The best pre-b-school advice I got was to be sure to bring my “flair” with me. These bits of costume paraphernalia had been most plentiful in my wardrobe my senior year of college, before sorority bequests (I still miss the Madonna-ish beaded bustier that I gave to some lucky sophomore). Still I cobbled together a respectable collection of pirate earrings, jean jackets and other assorted items to drag cross-country. And while I missed the school's first costume party (I decided to dress up as an observant Jew, given that it was Erev Yom Kippur), I soon joined in the fun – and the spending.
As the term went on, however, I realized that costumes were not just those things we wore Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights. Rather, as our class went through the motions of making 200+ new friends and meeting 400 new people, it felt like I was always in some sort of dress-up mode. Another friend referred to this as “chameleon-syndrome,” as all of us, insecure overachievers desperate to be liked, slipped into the mode we thought would most please those around us. The irony, of course, is we were all in costume for each other, and very little felt authentic. Not necessarily a bad thing, but a tiring one.
All of this is a long way of saying that 1/6 of the way through my b-school adventure, which I am finding thrilling and exciting and full of that ineffable thing known as personal development, I'm ready for things to get a little more real. So off to India with 30+ classmates for 2 weeks of business meetings, 1.5 weeks of touristing, and hopefully a lot of fun. I'll be sure to pick up lots more flair while I'm here!
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