Spring semester, G-lab in Greece, Internship in California, and a LFM wedding

It has been way to long since I blogged. Here is a quick update of what happened during the spring. My class load was even heavier than in the fall which is primarily why I didn't take time to blog. My time to do anything but school was minimal and I chose to spend that time with Julia and Mark. I took some interesting classes in the spring. I especially enjoyed Macro Economics and Case Studies in Supply Chain Management. Other good classes were Finance 1 and Strategy. Another highlight was the International Plant Trek in China (Shanghai) and Japan (Tokyo). I especially enjoyed the plant tours to Apple and Toyota, as well as the nightlife, and sightseeing. I almost had to stay in Shanghai when NWA managed to loose my greencard during check-in. It was lost for about one hour before they finally found it. Pheew! To make up for loosing my greencard I was upgraded to 1-st class for the flight from Shanghai to Tokyo as well as the flight from Tokyo to the US which was nice, but I was a nervous wreck for the one hour my greencard was lost.

After my spring finals I went to Athens greece for my 3 week G-lab (Global Entrepreneurship Lab) internship with a company called Korres. This was definitely the highlight of my LFM experience so far. The only thing that was difficult was to be away from Mark and Julia for three weeks! We tried to talk through Skype but the internet connection at the Hotel was slow, so the time we got to talk was minimal. Everything else about the trip was great. Greece was awesome and I got to see some amazing places. The internship project was interesting and very fulfilling. I feel confident that my team delivered great value to the company. Korres makes cosmetics and I fell in love with the products they make. All three of my G-lab teammates were also in my LFM summer team so we already knew how to work together and we had a great time on the evenings and weekends. I also got to spend time with my mom and aunt as they flew down to Athens for a weekend to visit me. Here are some pitures from the trip:


This is my G-lab team in front of the factory we worked at. Yes, this is what the actual factory looked like, so cute! This has to be the model factory for the flow chart factory icon.


In front of the acropolis.


My team on Poros during our one day, 3-island cruise.

During the 3-island cruise we went to this island called Hydra and we liked it so much we decided to go back the next weekend for a full day. There are no cars on hydra and people get aroung either by foot, on donkey, or by boat. The water is crystal clear and there are tons of nice spots to swim and jump from.

We hiked around parts of the island and found a few great spots to stop for a swim. This one was a small rock beach.....

....and this one was a great spot to cliff-jump from. I got out of my comfort zone and climbed up this cliff and jumped, but I'm not athletic enough to pull of the dive like my teammate in this picture (I'm just proud I managed to time the picture of his dive just right).


After G-lab it was time to move to California for my LFM internship. I have a joint internship with Flextronics and Cisco and so far I have enjoyed the internship. I like the opportunity of getting to experience two different companies, I'll write more about the internship project some other time. What I really enjoy about the internship is to be on a normal schedule again. I'm practicing my work-life balance skills by getting all my internhsip work done in the 40 hrs per week I spend in the office(s). I'm taking advantage of the extra "life" time by spending it with family and friends, and by taking care of myself. I go to the pool with Julia almost every day, I take her to swim lessons once a week and it's definitely paying off; she is like a little fish now! I have also been taking care of myself by going running... alot! I'm following a marathon training program and I'm up to over 30 miles per week now. If I don't get hurt here in the next few weeks I'll sign up for the local silicon valley marathon at the end of October.

Last weekend one of my LFM friends got married! The wedding was wonderful and I had a very good time at the reception hanging out with LFM friends and the friends and family of the bride and groom. I especially enjoyed meeting Mr and Mrs O! Mrs O, don't forget to send me the picture of us from the reception and I will post it next time I blog (I promise it wont take 6 months until the next post)!

That's it for this time!

Travel, interviews, and Olivia

It has been a while since I wrote anything and so much has happened since my last posting. I wrapped up the fall semester with finals and presentations for my classes. A few hours after my last final we flew to Sweden to celebrate christmas with my family and hang out with friends. It was great to be home and see everyone again. We had a pretty hectic social schedule during our 10 days there. Our busy schedule combined with jetlag and cramming 5 adults, a 3 year old, and a dog into my mothers small 2 bedroom apartment ment that we didn't get much sleep.

