April = (Free) food

I love when April comes around because it is the time of the year where every student organization decides to have free barbeques and food at events. For example, GW's Program Board is currently throwing a free cook-out for all students to celebrate the end of the semester. Yesterday there were $3 Chipotle burritos for sale. Tonight there's an Asian night market in Kogan where tons of Asian student organizations are selling food for between $1-5 dollars! On Sunday, Greek life will even be giving away free Georgetown Cupcakes. How can one not get fat and gain the freshmen 15 during this time of the year?! All of these events are great because I'm not wasting time in the kitchen cooking dinner, and most importantly, I'm not spending any money! Too bad there aren't many days left where I can be gluttonous at these sorts of events!-Serena

DC Free Movie Screenings!

I just got back from the advanced screening of "Something Borrowed" based on the best-selling novel, "Something Borrowed" by Emily Griffin. It's a chick flick starring  Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, and John Krasinski. Krasinski was my favorite and most lovable character because his role was entirely used as a comic relief throughout the movie. I've been to nearly four free advanced film screenings this year and is one of the fun perks of living in a city! The movies often take place at either the Georgetown or Chinatown theatres, but today I went to the E Street theatre (typically shows independent films) which I haven't been to in a while. I find out about these screenings through various GW student group promotes or through friends who work at local marketing agencies that promote for films (today I went with GW Women in Business). It's always nice to take a 2-3 hour break from studying, but now I must get back to work so I can spare some time in the morning for the Royal Wedding!

GW Course Evaluations

At the end of every semester, GW students are given the opportunity to do complete course evaluations of our classes and our professors. Certain professors prefer to have paper evaluations where we get to fill them out in class, with the professor out of the room. Other professors like to minimize the paperwork and opt for students to complete online evaluations. According to GW, "The purposes of these course evaluations are to: provide feedback to your instructor and the department chair about the quality of the course; to inform other students about courses to assist them in their course selection; and to help you and GW assess what you learned in the course."
The evaluations are confidential and the professors only see an aggregate of the comments and our comments would not affect our grades. One aspect of the evalutions that have confused me is the part where the evaluations are used to help other students in their course selection. I don't quite know where other students can see these online results because I have searched for them previously and could not find them online. It would be wonderful if these evaluations were available to students somewhere easily accessible.

GWSB Student Leadership Dinner

Yesterday I attended a dinner held by the GWSB Office of Undergraduate Programs. It was a lovely event held at the Arts Club of Washington, D.C., located practically across the street from GW's campus. The evening began with half an hour of networking amongst student leaders from various student organizations, dinner started shorted after, then we had a keynote alumni speaker, Titi Williams-Davis speak about her experience as a student leader and her current career, the night ended with a series of awards acknowledging a steller student from each year. It was a beautiful event because it allowed everyone to bid their farewells before the craziness of finals set in. I'll really miss the GWSB because it's a huge big family since everyone takes almost the same classes together and are so motivated and involved. 

GW Women in Business Conference

Just over two weeks ago I volunteered and attended the 2nd annual GW Women in Business Conference. It is one of the premier  business conferences held on campus that is coordinated entirely by students, particularly the GW Women in Business organization. Several of my good friends serve on the executive leadership team and so of course I was there to help support their hardwork as well as the student group! The conference was held on Saturday and comprised of leaders from various “Fortune 500” companies and start-ups, such as Wal-Mart Inc. and Next Big Sound, who shared their career experiences and secrets to success with GW students and other young professionals. The conference focused on four main themes which students could learn about: social media, entrepreneurship, emerging markets, and business and public policy. There were over 20 panelists, professionals, and professors in attendance and was open to males and females from all majors and universities in the Washington Metropolitan area. I had such a wonderful time attending the conference and was glad to help in the background logistics of the day!

Registration

Panelists!

Tasty treats from Georgetown Cupcakes!

