I'm a Global Leader! +α

종훈오빠, 조장님 나, 민경씨!

Hee hee, finally! After 3 weeks of valuable experience and much enlightenment on cultures around the world, I am at last a qualified Global Business Leader:) Not only do I get Professor Ma's book for winning joint first-place for our presentation, but I also was able to build precious relationships and rapport.

The most professional woman I have ever met, Ms. Ma has my highest respect for being able to make up to 6-hours of class interesting from start to finish. She is a mysterious mixture of the coolest American female CEO and the most respectable Korean lady. Always so calm and composed, but always ready to have some fun and share a joke, and always direct and to-the-point in criticism, but somehow without managing to hurt anyone's feelings. Selecting my weak points and showing me a way to improve them in such a likeable way! I don't think anyone has been able to do this in my life: show me that I am wrong without provoking negative emotions in me. I aspire to be like her when I become a professor.

Also, my teammates were terrific, I don't think I ever had this much fun in group presentation preparation. They're smart, nice, funny, and very supportive. I think I would have been much more nervous if it weren't for their encouragement and confidence in me. With people like that around, and such positive energy, you are able to become what they expect, and more. I just know that the future will hold great things for us.

I think this will turn out to be the most productive holiday I have ever spent. I might not have made a droplet of money this time, but this course has seriously influenced my career plans.


And now, New York awaits me! I anticipate the first view of Manhattan when landing at JFK, the busy cluster of people looking for their bags, those three seconds of blankness in mind after being landed in totally new surroundings with unfamiliar typography, the strangeness of hearing everyone speak in an American accent.

I will not make the same mistake Alain de Botton did, I will not only imagine myself suddenly transported walking along New York streets or looking over the night view of Mantattan, ignoring all the processes of  travel. I expect disgusting New York subways, the unbearable weight of luggage, the puzzlement of direction when turning a new corner, the frustration at having little money in New York. I will anticipate all the aspects of going to a New Place and I will love every moment. I will be an appreciative stranger in New York.