Archive for December, 2009

Ready to go, with ThunderBear and the durable Thunderpack along!

By Nadia Karim ‘10, MBA in Global Management

Well readers, this is just an official mention that I am off to travel the world! Well, Texas, France and the United Arab Emirates at least. I have the official ThunderBear with me and I will be chronicling the adventures of being a traveling Thunderbird (which is our natural state I must add).

I have found that the Thunderbird backpack is the perfect carry-on, with many convenient pockets (AND handy laptop protector), so this is my basic bag and the holder of ThunderBear.

Our itinerary is as follows:

• first off to Texas, where a rare snowstorm has recently hit my hometown in Houston, to enjoy the cheap and plentiful variety of international food
• a quick stop in Paris, where I may wander about to rediscover my favorite paper shops and view the new holiday windows about town – a planned delay in connecting flights, you could call it
• then to Dubai, where I am participating in the Challenges in Emerging Economic Markets Winterim program, a two week excursion to various companies in Dubai during which we are able to interact with executives and understand the impacts of the Dubai economic environment (as well as that of more recent financial news) from various perspectives
• then…well, this part is not planned yet, so stay tuned.  I have a habit of buying plane tickets to random places on a whim.

Any ThunderBear adventures you are interested in seeing photo-documented?  Let me know!  As a lover of food, I will explore local cuisine quite  a bit.  I will be checking in occasionally.  Thanks to the power of technology, many posts will be made on the go from my mobile phone.

For you Thunderbirds traveling throughout China, Japan, India, Jordan, New York City, Washington D.C, South Africa, Mexico, and anywhere that I have forgotten to mention, please do share your travels (with photos) and I wish you exciting and Thunder-ful holidays until we meet again in 2010!

The adventure begins!

By Nadia Karim ‘10, MBA in Global Management

Gingerbread kids, courtesy of the ThunderKids

One fantastic thing about Thunderbird is that the festivities extend not only to students but to everyone in our community. As with Thanksgiving, our school has the tradition of hosting holiday parties for the people who stay in Arizona over the break, and our ThunderKids (children of Thunderbird students) are no exception.

Finals may be over but that means the holiday season is here, and the ThunderKids have decorated our staircases with their gingerbread creations.

To be sure, the school looks cheery and I will miss seeing all the holiday festivities, but I will keep everyone updated on the holidays from my trips!

Stay warm and have a happy holiday, whatever you may celebrate!

By Nadia Karim ‘10, MBA in Global Management

Thus far, the blog has been fairly quiet; this is mostly due to the end of trimester crunch. It is at this time of year that the sun shines just as brightly but the weather becomes cooler, with bursts of wind and the need for coats and colorful scarves. It is also at this time that students retreat even more to the confines of the study rooms scattered around campus, and to the library.

In my ThunderExperience thus far, the key has been to steadily keep on track week after week; as most students know, it’s easy enough to keep up as long as you don’t fall behind. The fact that all study rooms have been popular in reservations from Week One is a testament to that. However, now the Merle A. Hinrichs International Business Information Center (or IBIC, our library) becomes a home away from home, and the ultra comfortable chairs by periodicals are in high demand. Our library is a cozy haven of learning, with places for group meetings, isolated study, and collaboration with our extremely intelligent librarians.
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