Author: Christopher

After a long long 48-hour day of travel back home (yes, one day), I’m finally back on the right-coast. I’ve come back to messages, photos, funny voicemails, and great stories from my classmates who are now abroad in various countries – so much so that I can hardly remember where they were all going (sorry Tara). I hope to share mine as soon as I get the pictures and video off of my camera.

In catching up on some blog reading, I ran across an entry from my friend Adrian who summed up the semester quite nicely.

Some interesting facts that speak for our past in the program:
– our class mates total is 95
– unfortunately 4 of them left the class already
– 13 different nationalities: US, India, China, Bosnia, Germany, France, Belgium, Romania, Hungary, Peru, Mexico, Thailand, Barbados
– 9 different tracks that we will all be involved in (calculating Mexican and Spanish as two different ones)
– we took a total of 13 different classes, taught by 16 professors which come from 4+1 distinct countries (Explanation: India, US, Hong Kong, Bulgaria and Boston 🙂
– 25 credits worth of studies
– 9 physical text books, 1 online text book and millions of cases from our friends from Harvard
– attended 4 CEO speeches (Wachovia lectures)
– eat 2 times per week for free at the International House of Students right across the street
– we spent about $70 worth of parking tickets in 5 months
– estimated 264 bottles/cans of beer consumed by us
– estimated 76(Anand) and 23(Adrian) Starbucks caffeine drinks purchased
– 24,000 actual minutes spend together in class, paying attention

To read more from Adrian, visit here. It is amazing to consider what we have accomplished in such a short time. I will see Adrian in a few days but will miss many of the people who I may not see again in the next two years. I predict many trips around the world to satisfy the need to keep the bonds that we’ve created in the last 9 months. Good luck everyone and safe travels.

Well, it’s official. Global Finance has finished today with the exam I completed not more than two hours ago. By far, learning international finance has been the most difficult topic within the program. The past week has been spent studying and focusing my efforts in order to truly understand the concepts, not just the calculations. I now feel I can watch CNNFN with an excellent understanding of what is driving international business today. Very powerful.

One downfall now is that we are so focused that everyone is in study-mode in the afternoon. We’re being constantly shelled this week, relying solely on the frail bunkers of our minds and each other for protection. Coming into class to take an exam and leaving at different times leaves little time for salutations and goodbyes. I’ve met some truly amazing people in this program, many of whom have opted for the two-year language tracks. I will always remember my peers in this track as I will most likely only see them again through world travels. Best of luck to all of you and enjoy your language study and internships in Germany, France, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, and more.

Moving forward, I anticipate focusing on Japan and writing more on what this blog is truly about.

There are only 9 weekdays left until the end of the semester. Though I feel very good about many of the papers just handed in as well as upcoming exam in international finance and managerial accounting, I feel thoroughly and utterly drained. This program has been a physical challenge as much as a mental one.

We have just finished an excellent case on Lufthansa and foreign currency hedging options available to multi-national corporations. Jorge A. Bermudez, President and CEO of Citibank’s Commercial Business Group spoke to our class today. It is truly awe-inspiring what affect a global company can have on countries in today’s global capital markets. We heard some great source stories about currencies crisises across the globe from the 1970s through the Argentinian crisis in 2002. It was also interesting to hear his thoughts on Japan and the future competitiveness of the United States. Either way, I’m going to have to watch Commanding Heights all over again now.

Two group meetings later, I’m home and ready to go to bed. But at nights, I always find my mind racing with new information. I think the real challenge of getting this MBA is not learning the information, but properly applying what I have learned after I complete the degree. We have gained so many tools and experienced so many things. Now, like a kid in a candy story, I find my mind exploring infinite directions threads of thought on how to apply what I have gained. It’s overwhelming.

How can foreign currency pricing help me start a business in Japan? How do leadership techniques I have learned help me become more influential in my existing work? How does culture influence ethical decision making in the MNC? What business models will benefit most from real-time decision making systems? How can lessons learned from the business models we’ve studied be applied in other industries: electronic entertainment, music, publishing?

I will be posting more as the program concludes next week and I have some time to reflect on the experiences I have had in these few short months. But until then, its time to quiet the roaring in my head. おやすみなさい。(goodnight)

A few brief statistics from my life right now:

• Number of countries conversed with today: 6
• Number of team groups I am currently in: 4
• Number of exams/quizzes due this week/next: 4
• Number of times I’ve eaten dinner at home in the last seven days: 1
• Number of times I’ve missed breakfast in the last seven days: 7

Busy and boring, the worst combination.