Somewhere between Gothenburg and Oxford
I am spending the week in Bloomington, Indiana as I begin a new journey in life. I am now officially a graduate student at Indiana University - a card carrying member of the Hoosier nation. This is something I had been considering for some years now, and I finally reached a point in my career and in my life where the timing fit to "get this done now." I am pursuing a masters in business administration at the Kelley School of Business. It's named for the founder of Steak 'n Shake, one of my favorite restaurants. He did a lot of other relevant things in his life, including giving a truck-load of money to IU, but the one I like to remember him for is creating a burger chain that puts McDonald's to shame in terms of quality and service.
My time on campus is already reminding me of my days at Miami University, and the charming town of Oxford, Ohio. Blooming is actually a really cool town too, I just never took the time to notice. Growing up in a Boilermaker household, I didn't make many trips down here. I was actually accepted at IU for my undergraduate work, but turned them down because it was too close to home.
The weather this week has been ridiculous. Specifically, it's been about 10 degrees, snowing and and an arctic wind blowing for about 4 days now. I walk across campus twice a day and it about gives you hypothermia. Reminds me a lot of Gothenburg, Sweden. I was there in February 2007 with some new colleagues at the time who have since become good friends. The only difference is that it was darker there, and people spoke, well, Swedish.
They're keeping me busier than I've ever been in my life. I'm only taking time to write this so I can decompress. I had to plan 5 minutes into my schedule yesterday to call my wife because she hadn't heard from me in 3 days and might be getting worried. We go to class from 8-5, then do course work and team projects from 6-??? I'm fortunate enough to have a good team that works together well. We finish most nights about 11:30. Others have been up as late as 2:30, so I guess that means we're doing something right. We won't see our grades for another week or two though, so I suppose we should reserve judgment.
I'm learning about negotiation, leading an organization through change, addressing cultural differences, and generally some new techniques for approaching and analyzing business problems. It's spectacular. I haven't had this much fun working hard at something in years. I'm learning things that are immediately relevant to both my professional and personal life. I've met a ton of really smart people. I'm blown away by how smart these professors are. None of my professors (I've met 3 so far) are simply "academics." They practice in the fields they teach. They have experience in the real world. They're not just spitting out theoretical nonsense, they're telling you how the world actually works and giving you strategies and skills for how to survive in it. I haven't received the bursar's bill yet, but I'll gladly pay it (with a loan from Uncle Sam) as soon as it's presented to me. This is really good stuff.
Time to crash.
My time on campus is already reminding me of my days at Miami University, and the charming town of Oxford, Ohio. Blooming is actually a really cool town too, I just never took the time to notice. Growing up in a Boilermaker household, I didn't make many trips down here. I was actually accepted at IU for my undergraduate work, but turned them down because it was too close to home.
The weather this week has been ridiculous. Specifically, it's been about 10 degrees, snowing and and an arctic wind blowing for about 4 days now. I walk across campus twice a day and it about gives you hypothermia. Reminds me a lot of Gothenburg, Sweden. I was there in February 2007 with some new colleagues at the time who have since become good friends. The only difference is that it was darker there, and people spoke, well, Swedish.
They're keeping me busier than I've ever been in my life. I'm only taking time to write this so I can decompress. I had to plan 5 minutes into my schedule yesterday to call my wife because she hadn't heard from me in 3 days and might be getting worried. We go to class from 8-5, then do course work and team projects from 6-??? I'm fortunate enough to have a good team that works together well. We finish most nights about 11:30. Others have been up as late as 2:30, so I guess that means we're doing something right. We won't see our grades for another week or two though, so I suppose we should reserve judgment.
I'm learning about negotiation, leading an organization through change, addressing cultural differences, and generally some new techniques for approaching and analyzing business problems. It's spectacular. I haven't had this much fun working hard at something in years. I'm learning things that are immediately relevant to both my professional and personal life. I've met a ton of really smart people. I'm blown away by how smart these professors are. None of my professors (I've met 3 so far) are simply "academics." They practice in the fields they teach. They have experience in the real world. They're not just spitting out theoretical nonsense, they're telling you how the world actually works and giving you strategies and skills for how to survive in it. I haven't received the bursar's bill yet, but I'll gladly pay it (with a loan from Uncle Sam) as soon as it's presented to me. This is really good stuff.
Time to crash.
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