Saturday, November 27, 2010

A Rush of Adrenaline

I suppose that the title of this post accurately represents my skydiving experience. J

From the time that we left San Jose to when we arrived to the Hollister, CA Municipal Airport, I was extremely surprised that I wasn't freaking out about jumping out of airplane and freefalling for 11,000 feet. I even signed a waiver saying that I know this is crazy and I might die but I still want to do it, and THAT didn't even freak me out! I just figured that at least by the time we were flying up to our free-fall location I would start to be nervous. Hmmm

The Experience:
Skydiving is something that a only .000001% of our population actually wants to do and does. It is dangerous and risky and often times it is only associated with people who are considered "adrenaline junkies".

I never ever considered myself an adrenaline junkie. I was scared to do most things like jump off cliffs (which I have done with a lot of persuasion), jumping out of airplanes and even riding roller coasters. I learned that it isn’t the danger of these things that I am afraid of, it is the pain. I am truly scared of pain. I would much rather jump out of an airplane and have the exhilarating feeling of free-fall, then jump off of a cliff into a body of water.

Free falling through the sky is unexplainable. It is an experience that although almost no one has, but one that everyone should have. It doesn’t matter if you are scared of heights, or scared of pain, or scared of death, the feeling is so surreal that once you’re up there, nothing even matters anymore. You are literally flying. It’s truly magical, and for me, it was not scary at all!

I would also like to give credit to my amazing jumpmaster, Scott. He is the one who helped make this experience so enjoyable! He walked me through the whole entire process and the only thing that I had to do was open my mind and take it all in... Oh and smile at the camera, of course. Jumping out of an airplane 15,000 feet up in the air with Scott was awesome!!



I have found a passion/hobby that I am sure I will be doing many more times in the future. I have decided that my New Year’s resolution is to become a certified skydiver, enabling me to jump solo and pretty much whenever I want to. I asked my mother this question when we found out that this was our Christmas present, “What if I want to become professional skydiver instead of a businesswoman/ (what would you do if I dropped out of school to skydive for the rest of my life)?” Her response was, “I have always told you that I would support all of your decisions and that if you don’t want to live an average life then that is fine with me!”
…..Hmm, I wonder how she feels about that question now.


Monday, November 22, 2010

My "New" Blog!

I originally created this blog to write about my crazy college experiences, however I realized that is what Facebook and Twitter is for. I have now decided to focus on writing about my travels, the books I read, the art I make, and the unique experiences that I have. I am going to have a more professional yet casual writing style, opposed to my random thoughts. So I hope you all enjoy my "new" blog!

Thanksgiving Break

Oh the lovely weather of California.... is not here this week! Normally it is 70 degrees and sunny here in San Jose, however for the whole week that we are here, it is not supposed to get up past 60. And it has been raining for the past 3 days, which is sort of a bummer. However, I suppose it is better than the weather in Boston.

Guess what we are doing on Friday? TANDEM SKYDIVING!! We are so excited. Hailey and I talked about it a lot this summer and our mom remembered and decided that it would be tons of fun if we did it for Christmas. So, at 11am on Friday morning we will be jumping out of an airplane :) .

Recently, I have felt as if my life has no excitement. Yes I am going to Ghana which is AMAZING, and I love my classes and I am a junior and I have some great opportunities coming my way, but I just feel a little bored. So I know that skydiving is going to give me a whole new perspective on life... If I can jump out of an airplane and free fall for 5,000 feet, then I can pretty much do anything.



More posts will be coming later this week! Especially with pictures from Friday!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Spring Semester 2011 Schedule!

I finally have my schedule filled in for next semester! This is both good and bad. Since this semester has been relatively easy, this means that next semester is going to be pretty difficult! I am taking difficult classes and on-top of that, all my friends are going to be abroad! I honestly do not know what I am going to do without them.

So although I am not looking forward to my friends leaving and the classes I chose, I do get to go to Ghana and that is something that I can definitely look forward to!

Here is my schedule:

Monday- 8:00am- 9:35am - Entrepreneurial Finance
9:45am- 11:30am- Strategy
11:30-2:00pm Work at the Mail room (2.5)
Tuesday- 8:30-11:30 Work at the Mail room (3)
11:30- 12:45 Biotechnology
3:00-6:00 Work Babysitting
Wednesday- 8:00am- 9:35am - Entreprenuerial Finance
9:45am- 11:30am- Strategy
11:30-2:00pm Work at the Mailroom (2.5)
3:00-6:00pm Babysitting
Thursday- 8:30-11:30 Work at the Mailroom (3)
11:30- 12:45 Biotechnology
3:00-6:00 Work Babysitting
Friday- 3:00-6:00 Work Babysitting


Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Ghana Program January 2011

I haven't written a post for my blog in a while A. because I haven't had much time and B. because I wasn't sure what I wanted to write about. Well I realized that I have had the opportunity to go on this amazing trip with other Babson students and I want to be able to remember all the details. So writing posts about the preparation for this off-shore course, the trip itself, and the semester after, are perfect topics.

My Freshmen year at Babson I learned about this off-shore course that a group of students take with Dean Hanno. It is a 2 week trip to Ghana in January. During the trip the students are assigned a high school where they teach the students how to write business plans, act as consultants to the local business and individuals in the nearby towns, and to essentially learn about Ghana and it's culture. And from that.. I was sold.

I applied as a Freshmen, but was way to inexperienced and uneducated on entrepreneurial practices and consulting. At the time, I felt completely qualified. I knew that although I was only a Freshmen, I knew that I could handle it. And luckily, Dean Hanno felt differently.

Sophomore year rolled around, and I decided to remain persistent and apply again. That year I was very confident that I would get accepted. I had taken entrepreneurship and economics courses, done extensive research about Africa, and knew that that year would be the year that I would take this course. Well, yet again, I wasn't accepted. I was sad for a while, but knowing that I still had two more years to apply for the course made me feel better. And I won't lie, I held a grudge for a little while... but still decided not to give up. I wanted this and I was going to get it!

So..... 3 months ago, the time came when applications for the Ghana Program January 2011 were due. I emailed Dean Hanno and yet again expressed my interest. He told me "Harmony, you really think I would turn you down 3 years in a row?". That little email exchange got my hopes up , however I knew with all of the applicants there was still a big chance that I wouldn't be able to go. Well, lone behold, Dean Hanno emailed me 2 weeks later tell me that I had been one of the 45 students chosen for the course. I was ecstatic and could not wait to get started!!

Since that day. We have had 2 weekends of classes out of 3 and I have learned a lot about Africa, Ghana, and the program itself. I would tell you all about what is going to happened and what I have learned, however, my Macro class is about to start and I don't want to get it trouble typing away on my computer :).

I will post again soon!