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November 2014

NYC skyline

Being a Part of the NYC Swing

By Blog Posts

Weekend trips are a great way to travel and visit new places you might have always wanted to see, while at the same time staying relatively close to home and campus so as to quickly get back to studying without the hassle of flight connections, passports, jet lag and excess baggage fees. Just grab a backpack and fill it with as many clothes as you can, and that is all you need to start rollin’ down the road. Fall is the perfect time to take a break, especially after finishing midterms, so why not take a bus and head to the big city? That’s what I decided to do last weekend. Here are some of the tips I can share with you from my experience as a tourist in New York City:

 

 

 

  • Getting there: Priceline.com offers really good deals if you are not in a hurry (you can even bid for flight tickets by “naming your price” with the condition that you cannot pick a specific time to fly but only the date you expect to do it). I really wanted to make the most out of my time though, so I decided to travel by bus overnight: I just boarded, sat in my seat, closed my eyes, and when I opened them again I was waking up in the city that never sleeps!
  • Accommodations: Even though New York has a lot of hotels and hostels to accommodate the thousands of tourists that usually visit the city, it can sometimes be tricky to find a place to spend your weekend, and even trickier if, like me, you did not plan your trip with much time in advance. Luckily, there are people willing to rent their furnished apartments in great locations for only a few days at incredible prices. Sites like Airbnb.com allow you to get in touch with them and assure a safe experience to both owners and visitors.NYC Skyline
  • Shopping: New York City has a wide variety of shops to offer, from large renowned stores to small independent vintage-style shops. I was traveling with my girlfriend, so I can assure you – I have visited most of them (if not all).
  • Instagram it! If there is a place to take cool pictures with vintage effects, it is New York City. The views from Top of the Rock and the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and the bridges are some of the photos you MUST take and share with your friends and relatives, so prepare your camera and create an account for any social network you like.
  • Art, art, art: I spent three days in the city, and one of them was dedicated solely to art. It all started at the Museum of Modern Art (they offer free visits on the first Friday of the month), with a lucky and unexpected viewing of the Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit (in place until March 2015). Then I continued to the Guggenheim (with a building that is a work of art itself), and concluded with a visit to the New York Comic Con (the greatest comic and entertainment expo in the world). Whatever type of art you are most excited about, New York will have a gallery or museum to engage you.
  • Eat and drink: There are plenty of bars and restaurants to visit in New York, and most of them can be found in any travel guide, but there is a place I discovered that you will probably not read about unless someone tells you about it. It is a bar called 230 FIFTH (named for its location at 230 Fifth Avenue) and it is located on the rooftop of a building with a perfect view of the city. Either for a brunch at noon or an evening drink, this place will make you feel you are actually on top of the world. There are no signs outside so just walk into the building, head to the elevator and press the rooftop button!Oct blog_Agustin NYC 3
  • Getting around: Fall is a wonderful time to visit New York, whether you enjoy strolling through colorful parks or heading inside to warm up to some vibrant entertainment. But whatever you choose, you will definitely need to be prepared to walk. Even though the city has an affordable and convenient transportation service (with extensive subway and bus systems), it will sometimes be quicker for you to just travel around using your feet, and it will also allow you to get to know the city better. Another option for those who are more adventurous is to hop onto a bike and cruise along the many bike routes the city has.

 

All in all, I enjoyed traveling to this marvelous and exciting city. Although I was really tired after the weekend and really wanted to get back to good old Rochester, I must say I had a great time there and had the chance to discover very nice places and people (New Yorkers are one-of-a-kind, friendly, open-minded and humorous). The beauty of the buildings and parks appealed to me. I was touched by my visit to the 9/11 Memorial Museum and could not avoid thinking how much more beautiful it would have looked if the towers were still there. New York is definitely a place to visit and luckily, it is very close to Rochester!

