A new phase...

So I had my last day at work, and it's now finally all fitting in...but what is it about last days (anywhere) that just makes them so weird! That unexplainable, almost conundrum-ic feeling you get, knowing this is the end of an era, a phase of your life...whether it's your existing job, your college, or even saying goodbye to a friend who's moving to another city or place.. you know things will have to change inevitably.  so that's pretty much the same for me. My last day made me realize I really have learnt quite a bit from my recent job, grown personally, and enhanced my professional network. 

The initial feeling was one of exhilaration as I felt I was a free bird, no longer a captive of the corporate slave-hours! Hehe, this feeling was short-lived though. My fourth day of being free and I'm actually wondering how to kill time.. there is quite a lot of stuff i have to get down to doing, such as immunization, sorting out what to take along, what to shop, filling out some Fuqua forms et al, but this lack of a daily routine is making me oh-so-lethargic!

Oh well, tomorrow's another day right. I will not procrastinate tomorrow. haha. i've been reading a book, one which is claimed to be a book you HAVE to read in your life : One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It's not the book, i guess it's me, but i just haven't been finding the motivation to read it/ finish it. I need a fast paced, action thriller, un-put-down-able book right now. any suggestions? 

I read Grisham's "The Associate" a month or two ago. enjoyed it - i actually read it while at an airport, and i have to say Grisham's excellent for airports/ long journeys. 

I've been getting a few requests for a celebratory MBA cake recipe. :) i have taken heed of that and promise it in my next post! yea for chocolateness in life :)

this has turned out to be a random non-MBAish post, but then i guess this is the start of my new job-free-until-MBA-starts phase!

The Lost Generation...

I have a lot of free time on my hands (yes, i've resigned from work, and am just serving my notice period).. i get done 31st may! you would think that since these are my last few weeks, i would be swamped with work, leave late and have a stressful life. Not at all actually.

Surprisingly, work has slowed down a lot, i actually have a little too much free time now. Not that i don't enjoy it - my gym-ing activities have started again. Although i have realised something, the free time you value when you're working in a rigourous 9-to-6 or whatever time routine (unofficially) you have at work, that feeling of high on the weekend is just unbelievable. .. I now have a whole two months to enjoy and plan, before the journey starts on 1 Aug.. actually the journey will start much earlier, what with immunizations, visas, accomodation, pre-coursework and planning on living in the US, i'd say the journey is already on full swing :)

Anyway, so what with the free time, my mind finds itself wandering and pondering various random thoughts... what's been bugging me for some time, is what i like to call "The Lost Generation"....here's how i define them:

See when all of us grew up, we had hobbies. Now, the way i see it, a hobby is an activity that you indulge in for leisure. It's an activity you take up in your free time, something to look forward to, a passion even. Some of the common hobbies are taking up sports, reading, collecting stamps or coins, painting, learning a craft, cooking, baking and so on. But for the generation of today, the kids who will grow up (or have already grown up prematurely), it all boils down to one thing - FACEBOOKING. Urgh. Facebooking is a hobby? Is it really? I mean seriously!! But honestly, if children/teenagers today spend all their free time on Facebook, chatting, joining x group, thinking whether to accept xx friendship request, what else would you call it? A hobby. A very sad hobby though.

Sigh. As much as I love technology, the Internet, Youtube, Facebook and the world of cell phones, i can't help but look back on my childhood. To start off with, none of us had cell phones. The world of missed calls, sms-ing, rejecting a person's phone call didn't exist :P It had a charm though - a certain freedom. You could do what you liked, unwatched, unaware. Now, it's just plain creepy - the stranger next to you on an aeroplane or bus could be google-ing you or facebooking your account to see who he(she) is sitting next to... or worse, they could be taking your picture with the oh-so-sleek camera of their cellphone and you wouldn't even know it!

So here it is - an ode to the lost generation; the kids of today who will never know the joy of playing CaromBoard, Risk, Cluedo, cards with their family; of meeting a stranger and knowing nothing about them; of reading books, painting on a summer afternoon; of calling your friends on their home phones; of not knowing who is calling you when you pick up the phone; of technology-innocence and simplicity.

:) Magical, the times we used to live in, eh?

Long distance Apartment-hunting...

