The Leeds MBA Experience

It's late August, and things are starting to come together for the last year of the MBA program.  Classes have started for the campus and the first years, but the second year MBAs are still enjoying summer and wrapping up their internships and will return to classes on Sept 7^th. As we fade into school again, there have been a few things that have helped me gear up for the coming year.

The InterLink Program had an informal kickoff meeting with many of the first year international students. It looks like we are going to have a good group. Thailand has a strong showing with five students. Mexico, France, Chile, India also have local representation. We all met up at the grill area for some refreshments and conversation. From the initial looks of it, the InterLink Program will have a strong year.

I also sat on a student panel for a Q & A session for the first year MBAs during orientation. They asked us about which class was the hardest, what advice we wish we knew a year ago, and how to best finish the work while working in your group. It was fun for second years to share a bit about our experience and to help prepare the next class. Also, we got to see the culture and personality of the class. It looks very similar to ours, and I think the two classes are going to get along well.

Even though most of the second years are still in summer, many are taking classes outside of the MBA program and have already returned to school with the rest of the CU Boulder Campus on August 23^rd. I am in this category and have been attending a Law class at 8am. It's all about Venture Capital - several of my cohorts are in there with me, so I'm not alone. Plus, it's a really interesting class and moves fast- it holds my attention well.

I'm also winding down a bit on Internship projects with Entrepreneurial Solutions. We stopped accepting new work in early August just to complete the jobs we already committed to. I still have quite a bit to work on, so I'll have to start seriously budgeting my time.

Mentally I am also getting prepared. I'll be taking some really interesting classes and there will be plenty to do. I'm taking the business plan class, venture capital in the law school, digital marketing, and entrepreneurial finance. E finance will be a tough one and I'm sure it'll take up considerable time. I've also been brainstorming ideas to run with in the business plan class. Just thinking a little bit about the classes I will be taking and the shape my semester will take is a good way to get prepared.

This next year I'll be focusing a lot on networking.  Getting an awesome job is not going to be easy, so I want to do everything I can to make sure I end up doing something I am excited about.

It'll be a great year and I am looking forward to starting for real.

During the MBA orientation this year, the Class of 2012 volunteered at a number of community outreach events in Boulder. They spent their whole day serving with some non-profit organizations and working with their classmates. The five destinations scheduled for this year included:

- Walker Ranch: Participants did seed collection at Walker Ranch, maintained stewardship of the Boulder County open space, and thinned the current forest.

 - City of Boulder Parks: Students weeded and trimmed the municipal center property at Canyon & Broadway.

 - Growing Gardens Boulder: MBAs helped with weeding and cleaning of the community gardens.

 - Community Food Service: Participants asked Boulder residents for food bank donations.

- The Academy Senior Living: MBAs washed cars for residents and participated in games/activities with the residents.

Several second year MBA students helped out during the Community Outreach events.  At the five destinations scheduled for this year, some of the second years acted as volunteer team leaders.  Their duties amount of that of a chaperon, ensuring volunteers get to their destinations, acting as primary contact in case of emergency, and being a friendly face willing to answer the questions of these soon-to-be buried first years. Everyone had a very good time working together.

Last year, I volunteered with the community food service in Boulder and I had a very good time, too. I started knocking on doors at 9:00am and thought most people would be at work or running errands on Friday morning. But, surprised, I would say 65% of houses had at least someone inside. Most of them were moms or grandparents with their children or grandchildren. When they opened their doors to me, some were initially confused but after I explained what I was doing, they smiled and went back to their kitchens or storage rooms to find food donations. I encountered so many generous people in my three hours of collecting.

Community Service lasted only one day during the 2 week orientation but it was the most impressive event for me because the Boulder residents and other volunteers let me know how important being kind and generous to the community truly is.  

This summer I was part of a student-run consulting group called Entrepreneurial Solutions, or ES for short. Over the summer, we worked on business and strategic plan development, business performance improvement, market research, financial modeling and competitor analysis.

We worked with several different clients that ranged from established companies to single entrepreneurs. I really enjoyed moving from project to project; ES is like having several internships in one. 

Before any checks came in the door, there was a lot of upfront business development to scope projects and win deals. I did a lot of front-end work before the clients were even committed to the project. After we won deals, we then worked against the scope and timetable to keep the project on track. We also frequently met with the client for periodic updates. This system worked out great, but it's important to know that getting paid generally comes toward the end of the project. But if you can float your living expenses a little bit, then the ES model works great.

Below are overviews of the projects I worked on.

Electronic Waste Management

This job was for a group of individuals who were looking into starting a business to help companies manage old IT assets. The project was to conduct phone interviews with about 40 small and medium sized businesses in an effort to understand how companies buy, manage, and dispose of electronic waste. We had some unexpected findings that helped the client refine their business model.