 

– Agustin Baretto ’15 (MS)

Agustin_pic

 

Let the Job Search Begin

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Just a few weeks ago, I gave my father a call to tell him something that I was super excited about. As he answered the phone, I blurted out “Today is the first day of the rest of my life. Today is the day that I officially began my job search.” You may now be wondering what it was that exactly marked this beginning. Well, for me, it was attending the first Career Lunch of the year for TEAM students. At this lunch, I was inspired and became eager to begin searching for a job.

 

I would like to step back a little now and tell you why I was so excited about this. When making my decision on which graduate program to attend, my number one requirement was career placement. I wanted to be enrolled in a program that I felt would launch my career as a biomedical engineer with an interest in management and business. As I researched the TEAM program and saw that the overall placement rate for graduates was 90% within six months, I knew this was the program for me.

 

Career Lunches are held once a month for TEAM students. At the first one, we were exposed to the many services that we are offered while here. To me, the most helpful thing to learn about was the fact that we are provided with the resources of both the University’s Gwen M. Greene Career & Internship Center and the Simon Business School’s Career Management Center. That is like getting the best of both worlds! Since I did my undergraduate degree here I was familiar with the tools from the Gwen Greene Center such as CareerLink and CareerShift and it was great to know that I still had access to these two helpful programs. A highlight of this Career Lunch was exploring SimonWorks. This program is similar to CareerLink; however, it has more of a focus on business and management since it is operated through Simon. I know that I will be using these programs extensively in my career search in the upcoming months.

 

A few days later, I scheduled a meeting with Kathy Driscoll. Kathy is TEAM’s assistant director for career management and is a part of the Career Management Center at the Simon Business School. She provides students with guidance and assistance in the job search. Our first item to tackle was my résumé. We sat down together and she provided me with feedback to make my résumé just right. From there, we discussed ways to narrow down my search. For me, we decided to narrow by location, as I am very interested in heading to Boston next. Kathy then suggested that I make a list of companies that I have an interest in. I really like this advice because looking for a job can be incredibly daunting and overwhelming. I feel that looking for a full-time job is practically a full-time job in and of itself. Kathy also provided me with some great tips to speak to alumni in my field.

 

While this is just the beginning, I am extremely excited to continue on this journey. Although it seems like it could take a long time, I am determined and confident that the support that I receive from the TEAM program will get me there.

 

– Courtney Astemborski ’15 (MS)

Courtney

 

Accounting in Autumn

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Autumn has arrived, and we finally managed to finish the first part of our accounting and financing class. The class is aimed at helping students understand and productively use the principles of finance and accounting in order to better structure business decisions. Professor Heidi Tribunella taught us “The accounting model presents skills required to interpret and analyze common financial statements and evaluate a company’s past performance as well as potential future performance.”

 

We learned what financial statements are after we learned basic accounting concepts. Subsequently, we dove deeper to see what further information can be gained from analysis. Furthermore, we learned how to do a transaction analysis, in case there are any within the company, plus how it can influence our financial statements step-by-step. Beyond that, we learned what our real liabilities are, regarding our assets or equity, and how to manage them in a proper way to show a good picture of a company. How can we manage and estimate our costs and do cost-profit analysis? It’s really incredible that we were introduced into the accounting world in such a short period time, transforming us from students who knew nothing about accounting into individuals who now understand the basic concepts.

 

Now hopefully my classmates will receive good grades!

 

Once I finished my accounting exam, I suddenly found that all the green leaves turned red and yellow, in what seemed to be overnight. You can’t even imagine the fall scene that is mixed with green, yellow, and red; it sends off a very powerful visual impact. I can’t help but express how fabulous it is.

 

While I was walking across the lawn, in front of Rush Rhees Library, I watched students sitting on the grass, reading, writing, talking, and so on, sunlight seeping through the leaves. Deep down, everyone is cherishing the last bit of sunshine before the heavy snow arrives in Rochester. I feel as though I can never love the fall in Rochester too much. I love its colorfulness and enjoy its peacefulness… especially now that midterms have passed.

 

 

– Jill Jin ’15 (MS)Jill Jin Pic