Our trip back to Boston was horrible, due to 70 mile/hr winds in Iceland our plane was delayed 10 hrs, so instead of landing in Boston on Dec 30th at 6pm, we landed Dec 31 at 4am. So much for the newyears eve party we had planned on hosting. Instead of celebrating the new year we tried to get some sleep, do some laundry, and repack our bags for our next trip. On Jan 1st we flew to Florida to visit Marks family. There we actually got to relax for a bit. We played a round of golf (I actually played really well and beat Mark easily) and I was able to take some time to read a really good book I had borrowed from my friend Ebba (Man som hatar kvinnor by Stieg Larsson). On Jan 5th I left Mark and Julia in Florida and flew back to Boston to once more repack my bags for the LFM plant trek.

The plant trek is a 2 week long cross country trip where our class and faculty visits LFM partner company plants. We visited Dell and Cisco/Flextronics in Austin, Amazon.com in Reno, Boeing in Seattle, Honeywell in Chicago, Harley Davidson in Milwaukee, General Motors (including a day at the Car show) and American Axle in Detroit. This trek was definitely one of the best LFM experiences I have had so far, but also one of the most difficult LFM experiences. Best becasue seeing so many different plants is amazing and I learned a ton. Most difficult because I was away from Julia for two weeks. Here are a few pics from some of the plant visits.


LFM Class of 2009 at Boeing 747 plant



Myraida and I at the Harley Davidson Dealership



At the Detroit Car Show

Plant trek was also fun because I could go out with my LFM classmates at night without having to worry about finding a baby sitter. I also enjoyed flying without having to entertain a 3 year old and took the opportunity to either sleep or read on the plane. I finished the second Stieg Larson book that I borrowed from Ebba, this one titled Flickan som lekte med elden. I look forward to reading the next two books in the series, such good books!

After plant trek I had one week to relax before LFM activites begun again. I spent it with Mark and Julia, it was awesome! This past week we have been interviewing with the LFM partner companies for the upcoming internships. One day I had 9 interviews, luckily each interview was just 20 minutes long. After the interviews the students and the companies will submit rank ordered lists of their top choices. Then the internship committee runs an algorithm to match up the students to the internships. We will find out the results in about 2 weeks. I am eager to find out where Mark, Julia, and I will end up spending the 2nd part of this year.

Yesterday about 50 of the candidates for the LFM class of 2010 was here for their interviews. I helped with some of the events that the admissions committee had put together. It was exciting to meet the prospective students for next year and I had the opportunity to chat with some really nice people. Tomorrow I will meet a few more at the LFM superbowl party, and on Monday the second group of 50 prospective students will be here for their interviews.

The best part of this past week was the phonecall I got from my brother telling me about the birth of his and Evas daughter Olivia. She is absolutely adorable! Welcome to the family Olivia, we love you and can't wait to meet you!
PS till Lena: Grattis och massor med kramar pa 60-ars dagen!

Thanksgiving and Birthdays in Boston

Tuesday was Julia's third birthday! I had a busy day in school, but went home during my 2hr lunch break to celebrate Julia's birthday, have some cake, and watch Julia blow out candles and open her birthday presents. It was great! She had so much fun and she even joined me and Mark in singing happy birthday to herself! On Wednesday we had a birthday party for Julia and some of her best friends here in Cambridge came to celebrate. Julia chose the theme: Dora the explorer. We had Dora ballons, a Dora tablecloth, Dora plates, Dora cups, Dora napkins, and Dora giftbags for her guests. Julia also chose what to eat and drink: cupcakes and a choice between chokolate milk, apple juice, or regular milk for drinks. Nedless to say, Julia loved her birthday party!

For thanksgiving we decided not to join in the travel frenzy that most people in the US take part in at this time of the year. Instead we stayed here in Boston and on Thursday we joined with the other LFMs in town to have thanksgiving dinner. We were 32 people, 22 adults and 10 children, we each brought a dish or two for dinner. The food and company was great! It has been really nice to have a few days off from school to just relax and spend time with Mark and Julia. I have now taken Julia out running three days in a row, and I need it from all the thanksgiving food I have been eating. Here are some pictures of Julia playing during one of our running breaks at the playground on the other side of the Charles River. She loved running around in all the leafs on the ground and throwing them up in the air.