So finally I won't be sleeping off the pavement in Durham :) I decided on an apartment and submitted the holding fees! Phew - what a relief! Honestly, the pre-apartment research was grueling (and might i mention a bit stressful). Here's why :

Majority of Fuqua students live off-campus. Apparently Durham is not really a city you can explore by foot - you do need a car to get around. So I weighed the options - the standard apartment complexes 8 minutes drive from campus, or the pricey complex within walking distance, but known as party central? Anyway despite being not able to attend the Blue Devil Admit Weekend, and do the apartment tour they had that day, I feel like I already know what it would look like. The magic word - the Internet.

The 2 or 3 areas I had shortlisted, provided me with complete information such as amenities available, 3D views of the rooms, floor plans etc. The Facebook group for the incoming students has also been pretty useful as seniors have given their thoughts / experiences on the apartments as well.

I'm all set now - decided on a roommate, exchanged a few emails with her to see if our living habits would match, and seems pretty good till now :) So now that I know i'll be staying somewhere for my Fuqua days, I feel like i'm finally going.

I do plan on cooking a bit (provided there is time), perhaps on alternate weekends or something.. I don't know. however, i've decided to refresh some of the recipes i'll be needing the most and the ones which I know i'll miss the most!

Preparing for Takeoff !!

So the way I see it, going (abroad) for an MBA is pretty much like a pilot preparing for takeoff. The feeling of nervousness, last minute butterflies in the stomach, excitement, restlessness... it's pretty much what I would expect a pilot to go through before a flight. Hm.. then again perhaps I wouldn't really want to be sitting on a plane where the pilot is feeling jittery and slightly nervous :D hehehe

See I always thought that the hardest part would be the MBA apps.. and so, when I completed those, was lucky enough to be admitted, I thought, wow this is it... now I can sit back and relax..welll... I just had a big laugh at myself for actually thinking this. For now, as the destination has suddenly become oh-so-clearer, I'm swamped with things to do, preparing to go abroad and much much more!

I don't know if domestic US students are going through all the paperwork, housing worries and preparation that international ones have to. Perhaps, perhaps not. You see, for an international student I guess the process is a bit longer as it's about relocating your stuff, belongings, thoughts, view on life, social network, support structure to a new place, a new country for 2 years. It's part of the process, the MBA journey - and that's also what makes it so exciting!

Here's a short list of to-do things that I guess would help international applicants (especially those for whom its going to be the first trip living in the US).

1) Branching out, Finding out: Once your'e admitted, and have decided to attend school x, start networking. Find out as much as you can about the school, the location, surrounding locations, airport, facilities available as you can. It's going to be a long process, so it would be best to start soon. In my case, I've started contacting current 1st year students, alumni, my MBA interviewer, International Housing staff, Facebook groups, other MBA applicants, and have really learnt quite a lot about Durham and Fuqua from them. The web can really be a great resource - I haven't ever been to Durham, North Carolina, and yet I have a great image of how I expect it to be from:
1) The University website
2) The town's official website - in my case, Durham's official website. Even got a free magazine from them about things to do, where to shop & dine in Durham! Cool :)
3) Facebook - ah, finally I like Facebook again! Here's why - by joining your school's MBA Class of 2011, or the International Student's Class of 2011 and so and so Facebook Group, you can sit wherever you are, and discuss housing, living and everything with mentors, future friends and other people in your situation.

2) Vying for Visa: This is probably one of the biggest headache's - visa. It's ok though, really. We're all in the same boat. We will all get it :) But it's good to speed up the process (if you can), figure out how long it's going to take you, and yes, always have a plan B.

3) Housing: Most business school's don't really have on-campus graduate housing. I may be wrong, but at least at Fuqua, 99% or so of the students live off-campus. So here are things you need to start figuring out right away: What kind of housing do you want - on campus or off campus? What locality? What location - do you want a family friendly housing or a party place? Do you want a single room or a roommate? When should you start booking in advance? How much rent are you willing to spend on the room / apartment? Will the housing have live-in facilities such as laundry, furnishing or will you need to do all this yourself? What kind of roommate do you want (if so)?

4) Immunisation Incentives: Make sure you get all your immunisations done. Fuqua's pretty good about this and has a whole list of immunisations required from international students on their Duke wbebsite. Check with your school in advance - if you're free, might as well get it done now.

5) Health care / health insurance: Needless to say, if you fall sick, you need to know where to go :) Sure the home-made remedies of chicken soup, Joshanda, or herbs could work for a flu. But in case it gets prolonged, you should be prepared.