Focus Group

We worked with an aspiring entrepreneur to help him get external feedback on 15 of his new product ideas. The client is a retired software engineer and now has the time and energy to pursue one of his new product ideas. Generally, the product concepts solve every-day problems that all people experience; the difficulty is that the client loves all ideas equally. To help the client prioritize his ideas, we organized an interdisciplinary focus group to analyze each concept independently. Ultimately, we were able to help the client focus his efforts on the top few product ideas.

Denver Energy Company

This project was for an established energy company in Denver- the engagement ended up being three jobs in one. First, we interviewed top management on current state of business, how their partnering strategy should develop, and which region their sales and marketing efforts should target. From the interviews, we discovered that the best path forward was to get their product installed at a customer location. We developed a go-to-market strategy that included a market assessment, quoting template, engagement process flow chart, and a slick 90-day free trial promotion. Lastly, we helped the client understand how to position the product by interviewing potential customers to understand their pain points.

Medical Device Research

This existing company is moving into a new market by introducing a new product. They hired us to conduct primary market research to find out what features are most important to this new customer group. We also researched publicly available data on the industry to understand the competitive environment. This information will be used to position the new product against competition and highlight how product attributes align with the needs of target customers.

Overall, I had an excellent experience with ES over the summer. It was fantastic to work on so many unique projects with different clients, and I also had the free time and flexibility that I was hoping for. I would certainly recommend ES to anyone for a summer internship.

   Dear New MBA international students:

Thanks for coming to the Inter-Link picnic on Friday. I was very happy to see 15 of you there at the picnic and enjoyed having the opportunity to talk with you.  

The countries you are from include: Chile, Thailand, France, Mexico, Venezuela, and India. I, a Taiwanese student, understand coming to the US is a significant change in your life.  Moving away from your family and friends is hard. Speaking something other than your native language is difficult. Studying the business courses at Leeds School of Business is hard, too.  You'll need also to put a lot of effort into your studying. It can be 40 hours a week, 50 hours a week, or more than 60 hours a week.  But, it is well worth it because you will learn a lot in the MBA program, because you now live in one of the best cities in the US - Boulder, and because you will enjoy the mountains, the beautiful scenery and the friendly people in Colorado. You will feel like you are on the vacation every day. 

 
Congratulations! You just finished your first two week orientation for internationals students. You told me you learned a lot about the case studies, the presentation skills, and communication in English. In the coming weeks, you are going to have more professional courses including accounting, statistics, excel and etc. This time you'll be with 100 American classmates from the class 2011. They are from different parts of the country so they are like you, trying to explore Boulder and Leeds. It is not easy to remember everyone's name and face in the short period of time.  But don't give yourself too much pressure. The only thing you need to do is break out your smile and introduce yourself to them. Everyone is very friendly in the MBA program.

You will know who your teammates will be soon. It is very important for you to get to know your teammates as soon as possible and get along with them because you have to work together for your classes', homework including analyzing the cases, writing papers, and presentations. In the MBA program, it is all about teamwork.

 
During my first semester, I spend over 30 hours per week outside the classes with my teammates doing our projects. We met after or before classes. We met at 7:00am and sometimes we finished our papers at 10:00pm depending on the homework load. It was hard when the weather was so beautiful and I needed to stick inside the business school for the whole day in order to complete our work. It was worth it because I learned something new every day. My teammates were very kind and always willing to help out and make sure everyone on our team could be successful in the classes. Your teammates' background will be different from yours so you guys can help out each other. For example, on my team, Jamie worked for non-Profit Organization and she is very good at writing and making awesome PowerPoint presentations. Our slides impressed by professors and classmates. Adam was a financial analyst at a hospital in Boston so he is an expert at dealing with numbers. David was an engineer, so he was great doing statistics and decision modeling. They are smart and humble so they made my first year productive and joyful.   

       
There will be a lot of work every day, for every course, so you will feel that you don't have enough time to do your school work perfectly. You might want to spend most of your time studying, studying and more studying. I understand how important school work must mean to you since you worked so hard and saved money in order to come to the US to get the degree. But, sometimes you need to get away from your work and have fun. Experiencing the American culture is part of the reason why you come here to get your MBA.  I studied very hard and also had a lot of fun. Last year, Ryan Mayer and his employees took us to Chautauqua Park and taught us how to rock climbing. That was my first time climbing outside and I had a good time. J Miller organized a "Talk to CEO" trip for Inter-Linkers in Steamboat. He invited Jack Miller, the CEO of Stericycle, Inc, to Steamboat Springs and had a seminar there. I also experienced my first Halloween party in Boulder, my first Thanksgiving dinner at my roommate Adam's house, and a lot of different kinds of activities for my first time. I've been very happy.

