Business Casual

Bom Dia!

That is "good day" in Portuguese. Well, many people have recently been asking me, "Justin, how do you do everything you do?" To let you know what they mean when they are saying this, I hold two on campus jobs (Admissions and Wasserman), am the Vice President of the sophomore student government at Stern, participate in investment analysis group, SEAD, Beta Alpha Psi, Alpha Epsilon Pi, and a variety of other clubs and activities. On top of that I am now doing the PricewaterhouseCoopers xACT Challenge which is taking an abundance of my time for this week. By the way, did I mention I was in school?

As you can see, the demands and rigor of challenges both academic and non-academic can be overwhelming at points. My recommendation is to get an agenda. This can be any form of calendar that makes you feel comfortable (for me it's an At-a-Glance 1 week 8x10 agenda). Put everything in that book. This will help you stay on track and keep you from missing those important meetings.

SO, let's move on from life lessons to... life. Halloween, it was pretty cool this year. Nothing epically amazing, but still a good time. I was Shaggy from Scooby-doo and together, scoob and the gang looked outstanding.

This Thursday, I am seeing Dane Cook. The Dane Cook, thanks to none other than NYU Stern and the CACE Program. CACE is the Cohen Arts and Culture Experience. I have definitely blogged about this, but it is so awesome, I am doing it again. These tickets were only $10, that's right, $10. It is unbelievable. Sign up for the tickets today.

In other news, I submitted my visa forms for Shanghai! That is very exciting. Overall, I am just getting things done, and of course:

Keeping It Casual,

Justin

Fact: Nothing beats Halloween in the West Village.

This past weekend was pretty epic. My roommates and I dressed up as "Seasonal Superheroes," yes we completely made that up. I was Supersummer. (See photo below for clarification).

Although the annual Halloween parade in the village is quite a spectacle, my friends and I decided that after the past two years of attempting to cross 6th Ave., we were going to pass on the experience. Instead, we devised a tactical strategy on how to end up on the west side of 6th Ave. without having to actually spend an hour crossing it (take the L). Then it was time for my favorite part of Halloween: being a part of the chaos. By the time we made it to the West Village, the streets were packed with people dressed up as anything you could possibly imaginable. Okay, maybe some of them were quite unimaginable.

Overall, I'd say the night was a success. Our costumes were quite a hit and we made it to see the clocks gain an extra hour for Daylight Savings.

On another note, I just confirmed my ISP (International Studies Program) location: SINGAPORE. So excited!

Don't eat all your candy at once,
Amy

Hows it going people,

I just wanted to let you guys into my first Halloween. Well I guess it's not my first Halloween, we all celebrate it in the early early years but it's the first since I was 5. For anyone who has grown up in the NYC, you know how dangerous this particular holiday can be. People are crazy when they get a mask and too much high fructose corn syrup. Well, I guess my cautious nature (and atleast one test the day after Halloween for 3 years) has always kept me taking park in celebration. But this time was different. I broke the trend and went out this year!!!

I was dressed as a boxer and went to the parade on 6th ave. It was pretty "interesting" to say the least. Lots of cool costumes and an energetic atmosphere made it great. Later that night, some friends and I went to a pretty good Halloween party. I guess to most NY'ers its common place but it was a pretty cool experience for me and most certainly for people not from the Big Apple.

If you haven't been to NY for Halloween ... buy that ticket!! It is worth it.

PS- Shout Outs to my Yankees!!!! We brought the Title back home!!!!!!!!

Much love,
Weedly

"We are what we repeatedly do."

-Aristotle

Food for thought,

Rachael

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I've been MIA recently -- it's been a busy few weeks. After spending 3 wonderful Halloweens, I decided to spend this last one back home at the University of Kansas. Using NYC as my inspiration, I dressed up as a "street hustler" (otherwise known as one of those guys that prowls the streets with a huge black trenchcoat, inside of which hang dozens of gold watches and other "real" jewelry). Needless to say, it was a huge success :)

Now that I'm back, I've been using my time to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather here and all that New York has to offer from a cultural perspective. Thanks to Stern's Cohen Arts and Culture Experience, I was able to get a nearly free ticket to see God of Carnage on Broadway. The play was definitely memorable -- especially since I got to meet its 4 stars afterward (James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, Marcia Gay Harden and Hope Davis). But my cultural revival didn't end there...

I spent this past Saturday afternoon wandering through Tribeca and Soho, rediscovering my love for those neighborhoods. The street artwork and performers never fail to be enjoyable. After a great TexMex lunch, my friend and I made our way alllllll the way uptown to see the Guggenheim's temporary Kandinskiy exhibit -- which was nothing short of awesome. At the risk of sounding like an amateur or pretentious, I won't go into much detail -- but everyone should go see it if they have the chance.

How about you? Any cultural awakenings recently? Tell me about them!

Very truly yours,
Julia

P.S. Here is a picture from my Saturday Soho stroll...

Hopefully, most of you have seen the chain of 7 boxcars on Washington Place outside of Silver. They form the exhibition "Journey," which was created to expose and raise awareness of the horrors of sex trafficking. I went to check it out yesterday.

Each compartment of the exhibit simulates the range of emotions that sex slaves feel throughout their journey from hope to desperation. Powerful highlights include a recreation of a prostitute's bedroom and a dark cavity where a feeling of hopelessness ensues as you walk farther and farther in.

