Saw the First Snow Flakes

Mixed into rain and sleet this morning. Made it a perfect day for Christmas music and... studying. Just one week of classes left and not even a month before we're in Paris :-)

New York, NY

In French class on Friday, my professeur asked me (in French of course) what I liked about New York City. We are trying to work basic conversations into class, so it was a good discussion topic. I replied that I really like les jardins publique (public parks), like Central Park and Riverside Park. I fell in love with the jardins again this morning when I went running in Riverside Park. The crisp morning air was so invigorating, and since all the leaves are turning, there was a satisfying crunch crunch under my feet as I ran. There's a beautiful tree with red leaves along the path, and the park was bustling with activity--other runners, people walking their dogs, and parents taking their kids to soccer games. I know I live in a concrete jungle, but it's pretty idylic at times!

Christmas

Here it is, November 1, and I'm posting about Christmas already... Setting aside all the things that I need to accomplish between now and December 25, which is quite a lot, I am excitedly anticipating Christmas. Why? Because we are going to spend Christmas here:

Yes, you are correct, that is Paris. And yes, we are spending Christmas in Paris. It's a long story, actually. I am traveling to Ghana for a school project immediately after finals, and as it turns out, the flights coming home had a very convenient stop in Paris. So Zach is going to meet me there. We are renting a little apartment and will spend some welcome time together, enjoying my favorite city (so far) in the world. I can't wait!

I Miss You, Mister

One more fall picture, taken on a sunny Sunday afternoon when we're together--just the way I like it.

New York in the Fall

Pictures at last. As "You've Got Mail" so aptly describes, New York is truly beautiful in the fall. But you can judge for yourself!

Of profit maximization and other imponderables...

Thank you P.G. Wodehouse for teaching me the meaning of the word "imponderable," because I think it is the only word that could possibly describe the way I feel about economics at this moment. Yes, you guessed it, I am in the middle of midterms and finals (some of my classes are only half-term classes), and have spent the last 4 hours thinking about profit maximization, marginal revenue, elasticity of demand, and other topics that should be classified as four-letter words.

I might be exagerating just a little bit.

But not too much.

I had an accounting midterm yesterday, which boosted my spirits. I'm not sure if it's fair to credit accrual accounting, cash flows, and balance sheets with boosting your spirits, but if nothing else, it was confirmation that I have learned something this semester. But now my attention is turned to economics, on which I will be tested Monday, and then statistics, for my test on Tuesday. Economics is, arguably, very valuable for understanding business and the way the financial world works. But it has definitely been the source of no small frustration this semester because of the nature of the class/teacher/methods. Nevertheless, I will come out knowing a lot more than I started with. Hopefully it's just the lot more that our professor expects us to know for the exam. I suppose we shall see!

Pip, pip.

When D.C. starts to feel like the country...

...well, you know you've been living in the big city, I guess.
This weekend was my first time back in the greater D.C. area since moving to the Big Apple in May. My schedule isn't quite as flexible, so I got into D.C. on the bus after midnight on Friday night and am now on my way back home. I am thankful for comfy travel busses with wireless internet service!
All weekend, I couldn't believe how open and clean everything felt! Just goes to show you how life is all about comparative perspective, I guess.
Anyway, we had a chance to go to homecoming at PHC and see a lot of friends from undergrad on Saturday. After spending the last several months surrounded by brand new faces and people and things, I greatly enjoyed catching up with people I know and have some shared history with! One thing, though--it may work to live without a car in the city where there are subways, but it is NOT a lifestyle designed for suburban America... Suffice to say we have very gracious friends who are willing to lend a ride, or else we would have been in Arlington all day.
Even with the rather short time allowance I had for being gone, I am really thankful that it worked out, since I am heading into finals for the first half of the semester in the next two weeks. The intensity level is already pretty high at school, but it's definitely going to get higher! I am just reminding myself that you can do anything for a while, and really haven't gotten too stressed out to this point... I think... but you might have to ask my husband about that.
In addition to school stuff--classes and assignments--I've been pretty busy with the start of recruiting season. The last two weeks have been filled with presentations on campus from a lot of different consulting firms with whom I would like to interview for a job next summer. The presentations are really a chance to get to know them and talk one-on-one with the people on their teams. So far, they've been helpful, but it can add up to a lot of activity when you have two or more presentations in a given day. I've also committed to working on a consulting with a team of students this semester. We are working with a microfinance lending organization in Ghana to help build out their lending model. The project will conclude in Dec. with a trip to Ghana to present our findings, so although it does mean some extra work this summer, I am really excited about it overall. This is definitely the kind of consulting that I would love to have the opportunity to pursue in the future, so it's great to get some experience now.
The other thing that I'm involved with at school is the Women in Business Club, which is the professional club for women in the MBA program. I was elected as an Assistant Vice President, which means you work with the leadership team. My specific responsibilities involve coordinating all the marketing and print media for the club's annual conference. I am also very excited about this role, since it will bring together a lot of the elements of my past experience and put them to use for a good purpose.
All this adds up to a pretty intense schedule, overall, but from what I understand, the first semester is really the most difficult in terms of projects, assignments, and general recruiting schedule. On top of that, I kind of anticipated the intensity--everyone I talked to said to prepare for two full-time jobs, so that's just what I did. So mentally, the schedule was not completely unexpected, and that really helps.
Anyway, there's an update from me. The short story: things are going well, the challenges of our lives right now are working thesmelves out, and we're really excited about the present and the future. :-)