This was the first time I was stung by a bee. Every morning, I get up late because I studied too late last night.  Then I rush to change clothes and I go to bus stop. This morning, everything was the same except that a bee flew into my room. After flying around my lamp for a while the bee stopped on my neck and I swatted it by instinct.  At that point the bee showed me its instinct.

So, I went to University Health Services for the first time to have them look at my wound.  Two weeks ago, one of our classmates went to UHS due to sickness, and the doctor told her that “it is rare to see MBA students in UHS because you all have no time for sickness.” “It just a little hurts, but I am wondering I need to do something
for it,” I told to the doctor. She suggested some ointments and said if I put
ice on wound it would reduce the hurt.

Next, I went to Bluechip Bistro (a café in the Business Building) for the first time, but not to ask for sandwich, chips or tea. They were so kind as to give me a cup of ice. My classmates all had meetings with alumni mentors on that day, but I still obtained
much cared from them- some told me folk prescriptions for a bee sting, some told me how to avoid a bee attack, some taught me how to differentiate between a hornet and a bee, and some suggested that I negotiate with leasing office. I got a lot of advice that afternoon, not only career advice from my alumni mentor, but also bee advice from my classmates.

This was the first time I saw a glimpse as to how close our classmates will become in the next two years.

Leaves turn red. This is the first time I realize how breathtaking the campus is. It was like yesterday I just got here in State College and time flees, before I knew it, I have survived Mod One.
Sometimes when you rush through your days trying to get things done, you miss the opportunity to appreciate the nice stuff and people along the way. MBA life is crazy—so demanding and full of challenges, and I struggled to catch up with all the demands and finish the to-dos on my calendar, desperately. Sometimes I gobbled things down and got choked….but I still moved on without looking back. There seems no break in life for me except for the time I cooked some home dishes for myself or went for grocery shopping.
Life has been so restless for me that I scarcely got a chance to stop for a while, look around what passed by me, gather some thoughts and reflect on myself. But it’s time for a brake—do I really follow where my passion leads me? What do I want to get out of these two years at Smeal? Apart from academic success, building a network, and landing a decent job, there must be something to spend time with, enjoy to its fullest. I need some time to pause, rewind, and slow down.
8:48pm at Washington DC Dulles airport. I am waiting for the connecting flight going to Chicago O’Hare. It has become a routine that I fly to Chicago to spend the weekend with my boyfriend once or twice a month. Maintaining a relationship is part of my MBA too, and it is nice to know someone is always there for you supporting you and giving you advice. Anyway, this weekend is going to be a productive weekend, I will spend some time regrouping myself before I head on next week.
The best thing at Smeal is that you always can find someone to talk to. The staff, faculty, and classmates are always willing to stop for you, sharing their experiences with you. There is always a strong bond here—we are like a family, and this gave me a sense of security. Studying abroad and far away from home, I have become stronger and learned to deal with uncertainties and all the hassles of relocation. Well, I got homesick sometimes, but I feel blessed when I know I am not alone fighting with all the challenges and people are around me supporting me.
Therefore, as getting started with Mod Two, I am not going to rush in and out of classes and information sessions anymore. I will pace myself nicely, set my goals for both academic performance and professional career development. Additionally, I will seek help from the staff, faculty, alums and classmates when I encounter bumps on the road. Retaining internal peace and balanced mindset allows for more strength in taking on challenges.
And I will make more stops for others and reach out as well.

On Friday, September 30^th, members of the MBA Supply Chain Association (SCMA) took a trip to visit the Volvo Powertrain manufacturing facility in Hagerstown, MD.  In this 1.5 million square feet facility, Volvo Powertrain designs and manufactures their D11, D13, and D16 engines for use in Volvo trucks. They also manufacture engines and transmissions for use in Mack trucks.

We were greeted by Mr. Curt Hassinger, Vice President of Key Accounts, who gave the group an overview of the global Volvo organization and Volvo Powertrain operations in Hagerstown.   We were then able to meet with supply chain managers who spoke to us about the supply chain for the engine components within the manufacturing facility including forecasting methods and parts handling and replenishment initiatives.  Finally we were given a guided tour of the manufacturing floor and the research and development facility.

The trip was a great success in exposing our membership to different functions within supply chain and we are very excited about the upcoming events.

The SCMA held its next member event, the SAP Simulation/Competition on Friday, October 28^th.  Over 30 of our members participated in the overview and SAP simulation game led by Paul Winkler of Penn State’s Applied Research Lab.  Paul provided a detailed description of how SAP evolved and its popular applications in today’s businesses during the two hour overview.  After lunch, we all headed to the computer lab to see how an SAP system works through the simulation game.

We conducted three rounds of the game in teams of two which required the participants to carefully monitor the price and inventory of several different flavors of bottled water in three different markets.  We had to constantly change price and order additional inventory to make sure that our “business” was successful.  Some of us fared better than others in this extremely fast paced game.   Congratulations to our top three teams:

1^st place: Tim Pace & Raghavan Parthasarathy

2^nd place: Vivek Garg & Kyle Smith

3^rd place: Mike Lang & Brett Fisher

The 2^nd Annual SCMA SAP Competition proved to be a success again and our members look forward to next year’s event.

 

-Jorge Quezada, President SCMA

-Rachel Jones, VP of Student Affairs SCMA

Earlier this semester, when I saw the new first year MBA students, I suddenly realized that I had completed half of the MBA program. I’m a second year now. I looked at their faces and smiled. They were cautious, curious, and some even frustrated. Now I know what my class looked like one year ago.

And when I look back, everything is like a dream. So many things have happened in one single year, and the pace of life has never been so fast.  The lives of MBA students are hard indeed. However, we survived and we gained a lot. The most important thing that we’ve learnt might not be the knowledge, but the whole mindset that makes us think like real business people. We now tend to think about problems from a higher perspective, and we value process and people more than anything else. I can feel that I’m now different than before, and I’m sure these two years in Smeal will be one of the most valuable periods in my life.

Xiaobo Cao
Class of 2012