On Friday we were asked to attend the speech by Mat Reynders in the Yockey room.  I can tell you that right away I wasn’t at all excited about going to this.  However after listening to him and hearing what he had to say, it helped open my eyes a great amount.  I believe that in my 3 and 1/2 years here and Morningside this was the most beneficial speaker/activity that I have attended while being here.  He spoke about how he wasnt quite sure what he wanted to do after he graduated college, which I can relate greatly too.  As of right now I still don’t even have an idea of what it is that I want to do.  After hearing what he had to say I learned that it is absolutely crucial in developing and forming relationships with as many people as you can because this is an essential building block in becoming successful.  It really hit me when Mat was talking about how you need to figure out what is important to YOU, and to make life goals so you always have something to look back on to help you realize if you are reaching your full potential.

Along with the international business side of things, it was very helpful when Mary asked Mat about any problems he has encountered when being in different countries due to his cross-continent MBA program.  He answered by saying that he usually always had someone with him that knew the language and the cultures so they didn’t run into too many problems.  However he did talk to us about the one time they were walking in a mall in Dubai and some of the people that were with him were holding hands.  This was apparently against the law because an officer walked up to them and told them to stop holding hands and if they did anymore they would be kicked out.  This is very interesting and I didnt know that about that culture.  The last thing that i found interesting that he talked  to us about when answering Mary’s question was the time frame that the people in India use and the fact that they never say no because they find it rude and they just want to satisfy you.