october & november life updates
As you’re reading this, I’ve probably already landed in sunny California! Seattle’s been raining for the past couple of days, so I’m glad I get to escape and enjoy perfect 75-degree weather for a bit. Look out for an LA recap (and why I am in LA in the first place) to come next week! (Also: how is Thanksgiving next week?!).
As I promised and hinted at in my last few posts, it’s definitely time for a life update! Think of this as a coffee catch-up – grab your favorite drink because this is going to be a little lengthier of a post!
October was incredibly hectic, but in the best way possible. My class load isn’t bad at all this quarter, and I have great friends in each class, which makes it something I look forward to every day. Classes definitely went into full swing though, which means I had to buckle down and keep up with the material (and spend copious amounts of time in the library). Honestly, there wasn’t much of a routine in October for me – I didn’t even get to celebrate Halloween and dress up because my schedule was so packed. 😭
November was a lot more eventful. My business school turned 100 this year, and so they held a centennial celebration dinner at The Westin Seattle. My school always puts up really nice dinners, where multiple corporations such as Boeing, PACCAR Inc, and Nordstrom come to speak or present. We even had the CEO of Godiva as our emcee. The most extra thing about the whole night? The ice!! Sculpture!!
Pacific bass with potato and eggplant torta – go Dawgs!!
The same night, my sorority hosted our feed, where the proceeds go toward our philanthropy, the Alzheimer’s Association. It’s always a fun time to have students come to our house to grab snacks.
I “celebrated” my 21st birthday this month as well, albeit in the library. I had that tax midterm that I had to study for, but a group of girls in my sorority surprised me by bringing a cupcake, birthday party hats, and a FAT birthday balloon to the library (that thing is currently in my room and is going to take forever to deflate), and utterly embarrassing me by whisper-singing the birthday song to me. Not going to lie, it sort of made my day though.
One of the things I love about UW’s Panhellenic community is that they really are making an effort to diversify the Greek community. There is a Diversity Chair who sits on the Panhellenic Executive Council, and they decided to start a book club! I hopped on it immediately because I can’t say no to great discussions, meeting new people, and free books. This month, we’re reading I Am Malala, which I’ve been meaning to pick for forever. I’m definitely looking forward to curling up with the book over Thanksgiving Break and meeting back up with everyone after the break to discuss. Our first meeting was wonderful – we met at a coffee shop at night and they treated us to a drink of our choice.
Then it was time for big/little reveal! Our reveal is one week long, where the bigs basically shower the littles with gifts each day, and the reveal happens on the last night. It was so fun decorating and putting all the aesthetic pieces together. My favorite part? Not having to dance around the bushes anymore – I get to spend all the time in the world with my little 💖
Another little exciting thing from this month? I’ve officially declared another minor: Informatics! Ever since taking my first informatics class, studying abroad in the UK and looking at high-tech, information and big data have never felt more pressing and relevant. I know I want to keep learning about the topic because it’s only going to become more important in the upcoming years, so I declared it. I would still be graduating “on time” (within four years total of undergraduate education), so why not?
Lastly, I had the privilege of attending an exclusive boardroom discussion with executives from Alaska Airlines when they came to our school last week. To be honest, it was pretty intimidating because there were C-Suite executives there and a ton of MBA students. However, it was incredibly engaging as we discussed the acquisition of Virgin America and how they’re marketing to their new audience and adjusting to cultural differences. I got the nerve at the end to talk to the CIO and asked about – you guessed it – disruptive technologies and how Alaska will be implementing them in the future. It was a different way about learning about a company, and I feel truly honored that I was able to be part of the discussion about Alaska’s future.
So that’s it for now! I don’t think I missed anything; what’s going on in your life?
Thanks for reading!
Jen x