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Modern Minneapolis


A daily dilemma for Felipe and I was attire. Technically, every meeting that we were attending were with business professionals, so business formal would seem to be the obvious choice. However, the Midwest has varying standards of formality in every company. The executives that we met with had a sliding spectrum of dress, from full suits down to polos and khakis. Thus, while we started out wearing suits and ties in Detroit, we later only went full business formal when meeting with investment banks and some of the top companies.

Minneapolis was a perfect illustration of us being overdressed for meetings. We walked into a meeting with a big investment bank in formal attire in 90-degree weather and the CEO came in wearing a polo. The week before 4th of July in Minneapolis is the ideal time for everyone to head to the lake, so the offices that we visited were all pretty empty. Since we were there only for the three days right before July 4th, we were only able to schedule two meetings for our time there.

Despite the lack of success in terms of meetings, I really enjoyed Minneapolis. There were a lot of big companies headquartered in either Minneapolis or St. Paul, so the surrounding areas were very nice. One of my friends from Princeton lived right by our hotel, so I had plenty of recommendations for places to eat. One of the best memories was eating a donut stuffed with ice cream at Milkjam Creamery, which was a ton of sugar, but definitely worth it J

After those four and a half weeks, we were done with the first leg of our trip! We returned our trusty rental car and then both Felipe and I headed back home. This was the first time I had been back in California since February, so it was the longest I had ever been away from home. It was great to see my family and friends and have a chance to relax for the first time in a while. I also very much enjoyed eating homecooked Indian food and the other Bay Area cuisines that I couldn’t get in the Midwest. Best of all, I could wear shorts and a t-shirt all day!

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