Brazil

Brazil...phew...just got back from a wonderful spring break from my first visit south of the equator. The actual reason to go there was for the Global Business Experience (GBE), a week long exchange program with Darden's partner school IBMEC that seeks to give us a sense of the business climate in those countries. But lets talk about that some other time.

I had a lot of fun in Brazil, and the best way to get a sense of it is to run into me sometime and you will find me gloating about that place. Sao Paulo is alive and the city gets you pumping. It might have been so because I was surrounded by undergrad students and guys from Darden who thought they were on spring break (we actually were) or the fact that I got to see an active night life and other nice places there. What really boded well with me was that people were laid back, liked to have a nice time and were forthcoming in helping me, even though my language skills were limited to a few words of Portuguese and a lot of hand signals. Maybe the fact that I was there with 30 people I know helped he have more fun.

I got to see the art scene in Sao Paulo, visit their corporate giants (Abril, Azul, Embraer) and see Ronaldo in action in his comeback game (he scored a gooooooooooooool). All this meant that I am glad I decided to go to Brazil as part of the GBE. My first visit down under,at least from the equator if not Oz, was a huge blast. Look forward to seeing another part of the world next year.

Charlottesville

The hidden secrect of getting a Darden MBA and going to school at UVA is the city of Charlottesville as evident in the following video.

Darden MBA

:)

Student Life Re-visited

It’s been a while since I last wrote, but b-school is so demanding on your time that you have little left for anything else. It’s been close to a month since school started and I thought it would be apt to write about my experiences as a student (again) and life in general.

To start off, Darden is a wonderful place to be and I am glad I chose Darden. The place is overflowing with energy, creativity and ideas. And they catch you very soon. Classes are very discussion based (case-method) and this has 2 benefits. 1) You are forced to speak out and this is a good thing and 2) your thoughts are challenged, so you learn to think on you feet and focus on giving accurate answers. But let’s leave the class room for a minute. How about the campus? I would use a single word to describe my home for the next 2 years: elegant. As with any organization, people are Darden's biggest asset. My professors and friends in class are some of the most accomplished people I have known. All have this urge to succeed in life and that is an eclectic atmosphere to be in. The aura we all create lifts each of us to succeed together.

Darden is giving me lots of opportunities to train to be the leader I want to be. I had my first, albeit unsuccessful, attempt at student politics. But the whole effort had me writing and practicing giving speeches. I wanted this challenge to give me some experience in public speaking (in election mode). But I did manage to get into the student admissions committee. And I am also on the opportunity consultants groups and so on. This gives the idea of what happens to my time and also what sort of opportunities I have to hone my skills.

Will keep you updated about my journey....but before I leave, check out this photo.