Giovanni Ruiz

Wow, I’ve already been on vacation for a week. How time flies. Anyways, today we met with Central Group, the largest retailer in Thailand. We listened to the presentation, asked questions, etc. After that, Central was kind enough to give us cards to use in the food court area. After our meal, a few of us rounded up all the cards that had remaining money on them and pooled it together to get as much beer as possible for the hotel. I guess b-school teaches you about efficiency and how to make the most of what you have, eh? With a few hours to kill until the Muay Thai fights, we decided to relax by the pool. If you have stayed at Shangri-La before, you know that they have a great pool area. If you’re planning ... read more

It finally seems like my sleep schedule is stabilizing. I’m no longer waking up at 3 or 4am and struggling to go back to sleep. I also think the upgrade in hotel has helped tremendously. For those of you that are looking for a good hotel, I highly recommend the Shangri La in Bangkok. I’m sure it’s pricy (the room is provided by the program I’m in, so I’m not sure), but it’s a beautiful property with great rooms. In any case, my classmates and I met with Kasikorn Bank, one of the 4 largest banks in Thailand. We learned about Thailand’s economy, Kasikorn’s strategy, vision, etc. It was really interesting, even though a couple people fell asleep. However, I don’t think it was due to the presentation, but rather the aggressive partying they did the ... read more

Bzzzz Bzzz Bzzzz. Damnit. It felt like I had just fallen asleep. This time, it wasn’t the jet lag that woke me up, it was the alarm clock that jarred me out of my slumber. I quickly got ready and headed down to the lobby for breakfast. After a quick bite, we headed to the Marina Bay Sands to listen to the CEO's presentation. I must say, he's a sharp individual. He was eloquent, intelligent, and extremely skilled at dancing around the tough questions. After we finished there, we headed over to IBM and listened to some of their management give us a run down on their Singapore operation, direction, strategy, etc. It was pretty interesting. After we finished the school obligations, I went to do some exploring with classmates. I showed them the Hawker Center, ... read more

It’s finally happening! When I started the MBA program at USC, I was told that I would have to study abroad for a week as part of the GLOBE program in order to get my Master’s Degree. For the last year and a half, I’ve been looking forward to this trip, and now the time has come. Also, for the last year and a half, I’ve used all my PTO at work to study for midterms and finals. Not this time. This time, I’m going to actually get to enjoy a vacation. After a 14 hour flight, a 2 hour layover in Hong Kong, and a 3 hour flight to Singapore, we finally arrived! Fatigued, but excited, we all got off the plane ready for an unforgettable trip. A few quick first impressions were that Singapore ... read more

By this time, Katie and I had seen most of the stuff we planned to see this trip. As mentioned in previous blogs, I was just looking forward to two more things this trip....... Going to a baseball game and going on that pub crawl in Roppongi (one of the main party areas in Tokyo). Unfortunately, the only baseball game started at 6pm and the pub crawl started at 7pm. I remember some of my fondest memories of Europe were pub crawls, so I decided to go to the pub crawl instead. First, however, Katie and I had to kill about 8 hours or so. We started off the day sleeping in (the only day we've been able to do that). We then headed out to the Edo Tokyo museum. I had read that it was ... read more