Planning Ahead

This past week was not only the Add/Drop period for this quarter, but also the Pre-enrollment week for classes for next semester. It's a little hard to kick your brain around this early for next semester, but pre-enrolling in classes is sometimes the only way you can get into them, like the Intro to Wines class that I am currently taking in the Hotel School. My week was a little hectic with an exam, two interviews and a group project, so I wasn't able to give a ton of thought to what I want to take in the spring, but I love the fact that we can take classes in any of the schools here at Cornell. So far I've picked "Principles of Real Estate" and "Human Resource Management". The first is in the Hotel School and the second in the ILR school. It will be great to meet even more people here at Cornell.

Today some of my friends and I went on a wine tour over on the west side of Seneca lake. It was my first official wine tour of the Finger Lakes region, and it was such a great time. We could have gone to the closer wineries around Cayuga Lake, but we were more interested in trying out the slightly farther Seneca ones - and we weren't disappointed. Armed with plenty of snack foods on our rented bus, we hit up about a half dozen wineries or more and a good time was had by all. It's so wonderful that Ithaca is nestled in the Finger Lakes region and that we have the opportunity to experience the wineries (and the beautiful fall scenery!) I would recommend the wineries in this region to anyone who visits Ithaca.

This weekend also contained one of the first symposiums of the year which was put on by the Black Graduate Business Association and was focused around professional development. From what I hear it was a great success and incredibly interesting. I wish that I could have participated. This is the first of many symposiums to come in the next couple of weeks, including one co-held by SHRLOE and the General Management Association, the Healthcare and Biotech Club, and many more. Check them out if you have the chance!

Also on the horizon is the diversity weekend here at the Johnson School called Johnson Means Business. Current students host the invited prospective students and there are many events that run throughout the weekend. It's a great way for people to get to see what the Johnson School is all about and it's also a wonderful way for current students to meet possible classmates. If you're a prospective who's been invited, please consider attending. It's such a great time and we look forward to hosting you!

Fall Break

It's amazing how excited and happy a person can get about having two days off from school. I anxiously awaited this past weekend like it was a snow day from my childhood. I haven't had a "fall break" since undergrad and after working for six years prior to business school, I had forgotten how fun it can be to have a nice little break.

Fall break signals the end of the first quarter of classes here at Cornell. It also brings on the excitement of new ones that will begin next week. Somedays I think I may be the only person who gets really excited to start a new class, but I can't help it. I feel like you never know when you'll find a class that will make you passionate about something. And even though I'm always on the go, and involved in a lot of things, I'm always looking for more things to be interested in and passionate about. My new classes in the second quarter will be "Disruptive Technologies" and "Customer Relationship Management." Well, I hope I will get into the second class because technically I am not registered for the course yet. I'll have to take my chances with the registrar and the Add/Drop process next Monday. Wish me luck!

Back to Fall Break, Sage Hall was eerily empty today (and it was SO easy to get free coffee this morning!). I hope that the first years are now having fun on their fall break! They have successfully survived the first part of the core and have three more exciting classes to undertake starting next week. Remember first years, don't let the second years freak you out about the classes. Make your own determination of how hard/easy a class will be for you. It's different for everyone. Ok, enough wisdom from me...