Buzzing for Change

One of my good friends at GW is a part of a student organization on campus called "Buzzing for Change." Buzzing for Change is a national non-profit organization, started at GW, which raises money for children living with cancer. B4C was founded at The George Washington University in 2002 by Judah Ferst in honor of his mother who was lost to cancer. My friend lived across the hall from his younger sister, Sarah Ferst, her Freshman year. Fundraising culminates in an annual event that took place today where volunteers from Hair Cuttery come to GW and guys (some girls) will buzz their heads to be in solidarity with cancer patients, and girls (some guys) will cut off 6 inches or more of hair. All the hair is given to Locks of Love, an organization that uses donated hair to make wigs for cancer patients. All the money raised goes directly to Camp SpecialLove, a camp for children living with cancer. Take a look at the great organization for yourself! http://www.buzzing4change.org/

President Knapp at the event

Ladies getting buzzed

Howard Schultz- CEO of Starbucks Lecture

Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, came to speak at GW yesterday. It was a really exciting event sponsored by the Entrepreneur's Organization of DC. The event began with a short introduction video about creation of Starbucks and ended with the various progressive changes Schultz has implemented since the Financial Crisis and his return as CEO. It is fascinating to see that the American Dream still exists because Schultz's journey is essentially a rags-to-riches story. Schultz was born in the Brooklyn projects and he eventually decided to move out to Seattle to begin a new life with his wife. He was initially hired as the Director of Marketing for a coffee shop, and it was his trip to Italy where he reached an epiphany that created Starbucks. It is in his Schultz's new book, entitled "Onwards" where we learn about how Schultz turned Starbucks around after the Financial Crisis and the progress he hopes to achieve for the company.
-Serena

GWSB Leadership Round-up and Etiquette Course

I had an opportunity yesterday to attend a Leadership Round-up and Etiquette Course sponsored by the GW School of Business' Office of Undergraduate Programs. The round-up consisted of a forum with updates on GWSB and Undergraduate Programs; it also gave student leaders an opportunity to interact have fun with each other before the semester ends. As part of the round-up, we were given an interactive lecture by Alexandra Kovach who taught us business etiquette pertaining to dinners, thank you letters, electronic communication, etc. For example, did you know that your bread plate is on your left side and drinks are on the right? Or when you must excuse yourself from the dinner table, you should leave your napkin on the chair; however, when you're permanently leaving the dinner, you leave the napkin on the table? How about when eating bread, you only break off pieces small bites at a time? These are all great tips that everyone should be learn or be aware of, particularly since so much of business is done over lunch or dinner! I also must mention that Undergraduate Programs did a fantastic job with ordering the catered food from Au Bon Pain for the event, we had delicious grilled vegetables, pasta salad, a variety of gourmet sandwiches, and even BAKED AND WIRED cupcakes for dessert! I LOVE the BUSINESS SCHOOL! -Serena

Ann Taylor Fashion Event

About a month ago I attended an event sponsored by the GW Women in Business (GWWIB) where they invited Ann Taylor for business fashion advice. Members of the Ann Taylor staff presented the 2011 Spring Lookbook and offered great advice for students who intern as a "career chic" option. Furthermore, the session had members of the GWSB F. David Fowler Career Center who performed on-site resume reviews and also provided fashion advice that aligned with the thoughts of the Ann Taylor community.
Furthermore, one lucky GW woman will be featured in Ann Taylor Student Lookbook in a few weeks. One of my friends, Minhae was chosen as a contestant; at the end of the survey the winner will be featured in a national campaign...how amazing is that?!
Personally, I enjoy Ann Taylor's fashion line, they provide affordable, yet fashionable clothes that I can easily transform from day-to-night (perhaps for happy hour drinks!). If any of you all are in need of some fantastic business casual pieces, I definitely suggest you to check out Ann Taylor. -Serena

Overdue Spring Break posting!

Hey everyone!

Apologies for my overdue blog post, I can't believe it's been nearly two weeks since Spring Break...it feels like it was only last week that I went to Miami to get away from the cold weather! Aside from my trip last year to Egypt, this was my first Spring Break where I travelled anywhere but home. My friends and I had planned to go to the Dominican Republic (Punta Cana) for break, but no one wanted to invest time into research and it was rather costly for the amount of people who wanted to go. As an alternative, my friend took the initative and researched a few cheap flights to Miami in December and found roundtrip tickets for $85 (inclusive of all fees!). This was clearly a steal and everyone booked their flights from there; it was awesome that we had our travel plans in place in early December (I suggest everyone to do the same for next year). Miami was absolutely amazing, everyday we'd wake up, spend 5 hours at the beach, have dinner, and go out to the various clubs and bars along South Beach and Coconut Grove. One of my friends convinced a bunch of us to buy tickets for a Miami Heat v. San Antonio Spurs game, it was extremely fun and a nice change of pace to our otherwise "mundane" routine! This was such a great break and left me with a memorable senior experience. -Serena

The ladies!

