Lucky me

You'll never believe what happend to me yesterday morning!

When I crossed a big(!!!) bridge on my way to work and was just in the middle of it, the wind became so strong that my glasses were blown away!!!
LUCKILY I was walking on the left side and the wind came from the left side too, so my glasses didn't fall into the river... but they fell on the street and were blown away!!!
LUCKILY just in that moment no car came to run it over!!!
... but still... there was a little problem: I can't see anything without glasses.... so how to find it? And to make things even worse: Because there is a big balustrade I had to cross the whole bridge and go the whole way back on the other side...
Well... LUCKILY... I had an idea (Ka's second personality is Indian Jones (^_--) ...I counted my steps till the end of the bridge and was so able to find the place where my glasses should be on the other side...
And hey... LUCKILY I found them! And LUCKILY they aren`t broken, just some little scratches!!!
Oh, and no... I wasn't late (8:30 the bell rings - LOL, no, that's no joke!) at work! ... cause LUCKILY I was a little
bit early yesterday morning and arrived at the office 8:28!!!

LOL.. so tell me: Am I lucky, or what?!?

... little change in subjet ...

I'll leave my company at the end of May - and I'll leave it with "one smiling and one crying eye"...
I love my colleagues and I will miss them so much *sniff* (T-T) ... My lunch/dinner/weekend schedule for the next three weeks is starting to get really packed. Here in Japan farewell events aren't organized by oneself (as it is common in Germany), no, one gets invited to them... Yesterday I had my first farewell party and untill now 4 other are announced!!! Not to count the dinners at our favourite restaurants, the weekend trips, etc...
But nevertheless, I'm happy to go home after having not seen my family and old friends for a very long time. LOL.. and I'll probably need the two months at home to re-charge my batteries for Tuck...

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!

Hard times and some sweets

It is sooooo difficult to decide where to go! Sometimes I wish I only got one offer!
I mean my heart says Tuck, but my head keeps telling me to think about it... And yes, the only reason is the brandmark. Normally I don't care that much about names, but Japanese do. And because I intend (that's what I'm thinking now, if it is what I'm thinking in 2 years... who knows?!?) to go back to Japan after graduation I shouldn't forget about what Japanese are thinking! And unfortunately Tuck and Dartmouth are just not known - at least amongst people who are not familiar with the whole MBA thing. But if I mention MIT a lot of bells start to ring everywhere... Well, last Friday was the decision deadline for Sloan and the nearer it came the more confused I got. the point is, all I know about both schools is second hand information. I've never been there on my own... I know, the best would have been to go visit them... BUT... during the application process it was just not possible. And even now it was not very easy to get some days off. But yaij (^-^)/ just on Friday I booked my flight to Boston for the ASW at Tuck!!!! AND last week I got an email from Sloan... they granted me an extension till the end of April to decide whether I want to enrol or not! That means, on my way back to Japan I will visit Sloan and meet some friends in Boston and THEN I can make a decision based on what I know, saw and feel - and not based on what someone wrote or told me. I hope that will give me some peace... LOL... I'm sure it will give me at least a BIG jetlag!

Oh, and last week was March, 14... White Day. I got a lot of chocolate and even some bacon one colleague made by himself... LOL.. that was probably the strangest (but very delicious) White Day present in the whole country!

Uuuuahhh... I'm swinging

I can`t believe it myself, but my friends really made me thinking about Sloan. They are firing emails at me, saying I'd regret my whole life not having attended Sloan. And their main argument is not that wrong: International reputation.
I don't intend to stay in the States after graduation, I rather wanna go back to Japan. And whoever I talk to here in Tokyo, they don't know Tuck and they don't know Dartmouth... but "MIT" is veeeeeeeeeery well known.
So my task for the next couple of days: Thinking about my vanity! How important is a brandmark for me? Do I really need it? Do I want to be admired and respected because of a school's name or because of being me? And even if I think the brand is not important... how important is to me what other people think of brands and of me?
I really thought that thinking and learning about myself gets a long break after pressing the submit-button for my last B-school application... but it seems it just started again! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLP!
Anyway, tomorrow is the Celebration Dinner with Tuck alumi... unfortunately the other two admitted T'09er who are based in Japan are out of town. But nevertheless... I'm looking forward to it!