I'm back and I'm sure!

Tuck's ASW was a blast! I met phenomenal people and had a really good time!
The weekend (Thursday evening till Sunday morning) was packed with activities and it is just impossible to mention them all, but I want at least share some of my impressions with you:

Including the partners we were ~250 people who attended ASW and if you take into account the 1st and 2nd year students and their partners we were a big crowd that was running around on the campus - but everything was perfectly organized BY THE STUDENTS!!!

William Achtmeyer (T'81, Chairman + Managing Partner, The Parthenon Group) was the keynote speaker and he did a great job! His speech was very entertaining and showed how much he loves Tuck. LOL... he even brought his Tuck shirt when he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. So, unlike the Harvard alums who were with him, he was able to take a picture and prooved "Tuck reaches the top of Africa" :)

All alums (there were a lot during ASW!!!) and faculty stuff were very approachable. Want an example? Here it is: On Friday we had dinner at 2nd year houses. I had mine at Sachem Village... nice house, nice people(~15)... and Dean Danos and his wife were there too! How many prospective MBA students of other schools can say they had dinner and a nice chat about all the world and his brother with the Dean of their school during ASW???

I had my mock class with Prof. Kevin L. Keller (marketing) and am already looking forward to having real classes with him!

Section 5, one of the two Tuck bands, played at the party on Friday at the Hopkins Center and I have to say: THESE GUYS ROCK!!!

A 1st year student who was sitting on the panel of Friday's Women in Business Club breakfast had an internship interview the very same day. And although she had to leave at 8:50 am to catch the Dartmouth coach at 9:00 am she didn't wanted to let her classmates down and came to share with us her point of view... what a commitment!

We had snow... LOL... so the weekend was a real Tuck experience, although snowstorms in April seem to be quite unusual...

And one last thing that expresses exactly what I'm thinking: In Chicago, when I was boarding my connection flight back to Tokyo, a woman saw my new school shirt (LOL... of course I was wearing it ;), pointed at it and said to her husband: "That's a very good school!"

What spring comes with

It comes for example with Hanami = "Watching cherry blossoms" = THE spring event here in Japan. So the last few days I was quite busy with "watching"... but to be honest: As beautiful as all the pink trees are, and as much fun Hanamis are... I will never understand, why Japanese people are sitting under trees in cold (!) spring nights to drink and have what I'd call a barbecue. Why not doing it in summer or autum? Ok, then the cherry trees are not flourishing... but hey... it is dark anyway ;) But to be fair: Of course Hanamis take place during the day too, but for the working folks "Daylight Hanamis" are possible only on weekends... and that are to be spent with the family... so Hanamis with colleagues are during the week and therefore during the night. LOL...to make a long story short... I had fun drinking and eating under cherry trees, but catched a little cold...

But spring also comes with some new things... Here in Japan the new school year starts on April 1.... The in March graduated students become new employees and start to work on April 1... In companies (at least in mine) new departments and divisions are formed and others are closed, stuff got transfered to other divisions, to other cities and even to other countries ...and when I say "got trandfered" I really do mean they "GOT transfered"... they did not ask for it! When a Japanese enters a (Japanese) company he doesn't apply for a special department or position, no, he applies for working at the company. And the company decides where everyone works... during the whole worklife (~40 years...it's not common to change the company!). And in my eyes these who works where decisisions very often do NOT make sense: Why transfer someone from let's say HR to Facility Management... especially if that person didn't ask for it? But to make the story short again: Two of my colleagues which I liked very much got transfered. I'll miss them!!! (T-T)

Oh, and from the B-School front: I totally forgot to check the American holidays before booking my trip to the East Coast...I'll be in Boston on Patriot's Day! That means, I won't be able to attend a class or to talk to some faculty stuff. But the student I was assigned to when I got admitted to Sloan is nice enough to meet me and to show me around. So I'll get at least a little impression of Sloan... and then... uuuuuaaaahhhh... then I'll have to decide...
Well, I keep you updated about the ASW in Hanover and of course about my decision!