Boys will be boys

Take me back to 85 degree weather

GW's 1st Atlantic-10 Game

 Tomorrow will be GW's Atlantic 10 Championship 1st round game against the Hawks of St. Joseph's. Everyone's super pumped about the game because it'd be held at our very own Smith Center. So far, GW's Men's Basketball is the 5th seed in the league and I belive St. Joseph's the 9th seed. There's a great tailgate happening at the park across from my dorm where there'll be kegs, hotdogs, hamburgers; the Spirit Team and Colonial Brass will also be having some performances to get everyone going. It's expected that GW will play at the Atlantic 10 Basketball Championship in Atlantic City so the university is providing FREE shuttle service from GW to Atlantic City and then off to some great Northeast Spring Break destinations after the quarterfinal game on Friday. It's really awesome to see GW with so much school spirit and the Men's team to be performing so brilliantly thus far. I can't wait for the game tomorrow!

Check out this link for an awesome GW rendition of Wiz Khalifa's hit "Black and Yellow" -Serena

Links for Life Luncheon

Today I participated in GWSB's Links for Life Luncheon. The program aims to "link" GWSB students with alumns in an informal setting where we could gain profesional insight, ask questions we may not typically ask in an interview situation, and have students update alumni on current GWSB programming and activities. Today I connected with Jessica Toy who graduated from GWSB's Master of Accountancy program. She is a Lead Senior Associate at KPMG, LLP (a Big 4 public accounting firm) in its Federal Audit Practice where she's auditing the FBI. She shared some great career advice seeing that I will be working in a Big 4 accounting firm following graduation and I'm really glad to have connected with her. -Serena

Superbowl Sunday

What a great Superbowl game! Though I'm not much of a sports fan, it's the best time of the year where we all get together, drink some beers, eat some wings, and seeing some fun commercials! My friends in South Hall along with our friends from another room combined forces and had 3 TV's and 2 speaker systems! There was also a huge potluck and everyone brought tons of delicious foods, such as: chili, cheesy nachos, chips and dip, pigs in a blanket, pizza, wings, thin mints, brownies, chocolate chip cookies...I have a third-trimester food baby if you were to see me right now. Regardless, I had a fantastic time learning about football and am glad the Packers won! Can't believe this was my last college Superbowl party...31 days until spring break...98 days until graduation, ahhh!! -Serena

 Homemade dips---Yes my friend made an amazing breadbowl!

 I love college

Postgame & 3 TVs and 2 Sound Systems...best collaboration ever!

Howard Dean-Newt Gingrich Debate

Last week was the Howard Dean-Newt Gingrich Debate at GW. Unfortunately I had class and didn't have a chance to attend the debate. It was a free event sponsored by the GW Democrats and GW Republicans student groups held at the Lisner Auditorium on campus. The debate was also streamed live on C-Span and I heard it was a really insightful conversation. Topics included healthcare, the economy, national security, immigration and the 2012 election. More information about the event can be found at the GW Hatchet website: http://blogs.gwhatchet.com/newsroom/2011/02/02/dean-gingrich-go-head-to-head-in-cd-cr-debate/ - Serena

GW MBA Panel

While I may have mentioned this before, I am the VP of Career Services for GW School of Business' Undergraduate Business Association. One of the iniatives that I am spearheading this Spring Semester is a monthly speaker series where I invite GW alumns to speak about various topics that are of interest to students who are pursuing a career in business. This week I moderated a panel discussion about getting into a top MBA program. 4 full-time MBA students from the GW School of Business served as panelists and we had a great turnout of approximately 20 people. We ended the evening with a bunch of free baked goods from Corner Bakery. -Serena

90's Dance Party!

