23), I magically wake up before 7AM on my own. This rarely ever happens to me. I must have been incredibly nervous about the Finance final. I add some minor things to my cheat sheet that I hadn’t thought about the night before. I grab a bagel and green tea from a local coffee place and head to campus a little early. I find most of my classmates already in the grad lounge! We throw around some questions we think might show up on the exam. Then it’s time for the final! I walk out feeling confident, and head to the gym to get rid of some of my nervous energy. After my workout, I grab a salad from Au Bon Pain and head back to the grad lounge. A few of my classmates and I do a quick run-through of the key topics in Supply Chain to prep for the final tomorrow.

I head home and take an hour or so to shop online for work clothes. There’s a construction crew right outside of my apartment, but I start to read the case for our Strategy final memo. I fall asleep a few pages in, though… yikes! I guess waking up early and then going to the gym wore me out. Even though I try to pick it up again after waking up, I can’t seem to focus. I decide to tackle the Strategy case tomorrow, and take the rest of the evening to look over some of the Supply Chain concepts.

I grab a coffee before heading into Dodge to take my next exam. The Supply Chain final on Tuesday (4.24) is not too difficult, but it’s been a while since I’ve had to hand-write essays. The professor hands out Blue Books – something I haven’t seen since my undergraduate days! I try to keep my essays as concise as possible. I go to the gym after the exam to run off my energy once again. Also, it’s not much longer till I’ll be on a beach in Thailand!

I meet with my team to build our Powerpoint for the Operations presentation tomorrow. My Powerpoint skills have been put to a lot of use in the last few weeks! We take about two hours to put together the entire deck. I’m not presenting this time around, so I get to head out of the meeting a little earlier. The rest of Tuesday is spent writing up the final case memo due for Strategy on Thursday. I organize my thoughts as well as I can, but I’m just a little distracted when a few of my classmates and I book our hotel in Tokyo! So exciting!  

Wednesday (4.25) morning rolls around much faster than I anticipated. We don’t start our Operations presentations until 10:50, so I spend most of the morning putting the finishing touches on my Strategy memo. Once we go into class, we start pretty much right away. A lot of the teams did their projects on food companies; one team even brings in homemade brownies to supplement their presentation of Taza Chocolate! And our final Operations class wraps! I meet with two classmates to look over some of the material for tomorrow’s Stats final.

The entire city is in a tizzy about the last Bruins game in the Bruins-Capitals series. I admit it – I have the game on while I continue studying for Stats. If I don’t watch it, I won’t understand half the conversations at school tomorrow. Unfortunately for Boston, the Bruins lose in sudden death. I shut and lock all of the windows in case there’s a riot. Apparently it’s happened in the city before!

I’m up early again on Thursday (4.26), even though my Stats final isn’t until 11:20. I spend another few hours feverishly going through review problems and trying to remember all the terms. Once I finish taking the exam, I can finally take a sigh of relief! I’m done with all of my exams for this semester! My classmates and I head over to our favorite pizza joint to celebrate.

Friday (4.27) morning, we have our last session with Professor Croke. It’s mostly about our newly formed learning teams for corporate residency. I’m on a team with my Hamilton Sundstrand roommates! We learn how to use a web-conferencing tool available through Blackboard, and then head over to Our House East to celebrate the end of the semester! Later that night, several of my friends and I end up at a Korean restaurant in Allston for dinner. Yum!

I wake up on Saturday (4.28) with not a thing to do! Well, almost. My research team for China meets at 2pm to discuss what to write about and then divvy up sections. We’re examining the growing popularity of wine in China, and the effect that the wine industry has on the country. It’s a fun project, but it’s a little difficult getting excited about writing another paper. Later on at night, I (and someone special!) have dinner at the most amazing seafood place! Atlantic FishCo. is so delicious. I love seafood, and Boston is definitely a good city for yummy fish!