Bon jour! Au revoir!

Scenes from Paris

So much has happened in the past couple of weeks since I last wrote. Among the exciting events, was my first trip to Paris! I spent six days there with a couple of friends and classmates. By my last day I was certainly sad to leave. There are a couple of Parisian oddities and other things I noticed and thought I would share some of those with you just in case you happen to be traveling there anytime soon:

Hailing taxis - unbelievably one of the hardest things to do in this city! Especially late at night when trains have stopped or running on infrequent schedules. One night we waited for at least a half hour out in the cold for a taxi. We were in a line on a street corner near a lit taxi sign and watched as perfectly available and empty taxis passed up the line of would-be passengers. This would never have happened in NYC, where a cabi will cut clear across 4 lanes of traffic to get a fare.

• Smoking - So it's no longer allowed for you to smoke in the airport and subways and soon (apparently in January 2008) smoking will be outlawed in cafes and bars...I wonder how much this will actually be enforced. In any case, if you are a smoker, you'll want to know that you can't just purchase cigarettes anywhere. You actually have to find an establishment that has the words "tabac" posted outside.
  Subway - the trains were absolutely awesome! That is, of course once the transit strike was over. Though you might still choose to walk everywhere, weather and distance permitting, because the city really is amazing! I'd hate for you to miss the fabulous architecture of the buildings and city planning. If you do decide to take ride the train, be prepared because on some of the older trains you actually have to pull a handle to open the door. Speaking of trains, I noticed one other subtle difference in the escalators that take you up and down. They move slightly faster in Paris!
• Suitcases - For some reason, we saw tons of people walking the streets with suitcases (the carry-on size. We started to come up with creative explanations...my favorite was they have suitcases full of US dollars to cash in for Euros.
• Public Toilettes - never used them but these things are everywhere! And can save you from breaking any public urination laws that might exist. I included of photo of my friend who is posing inside one :)
• City of Love - One of my friends on the trip was skeptical of Paris' label as the city of love so we decided to conduct a little sociological study to test his theory that Paris couples show no more public affection for one another than any typical American city's couples. We averaged that you might see 35 couples in a 1-hour time frame show affection in an American city, so in order for Paris to keep its title we would have to see more than 35 couples showing affection in 1-hour. We decided to conduct the study one Sunday afternoon near Notre Dame. We sat ourselves at a window seat and began counting. Within the hour we found 75 couples show affection. The most common was holding hands. We began to appreciate the varietal displays like unique hand holding, stealing kisses at a stop light before crossing the street and even a little a little tush grabbing! Of course, a true researcher would find many flaws to our study but it was truly fun to conduct!

So as I started out saying, lots of things have been happening in the last couple of weeks. But this entry is already getting to be a little long, so you'll have to tune in again later when I'll update you on the end of the semester and my job offers!!!

Cheers!

WMC Members at the closing reception at the Cornell Club in New York City.

On the streets of NYC...taking a coffee break.

The inaugural professional development trek for the Women's Management Council (WMC) was a success! This event was our capstone event this fall. The idea to have the trek was born out of a constant struggle to host an annual symposium on campus where alumnae and other professional women are often invited to speak on panels, facilitate workshops, and network with the women at Johnson. Recognizing the need to innovate the way the WMC offers its members a professional development component, we decided to take the symposium on the road and bring our members to the speakers. Here's a recount of our day:

5:00 AM - Depart Ithaca for NYC

5:30 AM - Got stalled on route 79 to Ithaca for 2 hours due to a bad accident on the road

11:00 AM - We arrive in NYC and run from Grand Central to UBS where we are already an hour late! Here we meet several women in investment banking and also see some of our alumni who escaped their work for a few minutes to say hi.

12:45 PM - Rush across the street to Colgate-Palmolive who has lunch ready for us and present us with a panel of some of their most successful women.

3:00 PM - After walking a few blocks (grabbing Starbucks on the way) to Accenture, we get to meet with a broad range of experienced women from some of the executive ranks to an analyst out of college just a couple of years.

5:30 PM - We get to unwind a little at a reception at the Cornell Club of New York where some of the people we had met earlier in the day as well as other firms that recruit at Cornell arrive to chat with us all.

7:30 PM - Free time! And what better to do with our time in NYC than shop and eat...two of my most favorite things to do :)

10:00 PM - Depart NYC for Ithaca...yes, we return the very same day. While on the bus, I put the finishing touches on a final presentation I have at 8:30 am the next day before trying to get some sleep.

2:30 AM - Arrive back in Ithaca.