Remember the 90’s? Remember Screech, light-up shoes, Power Rangers, Uncle Jesse, and beanie babies? Well, my friends and I certainly do. And since the 90’s are really the only decade we’re qualified to have a party dedicated to, my freinds are having a themed party tonight where we will raise the roof, get jiggy wit it, and possibly let the dogs out. The playlist features some good old angsty alternative rock , sprinkled with jamming dance beats. The dress code includes: parachute pants, flannel, and jean jackets...none of which I presently own hah. Do you all enjoy themed parties in high school or are you too cool for school? -Serena

Interesting Speaker at GW

I attended a professional lecture on Wednesday hosted by the Hong Kong International Society. The speaker was Mr. Donald Tong, the US Hong Kong Commissioner for Economic and Trade Affairs. As Commissioner, he directs the Hong Kong Government's efforts in promoting U.S.-Hong Kong economic and trade ties, and constituency-building activities in the U.S. He also oversees the work of the three Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices in Washington, New York and San Francisco. While I expected the lecture to be similar to those that I've experienced at LSE (London School of Economics, where I studied abroad last year) which are more academically and economically focused, it was still refreshing to learn about the history of Hong Kong and the career opportunities available to graduates. One student asked if he could work in Hong Kong despite not knowing any Mandarin or Cantonese, and the Commissioner said it is nearly a norm for most foreigners to only speak English in Hong Kong. Perhaps you all could potentially study abroad in Hong Kong one day!!

Homemade Pizza Night (yet another food-related post!)

I shamefully admit that my roommates and I are obsessed with MTV's Jersey Shore. After watching an episode earlier last week, we were inspired to have our own Sunday night dinner. Rather than grilling 20 burgers, 15 steaks, and 3 pans of lasagna, we decided that homemade pizza would be the best option. We got 3 pizza doughs from Trader Joe's (only 99 cents each--so affordable!!), a ton of veggies, chicken sausage, tomatoe sauce, and bags of mozzerella, and formed three magnificent creations! Our kitchen by far is one of the greatest advantages of living in South Hall because we have tons of counter space as well as an open kitchen where everyone can help cook. We squemishly waited for the pizzas to cook and they were successfully devoured by the eight of us at the end of the night! -Serena

 My roommate's sister and friends putting together the pizzza

 Looks prettttyy good!

Final product, looks (and tastes) really good!!

Restaurant Week Part 2!

Yesterday I went to my second Restaurant Week meal with a group of friends at Cuba Libre in Chinatown. This was my first time eating there and I absolutely loved it! It features a menu of Cuban classics as well as "neuvo Cubano" dishes that were delectable. The cost again was $20.11 for a prix brunch menu featuring 4 dishes with a dessert variety platter. Our bill however came up to around $250 dollars because we had ordered 2 pitchers of Mojitos! -Serena

 Metroing to Chinatown

                                                              Very well decorated interior

                                                                          Cheers!!

Dessert platter!

DC Restaurant Week--yum!

This week is DC Restaurant Week...nomz! I already have a few lunches planned for this great city event and can't wait to try out a bunch of different restaurants with unique menus! What exactly is Restaurant Week? Well, it's a week where more than 200 of Washington, DC’s restaurants offer 3-course lunches for $20.11 and 3-course dinners for $35.11, thus going to swanky/pricy restaurants a lot more affordable!

Yesterday I had lunch at Bistro Lepic, a French restaurant in Upper Georgetown and had a fantastic experience. The decor was pleasantly furnished in blue and yellow prints, my waiters were all French and the entire experience made me feel like I was in a Parisian cafe again! 

For our appetizer, I had a delicious pate and my friend had escargots in a pesto garlic sauce.

For our entree, my friend had a duck confit with sausages in a bean stew and I had salmon crusted potato with a grape reduction (this was brillant--the fish was so elegantly cooked and seasoned!)

For dessert, we ended with classics--Creme Caramel and Creme Brulees!

I hope you enjoyed this food journey with me! I'm going to another lunch on Sunday, so I'll definietly give a review of that restaurant when I come back!! -Serena