6) Planning a budget and arranging for finances: Look at living expenses in detail. The universities usually provide an item by item estimated expense. See if your budget would allow for this. Else, figure out how you're going to manage it. If you intend on saving or living with spouse/kids, you need to make provisions beforehand.

7) Cell phone / connection: Decide which cell phone / connection to get. This is also an aspect where current students could help you out.

8) Computer Cruise: After browsing Fuqua's recommendations for computers, I just realised that my Mac may not be such a great option for Fuqua. Oh damn. Apparently, not all their softwares are Mac workable, or even workable for Windows installed in Mac. Figure out computer, laptop, internet options.

9) Transport tour - Decide what you're going to do about transport. Are you going to have a car? Are you going to rely on public transport or car pool? In this case, housing becomes important - perhaps you want to look at an apt near the bus routes / or parking spots.

10) Gearing up your Goals: Figure out what you want from your MBA - See once the MBA starts, you'll be too caught up to realise how it's heading. Decide in advance, what you want to get out of your MBA - for some it could be a job in Pvt equity, or Financial Services, for others it could be about the global exposure, for even others it could just be about networking, or making new friends. I'm sure we've all done this in detail for the actual MBA essays / apps, but hey, it doesn't hurt to re-visit the goals.

11) Pre-course work: Fuqua has a Math Software that we're all supposed to revise / refresh before school actually starts. Check with your school if there's something similar.

12) And finally.... RELAX!! This is the pre-best time of your life :P Quit work, resign, travel, do what makes you happy, enjoy the me-time, hang out with friends. You've done half the work (getting admitted) - now enjoy - you deserve it!

All the best, till my next post! and yes.... before I forget... a big Congrats to all fellow winners of the Clear Admit's BoB contest! Thank you Clear Admit, Judges and fellow voters for making this
Number 7 in the best of blogging applicant category and others!!

Last day for BoB voting!

Last day for voting for Best of Blogging is 24 April, 09, so do be sure to get your votes in! (no matter whom they are for! although my blog would feel honored to receive some votes :)).. i always believe one should participate actively - whether by voting or making a choice depending on the situation.. so fellow bloggers, if you have been chosen as one of the lucky 50 nominees (25 applicants, 25 students) for Clear Admit's BoB awards, do be sure to make your voice heard :)

In other news, work is starting to drag now. What is it about change that suddenly makes time go by slowly. I mean time really flew by when we were all busy with the B-school applications.. And then things got slow at the time of results.. then things picked up again once admissions were done.. and now things look a little slow once again :S

However, I know this is just momentary.. this precious time will also fly by and before we know it, we'll all be starting our MBA experiences!

We will probably look back on this free time, so here's how to make the most of it:

-Read.. read books, magazines, fiction, travellogues, news headlines, editorials. Whatever makes you happy.
- Eat.. hahah okay I know I know, we will get food there, but what I meant was: Eat food which you have wanted to have and never got around to .. like your aunt / mom / grandma's food or something. or even food you make yourself! now is the time to learn new recipes, cook, eat and enjoy!
- Stay fit - we will all need to be mentally and physically alert to tackle the gruelling coursework and ofcourse the myriad student clubs out there! so go gym, swim, play tennis, badminton, even table-tennis is a sport after all :D
- Follow sports - The IPL has just regained momentum, for all the cricket fans over here..
- Blog: I hope we'll all spare time for our busy lives to stay up to date.. I for one, would love to keep hearing about what my fellow bloggers are doing, and what activities they are busy with.
- Sleep: Who doesn't need their 8 hours of sleep? Actually, I think the whole 8 hour sleep theory is really a myth - it's totally subjective. For all you sleep-needers though, sleep all you can..

Hahah! So yea, thats my list of to-do things.. could do with some suggestions though :)

Good luck voting!!

A snapshot of Ghana!

As promised.. here's a recap of my trip to Ghana...

1) The people: Okay, so what striked me most - was the fact that Ghanians are extremely friendly. Everywhere you go, they will say ' Hello, my friend', and 'Hello, how are you'.. in markets, in tourist areas, almost everywhere I went. There are a lot of foreigners in Accra (the capital of Ghana), who are working in the telecom sector, and a lot of NGO crowd as well. Ghana is considered the NGO hub in West Africa, as its one of the safest countries in West Africa.

Second thing that struck me was the security. Not lack of it - but the fact, that our views of Africa are just so brainwashed by what see on TV. Ghana is one of the safest places in Africa - whether nationals, or foreigners, you would never see any one complaining about crime.What I did find very interesting is that in the huge open markets, particularly, when they see a non-African person, they call them 'obruni' - white man.

