Welcome to Miami (Bienvenido A Miami)!

Despite being a U.S. citizen who has lived on both coasts, this week marks my first trip to the sunny city of Miami!  But before we get there...

Last Monday in my business class, we talked about foreign direct investments and the importance of "linkages."  We focused on backward linkages, where a foreign affiliate acquires goods/services from domestic firms.  Basically, the domestic country provides the inputs for the foreign country's final goods.  This is usually a good business decision because the foreign country reduces its costs of production while the local company gets to increase its overall output and employment rate.  Additionally, there are usually some positive "externalities" or spillovers as well, like increases in overall efficiency, etc. that the country essentially captures for free.  We spent the class analyzing a case study about BP in Trinidad (which has a huge natural gas supply) and its attempt to build a local platform in Trinidad.  Although it was more expensive to do in the short-term, it would be cost-effective in the long-term and also boost Trinidad's own local economy. 

This week, our class discussion was similar to one last semester (so see earlier blog entry!) on the importance of understanding culture when pursuing international business endeavors.  Without understanding the dynamics of a group/population with whom you are working, it will probably be difficult to create an efficient work place.  We identified four forces (part of Hofstede's value framework) - individualism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, and masculinity - which could be used to analyze the work environment in every country and thus design the optimal managerial approach.

The rest of the week was the much of the same - lots of running, working, movie-watching (we saw both the "Black Swan" and "Requiem for a Dream," fantastic, psychologically-intense movies).  But Thursday was the kickoff for an awesome weekend, starting with... Erica's birthday!

For the special birthday gyal, we did a whole "girls day out!"  First, we stopped by Jencare to get manicures and pedicures...

Erica!

Then we had lunch (and some complimentary tonic wine) at Ashanti Oasis, a fancy Ital restaurant near our apartment...

s40!

On a side note, MANGO SEASON has begun in Jamaica!  The mangoes can be bought on the street, at almost every corner, but are kind of expensive unless you have... YOUR OWN MANGO TREE!  Like us!  Our lovely apartment complex has a huge tree in the parking lot.  So of course, we spent the afternoon (with the help of our security guard, Simpson) reaping the ripe fruit...

Jazz cooked a delicious feast for the evening - full of banana fritters, veggie chunks, and more deliciousness - after which many of our friends came over for a night of dancing and celebration :)  We even made some funfetti cupcakes for all!

The running crew...

Dance party in the living room...

Krista and me!

Dancing in the kitchen :)

On Friday morning, pretty much straight from the festivities, I headed out to the airport to catch my flight to Miami!  I met my friend Samir from NYC there to explore South Beach! 

SOUTH BEACH!!!!

Even the palm trees are flashy...

Tiramisu, Cheesecake, and Mango Sorbet... YUM!

Overall, it was a very relaxing trip... shopping... restaurants... and of course, some sitting on the beach!  South Beach itself is crazy!  Lots of expensive cars, overly dressed up people, and too much Miami Heat / Lebron James (Benedict Arnold?) hype.  We got to try a variety of restaurants and have some "tropical" drinks and appetizers - my favorite was Gloria Estefan's cuban restaurant (Larios) where we had guava mojitos and some shrimp in creole sauce.  DELISH!

It was great to finally visit one of the party capitals of the US :)  And of course, quite the relaxing mini-vaca!
 

Karthik and Samir at "The Place"

Me and Samir, at Gloria Estefan's Restaurant, Larios

On Monday, for Valentine's Day in Kingston, we had an s40 reunion and girls night dinner of homemade pizza :)  Erica and Ashley also combined their powers to WIN valentine's day cupcakes from a new cupcake shop, Kingston minicakes!!  I am so proud of them... and glad I get to partake in some of the winning!

"BE MINE" Cupcakes!