What do all the items in my title have in common? Very little, other than that they have relevance to my past week.
Lazarus
This week, I walked my first unaided steps in three months. Oh boy, did it feel good. Yesterday, I made it all the way from my apartment to the gym without putting my crutches on the ground. My sense of indestructability was enormous – I might as well have been ten feet tall and bullet proof.
Greek
Arriving on campus last summer was a nervy time in many ways. Just how challenging would the academic side of this MBA thing be? I had heard stories of consistent 3am finishes in the fall term and was quaking in my flip flops. While I’ve certainly been challenged and learned a lot, I have been surprised that one of the most significant gaps in my knowledge has been Greek letters. I couldn’t tell you a Phi from a Psi, and it can get a little confusing sometimes. Database marketing uses some pretty involved statistics and I’m left wishing I had paid more attention to the classics at school. My American classmates can navigate campus by the Greek letters on fraternities and sororities: I, a mere mortal, must go by street names, landmarks, or friends’ residences.
Latin
Ego bulla is lingua in schola, tamen is est minor utilis quam Cupiditas. In fact, the language is irrelevant to my topic: the MBA Soccer World Cup. Last weekend, 19 teams arrived in Hanover to compete for the 28th annual tournament and we were fortunate to have Peter Grieve (T’84), founder of the tournament, and Tommy Clark (D’92, DMS’01), founder of GrassrootSoccer, present. The entire weekend had a very Latin American feel and made me wish that I could speak Spanish as well as Greek. 
I missed Saturday’s festivities, which included something for everyone (a kids’ party and tailgating), as I was refreshing my financial modeling skills ahead of my summer internship. But there was plenty of fun left to be had. On Saturday night, there was a Latin American barbecue on campus – I had a great time meeting peers from other top business schools, including a fellow Scot from the Isle of Rum (population, seriously, 22) who is at LBS. Tuck narrowly failed to qualify from the group stages, despite beating eventual tournament winners Kellogg in the opening game. Would it have made any difference if our goalkeeper had two knees? Like many great questions in history, we’ll never know the answer. Well done to Kellogg, and well done to the Tuckies who put on such a great show.
Uruguayans in Hanover
Maori
We have had a few dance performances on campus lately, including a Korean, Japanese and Chinese show last night. They were great, but some of the warrior-style dancing made me long to see some New Zealand Maori do the Hakka on campus. If you are Maori and thinking of applying, please do apply, come and show off the Hakka, and teach it to the Tuck rugby team so we can rule the world.
Read the full article: Lazarus, Greek, Latin, and Maori