Just before the break

It is the week of finals and it is the week after which 3/4 of my first year will have passed. Time goes by pretty quickly here. February was the International Month at Yale SOM. I had the opportunity to present my country's history and typical food to the SOM community. Monday through Wednesday the International Club organised country presentations in the evening, where people like me talked about where we come from and answered questions from the audience. As a result, I know that Colombia's national flower is the orchid, that Belgium might be split up in the future and that Taiwan is.... well, I am not sure about Taiwan. :) Oh yes, I almost forgot - there are penguins in... Ecuador - that surprised me. Needless to say, attendance reached its high at the final event - the International Food festival. About 20 countries showed each-other what they eat, there were live performances from SOM-original artists - dancing, singing and playing instruments in traditional outfits. Midway through February came the long-awaited (by me at least) formal roll out of a new addition to the SOM experience - a study-abroad programme. 12 of the class of 2009 will spend the fall semester in four partner-schools in the UK, Spain, China or India. It is an exciting opportunity for people who target post-graduation job placements abroad and for others, who just want to experience a new culture and meet new people. Of course there will be students from these countries coming to SOM, which will also make life more colourful here. I want to finish off by acknowledging that now is the time when many of you make their final decisions as to which school to attend next year and I want to encourage you to reach out to us - the students - with any questions you might have. I personally found this approach very helpful last year when I had trouble sleeping asking myself where to go. :)