Today, our last day of orientation, our last "class" was a presentation given by a few of the November 2009 intake students. One of the students called this phase of our MBA the honeymoon phase - we're just getting to know everyone and everyone seems so nice and pleasant and interesting, the professors seem funny and ingenious, and the schedule is long but fun. The message we heard over and over again this week was that we will be working very hard, and teams are going to have crisis, and we're going to have to need some high quality time management and team building skills for when the "honeymoon phase" wears off. So enjoy the beginning because it's going to get crazy!
Orientation topics have included an introduction to the case management method, an "action learning" exercise on teamwork, a review of the IE ethics code, and a first encounter with the career services department. The whole week has made me very excited for the year to come. I'm most excited about using the learning experience, including both the "hard" and "soft" skills we'll be learning, to figure out how my future career can be compatible with the kind of person I want to be.
They have already started to impress upon us the importance of networking... they even organized an open bar to lubricate social interaction with all 500 or so of our Nov. 2010 peers Wednesday night! I went home "early" at 1a.m. because I had a cold I didn't want to get any worse. An MBA in Madrid specifically is also about enjoying the Madrileña nightlife (which means it's completely normal to return home on the weekends, or even weekdays, at 7a.m.), and the school really encourages us to do so! It's all about balance... So far, it is resulting in a down-to-earth party hard, play hard atmosphere.
Tonight I went to my first student club event. The Indian Club put on a great party with food and dancing to celebrate Diwali.
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