My first experience being a TERP!

It has been a very very very tough four days! I started my first MBA class this Thursday and it just ended about three hours ago! I am very excited to report that although it was quite tough (the class is Thurs to Sun, from 8am till 7pm!), it was amazingly rewarding. I had such a blast with the students in the classroom as well as learning new material. The professor was this kind and gentle guy (who resembled Santa Clause) from the University of Maryland who flew here to teach this course. The class was actually quite large, about 30 students. The reason is because a few of the Beijing students flew down to take this course for a couple of days and so they combined the two cohorts. For those of you who think that I am a "lifetime student," you have got it all wrong. On the first day, we had to go around the room and do a brief intro of ourselves. There were two doctor's in the room, one lawyer, three Ph.D.'s and many many more. I'm just little ol' me...two Master's means NOTHING compared to these people. However, they were kind of impressed that I did go to Columbia...they just don't know that I'm way more dumb than probably about 90% of the students that go to Columbia. Anyhow, we had tons of teamwork and group exercises and this was a great way to get to know one another. The only sad thing is that most of my classmates are married or have kids. Guess it's not good for the dating scene. HA. However, I won't give up hope...I'm sure they have friends! Most of my classmates are from England, Belgium, US, Australia and Hong Kong. The diversity is amazing. There are some top notch and VIPs in this class...those who work for Microsoft, IBM, General Motors, etc. It's really nice to be associated with people outside of work and not just at social scenes like bars. Although it is a long-ass day for each class, after completing my first class today, I felt so damn good. I was actually very excited about getting my books and pre work for my next upcoming class. I know... I know... most of you reading this think I am nuts, but it really is amazing to go back to school and keep on learning. I know it's not for everyone but just maybe, it is the thing for me. I think I'm going to medical school next... just kidding...
Now, on to accounting... I am sooo not looking forward to that one. We just received two texts and one huge course reading packet to be completed within the next three weeks. In the meantime, we still have post work to complete from this class that we just finished. I know some of you guys are thinking...why the hell is she doing this? Honestly, I do love it...so wish me luck. Hope I do survive this craziness. I am going to be coming back to the States in about two and a half weeks! Yippie. I just changed my itinerary because I have to come back to Shanghai early for class and also for work (I think some of you might think that I quit my job...nope, I'm as neurotic as you think I am... going to school and working again!). So, I'll be in NYC starting Feb 1st and then to DC Feb 12th, then back to Shanghai on the 20th of Feb. I really really do hope that I can see everyone during my short time, but if not, then you all know where to come and visit!
Until then... xoxo

New Years in Thailand...Who Would Have Thought...

Just sitting down now in my freeezing cold room here in Shanghai writing about my latest adventure to Thailand for New Years! I had such a blast. To tell you the truth, I can have a blast wherever there is nice hot weather, but Thailand is just so darn nice.
Let's start from day one of course...I have to tell the funny parts of the trip as well as some scary moments I had. The first scary moment was the minute I stepped off the plane. My flight was delayed (of course, I always run into scary flight moments too, but I will not talk about that) and I didn't arrive in Bangkok until around 11pm. I arrived and went straight for the taxi line because I was told to not take any of the sketchy offers from drivers inside the terminal. When I got in the taxi, the guy pulls away from the airport and starts telling me "ok, 500 Baht for ride." I of course replied "no way, turn on the meter." He says "how much you give me" and I said "100 Baht" and he got mad! I of course didn't show any signs of letting my guard down so I screamed back in Chinese "turn on the damn meter before I call the police" and of course, he had no idea what I was saying since I don't speak Thai! So the entire time while he is driving like a madman, I am screaming at him in Chinese and he finally turned on the meter. The whole thing didn't stop there though...he continued to speak in Thai about something to do with "paying some toll." We pull up to the toll booth and I instructed him to pull up so that I can hand the lady my money. I would not give him a dime of my cash. I was soooo happy to see my hotel when we arrived and I yelled at him one more time to tell him that he was a "bad man" to try to rip me off and that the meter was only 250 Baht! He just smiled... gross.
OK, so for the next couple of days, we went touring around Bangkok. Went to all the Buddha temples (Wat Po, Grand Palace, Wat Arun, Golden Mountain) and saw some lovely scenery. Bangkok is an interesting city. Can't really figure it out because it is hard to get around! We were lost a lot and the taxis would take us in circles. I was also able to get around in some tuk tuks (these tricycles things... quite dangerous but goes very very fast and sooo much fun) and had to bargain each and every time. I swear, being a tourist is quite hard sometimes. You know you have to mentally prepare yourself to be ripped off, but I just couldn't handle it! In the end, we really had to do the math conversion and say "ok, they overcharged us by only one dollar!"
New Years Eve, we partied with a friend of mine from junior high school who now is a co-owner of a club in Bangkok. We did a "bit" of drinking (well, you know me...) and danced the night away. It was soooo much fun to ring in the new year in a different country. I think I have done that every year so far since graduating college. I plan on doing this each year in the future.
The next day was not so pretty. We had to get up early to go catch our flight to Phuket. We were flying on AIR ASIA... a plane that I have never heard of before and I am a nervous wreck. The plane had peeling paint!! I almost fainted because you all know that I really hate flying. We were lucky that we arrived in one piece and we went to Khao Lak directly from the airport. A few friends of ours ended up staying in some dump on Patong and they were not happy. I was quite pleased with our location and our nice resort at Le Meridien. We booked all kinds of trips such as elephant rides, treks through the Khao Sok National Park, kayaking on the Andaman Sea into caves filled with bats, canoing etc etc. I was also able to get my sun bathing in as well. All in all, it was fantastic. I hope that I can get away like this quite often because I want to be able to take advantage of the fact that I am here in Asia and the flights are no longer than 5 hours.
I am off to Malaysia next in two weeks. Although I am going for work, I hope to build in some time to see Kuala Lumpur and surrounding areas. Then back to good ol' US of A!!!
Until then... hope everyone had a great New Years!! xo