Labour Thanksgiving Day

... that's how the Japanese call their national holiday on November 23. After a great dinner and bowling night with friends yesterday I needed some time to get out of bed today. And thanks to Labour Thanksgiving I could spend the rest of the day with listening to audiobooks, writing mails, sleeping and eating. Once in a while I need those "do-nothing-days"... Unfortunatly, everthing will be back to normal tomorrow... including an alarm clock that rings before 6... so time to get some more sleep =o)

I calmed down

I had a nice weekend trip with some friends to the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. We started at 5:45 am to arrive there before all the other weekend tourists do… but as I told you when I wrote about my Tuck interview, I’m not exactly what is known as “early bird”. But after all we were wise to decide to go early! Not only because we saw the sunrise while driving to the National Park, but also because the streets and the Park were still empty when we arrived there. And around noon, when we drove down the road from Owakudani, people who wanted to go up were stucked in an endless traffic jam… and they probably were for the rest of the day… while we already had our dose of volcanic sulfurous gases (@.@) and already ate the black eggs that are boiled in the hot springs of Owakudani (^_^)… The weather was fine, and when we later enjoyed one of the numerous hot springs we saw Mt. Fuji and some rests of the foliage… a perfect scenery to relax!
And yes, after the detoxication last week... I calmed down a bit. I’m still a kind of nervous about Tuck’s decision, but I don’t check my message board and my inbox ten times a day… and I’m very proud of it!

Detoxication

I felt much better today… so I was back at work – don’t like to sit around at home… And as I promised to myself not to check on any MBA related websites during the working hours I even got some work done ; )
But honestly, it helps not to think every minute of the day about the applications. I keep telling myself: “You did the best you could for the applications. Now be happy to have so much more time for your friends and all the things you always wanted to do here in Japan…” And of course I am happy to have my normal life back – but… yes, there is a but … but during the last months I worked so much for the applications and put so much heart into it that it’s just difficult to let go. I know I only torture myself with thinking about it all the time, and I know I can’t change a thing about what I wrote in the essays or how I presented myself during the interview… but it is so hard to stop dreaming or wondering or thinking about what I could have done better… I should be confident!
So here it is – today’s conclusion: Let’s try to see it sober (kind of oxymoron)… I have a chance to get in. And I don’t make it any smaller or even bigger by thinking about it all the time – it only stops me from thinking about other important things. If I get dinged (let’s hope I wont) I have to live with an MBA free mind… at least till next year’s admission rounds. And if I get admitted (I hope I will!!!!!) I don’t have to worry about dings now. So here it is… my MBA-application-detoxication-plan: After not checking the well known websites for over 9 hours today - my next step is: No MBA sites or MBA related things for 24 hours! . . . . . I know I can do it . . . . . . . . . yes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I will be strong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . no problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . absolutely no problem.

Ok, time to go to bed. I need some more sleep… after all I'll have an MBA free day tomorrow and lots of work to do after yesterday's absence… Oh, does dreaming about an MBA during the night count as relapse?…

Wonderful people!

The soccer game on Saturday was fun… but it rained and I think I got a little bit cold. So here I am now: Not at work but at home and trying to get better…
But I don’t want to write about me (I’ll be better tomorrow!)… I just wanted to tell you about my nice dorm manager. She lives on the first floor of our dorm. And as we have to check out when we are leaving the dorm for work, she knew that I probably do not feel well when she saw that my sign on the name board wasn’t turned into „absent“… So about noon she knocked at my door, brought me some fruits and asked if there is anything else she could do for me! How sweet!
When I arrived at the dorm (It’s one of my company.) for the first time and learned about all the rules, I was a little bit worried if I could arrange with it. I mean, I’m not 18 years old anymore. And even at that age I didn’t had a curfew! … But after a while I figured out, that coming home even after the curfew is no problem if I call in advance (^_^) and I got used to all the other stuff. And living somewhere else in Tokyo would be very expensive AND I probably wouldn’t live near a river as I do now AND I probably wouldn’t be surrounded by all the nice people who are living at my dorm!
Anyway… time to get some recovery-sleep…

Movement on the West-Coast-Front

My Stanford status changed: "Your application is complete and currently under review."
... well, that's all the news I have.

