Thursday, March 31, 2011

Done with classes!

For now anyway. It has been a while since I wrote, and rightfully so! I've been extremely busy and have been on 8 espressos for the past couple of days. Sleep has dropped to 5 hours a night and being in the front row, it would be pretty obvious if I dozed off.

We finished our class today and start exam preparations tomorrow. We have 4 exams next week and each will take about 4 hours. I'm apprehensive about it, but at the same time, relieved that I will not have to do any group assignment or any cases. On that note, our experience with the first study group is also over. Team MonX will hereby retire and we will get new teams once we reconvene on April 14th.

I am exhausted, but excited to hit the books and do some reading during the day and not at 1am in the morning. Such are the little pleasures in life.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

It's time to exercise

D-day: Thursday 1.30pm

We were faced with our first integrative exercise that lasted from Thursday to Saturday morning. I slept for a total of 2 hours... I learned so many things in these 2 days, primarily about business analysis, but also about group dynamics and the effects of sleep deprivation on behavior. I am lucky enough to be naturally calm in these kinds of situations, probably because of my time in the military, where sleep deprivation was a constant phenomena.

Our group survived, and it's one less integrative exercise I have to go through. Time is zooming by and I'm going to enjoy these insane moments. Cheers!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Goodbye Economy

Our last economy class... the whirlwind tour of economics has ended, and we are now facing a test to wrap it all up. The last class culminated last Friday, where all 11 groups presented their work. Class lasted 7 hours, but I have never had so much fun in class before. It was filled with wit, charm, intensity, passion, conflict and even alcohol!

Each group presented on the micro and macroeconomics of a country or region and introduced challenges and potential solutions. It was extremely interesting to hear the issues of economic growth and if it is the only solution and how might change come about. In the end, for every single country or region, it came down to changing the mindset of the people, which means it will take years and would require strong leaders. A coincidence that IMD focuses on leadership? Maybe not.

I will miss Prof. Boscheck and I will miss this class. Cheers to economy!

We discussed gender discrimination and this created some tension in class
The India group came with costumes and all!
Prof. Boscheck in all his glory
A beer in class - priceless!