Even as I write this I have one class remaining until I complete my MBA.  The paper is complete.  The Powerpoint is complete.  All that remains is the presentation.  It has been an amazing ride.  It has been difficult, but rewarding.  Much like the end of a long road trip with your family.  The parts that were difficult were when you nearly fell asleep driving down the interstate.  The rewarding moments came when you were staring at a monument or sitting at a restaurant marveling at the people you spend a majority of your time with.  That road trip took a week.  This road trip took 3 years.

Many have asked me what I would now do with all of this free time.  I’m not sure if I have figured that out yet.  On one hand, I look at this journey as complete.  My 5 year plan to achieve an MBA was successfully executed.  Successful, and then some.  On the other hand, I  feel more incomplete than ever.  Five years ago there seemed to be less unrest in the world.

The wider your eyes are opened the more your realize.

And the sounds we make together
Is the music to the story in your eyes
It’s been shining down upon me now
I realize

“The Story In Your Eyes”
-Justin Hayward, The Moody Blues

Anyway, I’m about to embark on what you might call the 5th quarter.  The 19th hole.  A sort of MBA second breakfast, I guess.  The University’s Global Learning Program, or GLO for short, allows students to enhance personal cross-cultural communications skills and develop understanding of how the differences in global economic, cultural, social, political, and legal environments affect business performance and decisions.  For me, it is an opportunity to travel with my fellow students and venture outside of my comfort zone.  I’ve never been out of the country.

Well, I shouldn’t say that.  I did go to Canada once.

The GLO is a week-long trip to Hong Kong & China.  There are company visits, class sessions, and a paper.  9 days of learning for what will be my forty-eighth credit hour in the program.

Then Thailand with a few friends.  I’m not sure how that happened.  I’m pretty sure that I said something like, “Oh yea, I’d do that.”

Then Australia.  I know how that happened.  My mother and I share the love of adventure.