Casual Friday

230 pm on a casual Friday. After a two week blogging break, it was time to come back. This past weeks have been pretty hectic. We are definitely speeding up towards the end of the semester. I can’t believe there’s only a little time –three weeks, basically – left for this amazing first year to be over.

I’d love it was still November or so. I don’t know why but in the last weeks I have been feeling like this is over, not just the first year but the whole MBA thing. It is probably due to the fact that my MBA2 friends are feeling gloomy given that graduation is just around the corner….and coming back to real life, not the one on MTV but the one about working 70+ hours a week, is also a few weeks ahead. I will feel like crying next year, I am sure about it!

As I said, it’s been hectic around here. I have had – and still have – lots of group assignments due and getting together becomes a bit of a pain when you have to coordinate schedules (well, last Saturday I was not able to make it to a meeting for the first time since the night before I met Mr. Long Island Iced-T for the very first time…that was really a tough meeting, particularly the day after!!). But everything is going fine. I am particularly happy about our Marketing group. We did like shit in the first assignment (we were actually the worst team in class) but we came back with the highest grade in the second one. Yesterday we gave a presentation to the class concerning one of the questions in the third assignment and it went great (I also felt good individually talking in my non mother language in front of 90 people).

However, the most painful assignment is Damodaran’s corporate finance one. It’s a shitload of work and, although I am trying to work on a daily basis, it takes a lot of time. It’s a curious thing what happens with this course. I really feel like I am learning quite a lot although my quizzes so far have been poor. Anyway, the former is the important thing, not only for this course but generally speaking. Some people are very concerned about grades but, although I am fully respectful, I believe they are wrong. Grades are (or should be) worth nothing. It’s all about learning. What’s the point of getting an A if you achieved it by relying on a cheatsheet? This has happened to me and I can say that I would rather get a “solid” B by knowing the stuff.
A special reference must be made to the Business of Producing course. This course is basically about learning how to produce a feature film. The professor is David Newman who, among others, won an award at Sundance for The Squid & the Whale (great movie, so see it!) and I am really enjoying it a lot. It’s a lot of reading and a lot of work every week but I am enjoying it.

I am gonna finish. I gotta go to school right now to do some print outs. I think I will also go the gym to stress out a little bit (I’m trying to get fit for the last soccer tournament of the year, to take place in Dartmouth-Tuck, New Hampshire, on May 4th through 6th). Then back home and get ready to party. A friend of mine has told me that a pretty wild party is going on tonight. I don’t have the details yet but maybe you will get some in a few hours from now ….

Btw, this blog has been nominated for the Best of Blogging Awards by Clear Admit (check out for nominees at http://blog.clearadmit.com/2007/04/best-of-blogging-nominees-2007) . Thanks to all of you who have been reading it… and remember to spread the word!

Ciao