My LFM Application tips

Last year at this time I had just begun the process of applying to LFM. I thought it may be helpful to let those of you who are currently in the process of applying to LFM know what I did.

My first advice is to relax! You are probably in much better shape getting your application completed than I was.

I didn't decide to apply until beginning of November, so you are already much better prepared than I was. The first thing I did after figuring out what the application requirements were was to sign up for the GMAT and contact three people I had chosen for my recommendation letters. I asked my current manager, one former manager, as well as one of my undergraduate professors for recommendation letters. I also requested my official transcripts to be sent to MIT.

I then studied for the GMAT. I only had a couple of weekends to devote to studying so I decided to focus my studies on the language sections since English is my second language. I took the GMAT on November 28th, and I did OK. I actually did really well on the language portion, but not as well on the math. So the lesson learned here is that using the GMAT study guides is very helpful and you can really boost your score through studying. Just make sure you have enough time to study for all the sections!

After taking the GMAT I had almost 3 weeks to write my essays and fill in the application. First I focused on the essays. I made sure I answered the essay questions and I used fairly recent examples (within the last year or so). I felt it was important to be myself, and not try to be something I'm not. I wrote about real experiences that were important to me and that would give a picture of different aspects of myself. I sent my rough drafts to my manager and to a few family members to proofread, and they provided lots of good feedback. I highly recommend utilizing friends, co-workers, and family to proofread your essays. I would advice not to hire a professional service. Instead pick people that are close to you, that care about you, and most importantly will give you their honest opinion. They will be happy to help you out, and they will probably feel honored that you chose to ask them for their feedback.

The last couple of days before the deadline I spent filling in the application form and finally I submitted the application the night before the deadline.

I only had one glitch, the GMAT people didn't grade my test in the promised time so I didn't have my official scores. I contacted the LFM office and they instructed me to just enter my unofficial scores in the application.

So what happens after you have submitted your application? Well, a few weeks later I received an invitation to attend the LFM interview fest. Interview fest happens in January and it is a lot of fun and gives you tons of great information. I never had a chance to visit LFM and MIT during the fall, so this was a great opportunity to meet the current LFM students and chat with the other candidates.

I prepared for the interviews by going through behavioral type interview questions and thinking of examples from my past that would be a good fit for the different questions. I also scheduled mock interviews with two of my managers, who luckily for me were also LFM alumni. If you can do this it helps to boost your confidence and to make sure that you have developed good "stories" to tell the interviewer about your experiences.

I hope this was at least a bit helpful. If you have any questions regarding the LFM applications or interviews, please feel free to contact me. Also, two of my classmates, Aimee and Sean, have posted some really helpful tips on their blogs that you should definitely check out if you want more information.

Good luck!

Check out this LFM video.....

.....my classmates and professors are in it....I'm in it too!

Click on this link:

http://mitsloan.mit.edu/mba/index.php

and go to the "Introducing the people of LFM" link to watch the video.

Midterms, SIP week, and jetlag

Midterms are over and it feels good! I took two midterms the week before last. For those of you that are from other countries and may not know what a midterm is, midterms are just like a final exam but it takes place in the middle of the semester and only covers the material from the first half of the semester. Luckily for me I didn't have midterms in all nine of my courses, only in two: Financial Accounting and Economic Analysis for Business decisions. For Financial Accounting I barely had time to complete the exam, but neither did the rest of the class, so I don't feel too bad about that. The Econ exam was much better, but I also like econ much more than accounting. I think econ makes more sense, plus you get to use some basic calculus which I enjoy (I know, I'm a nerd). I have great respect for the people in my family who have chosen accounting as their profession (Mark, Maris, Addis, Eva). I sure couldn't do it for a living, although I am glad I'm taking the class as it helps me better "speak" accounting

