love from s'pore

Hey guys!

It’s been a while. Hope you all got my invite on Facebook. In the spirit of not being hypocritical, here’s my extremely self-centered update on life. I encourage all of you to post equally narcissistic updates because I really want to hear about how things are going!

• Since TASP… Okay, so I’m trying to remember all the weird things I did at TASP and think about whether or not I’ve changed since then. Falling asleep on random couches – YES, I still do this. My favorite sleeping locations include ergonomic chairs in the library and Starbucks armchairs. Plush fetish – YES, this still applies. Although I’ve moved from frogs to quirkier subjects, like plush tofu, ninjas, and robots. However, I do not: keep my hair bundled in a clip, wear skirts all the time, sulk on staircases (okay, maybe sometimes).

• Nunnians I last sighted: JOSH came to visit last year, and he stayed at my highrise apartment! It was pretty awesome, even though I was going a little crazy with schoolwork that week (sorry about that Josh!). We did cool things, like walk aimlessly around campus and eat yummy falafel at a Middle Eastern restaurant. Freshman year, Diya visited me during spring break (which was a lovely departure from my emo loneliness on campus) and we gossiped and had tons of fun. You guys should totally follow Diya + Josh’s example and visit me in Philly 

• Latest update: Singapore! I’m wrapping up my semester at Singapore Management University, and like everyone else, you’re probably wondering: why Singapore? I wanted to be at a good university in an English-speaking Asian country… so this was pretty much the best deal! SMU also has a partnership with my university, so it’s easier to transfer credits. I’ve enjoyed my time here so far (beautiful country, amazing food), but I miss my friends back home, so I’m ready to head back to the trash-lined streets of Philadelphia. I’ll be back on Monday (November 30) and will have too much spare time on my hands, so if any of you East Coasters want to meet up, let me know!

• School and stuff: After observing the Blackberry-wielding, stock quote-checking population of my school, I’ve grown increasingly cynical about all things finance and banking. So I’m opting for a dual concentration in Marketing and Operations & Information Management. Taking some cool classes on branding, advertising, consumer behavior, and the like. On the operations side, I’m learning about emerging technologies and how they’re changing the business landscape. Not going to lie; it’s pretty thrilling. Although maybe only to business nerds like myself.

• On campus… After reading about all the cool stuff Aida’s doing, I’ve come to the conclusion that I am overall a pretty lame, uninteresting person. Sadness. Anyway, at Penn I’ve involved in the Wharton Dean’s Advisory Board – which is this council of students that implement academic initiatives. Sounds boring, I know. But it’s actually my #1 thing on campus, and I’ve gotten to know some of my dearest friends through the organization. I’m also involved in Social Impact Consulting, which is a group that does pro bono consulting for Philadelphia non-profits. It’s a great, rewarding experience – and you get to work in teams so it can be a lot of fun. Aside from all that, I’ve done volunteer projects for Ashoka (organization that funds social entrepreneurs around the world) since January – including social media stuff, marketing stuff, donorship stuff, and most recently I interviewed an Ashoka Fellow here in Singapore! You guys can read about it on this blog; the title is “Making Toilets Sexy,” haha. It’s about using product design to improve global sanitation. Other on-campus hobbies include eating Chipotle burritos and “suicide” hot wings, hanging out with friends, taking photos of random-but-interesting objects, and frolicking.

• Looking forward… Will be flying back to Philly on Monday (November 30) and spending 3 weeks reconnecting with people, exploring the city, consuming coffee, getting ready for internship recruiting, working on some random projects, and other fun things. If any of you guys want to meet up, please let me know!

Nunnian Love,
Mindy

P.S. New ways to keep in touch (recently started poking my head into different social media channels):

Twitter! (twitter.com/yaycaffeine)
Blog! (yaycaffeine.wordpress.com)