The true measure of success for this event was the feedback from participants. I am still getting emails of thanks from our membership! Fortunately, we elected our new board last week and the new VP of Trek 2008 was able to attend Trek 2007 and took lots of notes. As one of the last remaining activities I oversee as President for the WMC, the Trek's success makes me reflect on what an amazing year we've had and I'm almost sad to hand over the reigns. But it has to be done!

Cheers!

Maybe next year...

This past weekend the Hispanic American Business Leaders Association (HABLA) played host to the Johnson School's only case competition and (to the best of my knowledge) the only student run marketing case competition whose case targets Hispanic/Latino markets. In the past four years of its history here, a Cornell team has yet to take first prize...this year was no different! :( It was fascinating, however to see all of the presentations from visiting schools, including:

University of Notre Dame, College of Business (1st Place)

NYU Stern School of Business (2nd Place)

University of Rochester, Simon School of Business

University of California at Berkeley, Haas School of Business

Purdue University, Krannert School of Management

Carnegie-Mellon University, Tepper School of Business

This year's competition sponsors included EMBARQ and P&G, who both sent representatives to serve as judges for the tough competition. Harry Campbell, President of Consumer Markets for EMBARQ gave the keynote address during the awards banquet, encouraging us all to define our individual brands. After the banquet, we all celebrated but the Notre Dame folks surely showed us all that they are serious competition not just at marketing but partying as well. I definitely found myself drained of energy by last call at the bar (~1am) when nearly the entire team of Irish were ready for more. A couple of them even inquired about an after party, but settled instead for a few slices of pizza before we called it a night.

Cheers!

We mean business at the Johnson School :)

JOHNSON MEANS BUSINESS ALUMNI

MBA CLASSES OF 2008 & 2009

This weekend I am happy to open my home and the Johnson doors to 40 prospective applicants in the annual Johnson Means Business event. We are still in the middle of it but I thought the best entry would be to share with you the advice/speech I gave last night at the opening banquet to the JMBers.

Good evening JMB Class of 2007 and welcome to Ithaca! My name is Adrienne Rose Martinez and I am a JMBer from the class of 2005 and currently a second year here at the Johnson School. I understand some of you experienced some travel woes getting here and for that I’m sorry. I can truly sympathize and will have to share my worst “getting to Ithaca” story with you sometime. For now, let me assure you that the hardest part of this weekend is getting here and you’ve all accomplished that!
Tonight I want to share with you a little bit of what you can expect this weekend. So be ready. Be challenged. And be yourself.

Be ready for several days of jam packed activities. The office of diversity and inclusion has worked hard to package as much of the Johnson School as they can in these 3 days. How do you “be ready?” you may ask? You do so by asking questions, by talking to as many people as you can, by being curious, by taking full advantage of every opportunity you have to soak up data, make new relationships, and have experiences that will ultimately help you decide if Johnson is right for you.

Be Challenged.
This morning I woke up in Boston at 330am and by 10am I was in Manhattan in my final round of interview with Deutsche Bank Asset Management. At 230pm I landed in Syracuse and raced to Ithaca to turn in a paper that was due in a class I missed earlier today. And before I stepped on stage tonight I was on a phone interview. Business school is physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging. Not every day is like today but you’ve to to be ready to be challenged every day. This weekend you can seek to be challenged in many ways. Challenge yourself to imagine escaping the demands and distractions of a major city for two years. With an MBA its likely we’re going to end up in a major metropolitan area. Fortunately for Cornell, Ithaca is not one of those cities. We attract and admit those students who can appreciate what this amazing community has to offer. I invite you to find yourself here. I challenge you to find that you are meant to be a part of Johnson and Cornell.

Be Yourself.
As you’re living up to this challenge, be yourself. Think of this as a test. Only, you are the ones evaluating us. Does the Johnson School and Cornell community live up to your standards? If not, that’s okay. No hard feelings. We want people here who want to be here. But if you know this is where you belong, then the best way to show us is by being yourself. I’ll share a little secret with you. We kinda already know you’re amazing; otherwise you wouldn’t be here tonight.
JMB has had a ton of success in helping current Johnson students realize they were meant to be Cornellians. In the 1st & 2nd year classes alone there are 22 of us JMB alumni. Many of them you are being hosted by and are here this evening. I encourage you to chat with them, ask hard questions, and find out if this is where you belong.

As a double Cornellian I was able to realize it twice. Ask me why I came back and I am happy to share with you the many reasons but I truly hope that after this weekend you will have discovered why there is no where else you want to be.