Classes, Parties & Everything Nice!

Two academic weeks have just gone by at a blink of an eye... not that it's been a walk in the park, academics are demanding and with the tons of activities organized by the students, prioritization skills are a must!!!

Let me take you through the first two weeks.

The Academic Services and Administration (ASA) Office inducts you into the ISB system (of terms lasting 6 weeks each) by giving you a nice Planner Calendar. Course packs are also provided in advance so that students can read the required readings for the first day of class and participate in case discussions on the same day. I've elected to take 5 courses and you can see that I have 6 volumes of course packs for my Term 5 classes. Courses are held twice a week on 2 hour time frames and exchange students are allowed to take 1-5 credits based on their own requirements.

As an exchange student, it hasn't been hard for me to join groups since friendly and warm ISB students are extend invitations to us (special thanks to those who have extended invitations to me... it made my life a lot easier). Group dynamics are quite crucial since everyone's operating on a 6-week term where case discussions and lectures are interspersed with mid-terms, projects, presentations and final exams. Attendance is taken at every class and class participation (CP) could either be arbit or voluntary, depending on the professor. Funniest thing is, I think I speak more when it's voluntary.

Now that I've established that there's a lot of academic work that needs to be done, it ain't over yet. How come? Well, the Graduate Student Board and the various student clubs have organized a lot of activities for students, including exchange students. Events so far? Let me see... we had some non-professional activities such as:

1 The Hookah Welcome Party (started at 11pm and ended at around 6am) --> me sitting on the grass, Angela doing the Hookah!
2 Mehendi for an Indian tradition (don't worry... it's Henna! I don't even have it now)
3 Doing the Dandiya! --> a group of adults decided to play with sticks.
4 Expressions, a showcase of theatrical, dancing and musical talent
5 Diwali dinner with a local family & festivities at school

There have been a host of Pre-Placement Talks hosted by the Consulting Club (McKinsey, Booz & Co., AT Kearney, Parthenon Group, Deloitte... among others) as well as other professionally oriented whole-day activities such as the Social Responsibility Conclave (hosted by the Net Impact Club) & the Energy Conclave (hosted by the Energy, Manufacturing and Operations Club).

UP NEXT:
More on my adventures in school and outside... and the challenges of Indian bureaucracy.