Office Haze
At times, the days seem to drag on forever. Regardless, the weeks continue to fly by.
Today is a hazy morning. I can not see the Chicago skyline from my desk. My eyes follow the countless cars speeding along the interstate. After work I will join the madness on I90W to spend a night in Madison. It has not been much more than a month and a half since I moved out of the city, but I still find myself wondering if I will feel more like I am visiting than returning 'home'.
Culture Shock
I do not think that you have to go thousands of miles away to be challenged and feel outside of your comfort zone.
I do not think that you need to travel over the ocean to feel a language barrier.
Sometimes, a culture completely different than that one you are used to, is much closer than you think.
Insurance is hard. The technical terms and jargon are confusing. The business school prepped me for the corporate culture, but just like with AIESEC exchange prep, it did not fully prepare me for the new environment I am in.
66 HDB
Last year I was lucky enough to watch Nathan's Famous International Hotdog Eating competition at Coney Island in person. This year I had to settle on watching it on TV. The American's reclaimed the yellow mustard belt with a new world record- 66HDB in twelve minutes.
One similarity between last year's 4th and today... I am celebrating the holiday alone.
Time in Between
I have time in between digesting my Lean Cuisine and creamed corn to fit in a quick blog before I head to the gym.
I spend a lot of time thinking about the roots of my motivation. The first two years of college I was a neurotic studier. I always knew everything that I could before going into an exam. Then I got in to the business school. I still would go to class (occasionally) and always did well on exams, but the drive was gone. I knew that chances were likely that I would be offered a good internship, job, etc. with the grades I had, and studying the extra hours to perhaps do better than the genius children that ruled the b-school curve did not really interest me. So, I floated along the last two years of college. Soaking up some knowledge and blowing off the rest.
Today, and for the next ten months, and I find myself essentially being paid to study and learn. In no way is my pay now, or at the end of the program, related to my 'academic' performance. However, I am now leaning back towards my neurotic study habits. I am mystified, but pleased in this change.
Neither of the last two paragraphs are here nor there.
Except that they are.
