Today was the first full day of classes -- Accounting, Economics, Finance, and Marketing. Sounds pretty standard for an MBA curriculum, right? Right. But yesterday, I still hadn't bought the books, nor had I confronted the reading and other preparation necessary for the first day of class. And what was this about having core classes start during orientation?
Tuesday morning (the day before class), I finally escaped from our two-day team simulation (more on that in another posting) long enough to buy the books -- there was, in the end, no more time left to do so. At the end of the simulation, more or less a 10-hour day of hardcore team work and narrowly averting driving my team, industrial engine producer Vroom Corp., into the ground, I started to panic at the idea of three chapters of finance to read, two articles for marketing, reading an annual report and a chapter for accounting; thankfully nothing for Professor Frank's class. This was going to be a lot of reading about a lot of stuff I don't know a lot about for one night...
Somewhere in the midst of the process of realizing what I needed to do, how little time I had, and the very real possibility of falling behind from the beginning, a calm came over me. It came through a welcome epiphany. In the five years since undergrad, I had somewhere along the line picked up a skill I didn't have when I graduated from Middlebury -- the ability to sit still, the ability to concentrate, the ability to beat a deadline. Thank you journalism!
After the aforementioned marathon team simulation, I loosened up with a little finance and marketing in the library until it closed at 7. Then I moved quietly downstairs in Sage to a breakout room and read some more. Then, around 8, I admired the crimson sunset on the walk home. I was already well over halfway done with my work. When I got home, I ate a leisurely dinner and chatted with my wife and her friend, who's in town visiting. Then I read some more before bed. I got up early and read for an hour or two before class this morning. And you know what? I got it all done.
And you know what else? I like my professors. I'm excited about becoming an economic naturalist. Accounting seems kinda interesting. I didn't wait to be cold-called in Finance; I actually raised my hand. And I think I'm going to understand this marketing thing after all. All in all, it was my best first day of school in a long time.
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