Interesting, how despite globalization, and liberalisation particularly in the US, all foreigners - whether from China, Australia, Canada, or even the Sub-Continent, are simply referred to as obrunis.From my short interaction and observations, I did notice one thing remarkable about their culture - they are genuinely happy-go-lucky. I really do think its an art - learning how to stay happy and actually remaining happy. Whether it was the massive open markets of Makola, Agbobloshie or Kneshie, or the roads of Osu, it's easy to notice how festive and lively the people were. Music and dance are part of their culture. In fact, I even saw a funeral (they call it fyuneeyaah), where they were dancing and celebrating the life of the person who passed away.

Another interesting observation - the women tie the babies on their backs, and all the people who are selling something on the roads / markets, carry the commodity on their heads.

2) Food: Well the most common food items present everywhere I went were pawpaw (papaya), plantains, and yam. The pawpaws are truly heavenly - I loved the orange peach color, the texture and the lovely fruity aroma that just adds so well to the overall experience. I saw roasted rats, bats, cow skin, had some local fried plantain chips.. didn't have quite the heart to try the bats, rats and other stuff though... phew.

3) Wildlife / Scenery:
Wow. Not only is Ghana really green, but its landscape is just so diverse. I spent time on beautiful beach resorts of Busua beach, Axim beach among others, with a lovely view of the greenish Atlantic Ocean. The facilities were superb, got extremely tanned though! And in complete contrast, while heading to the Volta region, I was surrounded by valleys, lakes, mountains - simply amazing. Lake Volta is massive, and runs through the Volta Region. We saw Akosombo Dam, and did some nice speed-boating as well.

The highlights of my trip would definitely be:

1) Re-living the Ghanian/ African history by going to Cape Coast Castle and Elmina Castle - these two slave castles are a bone-chilling experience. We had excellent guides, saw the doors of no return, went inside the male and female dungeons, saw the punishment rooms, and even saw the wells where the slaves were given water from. They say mroe than a million Africans were shipped to North and South America in the 16th-18th centuries in exchange for cotton, rice and other commodities. It's really quite an expereince to walk through the same doors, look at the castle and try to imagine what those people must have gone through.

2) The canopy walk at Kakum National Park - saw some beautiful butterflies, animal species and just loved the canopy walk in the rainforest.

3) Wli Falls: Tucked away in the Volta Region - these waterfalls are beautiful. After a long drive from Accra, and then a long walk to the actual waterfalls, you really feel awed. If you look up, you see literally millions of bats, as its also a bat sanctuary. I was lucky enough to see my 1st rainbow at the Wli Falls. Simply stunning.

These are just a few of the highlights from the Ghana trip - I'd definitely recommend it. I guess what I really valued about it was how different it was when compared to vacations in the U.S or Europe. No big flashy billboards. No McDonalds, Starbucks, big multinational brands. Just pure, pristine scenic and wildlife beauty.

Back from Ghana and Nominee for Best of Blogging!!

My blogger friends,
I'm back back back! Well the excitement says it all - just got back yesterday from an amazing trip to Ghana - with visits to Accra, Cape Coast, Elmina, Volta Region, Busua, Axim and much more.. I can't believe the 2 week vacation sped by so quickly, although I must admit - I did miss my blogging!

My detailed travellogue, experience and things I noticed about Ghana, their people, their culture, their arts, music, dance, nature and wildlife will follow in the next post or so (once I recover fully from the long flight's jet-lag). However, I can safely say .... It was great!! Did quite some adventurous touring, took a lot of pictures which I will also try sharing here for the benefit of fellow bloggers / tourists aspirants to Ghana.

In other news, I'm all set for Fuqua. My seat has been secured via a healthy tuition deposit :) and now's the time to start thinking about housing, visa, etc etc and the list goes on.

Oh yeah, and more news.... My blog got nominated for ClearAdmits Best of Blogging 2009!!!!! Wow!! It was quite a surprise, considering I'm new to blogging, but I must say, I agree with MissionMBA on the thrill one gets in seeing their blog named in Fridays from the Frontline and getting recognition .. Let's hope this blog gets its first win as well :)

It's been great blogging, sharing the woes and wins of MBA apps and stressful waiting with other people... More to follow soon, keeping fingers crossed!!