A Friday Reflection

Well I've just finished my first week of my last year of business school - and it's been pretty good! I had a class on Int'l Humanitarian Law, but I dropped it for a class on Int'l Business Law - which includes a section on humanitarian law. I also have a course on the Int'l Monetary System and one on Managing Exports. It's exciting because I'm finally delving into the International Business classes that are what I'm most interested in.

Int'l Business classes are really interesting, because unlike domestic business you have to take into account the different countries that your business will be working in/with - these items include the laws, culture, infrastructure, political system, language, the list goes on and on.

One interesting thing we discussed in Int'l Law, was how many law students don't regard Int'l Law as "true law" and they don't value learning about it. Because the int'l laws - like treaties between countries - aren't necessarily enforceable, and the law systems are not identical as the U.S. My teacher said that they say that because they regard the U.S. law system as the best in the world, that if other law systems don't copy it, that they can't be true law.

I'm excited to learn more!

Why Americans should never travel (or at least some of them as they give the rest of us a bad name)

I'm an avid traveler, have not only been to almost every state in the U.S. but also lived in three different countries. As you expand your horizons you realize more often those americans that have little or no knowledge or anything outside of their immediate life. It's really quite sad.. but I suppose you have to see the humour in it and just take it with a grain of salt.

Here's some funny examples from travel agents and people that they have dealt with that are perfect examples. I don't agree with the title, cause as you can see if these people traveled a little more they wouldn't be so clueless.

Why Americans should never travel

... When living abroad you can always spot the typical American tourists - the ones that talk really loud to people that don't speak english because they think the people will understand then, or the ones that complain about the culture or differences instead of trying to understand them, or the ones taking pictures of every possible thing as if people are aliens. But then there are of course those that are more aware of the differences and the ways of life and appreciate them and live within the culture, not like they're in a zoo looking at people through a pane of glass.

The 5 Sisters - keep the juices flowing

Today my sisters - Christianne, Karianne, Susanne, Ruthanne, and I released a blog that we will be creating together, called "Keep the Juices Flowing." Christy had started a blog on her own where she showed off her artistic and creative projects and then thought it a great idea to involve all of us - where we can show our unique viewpoints, and our projects would be different based on our individuality and stages of life. Should be FUN!

I post next Thursday - hoping to show off a mod podge/ memoir book I made, or a couple pictures that I painted for fun.

http://keepthejuicesflowing.blogspot.com/

I'm hoping that this project helps us sis's to stay in closer touch as life goes on, and keeps me going on projects. Hopefully I'll have time to more creative things than powerpoint, as classes start in one week.

Grad School Blues - Why someone should hire me

I'm about to enter my second year of grad school to earn my International MBA - be done in March! I'm really glad that I went back to school at the time I did, when everyone is losing their jobs due to the recession, its nice to know that I can focus on developing myself and learning more. Also the company I worked for in D.C. was being overtaken by the greediness and stupidity of the owner/manager who was mostly great at hiding the severity of the companies health from his employees. I was naive and trusting and wanted to take the experience to learn more and come back never to be put in that situation again.

But now there's the worry of not finding a job when I'm done that will be enough to sustain the school debt I'm in from trying to earn that education.

I think that my biggest obstacle is making myself stand out from all the other applicants coming out around the same time. Not to mention those that have the same degree as me but not the work experience or hard-working ethics. I didn't have the best test score entering grad school, but I didn't pay tons of money to take the prep course like most. I do have a 3.6 gpa and am president of the women in business club, so that's good. Mainly I'm focusing on studying abroad, that seemed to be the best thing for me from undergrad. Now in grad school I did a trip to Croatia and in December will be going to five countries in Asia and doing an independent study paper comparing the countries (I haven't figured out what yet).

Last night I was working on my resume, and I thought of writing a cover letter in advance that I could work on and make eye-catching and passionate. Then I can apply to jobs quickly and just adjust it slightly to fit the application.

Here are some ideas on why someone should hire me, no particular order and not edited (some sarcasm included):

- When I am a leader I focus on helping my followers succeed, because only when they succeed do I look good
- I'll calmly get my work done in an efficient manner, I won't continually act stressed and run around the office swearing and letting everyone know how busy I am, slamming drawers and bossing people around.

- I can step up when needed to lead a team, but I'm great at being a follower and helping my leader to succeed

- I can learn how to do new tasks very quickly, if I don't know how to do something I'm great at Googling it or reading books or asking someone, in order to learn

- I speak Spanish conversationally and could speak fluently if needed

- I am nice to my coworkers and know how to motivate them to finish tasks and take pride in their work

- I can have a conversation with the janitor or the CEO of the company, or the CEO of our companies prospective client or competitor, and make them all like me.

- I take on a lot of work but am honest when I don't want to take on too much so that it would hurt my work

- I have worked since I was a pre-teen, in every job imaginable - retail, fast food, customer service, door-to-door surveys, phone surveys, pay day loans approval and collections, data entry, sterilization technition at an endodontist, bulk mail stuffer and sealer, baby sitter, house cleaner, corn picker.

- My work after college offered extensive responsibility and due to the incompetence of the business owner I led the entire office and we were able to produce. I think that the skill of not being taken down by hardtimes but finding another route is vital.

More to come on my development to be a millionaire in 2 years !! (my goal)