Regarding my Tuck interview: I still can't relax and I still quarrel if I should have a good feeling or not. It's as if two little guys were sitting on my shoulder... one on the left, one on the right. And they keep telling me
"Relax! Everything went fine!"
"Nothing went fine!"
"Oh yes, it did! You had a nice conversation!"
"... and... you screwed up the last question."
"... but Kristine will understand that it was just a misunderstanding!"
"... you don't know that. And... you didn't talk about so many important things..."
"Oh shut up there on the left!"
"No I wont!"
"Yes you will!"
"No!"
"Yes!!!"
"&%$§=?..."
There are still 5 weeks till the decision date... I'll probably go completly crazy in the meantime!

However, tomorrow I'll meet some colleagues - we are going to watch the Kawasaki vs. Tokyo soccer game. I definitely need more of those distractions!

A short summary of my Tuck interview

Yesterday I had the interview... 8:00 am! Not my favourite time of the day, but ok, so I didn't had to be nervous the whole day...
Kristine was very nice and able to lessen some of my nervousness. The interview was more a conversation and no question-answer-next question-next answer game. She started to ask since when I am living in Japan and we went on by talking about why I came to Japan, how difficult the language is and if I have problems to work here - espacially as a woman... During the following conversation Kristine asked What are your plans for the future? Why an MBA? Why Tuck? Why now? How would your family describe you? Which personal areas do you want to develop? And then she asked if I have some questions - I had. She answered them very detailed... and the 40 min were over!

I'm not sure how well I did. I misunderstood the last question - I'm sure my answer confused her. And I completely forgot to talk about how important teamwork was and is for me... and hey, isn't teamwork and community everything Tuck is about? However, I can't change it and have to live with my answers ... all I can do now is wait and hope...

BTW, I wrote her a "Thank you!" e-mail and had a very nice reply in my mailbox after only 36 min!

Wish me luck!

Well, of course Kristine didn’t come to Japan just to interview me. Needless to say that there will be other applicants. But I think the real reason she came is the Tuck Info Session today and the MBA Fair on Wednesday… And I thought: „Hey what a great opportunity to meet Kristine once before the interview at the Info Session!” …and in addition I could have another chat with some Tuckies. Ok, the chat wasn’t that necessary, because I spoke with lots of them during the info session in summer, but… I’d really liked to get a better feeling for my interview partner. Maybe it would have helped me to sleep better…
That’s what I thought. And what did I do? I was working!!! But what else is new… I was trapped again at my company with the project I have to finish till the end of next week. I don’t even know if I will make to the MBA Fair… It’s a shame, but it’s the way it is. And maybe it is even better to meet Kristine tomorrow for the first time. So I won’t have to ask myself if it was unfair that I knew my interview partner before the interview…
However. Wish me luck for tomorrow!

... relax!

The nearer the Tuck interview - the more nervous I become. And it is mainly because it will be my first (real) interview in English. And what makes me even more nervous: My interview partner is not an alumnus (who would probably have been a Japanese for whom English is a foreign language too and who had once to go through the whole interview process too) ... it is Kristine Laca... yes the former Admissions Director Kristine Laca who is now working at the Dean's Office for Strategic Planning. Although it seems to be a great opportunity to get some first hand informations, I'm worried about feeling too observated... I mean, she is a real admission pro! But maybe that's even an advantage, who knows...
However. I spoke with alumni, went through all interview questions I could find in the internet, read the brochures and the homepage again, I even had a mock interview. I think there is nothing more to do than relax... Any suggestions how?

Am I crazy?

Yesterday night I found the "Tuck in 2007" forum and spend some time there. Glad to know some other real Tuck lovers exist out there in the world!
After I fell in love with Tuck I had some problems to find some other schools to apply to. In the end I ended up with Stanford and Sloan... But I must confess, that reading some other blogs really makes me wondering, if applying to just 3 schools is such a wise decision. There are people out there who applied to more than 10! Am I crazy to say "I'd rather wait a year instead of going to whatever school takes me."?

Sittin' around

Actually, it was a nice day. Still over 70 °F here... so I went to the nearby river, sat in the sun and studied Tuck's MBA brochure...
Since weeks I didn't go there and it felt sooo good to be outside the whole day! I just feel like I missed so much fun during the application process. But well, before success the immortal gods have placed the sweat...

Wondering

The last months I spend so much time on my MBA mission, that submitting the applications left me sitting here... wondering what to do next.
So why not starting a blog about my mission - or at least about what is left of it... waiting.
But wait... there is already something to announce: An invitation for the Tuck interview came in last Friday! As I'm not living in the US I didn't had the opportunity to visit the campus... hence, no interview in Hanover. My interview will be next Tuesday and because tomorrow is a national holiday here in Japan I'll have a long weekend to prepare it. Seems waiting is not as much waiting as I thought it will be...
So stay tuned!