#ltcmba

Last Monday I had one of those days that really made me think about my life as it stands. I remember sitting thinking, “Wow, I really am living that #mbalife” Here’s what I did:

Monday, April 11, 2016

6ish AM - Wake up to get to campus by 6:45 to drill finance problems with classmate. Quiz is in 4 hours. Share words of encouragement / frustration with more classmates who trickle in.

9:40 AM - Finance class starts, professor lectures, quiz is handed out.

12:15 PM - Leave class feeling like I could have done better, but knowing my score definitely improved from the last quiz (thanks study team!) Make my way towards Dupont for a 2pm meeting.

12:45 PM - Eat a healthy lunch at a hole in the wall place boasting “Baja California food.” Call my mom as I continue to walk to meeting place.

1:00 PM - Chat with my mom about how to handle stress, befriend the pigeons at Dupont Circle. Somehow my fiancee knew I was feeding them. 

1:30 PM - Arrive at Kramerbooks and Afterwords Cafe, order a nitro coffee (looks like a stout) and journal for about 30 minutes. Wait for my appointment to start.

2:00 PM - Start my session with the Proinspire fellow I am coaching. It feels so cool to be a coach for a program that was so valuable to my career. Maybe I’ll be a professional coach one day?

3:00 PM - Walk back to campus for a 4 o’clock meeting with my Consulting Abroad Project CAP team and professor. Discuss the ways we can compare the Israeli and Estonian entrepreneurial landscape to that in South Africa. *Spoiler alert: It’s hard.*

5:00 PM - Wrap up meeting and declare next steps. Since I am the project manager of the team, I had to send a recap meeting to a teammate who wasn’t there. Walk home.

5:30 PM  - Eat a Trader Joe’s salad that's in the fridge and watch two episodes of Animaniacs on Netflix. Appreciate that Dot always interrupts whoever says “Warner Brothers” and says, “And their Warner Sister!”

6:00 PM - Lay down for a 15 minute nap

8:30 PM - WAKE UP I OVERSLEPT

8:33 PM - Begrudgingly make my way to the gym in my building for cardio

9:30 PM - Run into my fiancee in the hallway. He’s just returned from the airport and looks exhausted

11: 30 PM - After a shower, debrief and more Netflix with my fiancee, I head to bed

11:30 PM - 1:45 AM - Stay up on Pinterest cursing my nap earlier

Looking back, that was quite a day I had. I can’t say that was typical for me, but it really makes me look back on the privilege I have to be able to be a full time business school student. It makes me appreciate the #mbalife I am living and enjoying.

Oh and if you’re interested, the previous Monday’s #dayinthelifeofanMBA looks like this

Monday, April 4, 2016

9:20 AM - Oversleep, skip the shower, run to class.

9:48 AM - Walk into finance class 8 minutes late, embrace walking in front of the professor to my first row seat. Sit in class and wonder what language is the professor speaking because I have no idea what is going on.

12:15 PM - Leave class feeling no better than I did before, walk to my next appointment

1:00 PM - Pee in a cup for a pre employment drug screen for my summer internship.

1:30 PM - Stop by a food truck outside my house for lunch and sit on Facebook for 2.5 hours.

3:00 PM - Gym

4:00 PM - Shower and wait for fiancee to get home. Watch TV together. Eat dinner. Watch more TV.

9:30 PM - Go to sleep

As you can see, this Monday is way less exciting than the first one, but that’s what makes being a student worth it. I can’t help but look back at both days and think I’m hashtag blessed.

“Have a good one!”

What does that mean, exactly? 

We were in Chicago for the National Society of Hispanic MBAs Conference and as we were leaving a restaurant, our bartender told us to “have a good one.”   Andres, my Chilean teammate, asked me what does this mean and why do Americans say it? He said the first time he heard it was at a coffee shop and he assumed the barista was telling him to have a good coffee. I guess he or she could have been wishing him that too. 

I never thought about it before, but now I can’t stop noticing how often we say it. Why? Why not say, have a good day? Or, Have a good evening/night/time/etc? 

I explained it was a casual way of saying have a good day. He assumed as much. 

I spent the rest of the conference mostly with an Italian from Uruguay Fulbright Scholar, and an Argentinian who’s lived in 0920492792598x countries (approximate) and can probably speak more languages than I’ve heard, and of course, Andres. 

These are the small things I’m enjoying most about my MBA experience. Our class is over 50% international, which means I often have to pause and think about things I take for granted, like churros and Chipotle. During summer orientation, I had to explain to my Chinese classmate what is the magic of Chipotle. Born and raised in Los Angeles, I  NEVER thought I would have to explain what are churros or Chipotle because of course, EVERYONE knows and loves Mexican inspired food. Silly Lynda, we have a long way to go. 

I’m Latina, but I’m not “spicy.”

Is this the equivalent of the “angry black woman” or the “crazy white girl” ?