I spent the 2009 spring break in Costa Rica. The journey to Mal Pais went something like this: cab from Manhattan to JFK, flight to San Jose (the one in Costa Rica), taxi to bus, bus to ferry, ferry to a hitch hiked ride to Mal Pais. I got to town just as the sun was setting, grabbed the surf board and headed out for a quick paddle. It was a great way to start the trip and pretty refreshing after a day of travel.
I was fortunate enough to share the experience with just short of a dozen of my friends from Columbia Business School and with my sister, who flew in from San Francisco. The "most-time-spent-in-the-water" award definitely goes to her. We settled quickly into a nice routine, which for the more surf-inclined involved waking up near sunrise, surfing, eating, napping mid-day, eating, surfing until sun set, and throwing back a few Imperials to "rehydrate".
It was a great way to spend a week, and it was made even more enjoyable by the presence and guidance of Raquel, a fellow CBSer that grew up in Costa Rica. She showed us around and even had a few of us over to her parent's house in Orotina. Hanging out in the shade poolside while listening to Latin music was one of the highlights of the trip, as were Raqui's and her family's hospitality.
Costa Rica's scenery is amazing. And with its government's focus on eco-tourism and sustainability and its lack of a standing army, one has got to recognize that they might be on to something. I'll definitely be back. Pura vida!
Pictures
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Columbia Business School Semester II in Review
The second semester at Columbia Business School was as equally as exciting as the first, but in a different way. Instead of drinking from an academic fire hose, I drank from a very powerful one of the garden variety. I still spent a significant amount of time recruiting, but the majority of traditional on campus recruiting tailed off as the end of the first semester neared. This allowed me to focus more on spending time with friends and on second semester courses.
I took two semester long courses, Capital Markets and New Product Development, and six half semester courses, Global Economic Environment I and II, Managing Marketing Programs, Operations Strategy, Decision Models, and Power and Influence. Just like the first semester, I leaned a ton and thoroughly enjoyed the material, the professors, and the in-class contribution from my colleagues.
It wasn’t all work all the time, as I managed to take a trip back to Seattle and San Francisco before the semester started, a weekend trip to Atlantic City with about 25 other b-schoolers, and a week-long spring break trip to Costa Rica to surf with my sister and several of my good friends from CBS. Another blog post will detail the surf trip.
One of the most memorable aspects of my second semester of business school was the ridiculousness of the winter weather. Sure, the holiday lights and sounds were charming, but the businesses take it all down in late January. It seemed like they jumped the gun, because it remained well below freezing into late March. It even snowed in April! One can get used to anything if given enough time, but I must say that I never got used to passing the same frozen pile of dirty snow and ice on my street corner for a month straight. In most parts of the inhabited world, ice has an opportunity to melt. Not here.
Another vivid memory was from a run I went on in Central Park. It was one of my normal loops, but it was about 16 F. I had been jogging in below freezing temperatures before, but never when it was this cold. The run went okay temperature-wise, as I was wearing a bandanna over my ears, a light thermal t-shirt, a jacket and some running pants. But, as I took the iPod headphones out of my ears when I finished, I realized that I had grown one inch sweat icicles off the ends of each piece. I guess you do what you’ve got to do to stay healthy in the city.
Socially, life was more of the same. Lots of eating out, trips to the bars around campus and downtown and spending time socializing with the b-school folks. The only downer was that just about everything took place inside, but considering my description of the weather, you might expect that. Fortunately, as the end of the semester approached, the weather got considerably better. I took advantage of it and made trips next door to the roof deck of The Heights, to Brooklyn, to the Guggenheim, the MOMA and the Met. And, there was plenty of walking around elsewhere mixed in. All in all, it was another great semester at Columbia Business School.
Pictures
I took two semester long courses, Capital Markets and New Product Development, and six half semester courses, Global Economic Environment I and II, Managing Marketing Programs, Operations Strategy, Decision Models, and Power and Influence. Just like the first semester, I leaned a ton and thoroughly enjoyed the material, the professors, and the in-class contribution from my colleagues.
It wasn’t all work all the time, as I managed to take a trip back to Seattle and San Francisco before the semester started, a weekend trip to Atlantic City with about 25 other b-schoolers, and a week-long spring break trip to Costa Rica to surf with my sister and several of my good friends from CBS. Another blog post will detail the surf trip.
One of the most memorable aspects of my second semester of business school was the ridiculousness of the winter weather. Sure, the holiday lights and sounds were charming, but the businesses take it all down in late January. It seemed like they jumped the gun, because it remained well below freezing into late March. It even snowed in April! One can get used to anything if given enough time, but I must say that I never got used to passing the same frozen pile of dirty snow and ice on my street corner for a month straight. In most parts of the inhabited world, ice has an opportunity to melt. Not here.
Another vivid memory was from a run I went on in Central Park. It was one of my normal loops, but it was about 16 F. I had been jogging in below freezing temperatures before, but never when it was this cold. The run went okay temperature-wise, as I was wearing a bandanna over my ears, a light thermal t-shirt, a jacket and some running pants. But, as I took the iPod headphones out of my ears when I finished, I realized that I had grown one inch sweat icicles off the ends of each piece. I guess you do what you’ve got to do to stay healthy in the city.
Socially, life was more of the same. Lots of eating out, trips to the bars around campus and downtown and spending time socializing with the b-school folks. The only downer was that just about everything took place inside, but considering my description of the weather, you might expect that. Fortunately, as the end of the semester approached, the weather got considerably better. I took advantage of it and made trips next door to the roof deck of The Heights, to Brooklyn, to the Guggenheim, the MOMA and the Met. And, there was plenty of walking around elsewhere mixed in. All in all, it was another great semester at Columbia Business School.
Pictures
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