 
So, enjoy your first term of the first semester. The seven weeks courses will be intense but you will learn a lot. Please feel free to raise your hand and share what you think with your professors and classmates. You will have a lot of fun.
Best regards.

Wei Wang

In July, I helped out at my first Leeds MBA Information sessions for prospective students and shared my thoughts on my first year in the program. It was a very special experience for me because about two years ago, I attended different business schools' information sessions and tried hard to find the right fit. I not only listened to the lecturer but also talked with a lot of current students. Since I got so much information from each session, I was able to choose the right place to get my MBA degree -- Leeds. Check out the Full-time MBA brochure and the Evening MBA brochure.
 
About 30 people attended the session. Most of them had come right from work and drove to CU Boulder directly (some of them wore their companies shirts and some of them looked tired after a long work day). However, everyone was very curious about the MBA program and kept asking questions after our Director of MBA Admissions, Scott Campbell, finished his one hour long lecture. The prospective students represented a mix of interests. Some indicated they would like to pursue the dual degrees such as JD/MBA or Telecommunication/ MBA and they wanted to know how to get their degree as soon as possible in order to go back to work and make money.  One gentleman wants to keep his job so he's considering the Evening MBA program. One lady is interested in attending our international business school exchange program so she wanted to know what difference between the business school programs in India and in Spain. Most of them have worked for many years so the hope the MBA program can really help them move up to the higher position.
 
They are just like me. I worked in Taiwan for 7 years as a reporter and was looking to make a career change. Getting an MBA in the US seemed like the best option to make a change out of the news field. I told the prospective students that my major was Mass Communication and English as my second language. I tried very hard in order to get accepted to the MBA program.  I spent every evening after work in the library studying for the GMAT in order to get a good GMAT score. After three tries, I got the score I wanted. I also spent six months writing different versions of my essays and finally picked the one I liked the most.

As an MBA student at Leeds, I still need to work very hard because I did not study most of the business courses in undergrad. I have to spend more time understanding the concepts. But, I believe hard work pays off because after my first year, I understand the ratios in financial statements and debits and credits in accounting. I am currently interning with a real estate company in Denver as a financial analyst and am very pound of myself. 
 
After the session, some people came to me, shook my hand, and told me that hearing about my experience gave them some ideas about their future. One of them tried to speak Mandarin with me (since he lived in China for a year) and hopes we can keep in touch. I am glad I was able to help and look forward to meeting more prospective students at future information sessions.

As part of the Global Perspectives class I took last spring, there was a mandatory trip to South America. The class discussed many aspects of international business and used Chile as the framework for this knowledge. In addition to using Chile as a constant case study, we researched the topic of Sustainability in business within Chile.  The class was split into groups, and each group researched one specific industry and how they are, or are not, integrating sustainable business practices. Once in Chile, it was our responsibility to conduct primary research and speak to experts in our field to verify the results of our project; the project I worked on was sustainability and organics in the wine industry.

Sustainability and Organics in Chile's Wine Industry:

We visited three vineyards to learn firsthand how Chilean vineyards view sustainability, current market trends, and how the recent earthquake impacted their business.

First, we visited Veramonte. Veramonte is a large producer who focuses on producing top quality wines, regardless of the processes. While Veramonte does use grape stems and skin for compost, they do not grow organically and there are no plans to start anytime soon. They have a large lab with many scientists in white jackets performing quality control tests. An interesting fact is that when growing grapes, it's important to keep humidity off of the grapes to avoid frost. Most vineyards do this with windmills placed among the vines, but Veramonte flies in a helicopter to blast the air around the vines to disperse the humidity. This practice clearly displayed their goal, top quality wine without compromise. However, they were impacted by the earthquake and were literally up to their knees in semi-fermented wine from cracked tanks.

Next we visited Haras de Pirque, a niche vineyard whose business is split between high quality wine production and raising top-notch horses. Their logo is, after all, a horseshoe. This vineyard is certified organic, composts all the waste from wine production and the horses, and it's processing facility is built on a hill, so that gravity is used to assist wine production. All harvested grapes start the process at the top of the hill, then migrate downhill to the various stages, ultimately arriving in the underground cellar where barrels of finished wine are stored. When questioned why this vineyard is organic, our guide told us that the nature of the valley does not require harsh chemicals to produce great grapes. Also, the vines and horses are in close proximity, and it's best to keep all chemicals away. Although their grapes are organic, the end product is not labeled as such because the vineyard adds sulfites to stabilize the wine. Organic certification for wine in the US limits sulfites significantly; the US represents about 40% of the vineyard's business.

