Cross-Posted from the Financial Post Executive Blog

I’m surprised how long it’s been since I last wrote; my life has been a whirlwind of activity for the past several weeks. Let me bring you up to speed.

I’d like to start with ‘Obiter Dicta,’ Western Law’s annual charity talent show. The phrase ‘Obiter Dicta’ originates from the legal term for parts of written judgments that aren’t legally binding: it is Latin for ‘by the way.’ Western Law has a lot of talent, and it was a lot of fun to watch the various musical and comedy acts. Each class also makes a video and displays it to the rest of the school. The night is a lot of fun and always one of the big highlights of the year. I even went up on stage to play my guitar for the audience, and I don’t normally like to do that.

What I noticed most during the show were the third year students. For them, the night marked the very last ‘Obiter Dicta’ that they would attend. Near the end of the night, there was a great sense of nostalgia in the air, especially as the student council president got up and blew the audience away with his own law-school cover of Vanilla Ice’s Ice, Ice Baby. Not long ago, I asked a friend of mine who is articling in Toronto whether he’s enjoying working. He looked away for just a moment and responded, “Yes, I really am. But at the same time, my advice to you is to enjoy every moment of law school. It just won’t happen again.” I am sure that at the talent show, the third years were thinking something similar, just as I am sure that those words will be on my mind next year, at my last ‘Obiter Dicta.’

I didn’t have too much time to think about it because I had final exams shortly after. I think I may have mentioned this in a previous blog, but at Western, a joint-degree student’s second year is split between the faculty of law and the Richard Ivey School of Business. I took one night off to attend “Obiter Dicta,” and then I went back to studying for my business exams: marketing, operations, and information technology. Business exams at Ivey all have a very large strategy component to them. In some ways, it is frustrating because as a student you spend so much time studying concepts, only to spend half an exam discussing strategy. On the other hand, I get it: Ivey’s director of recruitment told me once that they try to admit students who seem like they would make good CEOs. The underlying philosophy is clear: Ivey wants its grads not only to understand business concepts, but also to have the ability to apply those concepts to a certain set of facts and make a well-informed decision. I wrote the exams while doing my best to keep that idea in mind.

Exams weren’t the end of the module, either. The next week – last week – my class took part in a marketing simulation, done through a computer program. Teams of students made decisions about what attributes to give products and how best to market those products. The teams were then pitted against each other to grab market share in two hypothetical target segments: one mature, and one new. The simulation required a great amount of decision-making, and an even greater amount of teamwork. It was a lot of fun, a lot of stress, and ultimately (in my opinion) a significant part of the learning experience at Ivey.

Speaking of marketing let me tell you about ICP. All Ivey students are required to work in teams on a pro-bono Ivey Consulting Project (ICP) for a real client; my team developed a marketing plan for a local London business. It was a project that we had been working on since the fall of 2008, but in the last few weeks the work really picked up. On Monday, we handed in our final report. I am pretty satisfied with the results; when we began the project I thought I knew what our recommendations would be. As the project continued, it was incredible to see which ideas were wrong, which ones were right, and which ones were right but for the wrong reasons.

Around the time that SABRE happened, I got an email saying that I was accepted to study abroad next fall at the University of Limerick, in Ireland. I was very happy when I got the news because Ireland was my first choice for exchange. I had visited Dublin before, and had a fantastic time. Did you know that Guinness tastes better over there? Also, going on exchange to Ireland means a great opportunity to spend a few weekends visiting the rest of Europe. I’m really looking forward to the fall semester.

And now I am on reading week. To be honest, I needed the break, but I’m already getting a little restless. I’ve been so busy recently that I didn’t notice how much fun I had. As I tread ever closer to the end of my life as a student, I know that I will remember my friend’s words more. So far, at least, I’m enjoying every moment.