My Lighting Week

This week just seemed to fly by, faster than before. And me on very little sleep. Most of the time I don't even realize what day it is, everything just runs together.

Portugal
I don't remember much other than it being a very good week. I've been getting all my cases done, staying late for the CompStrat presentations, and other extracurriculars, and going to bed around 2 or 3AM. One day this week I booked a flight over Easter break to Portugal, my first time in such a beautiful, exotic country. When I printed out the schedule, you cannot imagine the wave of excitement that flowed through me. Something new. Something fresh. Something exciting.

Novartis
We would work through our CompStrat project until 10PM, then I would come home & apply for jobs & network with representatives of companies that would present at our school. I found a great Finance Program at Novartis, with which I could do financial analysis, forecasting and modeling, communication & rise on the path to CFO. Sounded like just what I was looking for.

CompStrat
The CompStrat project was exciting. All the late nights working on powerpoints & excel and having many different versions of files, increasing one by one, arriving early in the morning for last minute changes, reminded me of life as an analyst at an investment bank. Although I enjoyed it, it took a lot out of me.

Electronic Arts
So we presented on the strategy of Electronic Arts.


We were the first presenters, and we all dressed in black suits that day, when no one else did. Most probably thought it was over the top; I think it was a unique symbol of our unity. Felipe did some excellent slides. We started with a trailer of one of EA's most popular games: Need for Speed - Carbon (there was a member of our team with the last name Carbon.. everyone laughed). I was responsible for analysing the financial structure and how their strategy evolved over the years. The presentation went really well. We were all really passionate about the company, and those who were not familiar with the gaming industry (ahem, yours truly) learned alot. I was so proud of my team.