The last vineyard we visited was Viña Emiliana Orgánica. Emiliana was the first certified organic vineyard in Chile and has since become Demeter certified for Biodynamic production. Biodynamic production is a growing practice that includes both physical materials used and forces of nature, like moon phase and astrological events. This vineyard went biodynamic as a way to differentiate themselves, and the tactic has been well received by international markets. Plus, they have many animals and fertilizing the vines is a simple matter.

 

Visits to Local Businesses:

Another aspect of the trip was spent understanding the local business climate in Chile. The group of 25 dressed up in suits and visited CORFO and learned about how the government partners with industry to help the economy in Chile grow. We also visited Sunnyridge, a producer of blueberry plants. Sunnyridge gets the plants started, then sells the plants to local farmers who actually produce the fruit. Because Chile has the opposite growing cycle, Chile helps privide North American consumers with fresh berries year round.

Perhaps my favorite company visit was to Fundacion Chile . This group is a combination of a venture capitalist and an incubator. They focus on bringing new businesses to Chile to spur new economic growth. Overall, they have a track record that most VC's would be jelous of; 1/3 are big successes, 1/3 break even, and 1/3 are failures.

Chile is an interesting place. It's often the testing ground for new products- there are 8 brands of Chinese cars on the roads in Chile. The country is often an entry point to the rest of South America for international businesses expanding. Also, it has a small, but highly skilled workforce. The country only has about 16 million people, but those who are educated are often very highly skilled. The Chilean workforce is sometimes compaired to a neurosurgeon -  they are very skilled at what they do, but there are not many of them out there.

General Insights:

Santiago is a big city with the skyscrapers, traffic, and pollution to prove it. When we arrived, the air was so bad that the government cancelled all school sports because exercise outside was very harmful to health. You really can see the air you breathe. However, the city is booming. The largest skyscraper in South America is currently being built in Santiago, in an area called "Sanhattan." Santiago is a trendy city with a vibrant culture and artistic flair. 

Local links are important. Cota Briones is the wife of a classmate and we have become good frineds. She really helped the culture come to life for us because we spent quite a bit of time with her and her friends. We had a small house party and drank pisco colas. She also got a few friends together and we all visited another vineyard together. Cota also organized a dinner at a chic Thai restauraunt. The main enterance was hidden and we would have never found it otherwise. Visiting a new city is so much different if you know a local. Special thanks to Cota for helping out so much!

I found the youth culture in Chile to be a lot like California. The host of a party showed us a snowboarding and surfing video. I thought it was cool, but then he said "That's me." Turns out he's a ripping snowboarder. When I used the bathroom at the apartment, there were two wet suits dripping into the tub and a few surfing magazines to complete the so-cal image. Out at the bar with a wider array of Cota's chilean friends displayed shaggy haircuts, skateboard shoes, and stubble. Chile strikes me a South America's California.

Lastly, prices are about what they are in the US. A beer out at the bars costs about $4, and it's easy to spend $20 bucks on dinner. Some things are cheaper, like avocados, but prices are overall about what I'd expect to pay back home - so bring plenty of cash if you go visit!

Santiago is a great city and I'm looking forward to my next visit.

I just got back from an amazing 18 day trip south of the equator in Chile that only had 2 stops: Torres del Paine park in Patagonia and the capital city, Santiago. The trip was part of the Global Perspectives class I took this spring. The class portion is a week in Santiago, but many people went down early to make the most of the experience. The following post is only on Patagonia; Santiago is soon to follow.

First, we had quite a bit of help from two classmates who are from Chile and both spent a lot of time in Torres del Paine. Felipe and Marcelo helped us plan the trip, made calls to airlines, and reserved hostels and busses for us. This trip would have been far more difficult if it was not for their generosity.

Since this is an extraordinarily long post, here's a summary. Ken Newcomb and I flew to Punta Arenas at the tip of South America, then took a bus to Puerto Natales and another bus to Torres del Paine park. This is the famous park where you see the iconic images of Patagonia. We hiked the park for five nights and six days and saw some of the most aggressive, hostile, vertical slabs of stone I've ever seen. The glaciers that carved them are still there and frequently let loose avalanches that make thundering booms through the valley. We saw huge condors soaring high in the sky and neon blue glaciers and icebergs contrasting with a solid grey colored lake. It was fall, and the leaves were bright red and yellow; few other tourists dared to trek so late and we had the park practically to ourselves. In the end, it was a grand adventure; no one got seriously hurt and everyone had fun. It was a completely epic life experience.

For food, we ate two packs of oatmeal for breakfast; lunch was two cliff bars and some salami with crackers that were crushed. We ate a Mountain House dehydrated meal with 2 servings for dinner. We brought everything from the US, except the salami and crackers. We also had some nuts that we bought in Chile, but the mice got to most of them.

