GBF Gala Weekend

Holy cow! This weekend was a lot more exhausting than I ever imagined it would be, but it was SO much fun it was definitely worth the amazing lack of sleep we got! The GBC (Graduate Business Conference) started on Thursday afternoon and last until last night/this morning when most people just had breakfast and then went to the airport to fly home. I had worked Thursday and was just waiting on Bobby to let me know what the plan was for the night. He had a dinner Thursday night after all of the meetings, etc so he called me at around 10pm and said that there was an after party in the suite are the Hyatt which was the hospitality suite that Simon had booked for the weekend. It was basically just free alcohol all weekend long for all of the students and GBF members that were in town for the conference. So I had already packed all of my things for the weekend knowing we were staying at the hotel that was provided for us all weekend. The place was packed with students from all over the world; Switzerland, Denmark, India, you name it. The GBF (Graduate Business Forum) is made up of the top 50 graduate business schools in the world and every year they get together for this conference and this year Simon hosted. 38 of the top 50 schools in the world were represented at the conference this weekend. We met so many awesome people and actually ended up meeting a guy who also graduated from Chapman and lived on the same street as us in Orange! He's the incoming president at Anderson School of Business at UCLA so we talked to him a lot and Bobby hung out with him...another funny connection was the outgoing president of UCLA was from Stockton! haha So, Bobby and those two talked a lot! It's pretty amazing that with everyone being from all over the world you still meet people with really close connections such a small world!

Friday night was the Gala! Bobby had conferences and workshops all day and I worked for a couple hours. I was able to leave work at 5 to be able to get ready so I came home where Bobby was so we could drive to the hotel room together so I could get ready. Bobby made us late (Grr) So of course I only had about 30-45 minutes to get ready so I just had to wear my hair straight, I was going to curl it but no time so oh well! It ended up in a pony tail by the end of the night anyway so it was probably a better decision. We arrived at the venue the Harro East Ballroom around 7pm for cocktail hour and met up with all of our friends, found out where we were sitting etc. We sat with a group of incoming presidents (since Bobby is the incoming President too). It's always fun meeting new people! So there were awards presentations and dinner and then it was time to dance! At 10pm the awards were done and the band came out and the bar was again open for the night! My good friend Theresa was a part of the band so I was really excited to finally see her perform and hear her sing! She was great! The whole band was awesome it was SO much fun! Bobby isn't a big dancer but I was out there ALL night from 10-1am my calves were SO sore the next day...at the half way break I had Bobby go grab my flats and put my heels in the car lol I was ready for round two! All of the European guys were SUCH a blast they were out there all night with us! The band was playing some fun oldies songs and one of the Danish guys grabbed me and we just started swing dancing LOL It was such a blast! Everyone was just sweating bullets, singing, laughing and having a good ole time I didn't want it to end! Buuuut it did at 1am...but then it was time for the after party back at the suite! :) We were again out until 3:30-4am and the next day I had to get up and meet up with Theresa and some prospective Simon Partners for breakfast, a tour at the Memorial Art Gallery, and lunch at 9:45 and Bobby had to get up even earlier for more conference events! Wow was I tired! Coffee was the best thing that could have happened to me that morning!

We all met in the lobby at the Hyatt where the prospective students and partners were staying. This weekend was also Scholarship weekend for Simon so all of the prospective Simon candidates and their partners were in town as well and the partners group always takes them around Rochester and talks with them about coming here, answers questions, and just shows them a great time! One of the girls is around my age, has the cutest little 2 year old boy, and is from Southern California too! We had a lot to talk about she was such a sweet girl! There was also another girl who was from Northern California. We went to a local coffee place called Boulder and got breakfast and coffee and chatted. The girl from Socal also had her mom with her to help her with her son and check out apartments while her bf was busy doing presentations and such at Simon all weekend. After coffee we went to the visitors center so they could grab any information they might need before going to the Memorial Art Gallery for a tour. I always love going to museums and just never think to go on my own so being able to do this with the partners (for free) was great! We took an hour tour (which was definitely NOT long enough) before heading to a place called The Gate House for lunch...SO yummy! After lunch it was around 3pm so the limo took us back to the Hyatt and we all went our separate ways. My plan for the rest of the day was to go back to the Radisson and NAP...but that didn't really happen every time I was about to doze off I swear my phone would ding from a text or someone would call so Bobby eventually came home around for about an hour before having to go to the final dinner. I eventually fell asleep around 9pm for about an hour haha I didn't really expect to go out after but of course when Bobby got home around 11pm we headed over to the suite again for another after party! HAHA I was a zombie but again it was a lot of fun...we got back to the room again around 3:30am...that was our average bed time every night this weekend.

T and me :) 

End of the night. Pony tail time! 

We checked out this morning around 10am and came home. Bobby had to meet up with someone at 1 to do some homework so I napped on and off all day and was a total bum I had no energy to do anything at all and definitely needed the day to recover! I haven't partied three nights in a row since college! It was SUCH a great weekend though and work all of the lack of sleep. Bobby got elected as the Graduate Business Forum representative of North America this weekend as well which is a HUGE honor! He always amazes me and I am so proud of him!

I can't believe it is April! We have a lot of events coming up this month too! NYC this weekend, Movie night for the partners, Wine Tour, 80's party, and probably more! Then the Black Jack Ball early next month and my 25th Birthday! AH! Time is flying by but we are having so much fun...we got some SUPER amazing/exciting news that I can't announce yet until I get an ok but this is an amazingly blessed year and it has definitely been good to us!