First Two Weeks of Spring Classes

Well, the first two weeks of school have been VERY busy - partly due to the start of classes but also due to two trips and two sets of visitors, but more on this later. So, this semester looks like it is going to be a very educational but busy semester. I am taking some great classes such as Product Design and Development in which we will create our own product – in previous years some of the products have been patented and have been very successful on the market. I just found out today that I will be working with a group trying to develop an inexpensive emergency shelter that could be easily deployed to disaster zones such as post-Katrina, New Orleans. In another class called Projects for Change, I will be helping a Harvard medical student come up with a drug distribution plan for 2 provinces in Indonesia. I will continue to fill you in on these projects as I learn more about them (it is still too early to know fully what we will be doing but once I do, you too will know). I am still waiting to hear about a project that I will be working on for another class called Laboratory for Sustainable Business (more commonly known as S-Lab). Taught by the same professors as G-Lab and System Dynamics, I feel that this will be another hard, but very educational class. The projects that are available all sound amazing and I know that it will be an awesome experience. So all together these projects, plus the continuation of my G-lab project and marketing, finance, and supply chain classes, the semester will be…busy.

On to the trips… so, last weekend Alicia and I headed down to Cold Spring Harbor, NY to visit my parents, grandparents, two brothers (and their two girlfriends), and my aunt and cousin. Quite a family reunion we had for the weekend (at least Thursday to Saturday). On Saturday, Alicia and I headed to a friend’s engagement party back in Boston. So back to Boston we went. We had a great time at the party getting to meet friends and family of the soon to be bride and groom. It will be nice at the wedding to know some of these people (at least as familiar faces). The next day, Alicia’s parents arrived for a visit. It was great to have them come and see our place and our new home city. They were supposed to stay for a couple of days, but due to a huge snowstorm coming into the area, they decided to take off a day early to head home to Michigan. We had fun with them while they were in town (a sea food dinner, a trip to the aquarium, and the celebration of Alicia’s mom and step-dad’s 13th wedding anniversary) even though Alicia was sick. On Wednesday, my parents came to town to look for a new teach abroad program (they have spent two years in Cairo, Egypt, and currently are finishing a two-year assignment in Lima, Peru). We had dinner with them and then had to say good bye as I had a ton of homework to finish before heading on the Sloan Leaders in Service Trek to New Orleans. Speaking of, for the weekend I will be writing as one of the official bloggers for the Trek. So the next couple of posts will be all about our trek down to New Orleans.

So hope you enjoy and more later…