Today was our free
day and majority of us chose to spend it at Disneyland. Early this morning most
of the group went ahead of us but the marketing students had to stay behind
because we had a group speaker. Although we were a little upset that the
activities of our last day would be delayed, we understood that the purpose of
this program was to study, not vacation. We filed into one of the meeting rooms
and met with Dr. V who want over our requirements to pass the course. I can say
that he makes sure that you get an “A”
by telling you what it takes to receive it. Constantly throughout the trip he
has asked about our progress and asked to review our work. I'm glad that he
creates check points throughout the program to make sure we are on track
instead of waiting till the end when it's too late. 
Our guest speaker
today was Dominique Lafaurie. Mr. Lafaurie is an independent sales
representative for several companies in several countries. He spoke to us about
the ins and outs of business and marketing. He also spoke about life lessons.
One of the major things that stuck out to me is his story about making choices
in his life to support his desire to live a well-balanced life. Mr. Lafaurie
stated that he could make more money but that comes with working harder, longer
hours and at this point he doesn't want to do that. He'd rather focus on living
and enjoying these years. As long as he has enough to pay his bills, he's
happy. This then sparked a conversation about the work mentality in America
verses the work mentality of Europe. We all agreed that as Americans we push
ourselves to work hard, to work long hours, to constantly be plugged into work
mode. Europeans work hard too, but they seek a balance. They want to still
enjoy their lives, even if they make less money in the process. I remember Dr.
V asking me, "What good does it do to make a lot of money if you work so
much that you don't have time to spend it?"
At my age I'm
thinking about the next steps, my future. I don't want to work as much as I do
now. For years I've been feeling as if I work too much and never have time to
enjoy life, enjoy my youth. Today was confirmation for me. One should seek a
balanced life, one that makes you happy, one that allows you time to have fun
and enjoy the short life you have.
