MBA Orientation at ITAM

Today I attended a very nice breakfast orientation for the ITAM full-time MBA program.  We have 28 students in my class - half of which are women!  The average age is 28 years old and the average amount of work experience is 5 years.  The program director is also a woman - la Maestra Gabriela Alvarado.  All the students are from Mexico.  They are great...a few are pictured below with me on the graduate school campus: Adolfo, Maria Jose, and Veronica. 

The graduate school campus is small with only a few 3-story buildings, constructed in 1991. The entire campus is completely walled-in; there are two entrances - one through the parking garage and one gated entrance for pedestrian traffic.  The architecture is fairly modern style - very open, lots of light coming in through sky lights and open air patios and doorways (because the weather is so nice year-round).  The buildings are surrounded by trees, gardens and benches.  It feels pretty zen - at least for now!

I start my intense pre-recs in Math and Accounting next week and then my first quarter begins the end of September. I will be taking: Business Statistics, Maketing Management, Financial Accounting, Leadership and Change Management, and Economics.  I am very much looking forward to being a full-time graduate student!

mnegocios.itam.mx

First Rotary Club Meeting at C.R. Ciudad de Mexico, Aug 24th

We had a great time at the Mexico City Rotary Club on Tuesday.  Ernesto Ibarra (pictured below) invited the four of us - Rebecca from NC, Billy from CA, and Robert from KY - as well as our host counselor, Sergio Calvillo who is part of a club en Ciudad Universitaria.  We heard from Abraham Zabludovsky who works in the media. He responded to many questions and comments from the audience about the coverage of narco-trafficking and the corresponding violence.  Below are some photos from the meeting.

Pumas 4, Puebla 1

My first futbol experience in DF!  I joined friends, Raul and Regina and their two darling children, and their friends for a Puma game on the campus of UNAM Sunday afternoon. Afterward, they invited me to their friends' Lisa and Ernesto (an Argentine!!)'s home for a wonderful traditional late-Sunday (4pm) lunch. Goya Goya Goya! Chucha, chucha, goya goya Universidad!  *PS - the stadium was the site for the track and field portion of the 1968 Olympic games.

Life in Mex City...getting around

So far I have found the people to be delightful, friendly and helpful.  I am not surprised, but everyone did scare me a bit about getting around and so on...but everyone has been helpful when I have asked for directions or advice.  I have been walking during the day (only going out at night with a friend who drives or taking a taxi - which I havent done yet). Today, however, I decided to put myself out there and try the bus - I am going to be using it very frequently to get the metro toward el Centro.  So, I took the "pesero" (used to cost 1 peso hence the name; now it costs 4) and quickly past my casa...I asked the women next to me what to do and upon her advice, I jumped out and took one going the opposite direction on a different street and made it home n 5 minutes!  I learned today that the busiest times for traffic are between 8-9:30am, 2-4pm (lunch time), and 6-7:30pm.  The work day  here is a bit longer than in the U.S. because of the long lunch break (which they use to run errands as well).  Everyone says that this is a driving city and it is!  The city is enormous and spread out and it's much easier to run errands, get groceries, or cross town in a car (if you have the $dinero$). But, alas, I am a chica del transporte publico...

Mexico City: the basics

Mexico City:  Known as the Paris of the New World cerca the 1950s.  Population: @20 million, second largest city in the world by population (first is Tokyo, Japan). Known in Spanish as Ciudad de México; México, D.F.; el D.F. (Distrito Federal, like the District of Columbia), or simply México.  Locals are known as Chilangos.  The culture here is formal and conservative; it reminds me of Madrid. People are friendly, curious and hospitable.

Rotary in Mexico City:  District 4170 has 80 clubs. My host club, which means downtown, has 65 members, both women and men.

La Bandera de Mexico

The Mexican flag:  three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and red; Mexico's coat of arms (an eagle with a snake in its beak perched on a cactus) is centered in the white band; green signifies hope, joy, and love; white represents peace and honesty; red stands for hardiness, bravery, strength, and valor; the coat of arms is derived from a legend that the wandering Aztec people were to settle at a location where they would see an eagle on a catus eating a snake; the city they founded, Tenochtitlan, is now Mexico City

 

Note: similar to the flag of Italy, which is shorter, uses lighter shades of red and green, and does not have anything in its white band

Description found online in the CIA Fact Book

Have Purpose.

As a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar representing District 5790, the purpose of my year in Mexico City is to foster positive cross-cultural relations between North Texas and Mexico City, as well as the United States and Mexico, on behalf of the Rotary Foundation. I will accomplish this goal through:

1) Graduate studies (in business administration) at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM)

2) Involvement in local Rotary clubs by giving presentations, attending Rotary events and engaging in community service