I originally posted this blog on my Kelley blog, but I thought it was worth sharing here as well. Enjoy! I could use this blog entry to write about all of the sights we saw in Russia, or about the business meetings that we attended, and I might do that soon too. But honestly, the entire experience of the trip had such an impact on me as a person that I'd like to talk about that first. It had an effect on me emotionally, personally, and professionally, and there are quite a few thoughts swirling around in my head about that now upon returning. One big reason I took the Emerging Economies: Russia class is because I love traveling and learning about and experiencing other cultures, and I saw this as one of the few opportunities I might have to learn about and visit Russia in this capacity. And now, especially after taking the trip and having that experience, I find it disappointing that more MBA students in our program weren't willing to do the same. Yes, it's a lot of money. But the trip and class as a whole really costs no more than a normal part-time MBA semester of credit hours here at Kelley. So, even if you have to take only this class one semester in order to pay for it, do it! It is well worth the expense many times over. And plus, there are also other ways to pay for it. Kelley offered a partial scholarship for it. I know that one of the other students that went used his work bonus to help pay for it, and I did that as well. But even if you think it's not affordable, there is always a way and I guarantee that if you make the effort to find it, it will be worth it in the end. The eight weeks in this class leading up to the trip were quite valuable. I really enjoyed taking the time to learn all about Russia - its culture, politics, food, history, etc - before visiting there. It made the actual trip and being there so much more valuable and meaningful. When we were ready to leave, we already had an idea of what Russia was like in our heads - now it was just time to experience it for ourselves. What I got out of the trip exceeded my highest expectations. I didn't really have too many expectations going in, honestly - I just tried to be open and take in whatever happened, which I think is the best way to go about it. Maybe it was just that attitude that caused me to feel differently than I might have thought that I would. One of the first things I felt the first few days of the trip was a sense of awe. I never traveled very much or very far in my childhood and even though I have been to a few different countries now as an adult, it was still kind of huge to me that I was in Russia. And on top of that, I was traveling with a group of successful adults and meeting with executives at huge multinational companies. It made my head spin just a bit. Once I adjusted to that feeling and accepted that yes, I was really there, I got quite a bit out of both the business meetings as well as the time spent out with people, both my fellow travelers as well as people we were meeting in Russia. The business meetings were very valuable and rewarding because we were getting to see the reality of doing business in Russia, what we had been researching for weeks. We saw both the perspectives of U.S. firms, some of which had been in Russia for quite a long time, as well as from Russian companies, both large ones and start-ups. It gave us a much more real sense of how things are accomplished there. It was also a really nice experience to meet the people that we had put ourselves in touch with in order to set up our meetings. That had been part of our challenges and preparation in the class leading up to the trip, to set up business meetings on our own in Russia to get information for our team projects. Spending time with those in our group and meeting new people in Russia was every bit as rewarding as well. Because the MBA program is part-time and most of the students either work full-time already or are full-time students in another program along with the MBA (we had both an MD/MBA and a JD/MBA along with us), sometimes that can make it hard to really spend time connecting with your fellow students. But there is no better way to connect than to go off to a foreign country with some of them for a few days! We all truly got to know each other very well and honestly, we really got along famously. I hope to continue to stay in touch with each and every one of the people on this trip and count them as friends for a very long time. I think that all of my fellow students that went on this trip would agree that we owe a huge debt of gratitude to both our professor, Marjorie Lyles, as well as our executive-in-residence for the class, Nate Feltman. You can tell that Prof. Lyles loves both doing work internationally as well as sharing her love of that with students. She truly has a passion for that which becomes very clear when you are on the trip experiencing it with her. Her fondness for her students and her pride in their dedication to the class becomes very evident and was a huge encouragement and support to us. And Nate brought exactly what we needed to our time in Russia. He has spent a few years over there as legal counsel and was just the link we needed to Russia. His love for the country is very evident as well and added so much to our trip. He was our translator and guide at times as well as friend. You tend to have professors and executives or professionals that are involved throughout every step of earning an MBA, but there are only usually a select few that end up being sought out as true mentors. I think Prof. Lyles and Nate should be warned that they have the potential to become that for any one of the eight of us students that visited Russia with them. I think that I could potentially say that all of us fell in love with Russia on this trip. The sights, meetings, people, experiences... all of it was enough to make all of us want to return at some point. A phrase that one of the executives in one of our meetings used that keeps coming back to me is "international American". I believe that is what is true about each of us on the trip that sparked us to go - a passion for learning more about other cultures and nations and wanting to make the world seem a bit smaller. I really hope that in our experience and in our sharing of it with others that we can prompt them to do the same and be international Americans as well.

A blog post about blogging.  Novel idea, right?  I've been blogging since - well, according to my Xanga page - October 2001.  Next Tuesday is apparently my 8-year bloggiversary.  Yay me!  So yes, I started blogging on Xanga, and later eventually moved to my own site, which you see before you now.  The look of it has changed some over the years, but I am still here.  Where else would I be?  I'm pretty sure there is no other Sheryl Hugill out there to try to steal this domain name from me... Besides my own personal blog, I have also been a blogger for other websites as well.  In 2006 and 2007, I was a blogger for a local magazine that used to be called INtake Weekly.  INtake has since become Indy.com (sadly leaving behind their Blog Squad), and now is a part of Metromix.  And now, I'm excited to add another entry to my blog portfolio... you're looking at the newest "BizBlogger" for the Kelley School of Business at IUPUI! The Kelley School of Business showcases their newest blog entries on their main page, found at kelley.iupui.edu.  The link to the "BizBlog" itself can be found at bizblog.kelley.iupui.edu or by clicking on "More Entries" from the BizBlog section on the main Kelley page.  Found here are blogs by several different types of people involved with Kelley, including undergraduate students, alumni, advisors, and of course (like me) graduate students.  If you go to the main BizBlog page and click on Graduate Students, you'll see my name listed there on the left.  No posts yet, but I currently have one waiting for moderation. I'm very excited to be blogging for the Kelley School of Business.  I know the MBA program will be a challenge, and I'm looking forward to sharing my experience there.  Interestingly enough, my blog here is what got me the job... someone from Kelley contacted me while I was in the process of preparing for the GMAT and applying to the program, after having seen my post here about that process.  She wanted to talk to me to find out about my experience with the application process, and this later led to my invitation to blog for the school. What a great opportunity, and a great way to celebrate my "bloggiversary"... with a new blogging challenge. UPDATE: My first blog at Kelley has been posted/moderated now.  I think they have changed around the graduate students blogs, as mine is listed right now under "Evening MBA Experience".  Here's a link to my first post.