Here's the play-by-play:

Day 1 and 2: Traveling. Flew from Denver to Atlanta, waited for three hours then flew to Santiago and met up with my trekking buddy Ken. Another three hour layover then a five hour flight to Punta Arenas. A two hour wait for the bus then a three hour bus ride to Puerto Natales. We arrived at 8.30pm and scrambled to buy last minute food and gas for our stoves. We luckily found a small camping store open which sold us gas and we picked up some crackers, nuts and salami from a grocery store. Checked in to our hostel, Kawaskar run by Omar, then went out for our last big meal and went to sleep around 1am.

Day 3: We caught a three hour bus into Torres del Paine at 7.30am. The mini bus was full, and Ken and I were the only ones with full packs planning on doing the whole W trek We were also the only North Americans. There was a group from Argentina that didn't want to hike, just see the sights from the bus, and a Dutch couple who were planning on hiking, but traveling light and staying in the lodges. On the way there, we saw a fox and a big heard of guanacos.

We arrived into the park and started our hike from Las Torres. Our hike that day was pretty calm with warmish weather. We had to roll pant legs up to make shorts because the uphill trek was a burner. About half way up, the wind really started to crank and I felt like Mario in the windy level of Mario 64. Seriously, I was glad I had trekking poles to keep from blowing off the mountain.  Ken and I cruised to Campamento Torres where we called it a day. Our time was fast, and I think it's because we've been training at a higher elevation in Colorado. The suggested time was three and a half hours and we got there in two hours and twenty minutes.

 

After setting up camp, we hiked up to see the famous Torres. Amazing towers that go straight up. Iconic. That night we ate our first dehydrated meal and discovered the perils of mice. Those furry vermin robbed us of the nuts we bought in Natales while we were away from camp for just ten minutes. We caught them red handed and had to abandon the snack.

Day 4: Long hike with lots of sun and nice weather.  We woke up around 7am and started hiking about 8am. This is the section of the trail that Felipe and Marcelo said was boring and that we should move fast over, but there was nothing boring about it. It was fall, about November equivalent, and the bushes and leaves were turning yellow and red. Plus we had great views of Lago Nodenskjold.

 

Around 2pm we literally ran right into two fellow Coloradoans and classmates. Ken and I were in the same class as Betsey, but didn't know for sure that they were even on the same trail or doing it the same time as we were, so it was quite a surprise. Betsey was traveling with another MBA who just graduated named Charlie. We were headed in different directions, so we chatted for a bit then parted company.

This was a tough day and we finally made it to Refugio y Campamento Los Cuernos which lies right at the foot of the famous Cuernos. We could have camped there, but we wanted to position ourselves well for the next days, so we ate a snack, coped with our pain, and kept going for another hour and a half to Camamento Italiano. This was a long day and according to the map, we hiked 26.5 kilometers (16.5 miles) which was estimated to take 10 hours. Not sure how long it took, but definitely less than that.

We dined on more dehydrated food and again had trouble with mice, but nothing was lost. We left camp again for ten minutes and when we walked back, there were mice running all over camp in front of us and one can crawled up a tree and down a string that we used to hang our trash. He was having a meal on our trash and pretty stoked to have found it. Another one was a total idiot and crawled into our tent, even thought there was no food in it and the tent was only open a crack at the top, so he had to work hard to get in. Ken grabbed him with gloves and flung him out.

That night we heard many avalanches falling down the Glaciar del Frances. In the morning you could see them spewing puffs of snow from the face.

Day 5: Easy day with amazing weather and aggressive/violent mountains. This day we packed up but left our gear hanging from a tree at the Italian camp while only using a day pack to hike up the Valle del Frances. What a great feeling! Hiking with only a day pack felt like wearing nothing at all and we both really appreciated the break. We went up past the French Glacier and saw some amazing peaks around Campamento Britanico. There were many wind barriers built up at the British camp, but it was very calm and sunny for us; I think we got really lucky with the weather. We went a bit further to where the trail was marked as ended with branches intentionally placed in the way, but we went on for 30 min or so to get even better views. Since our dehydrated meals were holding out well, we brought a sausage and pasta one to split for lunch. Having a hot meal was really nice, and the scenery was a complete recharge.

The peaks up there are just straight up, glaciers are everywhere, and some peaks were constantly spewing windblown snow down. They are so unusual looking, so much more vertical and sharp than Colorado or the Alps that I've seen. When I showed the pics to my mom, she said it could be a castle because of the straight up walls. We saw condors up high in the sky and you can tell they are huge because of how slowly they move. The size looks normal for a bird, but the slow movement tells us they are WAY up there. Their nine feet wing span is no joke.

