Kicking things off...

At 7:45am on Monday morning, I walked down Inner Campus Loop to the back door of the McCombs School of Business. The last time I made that trek as a student was in December 2001... but it felt strangely familiar and strangely good. (Strangely odd that Jenna, my attached-at-the-hip-best-friend-undergrad-partner-in-crime wasn't there, but that's another story.)

Monday was the first day of Boot Camp, which is a week long MBA quantitative training program. (Glad we cleared that up... it is not a place for Das Boot to go play. Sorry boot!)  I walked into a room packed with students, each of us with our backpacks and school books and anticipatory expressions.  It was a bit overwhelming, but it was also very exciting.

Over the past two days, I've been reviewing accounting, learning quantitative tools and applied excel for data, markets and statistics, and listening to great lectures like "The Overview of the Business Environment and the Goals and Responsibilities of the Manager." There are many times when I feel like I need to participate in the class discussions, or ask a relevant question, or say something to converse with the professors. At first I was feeling quite stupid because I didn't know the answers to questions they would pose, but now I see that I AM HERE TO LEARN THE ANSWERS. (Took me a moment! Sheesh!) In other words, I am already learning a lot and I am loving it!

I do however feel like I'm in a strange place, having lived in Austin for 11 years and already establishing myself, my routine, my friends, and my lifestyle. While I'm being social enough during the day, I need to get out to the student activities and meet people. (No hibernating bear allowed for a while!) I realize that my education and my network go hand in hand, and I need to start building it ASAP! The people I have met so far are really amazing. I'm constantly impressed (and then further impressed) with each of them, and these experiences continue to confirm my decision to stay in Austin.

Next week I have my last week off, and then orientation starts on August 1st. I'm thinking of having a "good-bye" party before the semester starts, because I can already tell it's going to get crazy.

Did I mention I am loving it?