Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!

Joe & I spent the night at the Palau de la Musica listening to a Johann Strauss concert. The building was splendid - a mix of Gaudi inspired ceramics, mosiacs, sculptures... and a gorgeous stained glass chandelier inspired by a drop of water.  The music was equally splendid, and we were humming it the rest of the night.  We came home for a bit - since we live 2 minutes from the concert - and then headed back out around 11:15pm towards the beach. By midnight, we found ourselves sitting in the sand watching fireworks over the Mediterranean. Not bad, eh?

It wasn't until this morning that I started thinking about 2012. I'm not one for reflections lately, but since I have a few moments I decided I wanted to put something in writing.

• My first semester of b-school (Fall 2011) was some of the hardest months of my life. However, I felt that January - May of 2012 was the resulting payoff. I enjoyed my classes, felt somewhat intelligent again, and had some great things happen at school: 
1. I received an internship offer to my #1 firm.
2. I received a scholarship from the Texas Business Hall of Fame.
3. I went to India for 2.5 weeks.
4. I did a really interesting project for FritoLay, which had been one of my target companies entering school.
5. I got to TA for the most wonderful professor.
6. I was selected to TA in the Fall for another wonderful professor & the career management class. 
7. I was selected to attend ESADE in the Spring. 
8. I enjoyed my classes and cemented some great new friendships.
   
• By May, I was feeling pretty amazing. 
1. I went on a roadtrip to Washington DC and visited new cities for the first time.
2. I took a week-long class on Business & Public Policy that was eye-opening AND counted for 3 class credits.  
3. Then Joe & I went to Switzerland and Italy.  Perfect.
   
• And then... I started my internship. Without going into too much detail, I can say that all of the anxiety and doubt I had during my first MBA semester came back in waves. I felt lost and incompetent and scared - like the company had made a huge mistake hiring me.  But then things started working out, I found my footing, I had some heavy support, and I figured things out. I got to spend time a lot of time with my parents again, and being my only child self I was happy to be a family again. I was able to maintain a semi-long distance relationship with Joe and he was supportive and wonderful as always.   By the end of the summer, I was armed with a job offer and ready to start school again.
  
• August - December flew by.  I was able to start reconnecting with my non-MBA friends again, I challenged myself with some quant-heavy classes, I met amazing businesspeople in my Marketing Fellows class and at the TBHF Induction ceremony, and I even started working out again. (Slightly.)  Meanwhile I was trying my best to experience everything Austin as I knew I wouldn't be staying in the city much longer.  I let myself have more fun and be less concerned about the things I usually was - eating out, spending money, not exercising, etc. It was a bit of a relief.  When I felt down, I took Sam & June out and I almost always felt better.
  
• And then low and behold I am in Barcelona, about to start my last semester of grad school and looking to explore this part of the world. Not a bad deal, right?!

I do realize how fortunate I am. I have worked very hard to get where I am, so I don't want to say it was undeserved.  I do my best to capitalize on every opportunity that comes my way, and that is one of the reasons I am sitting here blogging from Spain. But still, I am lucky and grateful all the same.

I still have my doubts and frustrations, and I will try to work on them more this year.  I am nowhere near as fit as I would like to be.  I am nowhere close to knowing the amount of Spanish I would like to. I am not as good about staying connected with people as I would like.  However, in the grand scheme of things - these are little things that also help keep me motivated.  I wouldn't be me if there weren't insecurities floating around in the back of my head that drive me to be better!

So there we go... My thoughts are out there, and I am ready to take on this year. I wish all of you the very best this year too. If there is anything I can do to make your year better, say the word.