Some not so well deserved R&R

After a long and winding internship road, I'm back in Chicago and just about ready to leave again tomorrow morning.

Why? Lots of busy traveling plans, but let's back up and end the suspense right away.

I did get an offer for full-time employment from my internship, so that's the good news.

It also made for a very interesting last day of work.

With no client deliverables due (thanks to a presentation to the CEO on that Monday) I really didn't have any functional work to busy myself with. That would've been fine, except that my meeting for my 'final appraisal' wasn't going to happen until 3:30 in the afternoon.

That's a lot of time to ponder, and as demonstrated by my last post, giving me more time to think is never a good idea.

So I sat and waited....and waited....and waited. Meanwhile, the other summer associates went in for their sessions one by one, and each emerged with good news (which wasn't really a surprise considering what All-Stars they were)

Finally, one of the senior members of my project team came and escorted me to a partner's office (had it been a security guard, I would've gotten a different impression, although when he yelled 'Dead man walking!!!' it was a tiny bit disconcerting)

So I sat down in the office, and with another 3 people dialed in via teleconference, the partner held up a large manila envelope and joked that it might not be thick enough to be good news.

But it obviously was, which made the rest of the conversation much much easier.

After the meeting, it was time for a last fun night in NYC with the other summer associates, and then a quick exit the next afternoon to Philadelphia to see the family before heading back to school.

Now that I've been back in Chicago for a couple days, I'm already packed to head back out tomorrow morning for a 9ish flight out of O'Hare. And this is only the beginning, below is the summary of my vacation travel schedule (which I feel I deserve after enduring 9 whole weeks of real-world work):

Aug 23rd - Aug 31st: Ecuador, "leading" a group of incoming MBA students deep into the heart of the jungle. Miles and miles from the nearest hospital, rumors of civil unrest and Colombian rebels...what could possibly go wrong?!?

Sept 4th - Sept 7th: Vegas...I really need to win some tuition money...

Sept 9th - Sept 18th: Greece...because why stop at just one continent for vacation

Then I get back to Chicago and have a good couple days before admissions training, I'm assuming all of that time will be spent asleep