We then hiked down to the Italian camp, got geared up, and walked down hill to Paine Grande. Paine Grande has a lodge, restaurant and a place to camp. This is the only place we had to pay to camp as well as the only place we were able to buy a real dinner and breakfast, of which we did both. The dinner was a tuna salad, rice, some sort of beef, and a lemon meringue dessert. I don't eat beef at all, and haven't for 8 years, but this time I made an exception and it was worth it. We also had the luxury of drinking beer. Austral is the local Patagonian beer and this place had all types for 1000 pesos each (about $2). After a full dinner, 5 beers, and a few hours warming up next to a fire, we departed for our tent outside in the cold. As a side note, we again ran into the Dutch couple- they were staying at that lodge and were headed out of the park the next day.

 

The map put us at 14.5 kilometers (9 miles) for the day and I'm not sure how long it took us b/c we had lots of breaks and took it easy. It was dark when we arrived at Paine Grande.

Day 6: Another easy day. We woke up late, probably 9am, and were late for breakfast, but they served us anyway. We had toast, eggs, cereal, and coffee. After leisurely packing up, we hiked up to Refugio Grey. The refuge was closed for the season, but we camped on an awesome sand beach right on Lago Grey. Getting up there was pretty easy, but there were a few spots that definitely had cliffs on the side and tricky rocks to negotiate. Those sections were tough and an inexperienced mountaineer would have a tough time. Plus, seeing the glacier in the distance was quite a tease. You saw it and thought you were getting close, but there was another two hours or so to hike.

The weather that day was a bit overcast, but not rainy. Alternating between hat, gloves, and pushing up shirt sleeves allowed us to maintain a comfortable temp depending on our level of exertion and ambient temperature change. We also walked right up next to some crazy looking bird with a read head. I tried to get a pic, but he flew away. There were a few together and they were not afraid of us at all, it was amazing how close they were.

As we hiked along, you could see big icebergs in Lago Grey. The ice was bright blue and made even more stunning by the dull grey color of the lake. The ice bergs became more and more cluttered on the lake surface as we got closer to camp. Right off the shore, there were pretty big ice formations and we could actually grab them and haul them ashore.

 

After setting up camp, we hiked on to the viewpoint for Glacier Grey and chilled there till dusk. Wow. Wow. I could just sit there looking at the ice for hours. It was even more beautiful to look at the huge icebergs right off the shore than the huge glacier further away. These icebergs were huge, and 87.5% of the ice is under water, so they are actually massive.

 

It started to sprinkle a little rain on us and it was getting dark, so we cruised back to camp. At camp, we took Felipe's advice and finished off our scotch in style. His suggestion was to drink the scotch "on the rocks" from chunks of ice from an iceberg we hauled ashore. Pretty awesome idea, and it was the perfect end to my favorite day in Patagonia.

Later in the evening, we saw headlights approach. The party of 2 turned out to be two cool Polish people. They got a late start and hiked up to the glacier from Campamento Las Carretas. The next day we planned to also stay at Las Carretas, but were bummed to hear that they had a bad experience there with mice. Even with no food in the tent, mice were climbing and chewing on their tent all night long. They ended up with nine fairly large holes in the tent. We were using Ken's brand new Golite tent, and we didn't want to ruin it on the first trip, so we planned a longer hike the next day and went to sleep early.

All in all, I estimate we hiked 14 kilometers that day, which comes out to be 8.7 miles.

Day 7: Hardest hiking day of my life. This was a tough one, and we knew it going in.  We woke up at 6 and were out by 7. Even then we needed out head lights for the first hour of the hike. We were in high spirits, and the trek back to Paine Grande was uneventful and fairly easy, however Ken had a small slip on a descent, but no real damage was inflicted. Since we were out of booze, we each bought 5 beers at Paine Grande. We since looked it up, and a can of beer weights about 1 lb, so we increased the weight of our packs by about 12%.

From Paine Grande, we headed out toward the South Administration Center, which the map estimates to be about 20 kilometers away (12.5 miles). However the trial was frustrating. Lots of rises and descents, climbs and falls. How frustrating to lose the elevation you gained, plus going downhill is pretty tough. Finally we got out on the prairie and could cruise. It was completely flat grassland and might have fit in with Africa's savannah. About this time, Ken told me that his knee was hurting pretty bad. Turns out the small slip earlier continued to become aggravated and grew to become a big problem.  We slowed the pace down and kept going because there was nothing else to do. Now we were probably hiking at normal speed whereas before we were cruising very quickly. 

We reached Las Carretas and it looked like a real crappy camp site, so we were glad to have left early so we could get further out. From there, the trail continued on the grassy steep until we finally hit a road. We followed the road and found the South Administration center where they displayed the natural flora and fauna. There was a person there who was sympathetic to our position and showed us a nice place to eat and rest next to the lake. However, he would not let us camp there; we had to move on to the campsite Pehoe. Pehoe was another two hours up the dirt road, so we took a solid 1 hour break before setting off. That was the only real break we had all day, other stops were two or five minute granola bar and water breaks.  There was one golden moment at the South Administration Center. Since we had finished the W a day earlier than we anticipated, the guy stationed there called the bus for us and changed out pick up time and location. We were getting picked up the next day from Pehoe, so we didn't have to kill another day or hike all the way back to the Administration center for the ride at 2pm.

