Mood: 21, twenty one, ventiuno, èr shí yī, vingt et un, einundzwanzig, واحد وعشرون, Είκοσι μία, इक्कीस, ยี่สิบเอ็ด, двадцать один)
(sorry i got carried away... that's 21 in Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Arabic, Greek, Hindi, Thai, and Russian)
If I haven't made it clear, I turned 21 this past weekend! I had a great weekend, and now I am totally checked out of school and enjoying myself.
The consulting firm I signed with to work for after graduation flew me and all the other offerees up to Dallas for what they call Offer Weekend, where we visit the office, meet everyone at the firm, and get to know Dallas better. They wined and dined us and really made me excited about post-graduation plans! I flew up to Dallas on Friday morning, where our chauffeur picked us up from Dallas-Love and drove us to the office in Irving. That's right, we had chauffeur who picked us up in a big HUGE sedan. They even gave us a text message the night before of the name of our driver and when we landed, where the sedan was located. It was a little intense.
On Friday, we got oriented to the office, chatted with other offerees, played foosball. After a nice lunch at the building's fancy restaurant, we had one-on-ones with partners and managers of the firm, where they were responsible for trying to sell the firm even more to the offerees. Since I had already accepted, it was definitely more laid back and very comforting to know how approachable the top ranking members of the firm were. I had conversations about my plan to run the marathon, my post-graduation travel plans, and how they had gotten to where they were, etc. After the one-on-ones, we met back together for an "anything goes" consultant panel where recent hires answered all our questions from lifestyle to Dallas to housing. After that, they bused us to the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Uptown Dallas where I was able to fit in a nice work-out and enjoy my decadent room a bit before dinner. Dinner was at Sambuca's, across the street from the Ritz. Let me tell you, dinner was delicious, especially since they were serving a good number of people in our group. We had different appetizer choices, salad, entree and desserts to choose from. I settled on a spinach-walnut salad, a steak and lobster entree, and creme brule for dessert. There were also free-flowing top-notch drinks all night long. After dinner, we gathered for more drinks in the back before calling an end to a lovely Friday night (but not before more drinks at the Ritz Carlton Bar. Of course, right?!)
Saturday, after resting in the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in with more pillows that I've knew what to do with (and of course, using the comfy bathrobe), I woke up and they took us to brunch at Matitos in Uptown Dallas where we were treated to tastey breakfast tex-mex items! After brunch, and catching some of the UT vs Baylor game, we headed to the Dallas World Aquarium for an afternoon getting to see interesting animals and to mingle with everyone else. Some of the group went off to play soccer instead, but of course, I choose the aquarium instead. That aquarium, while cool and interesting, is so small, and it left me feeling terrible for the animals! It was nice getting to interact with the other offeeres and chat about the different offers everyone was considering. Of course, me being biased, I tried to do some convincing of my own to get people to accept their offers. It's pretty interesting that despite the different backgrounds we all come from, I have truly enjoyed chatting and meeting everyone. I am really excited about those who accept an join my entering class! After the aquarium, it was about 2:30pm and dinner wasn't until 6, so we went back to the Ritz Carlton where I took a nap, went to the gym (it was a really nice gym!), and then took a relaxing bubble bath (haven't done that in AGES), before getting ready for dinner. Post dinner, we had a western chic themed company party for us, so I had to get ready for that, then went to Cuba Libre, a nice cuban/tex-mex resturant in Dallas that they also have in Austin. Dinner, of course, was delicious! A round of appetizers included nachos, calamari, a ceasar salad, guacamole, and fried plantain chips. I ordered a grilled mahi mahi (I definitely had my share of red meat after the steak from the night before) and of course, I had a mango mojito. For dessert, we ordered chocolate brownies a la moda and banana pudding a la moda before finishing with coffee and Baileys. Yes. Clearly Wine and Dine is a way to describe what I did this weekend. After dinner, we headed to the location for our western chic party where I played a game of doubles pool with another offeree and two consultants. I was terrible but got a few balls in AND won the game (by dropping the 8-ball into the corner pocket). After night of mixing and mingling with offerees and current employees at the firm, I was exhausted. Everyone sang happy birthday to me and I met someone else at the firm who was also born the same day as me! It was pretty cool. I cabbed it back to the Ritz with some other offerees before crashing into the bed of pillows at the Ritz!
Sunday, I woke up, got ready, and went downstairs for the final weekend brunch at the Ritz Carlton with my fellow offerees and several managers and partners at the firm. After relishing over the great weekend we had over fresh fruit (cantaloupe, honey due, raspberries, strawberries, pineapples, and blueberries), french toast, muffins, bagels, eggs, bacon and sausage, we called it a weekend. I went back up to the Ritz for a quick 45minute nap before catching a cab to Dallas Love for my 2pm flight. After landing in Austin, I drove home, chatted with my roommates for a bit, had dirty martins for the first time (which is a crazy greasy burger). and then took a nap before, getting up and going to trudy's to celebrate my birthday some more with my roommates and friends. Afterwards, I spent the remainder of Sunday night watching Finding Nemo (which NEVER gets old) and watching The Hangover before retiring for the weekend.
If you've read this far, give yourself a pat on the back! Thanks for reading! Here are some quick pictures before I run off and take a nap. This Tuesday is killing me and it's still not over! One of my other roommates JUST turned 21 and got into medical school so I'll be celebrating with him!
Look at that bed! Ritz Carlton! =)
The Ritz Bathtub. The walk-in shower and toilet is on the left and the right features a Jack and Jill sink with granite counter tops!
Of course we're in Dallas, and that's my dream car, an Aston Martin... but take closer look... what does his license plate say? No, your eyes are not kidding you.. he's a "FLYMAN"
Freakishly Large Fish at the Dallas World Aquarium
The big manatee at the Aquarium!
All right, that's all I have for you! This week I don't have much going on. I've got a Mortar Board event I'm planning for Thursday, a plan II paper to work on, my physics paper to work on, and the Kansas vs UT game!
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