This week, I start my MBA at Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University. I will blog my experiences as I go along (as frequently as my schedule would allow it:) ) . I should be adding a post every Sunday...so check back (if you really have nothing better to do) on Monday mornings!
And oh...by the way, mirror lake is the name of a beautiful lake at OSU campus. I pass by this every day as I walk to Fisher and this one is staying right with me as I wade through the next two years:).
The campus is beautiful and HUGE! I need to walk 20 minutes to reach campus-its on the same road as my house is. On the way is this beautiful lake called the Mirror lake-more on that later.
Btw, at Chicago, I almost had a heart attack when I checked my folder and did not find the I-20 and SEVIS documents inside...after almost ten minutes of frantic searching I remembered that I put them in the my big green purse for "safe-keeping" :)...that was the only tense moment in the whole journey. When we landed in Chicago, they said there is a message waiting for some people, when I saw my name on that message list I was so happy-I haven't even arrived and they already have a message for me!! When I opened it, it said your bag has not arrived! Some local friends who came to my house were just so surprised when I told them that only one of my check-in baggage has arrived. They asked "How on earth did you manage to get even one correctly from British Airways" seems that they almost never get it right!!
Going good...
Got my baggage finally!! All stuff intact!
Today, for the first time in my life I was in a suit...almost half the day (Nostalgia: Microsoft days when people would look puzzled if you wore full-sleeves and formal shoes) I was talking and socializing with so many people from so many different countries (10 and still counting...). I felt so comfortable in it that I feel I wouldn't mind working at a place where I wear suits to office everyday ;)...
Yesterday an American senior took us to a pub+restaurant since pizzas are just $3 there every Thursday. It was my first time inside an American bar, (or any pub for that matter:))...enjoyed it very much though I couldn't participate in the drinking...we met up with a great lady (wife of a student) from Chile who started talking to us about Indian culture-she wanted to know about India and Indian culture-particularly about how women are treated there-she is a strong career woman and was astounded at some of things we had to tell her:)...we talked almost for an hour...we got out early since sessions started at 8 today morning.
Networking, back in India might be a "nice" thing to do, out here though, it is considered your bread and butter, how far you go is directly related to how many people you know and how well you know them. The faculty, seniors, industry professionals, almost everyone talks about networking and ways of doing it.
After the day's sessions were over they left us in a room to meet people and socialise and I got to meet so many exciting people...a Chinese girl (who has started teaching me Mandarin;)), an American who was a pilot for several years (he's agreed to fly me on a plane and teach me how to fly;))... a former US Navy officer, a German, an Indonesian, two Taiwanese, a Vietnamese, a Jamaican and ofcourse so many Indians. Yesterday I got to meet an Ugandan doing PhD in Animal Sciences and we ended up talking for half hour on the similarities between the two countries...so many people..so many cultures..so much to explore!
Tomorrow is a football game here...this is not our usual football..this is American football (the one where they crash into each other throw a ball and run like crazy...people are just too crazy about it...you just can't beleive how crazy!!! A $25 ticket for the final game (Ohio Vs Michigan) sells for $500 here!!! The rivalry between these two teams is just unbelievable!!
Need to go home now...catch you tomorrow...same time same id...with more exciting news from Columbus Ohio!! Till then its goodbye from ...Aaarveend Shaarma (this is the way some Chinese friends pronounce my name here;).
Today is the game day here at Ohio State. Arkons play the OSU team, this is a football crazy state! Early in the morning as I was walking up to school, I saw so many small airplanes (not joking...real airplanes...about ten of them) circling all over the sky, each tied with a big poster on the back depicting some advertisement for a brand or company that can be clearly seen from the ground so nobody can miss it up in the sky! Thats how creative marketing can get in this country!!
Here a game day (usually Saturday) is like one big festival...families go together to the stadium, just outside they have so many stalls, many people start cooking food outside the stadium (barbeque etc)-this is called tailgating. And inside of the stadium is just an unbeleivable sight! inside http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Stadium Check all the photos in that link!!
The capacity is 1,10,000 and there must have been atleast 90000 people there. And they all shout in one voice...O.H.I.O...there is a small gap from which inside of the stadium is visible. Red is the color of Ohio State and the whole place is just flashing red. Wherever you go people are in Red, and most of them are talking about the game. If this is the scene of an pretty low-interest Arkon Vs OSU game, it is impossible to imagine what OSU Vs Michigan would look like! People take a dip at the Mirror lake before that game every year it seems. Last year the temperature was around -5 degrees and the lake had almost frozen over, still a lot of people stripped and took a dip before going to the game! Incredible!!
After this,I decided to check out the RPAC (Recreational and Physical Activity Center)-this is a HUGE sports-cum-gymnasium center-state of the art-full of gyms, squash courts, basketball courts, tennis courts etc etc etc! The best part though was the acquatic center. There is a mega swimming pool (used for Olympics they say!) and three smaller ones... I'm gonna go swimming as soon as possible!! then there is a spa (a jacuzzi kinda thing) and a sauna!
When I came out of RPAC, there was a lovely rain-my first at Ohio:)...not the heavy troublesome one..but a light flowery rain making the whole place much more beautiful than it already was! Came straight to the internet center in the rain and here I am...
That’s the story till now...
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