Last week was SIP week (Sloan Innovation Period), which means that our regiular MBA classes are put on hold for one week while the other Sloanies take special seminar classes. For us LFMs it means that since we don't have any MBA class es for a week, we only have engineering classes to attend. LFMs don't have to take the special seminars since we already take so many special classes through the LFM progam such as several Leadership classes, plant trek, etc. The timing of SIP week could not have been any better for me, as my really good friends in Sweden Fredrik and Katarina had planned to get married Oct 27 during SIP week! So Mark, Julia, and I left for Sweden on Monday night, spent a few hectic but fun days with family and friends in Stockholm, attended the wedding on Saturday, and flew back to Cambridge on Sunday. Some of the highlights of this quick visit was meeting Viktor (my cousins 3 week old super cute baby), and finding out that two of my very best friends are also expecting their first child!

Speaking about families......A couple of weeks ago we had an interesting Organizational Process and Career Core joint session where we discussed work life balance. The class discussion was good, and it was nice to hear all the different opinions and experiences in the class. I think I got all my class participation points in one class. One thing that struck me during the class conversation was the difference in choices you have to make if you have a family in the US versus Sweden. I decided to do a bit of research to find out more of the differences. I found some information online but the majority I learned through conversations with my Swedish friends and family during our visit to Stockholm last week.

Several of my friends and family in Sweden have just had their first child, or is expecting their first child in a few months. I personally don't believe the extremely high tax pressure in Sweden is good, but when you have kids in Sweden you definitely get much of what you have paid or will pay in taxes back in benefits. Tough luck for the people that choose not to have kids, or are unable to have kids. They end up paying for everyone else taking advantage of tons of non-working time as a parent!

To start off the comparison, in Sweden parents are allowed 18 months of parental leave, for 13 months of which they are entitled to 80 % of their work salary. I have heard that many companies will pay the remaining 20% of your salary as a company benefit. The 18 months of parental leave can be split between the parents, and parental leave can be taken by either parent, but the other parent must take at least two months. Another interesting fact is that in Sweden, all parents are entitled to parental benefits whether or not they are working.

In contrast, parental benefits in the US consist of 3 months maternity leave at 0% pay, which means that if a mother is fortunate enough to be able to afford not to get paid for 12 weeks, she can stay home with her child for 12 weeks without loosing her job. This has the effect that most working mothers in USA have to choose between either going back to work after taking 6 weeks of short term disability leave (that is if she has been paying the extra short term disability premium while pregnant - short term disability pays for about 100% of salary), or have one parent quit their job to stay home with the child. The latter option is of course only viable if the mother or her husband/partner are fortunate enough that they can afford to have one of them quit their work to stay home with the child.

Another nice thing with the parental benefits in Sweden is that the parent does not have to take the whole parental leave period in one stretch. It can be taken at the full rate for one year, at a half rate for two years, a quarter rate for four years or even at an eighth rate for eight years. The only rule is that the leave has to be taken by the time the child is eight years old or you loose the unused leave.

The third very nice parental benefit in Sweden is that daycare and preschool is heavily subsidised by the government. The daycare or preschool charge for the parents is 3 % of their income for the first child, 2 % for the second child, and 1 % of their income for the third. In addition, there is a maximum charge a so called "maxtaxa" such that no matter how much money the parent makes they can never be charged more than about $200 per month per child for daycare.

Mark and I have been researching preschools for Julia here in Cambridge, and we found that a typical preschool charges the parents $100 per child per day. In Sweden, childcare places are so heavily subsidised that the average parent pays only 8 % of the true cost. Of course this means that taxation has to be much higher than in other countries, Sweden's tax revenue is over 50 % of GDP while in the US it is about 25% of GDP. But it also means that almost no Swedish parent feels that they cannot afford to put their child in childcare.

