Going home....already!

This will be brief. Well, relatively. Not that I don't want to share the wonderfully exciting (can you sense the sarcasm) life that I'm living here in Minneapolis, but because I'm sitting in this air conditioned business center freezing my behind off and I don't think I can stay here much longer. Yeah, the laptop is still conked out. So, the exciting news is: I'M GOING HOME TOMORROW!!!!! Yayyyyyyy!!!! I'm very excited. Can't you tell? There are probably a million things I want to do but unfortunately I only have three days so I'll have to do my best. My godson's birthday is this weekend so I get to see him! And I am giving "dedicated sister time" to my little sis b/c the last time I was home (that week in b/w Milan and Minneapolis) she told me that she feels like she never sees me except when she wakes up in the morning (isn't that horrible?!!! I have to make it up to her!). I'm leaving it up to her to set our agenda (and I'm praying there's no Hannah Montana involved).
So this week has been mildly eventful. Work is work, enough said. Last night, we had a happy hour with the June start class (June was one of our options for a start date but most of the MBAs decided to take the summer off and start in August). They're a pretty cool bunch although most of them are experienced retail hires (non-MBA). One lady is training in handbags (I'm so jealous!!!) and her mentor works on the design partnerships (I'm really jealous!!!). Afterwards, there was a dinner planned at this japenese/sushi restaurant called Nami, which was the first "dinner club" outing. Yeah, our start group decided to launch a weekly dinner club on Wednesday nights. Now, I responded to the email stating that I was interested in participating in the dinner club (hey, I like to eat) along with my evening choices, however I never received the email about the dinner last night (notice how people are constantly slighting me???). I found out about it at the happy hour, and wasn't going to go but ended up changing my mind after a little insisting on my colleagues part :-) I didn't even have to drive since one of my co-workers offered to drive everyone. I'm glad I went though - the restaurant is very posh, and has a nice ambiance. The food was excellent, and I'm pretty picky about sushi so that's saying something. There were seven of us and we each ordered a different type of roll then shared with everyone so I got to taste seven different types. Honestly, they were all good. Even some that did not sound so appetizing on the menu.
I spent the entire morning today on a tour of one of the distribution centers, (my second tour of the exact same DC) and to make it worse, I was having stomach cramps and felt like my stomach was going to explode. It was not a good look. I somehow made it through the tour but then I came straight home and didn't go into the office until around 1/1:30. I had a "coffee" (it's a company thing...basically just a meeting in the lounge that may or may not involve actually getting coffee) in the afternoon with this guy who was a new Buyer in the October class last year. I met him when I was here in December. He's also a former New Yorker, so I trust his judgment, lol - he was my sounding board when I was trying to make decisions about Minneapolis (like where to live!). We stayed in contact and when I went to Milan I found out that he had been to Milan several years ago (small world) so we had a lot to catch up about. Anyway, he told me he was on the bench for 4 months before being placed in a department (whoa!)....that just seems like a lot of time waiting. Fortunately though, he was able to actually take over a class/brand during that time and was placed in the same department eventually so he was actually doing buyer work, just without the official title. I think that will be my strategy as well - the thought of sitting around for four months doing nothing of substance makes me very nervous (everyone tells me that would be a good thing but I get restless after a while - maybe it's mild ADD). After work, on my way home I ran into one of the interns from last summer who told me he had just seen a couple other former interns from our class last summer at a restaurant I had to pass on my way home. So I stopped in to say hi to them and it was a little mini-reunion....awww! One of them had just arrived in Minneapolis today and doesn't actually start work until next month, but they both work in .com. I told them I'd send them info on events we're planning on the stores side since there are more of us buyer trainees on the stores side than in .com. I had half a mind to go to the state fair tonight since it was my last chance (it'll be over by the time I get back from NY) but I just wasn't feeling up to it. So I came home and made turkey burgers (I told y'all I'm trying to be healthy) and added a few things to my suitcase. I have to go finish packing! Later!