And oddly enough, I'm putting off homework to write this blog post. I figured that I had yet to officially post an update on the status of my application to the MBA program at IUPUI, so while I'm being a blogging fiend I figured I'd do that. So here it is... I got accepted! I took the GMAT and after a few nights of hardcore studying, I ended up with a score of 650, which is pretty decent. It's apparently higher than the average of students entering the evening MBA program at IUPUI, apparently, which their website states is 620. So I was pretty pleased. And *very glad* to be done with the test. And yes, I have been accepted to the evening MBA program at the Kelley School of Business at IUPUI. Yay me! So right now I'm taking a summer accounting class online that is a prerequisite for the MBA program, which starts next month. Classes start August 26, and orientation is August 24 and 25th. I'm really looking forward to starting school again. I like being a student, plus I'm looking forward to meeting new classmates. I will have classes on Monday and Wednesday nights at the Community Life & Learning Center in Carmel. For the next. three. years. What am I getting myself into?? Oh well... So, wish me luck as I embark on the next leg of my academic journey. I look forward to tackling all of the ups and downs that I know it will present.

I bet you were hoping for part 2 of my Memorial Day weekend trip, right? Well, you'll get it - eventually. Just not right now. Patience, my dear readers. This week my mind is elsewhere. I've had a request to talk about my MBA experience. (Hi Tom!) Well, as of yet - it's only a pre-MBA experience. But I can talk about that. If you've been reading my blog long enough, you probably remember a couple of years ago when I said I had decided to go to grad school to get my MBA. Well, a trip to Florida, a short-term romance, and lack of funds kind of deterred all of that for a while. But after some conversations with co-workers and my own decision that I needed more direction and goals in my life, I have decided to pursue this effort once again. To me, the most logical choice for which school to go to to obtain my graduate degree in business administration is IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, for the uninformed). This is where I got my undergraduate degree. There are a few reasons why I say it is the logical choice for me. One, is just that - it's where I obtained my undergrad. I also worked there, and I am very comfortable and familiar with the school and the way they do things. Two, is that the degree I would end up getting would be from Indiana University. My undergrad is from Purdue. How cool would that be, to have a degree from both schools? Silly reason, maybe. I do have a better one. Obviously, IU is a great school anyway, but then there's the fact that the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University is ranked #22 in the country among business schools for an MBA. Sure, it's not Harvard or Yale or anything, but that's not a bad ranking for a school in Indiana. So that's why I'm trying to get accepted into their evening MBA program. So, there are quite a few things I need to get accepted into this program. One is a good undergrad record and GPA. Check. My undergrad GPA at IUPUI was a 3.8. Not too shabby, huh? Number two is a couple of recommendation letters from people that can vouch for me and why I should be accepted into this program. I've got good friends and business contacts - no problem. I sent in my resume, which shows that I have had a few years of full-time experience in the working world, not only in I.T. after I received my undergrad, but also some years as an administrative assistant and also in the banking industry. I've also submitted an essay about why I want to get into this program, as well as registered for a prerequisite class online this summer. There are actually two prerequisite classes I need - statistics and accounting - but if I can manage to make it into the fall semester, I can bypass the statistics class. I took three statistics classes as part of my undergrad program, and I aced them all. Here's the thing. The usual deadline for having everything in for the fall semester is April 15. Obviously, we are way past that. But they have had low enrollment this year, and have extended the deadline until June 30 or whenever the classes fill up. The evening MBA program has a group that will be meeting in Carmel, which is where I work. This would be much closer than the group that will be meeting downtown. However, the Carmel group only starts up in the fall semester, not spring. So there's that. Also - if I don't make it in for fall - I will have to take the statistics prereq as my undergrad classes will be over 5 years ago and will not qualify. So you can see why it is kind of important for me to get in for the fall. I have been in contact with someone from the admissions office, and she tells me that they do have a few spots left in Carmel for fall, so if I get accepted, I should be fine in getting a spot. What do they still need from me to get accepted? The clincher - the GMAT. The GMAT (or Graduate Management Admissions Test) is a required part of getting into the program as well. I am registered to take it this Saturday, May 30. So - for the rest of this week, studying I will be. I've studied some and gotten decent scores on practice tests, but this test covers math skills that I acquired in high school and early college. Meaning - skills I've pretty much lost since then. And trying to re-learn all of that in a short period of time is not easy. But try I will. So there's where I'm at. The GMAT is this Saturday, and my score on that is probably my biggest determining factor to whether I'm admitted into the program or not. The average for students in this program is 620, and I was able to get a 660 on one of the practice tests I took, so let's hope I get around that on the real test. I'll keep you updated... until then - wish me luck!