Most parents in Sweden usually take turns to stay home with their child(ren) while the children are young and then return to work when their children are between 1 and 2 years old. The Swedish parental benefits means that Sweden has a higher percentage of working women than most other countries, close to 80% of Swedish women work, compared to about 60% in the US. While Swedish women are more likely to work than US women, it is much more rare to find a woman in the most lucrative or powerful jobs in Sweden compared to in other countries such as the US. According to the OECD about half of working women in Sweden have public sector jobs such as teachers, nurses, and civil servants compared to about 20% of female workers in the US. "Private-sector employers are less willing to deal with the disruption caused by very long maternity leaves," says Manuela Tomei, a labor sociologist with the International Labor Organization in Geneva. "Gender discrimination in Sweden may be more subtle, but it is very much there.""

Employers in Sweden must not only plan for how to survice their employees long summer vacations, but also plan for how to deal with the chance/risk of having their employees being out on parental-leave. The Swedish government has succeeded in making it very difficult for employers to plan for their employees taking parental leave. I found out during my dinner conversation at Fredrik and Katarinas wedding that by law, an employee in Sweden only has to give their employer two weeks notice of their intent to utilize parental leave benefits. What this means is that if I worked in Sweden and I had for example 6 months of unused parental leave left, I could tell my employer that in two weeks and one day I would be taking a 6 month parental leave from work and my employer couldn't do anything about it!

If I ever had a "brain fart" and attempted to pull something like that in the U.S. I would be the joke of the office. If I was granted the 6 months off, I definitely would not have a job to come back to after the 6 months, and I wouldn't be paid a penny during the 6 months off. Talk about differences!

Maybe next time I'll discuss differences in the school system......

Camping with the 08s

It's late and I should go to bed, but I need to write a few words about this past week before too much time has past by. Why was last week so special? Well, there are many reasons.

Since family comes first I have to tell you about Julia. She made really good progress on her potty training this week and she also went to her first sleep-over this past weekend! Even more exciting, a couple of weeks ago she got her first real golf club. It's an eight iron and she is getting pretty good. She loves her golf club! At night she wants to take it into her bed, and she gives it a hug and kiss goodnight. Mark and I are really looking forward to taking her out on the golf course to start spending some quality family time golfing, could it get any better?

Second, I got a very surprising, and very happy, phone call from my really good friend Rita giving me the good news that she had gotten not only engaged, but also married! Congratulations Rita and Dave, we are so happy for you!

Third, my best friend Arin turned 30 last week. Welcome to the club Arin, I look forward to celebrating your birthday with you during Thanksgiving!

I also received some incredibly sad news about the tragic death of my former plant manager who was also an LFM alumni. It is difficult to grasp that someone who did so much for so many people is not here with us anymore, the loss is tremendous. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

On a more uplifting note, the LFM class of 08 was in town last week for their internship midstream review, and the week culminated with a joint camping trip in Vermont for the LFM class of 08 and 09. Both Mark and I went camping on Friday night (hence Julia's first sleepover), and I went white water rafting on Saturday. It was tons of fun to hang out with the 08s and get to know them better. They are really a fun group! I look forward to spending more time together in the spring when they get back from their internships.

Other than that, classes are moving along quickly, sometimes way to quickly. I'm struggling to keep up with all the work, and I think it's just going to get worse, ouch! Talk about needing to take charge of my work life balance. I have become much better at planning my time this fall, it is a necessity if I'm going to have any time outside of school. I try to emulate my friend Jens superb planning skills. Although I doubt I will ever get to the point where I sort my grocery shopping list by isle and make 2 weeks worth of grocery shopping in ten minutes like Jen and Mike do. Incredible!

One thing on my plan is to go running more consistently. Tomorrow morning Mark and I are going out for a much needed run, it's been two weeks since I last went running. It's difficult to believe that last year at this time I was training for a marathon! Hopefully I'll be able to get back in shape, but likely not until next summer when the internship starts and I have more time to run. I have to be realistic, it's just not going to happen now while taking nine classes this fall.

Ohh, I almost forgot, we got our tickets to go back to Sweden in October for Katarina and Fredriks wedding! I am so excited to see my friends and family again. I am definitely going to make sure I go running when I'm home, Lidingo has some of the most beautiful and best running trails I have ever ran! Well, its time to get some well needed rest before another busy day tomorrow.
PS. To Mrs O, your son is doing well and says hi, he also had fun at the camping trip!