Hitch hiking would have been a total blessing, but no one stopped for us. Even a pickup truck with nothing in the back went past and ignored our outstretched thumbs. Finally, no more cars were passing because it was getting dark, so we put our heads down and just kept walking.

It was especially painful seeing the Explora hotel in the distance. It's a 5 star palace that costs over a thousand USD per night. The hike might just be barely worth it if we got to finish there, but instead we had to push on further to the camp site just a few minutes past the hotel.  Finally we reached camp. It was dark and we set up the tent, drank a beer, and went to the lake to filter water. My pump started to clog up so water was hard to get and I was really glad that was the last day of use for it.

This last day of hiking I estimate at 40 kilometers. That's 24.8 miles, almost a marathon, but with a 45 lb pack. I have been having trouble with my hips, and I used duct tape to try and soften the pain, but I'm not sure if it worked.

That night was really windy and crappy. It rained off and on and the wind ripped all night. There was definitely a storm brewing behind us as we hiked out and it hit us on the flatland later that night. The weather continued into the next day and we were really happy that our pick up reservation and time changed. Also, it was awesome that the camp site had a shelter. But even so, the wind was coming in and smashing out tent all night.

We spent the next day eating and drinking tea until the bus came. We also finished off our epic game of Mexican dice. It's a game usually played to 10,000 points, but since this was a multi day trip, we set 50,000 as the end point. It was a really close battle the whole way, but I was able to edge out in front at the last few rolls and just barely won. We played for the high stakes of a shot and a beer, a prize I still need to collect on.

The bus arrived 30 minutes late, but we didn't mind since we were sitting on a bench listening to Reggae on Ken's iPhone. The same driver who took us out was responsible for our return, and we both passed out for the trip back to Puerto Natales.

When we arrived back at the hostel, Omar was a bit surprised to see us early, but he was cool with it because it was low season and we were the only guests and source of revenue.

We chilled in Natales for the next day and recovered by eating large amount of food and drinking plenty of beer. A pain in my knee developed, and I still have it two weeks later. I did go to the doc and she thought I pulled something, but there was nothing to do besides do some new stretches and wait.

Conclusions/ Insights:

1. It's all about the people- we met lots of interesting people traveling.

• Polish couple. The girl has been traveling for 2 months and the guy just joined her. They are doing a bicycle tour after Torres del Paine, then the girl is going home and the guy will continue a solo bike tour. He's done 5 tours alone in S. America on a bike before.
• Dutch couple. They live 20 min via bike from Amsterdam and have taken 4 months off to travel.
• British couple. These guys have been traveling for the past 9 months and have another 3 to go. They were in India, Australia, and South America.
• Freaked out South Americans. This guy was arriving late at Italiano without a sleeping bag and was really losing his cool. He explained that they were waiting for some people, then were going to hike to Paine Grande. We had to move on, but we saw them at Paine Grande later, so they did make it.
• Omar. Our host at the hostel was super chill and maybe a little bit too laid back for my taste. He was helpful getting a bus and everything, and he made us an egg for breakfast too, so he turned out alright in my book.
• Many more that did not make it into this already super long post.

2. Drinking straight from the streams- Felipe and Marcelo told us you can do this, which we did and were fine. It's an ultra remote spot and the water is really clean.

3. Great weather. Out of our six days, we had four with stunning beautiful warm sunny weather. While I was buying some gear, an old dude at REI totally blessed the trip, maybe he had something to do with this boon.

4. Perseverance. When you don't know how much further you have to go to get to camp and you're already tired, it's tough. It's important to keep a positive mood and keep moving. Food helps elevate the mood, so have a snack.

5. Hiking in the Southern Hemisphere was very disorienting because the sun is in the other side of sky.

6. The flushed water in a toilet does spiral the other way, but most toilets are high efficiency and don't use enough water to see it swirl... the water just gurgles down.

7. Age matters. I'm 28 and my body hurts more than it would have just a few years ago. It's important to have these adventures early in life.

It could be said that the #1 reason to come to Boulder is its amazing community... For many, the choice to attend Leeds has a great deal to do with life outside of the classroom: outdoor activities, beautiful scenery, small(ish) town living and an incredibly involved and motivated contingent of human beings living in a 10 mi radius.

So, for my last post as a Leeds MBA student, I thought it best to give readers a little taste of 'what's next' in terms of opportunities available to interact with the Boulder community. A great example of the dedication to camaraderie, growth and overall sense of community cultivated here is Boulder Startup Week, which will take place May 4-8.

