100 Days

You would have thought that I would have had a count down or something going…but I didn’t. Oops!

Yesterday marked the 100^th day of my Harvard journey.

I still haven’t been back to Chicago. 

I still have bouts of homesickness. 

I still doubt the wisdom of putting major parts of my life on hold for the sake of this opportunity

I still wonder about the admissions criteria

I still think that this is one of the wisest choices I’ve made

I still wonder about what my future will look like post-Harvard

Only around 200 days of the journey remain and that makes me a little sad. 

I truly hope that I'm making the most of this experience.

The next 100 days will be referred to as “The Hump”

Sign of the times?

Is this a sign?

 

On October 16^th of this year, I felt the earth move under my feet.  It didn’t last long, but it was enough for me to recognize it as an earthquake.   It measured 4.0 in magnitude.

Today, October 26^th, all the news outlets are preparing the upper east coast for Hurricane Sandy which has also been dubbed the “Frankenstorm” because of the widespread havoc she can cause if she merges with a cold front.

 

 

Uh, I’m from Illinois.  We deal with excessive heat, artic temperatures, ice storms and minor earthquakes. We know that at 10AM on the first Tuesday of the month that the tornado sirens will be tested.  If we hear that signature wail at any other time, we are to proceed to the inside rooms or into the basement with no questions asked. I’m taking comfort in that I already know what should be included in a survival kit.

This is my first time living in the Boston area. It’s bad enough that my beach time was stunted by a great white shark attack this summer, but to have an earthquake and the threat of a hurricane within a 2 week span is pure CRAZINESS.

I really want to think that this is purely coincidence.

I hope it is purely coincidence.

If not, I’m heading back to Chicago because self-preservation ranks *very* highly on my list of priorities. You can call me a chicken, but at least I’ll be a living clucking chicken. 

Dead chickens are called dinner.

An Open Letter

Dear random Harvard University professor,

Thank you so much for coming to speak to our class yesterday.  I know that you don’t normally teach our class, so it was enlightening to hear your stance on the topic at hand.  I am sure that I had never considered the problem in your context. I realize that everyone has a valid experience and that I cannot discredit your experience because of my own bias.  Being confronted with such a radical idea has allowed me to sharpen my critical thinking skills and solidify my position on the subject presented.  That being said, I am extremely disappointed/shocked/dismayed/angered by what you said in class yesterday.  Had I presented the same information, with the same lack of sources (credible or otherwise) you would have taken a chunk out of my ass.

Whether we like it or not, we have a responsibility to the Harvard brand to present well-crafted arguments.  Our words and actions are no longer in a vacuum, but are now representative a greater collective.  I understand this.  You understand this.  Our mutual understanding is why I call bullshit.

Don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying my time at here at Harvard.  To have access to great minds and intellectual innovation delights my inner nerd.  I wouldn’t trade this year of learning and growing for anything in world.  But that doesn’t mean that I’m not frustrated by professors that waste my time.  When I am expected to make excellent use of the stingy 20 minutes offered during office hours, I expect for you to have that same consideration for my time. This has nothing to do with Harvard, but everything to do with respect.

I’m just a simple Midwestern girl.  I believed that I had won the intellectual lottery when I was granted admission. I still believe it.  The rose colored glasses I donned when I stepped off the plane at Logan Airport are still in place.  You have ability to impact the vision that I am seeing through those glasses.  Please don’t take that responsibility lightly.

Best,

Michelle

Check Please?

For the last couple of weeks, I have been working diligently and submitting assignments for my classes.  Most of the assignments were only a couple of pages, but the sheer quantity of reading that I was supposed to internalize to produce the mini-assignments was a little mind blowing.  Late last week my professors started to return my submitted assignments.

Excuse my American English as I pose the following question to Harvard University:

What the fuck is up with the check marks!?

Really, Harvard?  Check marks? No beginning of the alphabet? No numbers? Check marks! How am I supposed to embrace the B, when I can’t figure out what letter the mysterious check mark will morph into?

For those of you not in the know, Harvard grades on a curve.  I think this is their way of insuring that we all conform to curve. Why did y’all think I was embracing the B? The B is the center of that curve!

In all honesty, I’d rather have a gold star than a friggin’ check mark, but that’s just me.

But speaking of GOLD STAR effort, I’d like to thank my best friend for sending me a care package full of healthy goodies.  She heard my lament about having to buy fat pants and she decided to help me out instead of passing judgement about the snugness of my pants.

She even included dark chocolate dusted almonds in 100 calorie packs and Skinny Cow chocolate sticks.  That, right there, is true friendship!

Healthy Snacks, YAY!

Anyone? Anyone?

Oh my! Where has time gone? I’m approaching my first 100 days at Harvard.  Yikes!

Last week I went to a seminar over at the business school.  It was then that I finally realized why I was struggling so much with my classes at the Kennedy School. The classes at the business school were being taught in my native tongue! It has been quite the culture shock to move exclusively from the private, for-profit sector into the world of public policy, not-for-profit, government and non-governmental organizations. It soothed my soul to hear EBDITA, VC and M&A.  As much as I have run from it, I was surprised by how much I have missed it.

Unfortunately for me, I am taking a course that is very much like a Burmese python.  With every breath I take, it constricts and squeezes more life out of me.  I do not like the course.  I have never liked the course. I should have dropped it the first time I felt despair. Now I have too much time invested into it to just drop it.  Today was especially painful. I kid you not, the instructor posed a question to the class said “Anyone...anyone?” and he was met with almost of full minute of silence. UGH.  Really? This is what’s at Harvard? And it’s required for graduation!?

But on a brighter note, I got my grade back on one of my papers.  I guess that I “embraced the B” to the point that I was able to squeeze out an A-!  At least I’m not in danger of failing that course…yet.  The only bad thing is that I need a secret decoder ring to decipher the instructor’s handwriting. 

I wonder if my mom is still paying $1 for A's? This is worth $0.75, right?

Embrace the B

Today I had my first midterm in a long time, and it was OK.  It was nothing spectacular in the least little bit and I’m OK with it.

Now, the Michelle that came to Harvard at the beginning of July would have had a coronary attack by merely typing that sentence.  What!? Take and exam and only do OK?  

Yes, I can take an exam and merely do OK because I have learned to embrace the B.

How did I learn to embrace the B?  I decided that I needed to be strategic.  I only have one year to live inside the Harvard “bubble”.  It is during this time that I have to soak up all the knowledge that I can and attempt to make it relevant to where I am now and where I want my career go. This is the time for me to make lasting friendships and career contacts. This is the time for me to go to a JFK Forum event and ask a world leader a question and for them to seriously consider an answer and direct it back towards me personally.

However, I have my limitations as a student. Especially as an older student who is still dusting the cobwebs off the seldom used portions of my brain.  I cannot enjoy my life within the bubble while striving for perfection on papers and exams.  Don’t get me wrong.  I give every assignment the best effort that I can at the time.  But if I get a B on an exam, it won’t be the end of the world.

I only need a B average to skip across the stage and claim my Harvard diploma. I have no plans for another advanced degree. The only people who will know my grades will be me, my instructor and the Harvard registrar.

If they’re not telling, neither am I.