So it begins

This is an appropriate way to begin my first blog entry about the ESMT full time MBA program in 2009. It’s also an appropriate continuation from Arti’s last entry ‘but this is not the end’.

Unfortunately my title is not quite true….it began 60 days ago with the introduction to the MBA program and what a roller coaster ride it’s been since. I meant to post my first blog entry before the end of January, but I’m surprised that 60 days has passed by so quickly. In those 60 days there’s been the outdoor team building exercises at Schoss Krochlendorff , the first five courses of Module 1, over 50 case studies, Module 1 exams, the Integrative Learning Exercise(ILE), numerous career services sessions, two Master Classes, Professional Mentor interviews, second five courses of Module 2 and now, my first blog entry. Inbetween there have also been outings to interesting parts of Berlin, a class outing to the opera, a fondue night, five birthdays, several bergfests and much more; so it hasn’t all been stuck in lectures in Audi II.

It’s been a big challenge, coming back to school after a 6 year break, and longer I m sure for some of my classmates. And business school is no ordinary school, a one year full-time MBA takes up just that- one year, full-time. With classes starting at 9am and ending at 5pm everyday, before group assignments and individual study, the 24-day begins to seem as if it needs some adjustment, but we have leant about optimization given certain constraints….now time for some application.

Love. Hate.  Frustration. Joy.  Relief.  Sadness.  Music.  Dance.  Exhaustion. Tears.  Laughter.  Gravity.

Elements of a quintessential Bollywood movie.  Erm…also, the range of emotions, experiences the 31 of us went through over the last one-year.

It was dark, dull and grey when I landed into Berlin in January.  I was scared, lonely and had no clue what the year would be like.

It is dark, dull and grey today in Berlin on the eve in of our graduation. But there’s music, dance and bright twinkling lights everywhere now. 

It has been a rollercoaster of a ride – there were moments when one wanted to tear one’s hair apart.  There were moments when one had no recollection of the cab ride from Wohnzimmer to school.  There were times when there were potatoes, potatoes, potatoes and potatoes for lunch.  Then there were times that one wanted to bite everyone in sight.

Then there’s today.  An evening to remember.  With my friends, some, who will forever be a part of my life. 

There’s a lot more to say, but there will be time enough for reminiscing when we are old.  But tonight lets go dancing, you and I, for indeed there will be time for many more stories to be told.

In thirty minutes or more precisely at 14:00 hrs on 19 Dec 2008, the third batch of ESMT students will pass through the school to become full fledged MBAs.

The time and celebration does not permit a long reflection but I reflect with joy on the past year and look forward to the years ahead. We are definitely not the same as we were when we entered the school on 14 Jan but are wiser and smarter and are ready to face the challenging times.

Three Cheers to a wonderful School

There we are. Another winter is creeping through the streets of Berlin, first christmas decorations are spreading over town, the MBA batch is giving birth to 31 individual theses (involving the accompanying contractions) and it’s just as well time to give a warm and dear welcome to the new 2009 MBA batch, out of which the first happy faces show up on campus here and there.

We hope you folks will have a year just as great as ours, of course tough every now and then, but with cheerful moments and proud memories nonetheless. May in 2009 the study rooms and hallways of ESMT be buzzing with life and business discussions again. If you need support to get started, don’t hesitate to turn to this year’s batch, as everyone of us will be happy to give you assistance for a great headstart into the year and into the adventure that lies in front of you from January on!

Fabian

This is what happened to us, soon after practice project teams were revealed.  

The joy, the agony, the ‘WTF, did you read this email’ ~ all these emotions were drowned in three, no four bottles of world class wine & sekt.   

Serendipity, spontaneity, weak moments & win-win situations – that’s what makes this MBA a memorable affair…

prost, cheers, salud, gan bei, zum wohl!  

Heck Mirko, I could hate you. Well, almost. You made me cry twice at your wedding. And that is when everything was in Deustche & I didn’t understand a word being spoken.

But I guess that’s what it is about. There are some moments that have no language barriers and this was a wedding to prove it. Beautiful, simple and warm. It was, by far, one of my most memorable evenings in Berlin.

The church on a cliff by the lake. Sigh. Drinking Proseco in the garden in the church on a cliff by the lake. Double sigh.

Of course, Mirko, honey, you were so pretty - that made it even more beautiful!

Carnations with your name on it, soap bubbles, strawberries & cream, dancing with your girlfriends to retro music (fantastic by the way, compliments to the DJ please) at a summer wedding. This is stuff that Hollywood movies are made of ~ such was the evening of 26 July, 2008.

To quote Emily Dickinson:

It’s such a little thing to weep,
So short a thing to sigh;

And yet by trades the size of these

We men and women die!

To Jana & Mirko ~ Herzlichen Glückwunsch und viel Glück!

It’s here. The bergfest before the summer break.

There’s nothing that’s been so welcoming in a very long time. Sighh.

So we toast to the India trip, and we toast to the China trip. We also toast to Intopia, which we wearily went through. I’m sure that after the Sekt goes down, there’s enough learnings to made out of every moment that we spent here last week.

But for now, it’s just enough to say – have lovely summer holiday!

Cheers!

There’s so many people on the streets, you can’t walk 5 metes without bumping into some one.

People get on to the middle of the roads and start to block cars from going ahead.

The cars on the road are blowing their horns for no reason at all. Loudly. Incessantly.

There’s so much noise on the streets, you can’t hear yourself shout. People are screaming, shouting – it may also include singing.

Strangers come to you; smile widely all the while screaming. Funnily enough, you reciprocate similarly.

Where are you, you ask your self? This cannot be Germany. These cannot be Germans. Some one must have changed their genetic code!

Yeah, this happens when the Deutschland Fussball team makes them proud. The night gets magical, there’s energy, conviviality and it is catching! Amazingly enough, even the Polizei smile knowingly and let it pass.

Finale, Finale – the air resounds with this cheer. If there’s one night that you should be in Berlin, it’s this moment. Come tomorrow, there’ll be strict (and perhaps sometime mundane) efficiency again. But tonight, Berliners, Germans & friends – we all celebrate…

Post Script: Deutschland won against Turkey in the semis, but unfortunately a similar show on the streets wasn’t possible after their performance in the Finals.

Question: How many MBAs do you need to change a light bulb?
Answer: 10 and you still cannot change the light bulb, unless you hire an electrician.

Question: How many years does it take for a school to decide whether you get a coffee machine on the weekend?
Answer: So far 2 years….

If you are reading this post in 2011 and still understand what I am writing about … post a response to this post with “Amen”

There’re ironies about doing an MBA in a city that was once at the heart of socialist communist pride.

Yeah, no one will tell you that you led a dull life, at least.

You wake up in the morning, you gulp a coffee down & manage to reach a 9 AM class, even though you don’t really feel alive till after the first break. But even this terribly exciting life, replete with cracking case analysis by 6 PM the previous eve needs some food for thought.

If it’s 1 Mai in Berlin, there’s enough to go around.

In Kreuzberg, especially. Where Beck is the official sponsor of Mayday. Or so it seems. You roam around Kotbusser Tor, in search of a revolution. But unlike this good fella, you are on the wrong side of the left side.

Anarchists, punks, rebels – where are they? Down the streets of Kreuzberg – there men making bar-be-que, pretty young girls selling Mojitos & folks are swinging to deutsche hip-hop.

Despite everything though, you know there’s hope. Because there’s a sense of humor.

In the unconscious capitalistic soul of the revolutionary.