Throughout the week Boulder locals will meet up and welcome visitors to learn more about life in 'The Republic' and showcase the startup scene. Local startups will host a number of events including hikes, coworking opportunities, coffee meetups and drinkups. A few of the events I am most looking forward to include: Women & Startup events, Boulder New Tech Meetup (the most geeked-out, awesome event ever), Bloggers and Beers hosted by Tara Anderson and Ignite 10.

Boulder Startup Week falls just before graduation and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to bring my family to Ignite 10. Ignite Boulder is the largest in the world and is an evening full of five-minute presentations designed to 'teach, enlighten or inspire' and is INCREDIBLY fun.

My tweet post Ignite 8:

"First @igniteboulder and after a decade in Boulder it was so nice to be with 'my people'!! #gamersnerdsMBAsEntrepreneurs LOVE IT!!"

This year, two Leeds MBAs spoke at Ignite Boulder. Janet Ehlers, MBA 2010 spoke at 'Heart and Soul' themed Ignite 8, and  Rob Delwo, MBA 2010 gave the crowd of Ignite 9 a lesson on "How to survive a night in Saskatchewan, Canada." Julie Penner, JD/MBA 2010 will be showcasing her skills at Ignite 10 with a talk on "How to Negotiate; Tricks to Win Arguments, Seal the Deal, or Get Out of Tickets."

Boulder Startup Week and Ignite Boulder are great examples of events that foster the overall excitement that makes this community such an amazing place to live. I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to continue to build relationships with passionate, bright individuals and excited to take part in the week's events! For more information, visit Boulder Startup Week.

CU New Venture Challenge
The University of Colorado is in its second year of the New Venture Challenge (NVC). NVC is a campus wide entrepreneurship contest that provides a platform for test driving new business ideas.

Teams need at least one person associated with the University. Each team is paired up with a mentor from the field of the concept business.  The mentors add a lot of value with networking, the business plan, and concept reality checking.

The event culminates in 15 minute presentations with 15 minutes of Q&A by a panel of judges who are successful entrepreneurs or investors.

This year a team from the MBA class of 2010 won the contest with their concept for Street Chefs. Their business is to serve healthy food on the street.

LFTB speaker series
The Graduate Entrepreneurship Association (GEA) has a series of speakers almost every week. Discussions usually center on tech, renewable energy, and natural foods. We have also had representatives from Law and executive coaching speak to us.

Clean Tech Mentor Program
Mentorship programs are also available and provide a great way to get connected with the business community. I am taking part in the clean tech program and go running with the founder of a smart grid company. On the run I pose a question or topic for discussion. We've talked about life goals, examples of failure, and the value of relationships.  Plus, it's very unique to conduct mentoring meetings while exercising.

Winter Real Estate Trip to Colorado Mountain Resort.
The Leeds MBA program is well known for their real estate focus. Every year the Graduate Real Estate Association organizes a trip to a mountain resort town for any MBAs who are interested. Last year, many non-real estate focused students participated because of the amazing price breaks. The trip had a few information sessions focused on the local real estate market, but was also designed as a social mixer and provided an opportunity to see Colorado outside Boulder.

"The GREA winter resort trip was fantastic.  In addition to the great opportunity to network and learn from leaders in the local real estate market, we also had the chance to stay at a world class resort for a very reasonable price.  I can't wait for the trip next year." Luke Cannon, MBA Candidate 2011.

Breakfast with Howard Behard
As a student, you receive emails about special events that take place. This time, the former President and COO of Starbucks came to speak with a group of 20 or so MBAs over breakfast. He spoke about personal values, having a personal mission statement, and the importance of passion. Very inspirational words. After his talk, Howard answered one on one questions and shared his email address. World-class speakers like Howard are not uncommon.

Marketing club events
The Marketing club also has speakers come in. Recently there was a session on social media and how companies can use this in conjunction with traditional media. We talked about the tools (facebook, twitter, blogs, RSS) and how to keep a pulse on your brand.  While new media is rapidly changing, it offers real benefits that should not be overlooked.

Finance club - VC Bootcamp
Even if you do not plan to focus on finance, it's wise to keep tabs on their events. Last semester they hosted a two day event called the Venture Capital Bootcamp. It included speakers from several local VC's. Honestly, this was my favorite extracurricular event last semester. The speakers are very intelligent and willing to share openly with students. It was enlightening to learn what they look for in investments as well as the costs to the entrepreneur. I came away with a better knowledge of Venture Capital and a healthy fear of raising VC money.

Danger of overloading
With so much going on, it is certainly easy to become spread too thin. Learning how to balance activities and assignments is an art that takes a bit of practice. Please be warned, it's easy to get wrapped up in too much and not be able to accomplish what you set out to.