Thunderbird Student Voices

By Carly Brennan ‘10, MS in Global Management

Summer is a word that, to most students, is synonymous with fun, friends and sun. As I’ve gotten older, it has upheld this same definition, except the words “internship” and “work” have been mixed in there as well. As a Thunderbird, the transition into summer has been a little bit more difficult. Until now, “going home for the summer” meant that my friends would be somewhere within a few hours’ driving radius from where I live. But that is not the case at Thunderbird. One of the biggest benefits of being a student at Thunderbird is that my classmates are from all over the world, thus the bittersweet aspect of this is that when summer arrives and everyone goes home, that means that many people will be leaving the country for some or all of the four months we have for summer.

It was a big change transitioning to Thunderbird from a large California university. In my undergrad, UC Davis, there were 20,000 undergraduate students. At Thunderbird, I am in the Master of Science in Global Management major. My class has about 70 students. We all know each other, and I often joke that when someone sneezes, everyone says salud, meaning everyone knows what everyone is doing at all times. This can be good and bad, but one of the biggest benefits is that there is a sense of camaraderie, and everyone pretty much knows everyone else. Often times many of us will eat together, study together, workout together and attend social outings together. I truly love how easy it is easy to form great, lasting friendships with people. But the closer the friendships, the more difficult it is to say goodbye for the summer.

The takeaway here is that despite some difficulties, coming to Thunderbird has really been one of the best choices I have made. I am earning a valuable education focused on international business in the best way possible, which is through meeting new people and being constantly surrounded by people from all over the world. Although the summer transition has been a bit tough, I know that come Fall when everyone returns from their home countries, internships and travels, they will be able to bring a whole new perspective to the table. New perspectives allow every student to gain that much more knowledge so that in the future, students are able to deal with different cultural managerial situations from first-hand knowledge or experiences. Saying goodbye has been difficult, but it makes the reunions that much more exciting.

To all of my friends and fellow Thunderbirds all over the world: safe travels and I look forward to seeing you when you’re back!

Posted: 05|4|10 at 11:06 pm.
Filed under: Carly Brennan, Travel.
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