This exhibit is a collaboration of a dozen artists under the direction of British actress Emma Thompson and sponsored by the Helen Bamber Foundation. The foundation is a British group that works with survivors of torture and abuse.

If you haven't seen this exhibit yet GO! This is the last weekend. Journey is open today, Saturday from 11am - 7pm and tomorrow, Sunday from 10am - 3pm.

With hope, sympathy, and reflection,
Amy

Hey everyone,

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend this awesome conference hosted by Net Impact, an international organization that enables professionals, MBA and undergraduate business students leverage their skills to create positive social change. I have gone to my fair share of conferences and can definitely say that this one by far has gathered the most interesting and quality speakers and sessions regarding all issues in the social and business space.

A few key sessions include OSRAM Chief Sustainability Officer's case study on the company's off-grid solutions for African energy markets, a bottom-of-the pyramid careers panel moderated by the editor of Nextbillion and a discussion on emerging affordable product designs in health (ClickDiagnostics) and agriculture (DripTech). I felt that in each session everyone had such great questions and comments on the topics at hand -- it was really inspiring to see so many business students and professionals committed to solving these very complex, but worthwhile issues.

I also really enjoyed connecting with other undergrad Net Impact members, considering I'm helping establish a Net Impact chapter at Stern this year. There weren't that many of us (only 80 undergrads out of 2,400 participants!) so it was a lot easier to get to know most of the group and get a feel of the different school chapters. We all decided to update each other on best club practices through a googledoc, which will be really useful in developing the Net Impact Stern chapter.

If any of this interests you all, I strongly encourage you to check out our meetings on Wednesdays during common hour in UC 21 -- we usually have pretty good speakers and discussions on sustainability to microfinance. We definitely hope to have a lot more students go to the Net Impact conference next year as well :)

To changing the world through business,

Rachael

Hey everyone,

So my name in Mike Cafarelli, and I am the newest Business Casual Blogger, representing the Class of 2013. I came to NYU this past August from Canton, MA (a suburb about 12-20 minutes south of Boston depending on how fast you drive) and am now living in the university's newest dorm, Founder's Hall, in the East Village.

A little about myself: I am very interested in music and film and just finished up interning at a little independent film production company in SoHo. I have worked for the YMCA for three years and am thinking about minoring in Child and Adolescent Mental Heath Studies in addition to my Stern major which I believe will end up being Finance. I love to travel and have been through much of Western Europe as well as spent a lot of time in London.

It has been absolutely (or 'wicked' as I would say back in Boston) amazing being in the city so far. Last weekend one of the guys on my floor had an extra ticket to see a band at a little venue on Lafayette St., which is only a few blocks from Stern, and it turned out to be a great night. It was the third show I have seen this fall. Back in September, the same friend and I saw Phoenix and Passion Pit in Central Park which was a great welcome to living in New York.

So there is a little intro about who I am and what I have been doing. I am very excited to now be blogging here and I'll do my best to tell you some updates about my new life at Stern and in NYC.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Mike

Hello everyone,

Like Mike, I'm new to Business Casual. Unlike Mike, I'm extremely old. I'm a Junior in the Class of '11, which already puts 2 years between me and the freshman class; but on top of that, being from Singapore, I've had to go for national service (read: mandatory military duty) before coming to college, which makes me 2 years older than the people in my own class. On top of that, I celebrated my birthday yesterday. Celebrations are so much more fun when your friends call you 'gramps' and 'uncle Brandon'.

Anyway, the standard stuff: I'm doing a Business Economics concentration, and will be taking courses for the Stern-Wagner joint minor in Public Policy and Management next Spring. I'm also a member of Stern's World Studies Track, which gives students the opportunity to spend a semester abroad each in London and Shanghai, and will be happy to share my experiences with anyone interested in applying for the program. In my spare time, I like to write, cook, eat, shop, write about eating, write about shopping, shop for things to cook, eat and then shop, shop and then eat, and eat while shopping. Writing while eating is hard, though, especially if you're trying to balance a roast beef sandwich (Bite on 14th Street rocks, by the way) and a ballpoint pen in the same hand. I also enjoy snowboarding, tennis, playing drums, and learning about Japanese culture. Although not as much as I enjoy food.

Right now, I'm at the tail end of my semester in Shanghai. While I'm looking forward to returning to Washington Square and the new campus, I'm also slightly sad that my gallivanting and globetrotting is coming to an end. Shanghai is a complex, layered city, with so many contradictions and quirks, and I wish I had just a little bit more time to explore. But then again, that's probably what makes certain places so memorable-the fact that you'll never be able to understand and reveal every single of its nooks and crannies. New York is a perfect example-I haven't even explored the boroughs, and there are tons of new and old restaurants and cafes I've been meaning to try.

I'll be blogging more about my experiences in China (I've just recovered from a particularly nasty bout of food poisoning, from eating American chili, of all things), reminiscing about my travels in Europe and England (my profile picture was taken in the Swiss Alps, shortly before my snowboard snagged on a rock and I did a double somersault in the air before landing on my head on solid ice) as well as any random thoughts that spring to mind. I'm very excited to be part of a group of bloggers with so many different interests, and I'm looking forward to sharing my stories with you. Because it hasn't happened unless you write about it and twenty people have commented.

Brandon