Julie,
Right now it is 5pm and we just finished with classes for the day. We have a break till about 6:30pm before we start the "activities" tonight. The CEO of Rio Tinto is coming to speak to us tonight and we are also going to be doing some networking with Duke Alums that currently live in this area. It should be really interesting. The only unfortunate part is we are all so bogged down with things to do, that this part is almost becoming a burden because it is taking the place of time we could be studying. Hopefully it will be one of those things that once you arrive it turns out to be a great thing and you are so happy you went.
Well to recap yesterday, the main thing is there was nothing particularly exciting, we had A LOT of classes. We were in class from 8am to 5pm with an hour break for lunch. We did, however, finish one of our classes. CCL is one of our multi-term classes and we only do that class during the residencies. We did it this first week because we have financial accounting starting tomorrow so CCL finished yesterday. What was cool about it was for the last class they had us reflect on what we had learned from this location and things we had done so we could prepare to do the same thing at our next location and contrast the two, and then carry that on through the rest of our locations. As people were making comments I started to reflect on what was big for me and some comment by others really keyed me to the idea. I think one of the biggest things I learned or became aware of is who I want to be and what I want to represent. I have been to international locations before, but never by myself. Always I have travelled with family or in the case of my mission I was with people that held my same belief system. Here, however, there is the contrasts that I have pointed out previously about everyone drinking alcohol and coffee, most of them tend to have looser language, and in discussions it just become obvious that they have a different belief system. Those situations I have previously been sheltered from because I have always had someone with me (i.e. my family or my companion). Here I am totally on my own. At first being thrown into that world has made me a little uncomfortable (what do I do if they ask me to drink, what if they offer me a coffee, what if they ask why I don't do those things, etc). As time as progressed, I have realized that each one of them has their own belief system and hold ideals and principles that are dear to them. The goal is not to be a afraid of those differences, but to accept those people on the basis of who they are and not who you want them or think they should become. I've enjoyed being able to reflect and think, you know I want to be known as a person that holds strong to his ideals and doesn't compromise his beliefs. I want to be known as "the honest person" or the "guy that doesn't drink" or whatever else it may be that contrasts me to them. Not because it makes me better through the individual principle but because it helps me to establish who I am.
Anyway, I could go on that for a while, but it has been really cool to reflect on who I am and what I represent.
I also had a career management center meeting with the Duke staff. They helped me to find all the resources for job searching and gave me some really good strategies for doing more than finding available postings and applying for those jobs. The start with the strategy of what do you want to do, who do you want to work for, and where do you want to be. You then create a cross section list and find MBA level positions at those companies and locations and see what is covered in the job description. From the job descriptions find what on your resume matches up and what holes you have, so then you can fill in those holes by doing project work (or internships). After that you cross reference those companies with the Duke Alumni network (and your undergrad alumni) and use those contacts to find out more about the company and to have a point of contact within the company. It then leads to building that relationship and being prepared for things that will come from now, until graduation.
Anyway, as part of that and in preparation I would like to sit and discuss with you regions of interest for us in case we were to move somewhere, where would we want to be. That should be an interesting exercise huh?
Well after the CMC meeting, I went to dinner, read a case, met with my team, and edited the paper we had due until 2am. I could tell I was really tired when I was getting mad at every little problem that would come up with formating the paper or getting it to fit on two pages. I finally just had to tell myself to calm down, I finished the paper and I went straight to bed without doing the other reading because I knew it wouldn't be effective.
Day 8 I woke up later than usual (7am instead of 6am) so I could get a little more sleep. I went to class and actually did the reading I was suppose to do the night before during the first part of class. It all worked out ok, but I got to get the hang of this student life thing again.
Classes today have been pretty normal. We finished our other multi term class, GMI, so it was nice to get that burden off our shoulders. We are now down to ME (Managerial Effectiveness) and Financial Accounting. ME is actually a really interesting class and has some very interesting case studies associated with it. Class each day is 3 1/2 hours long, but it actually goes by really fast because we have a lot of discussion. Tomorrow begins Financial Accounting. We are all SCARED! It is suppose to be the hardest class we take the entire program and she is a really hard professor. There are a lot of rumors that go around about how she is really strict and how she cold calls people in class and that the reading is 10 times more than you could ever do, plus assignments, etc. It is already starting to seem overwhelming, so I guess we will do what we have been doing with the rest of these classes. Take them day by day. Next week will be interesting since ME ends on Monday and then we only have Accounting for the rest of the week. That sounds like they are preparing us for A LOT of work.
Here is a quick video of my ME class. I filmed it "covertly" but thought it would be cool to show you a small snippet of what I am really doing everyday.
Today I also ran out of garments. Well I used my last pair to wear today and I was planning on taking my stuff to a laundromat, but apparently there aren't any. My only choices are the hotel's laundry service (ridiculously expensive) or a local service (down right expensive, which is just a shade below ridiculously expensive :). So I took the advice of my teammate Pat and borrowed the laundry detergent he bought a few days ago. Below is the picture of me doing my laundry.
How bout them apples? Makes me feel like I am on my mission again.
(3 Hours later) Tonight we had the networking with alumni and a speech by Tom Albanese, the CEO of Rio Tinto. Both went well and we had a good time. There weren't too many alumni so the ones that were, there were about 10 people surrounding each one so I decided not to force the issue. The speech was really good and there was an engaging Q&A at the end so I was happy to sit and listen to it, but it went 45 minutes longer than schedule and so that made me antsy as well as the fact that I was so tired and had periods where I felt like it would be IMPOSSIBLE for me to stay awake. Alas, I survived and now its on to studying.
I'm glad we got to skype today. Let me know how Dallen's game goes against Springville. So glad that it is football season again!
Love,
Brock
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