April Fool's

An early drop this week as I'll be on a plane tomorrow!

This was the first week for my team's Global Consulting Project. We kicked off the project on Monday, Commercialisation of the UK Space Industry. Looking forward to delving more into this topic and finding some concrete recommendations for Deloitte. 

Tuesday ended with an MBA wine night at Queens' Old Hall generously organized by Rebecca! Was nice to see some fellow classmates before we all travel elsewhere during the GCP period.


 


Wednesday took me back to London for an in-person meeting with our Deloitte team. Traveling to and from London in one day is a lot of train time, but we got back in the early afternoon which let us utilize the rest of the day! I finished filing my taxes and rewarded myself with some Popeyes. Almost a taste of home.



Thursday meant that Tranche 0 was intended to launch! The last program I worked on prior to going to Cambridge is finally flying. Unfortunately, an abort was called at T-3 seconds. I can't imagine the energy at York right now, folks have worked so hard on this program and to finally be at launch is a huge accomplishment. I hope my former team is wearing their well-earned gold stars proudly. You can view the first attempted launch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuiBsre2m64 
Fingers crossed for a successful launch on 2 April!

That evening we did another game night at Queens'. I looooove a good game night and we had some good laughs between Trivial Pursuit and Dobble. I hope we do more of these during Easter Term!



Friday brought more GCP work and a final supper with Rebecca and Cody. Getting all the goodbyes in before heading abroad for three weeks!


Saturday started with an FT with Cat, we laughed, we cried, and we cried because we were laughing so much. Forever lucky to have friends like her. Then I had a lovely walk and breakfast with Hadeel, catch me and Chad on her radio show next term. We'll be talking all things TEXAS. After doing some laundry and packing, enjoyed a dumpling afternoon at Rebecca's with the hilarious game Genesis Rising. 

Knowing that I will be out of Cambridge for three weeks has got your gal reflecting a lot. As I've said before, one of the best parts of Lent Term was the new relationships that I had a chance to form. More people who challenge me in the best way, encourage me and make me snort from laughing so hard. While talking to one of those people, I was asked how I was doing. After responding that that needed to be narrowed down, it was clarified that the question was just about life in general. Without thinking too hard about the answer, I replied that most days, I feel lucky. In a lot of ways, this week has been a personification of that. 

I feel lucky to have a passport that lets me travel with ease. I feel lucky that I live in an era where glasses and contacts exist. I feel lucky that FaceTime is a thing, and I can keep up with folks while abroad. I feel lucky that I don't have pain when I walk or work out. I feel lucky that I have made such wonderful friendships over the past six months. 

For some reason, leaving Cambridge this time around feels so different from leaving during the Christmas holiday. Maybe because I was going home I felt more excited, but this time, I feel sad. The more I reflect on it, the more I think it's because the end of the programme is visible now. While I do not know where I'll end up at the end of this, seeing as I only have job rejections, I do know that we won't all end up in the same place. I know, duh, this is obvious. You bring 210 people together from all over the world, and those same 210 people are going to end up all over the world. 

To my beautiful classmates, I challenge us all to be fully present over the next three months. Keep building those relationships, and don't prematurely start shutting people out to make goodbyes easier down the road (speaking from past experience here). Let's keep squeezing all the good we can out of this year! We have so much to look forward to from finishing GCP to MBAT to May Ball season, and even the May Bumps! They say time is relative but it seems to be flying by arguably too fast. 

End of sad girl energy.

Tomorrow, I fly to Australia to explore a new continent and to conduct research for our project. It's a long journey down under and I appreciate all the thoughts, prayers, and good vibes you want to send my way :)


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