Rowing!

Having a week of Personal and Professional Development is almost priceless. We still had class, but also time off to think about ourselves and try new things. Somewhere below this post you will see the cricket session. This post is about rowing!

I might be because it was a lovely day, but it's been really a wonderful experience for me. The shot is from Emma's boathaouse, where Hughes Hall boats are stored. The Cam river is on the right.. yes, it's that "big". Consider every college has at least 2-3 boats, larger colleges probably lots more. And there are 31 colleges in Cambridge. I can assure you: on a sunny day the Cam has more traffic than the Rome ring!

Cox Ariel Yip is portrayed right there, waiting for us lazy guys to take our boat off. On the back another boat is coming out. The loudspeaker in her hands is what allows all of the crew to hear her loud and clear while pushing hard!

The experience of rowing is probably the most intense team building experience I ever had. The boats are 8 + 1, so 9 people packed together. Everyone has to row together for the boat to run smoothly. One guy out of synch already causes havoc: one guy doing stupid things and you'll find yourself swimming in the Cam in no time! Moreover, none except the cox sees where the boat is actually headed: you just push hard and trust each other. And if the cox shouts "Easy there!" you'd better stop quickly.. or ram into a tree in the water!

Cricket trying!

Among the endless activities going on each day, our sport guys arranged a Cricket induction day for us. Here Asad is dressing up Chris for batting!

Japanese party (2)

Asad (Pakistan) and Corina (USA) posing in Japanese costumes!

Japanese and Korean party!

Such an international group of people can give its best when local traditions are put on display. In the Japanese and Korean party about 15 Japanese and 3 Korean students (plus members of staff!) cooked for over 100 people in Hughes Hall Pavillion Room. The party was awesome, I was frankly impressed by the effort those people put in showing the best from their country.. and not only food: Origami, Kimono costumes, Video, Writings... Hughes Hall became Little Tokyo for a day!

People

For those who asked about why I find this experience quite unique: one of the more important aspect is the quality of the people that walk in Cambridge. The class diversity is simply incredible, people from all around the world and all kind of different industries. In no particular order, in my first week I met:

- An NBC reporter that followed and interviewed Obama during his campaign;
- A business lawyer specialized in music who among his clients has several music celebrities (suffices to say he once drove Pamela Anderson to the airport - no, he didn't give me her phone number, sorry!);
- The VP of the largest bank of Kirghiz Republic;
- An organizer of the Russian winter Olympics 2014 who works directly with the committee president.

And of course the school and the university invite speakers to share their experiences. Last week we met:
- Ernest A. Mackay, CEO of SAB Miller (one of Fortune 500, among the largest beer producers in the world).
- Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, President and CEO of Nokia (http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia/corporate-governance/group-executive-board/olli-pekka-kallasvuo), portrayed here on the right while lecturing us on the importance of change (and showing us a prototype of the new E72 - that of course he is already using! :)).

The more people you know, the more amazing stories you encounter. Most importantly, all of those people are incredibly easy going and accessible and willing to share their own experiences. The experience is there, than it's all about you.

Bowling Diwali!

Diwali (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali) is an Indian festival, "popularly known as the Festival of Lights". The MBA Indian community invited all MBAs at an Indian restaurant located in a shopping mall just outside Cambridge to celebrate it, we had a great time together, about 100 people attended, including partners and children! After the dinner we went to play bowling at the ground level of the mall - here is a souvenir picture of one of the bowling teams!

Asian ladies

We have a lot of asian (looking) ladies in class. Actually here we have Hong Kong, USA, Singapore, USA again. Don't be fooled by the eyes.. :)

Japanese dinner

Living with so many international people offers incredible opportunities to expand your knowledge on the world and basically limitless opportunities to get in direct contact with a country culture. In this case our Japanese friends at Hughes Hall college arranged a typical japanese dinner with home made sushi and lots of other excellent courses. And yes, they rolled sushi in front of us: finally I know how they make it!

Group picture

Better late than ever: here is a pic of the 2009 JBS MBA group, taken right in front of the school!

Management Science

Professor Stefan Scholtes (Management Science) in action. We've just completed our first home assignement: prepare KPI trees on how a retail bank makes money. The class is composed of about 55 people, divided in 11 groups. Every group attaches his tree before the lessons start.. funny to see how different they are!! (Our is in the bottom row, 2nd from left).

The beer game

Courses started now, Management Science and Microeconomics. Here is an in-depth analysis of supply chain management by simulation of a beer market. Here I'm the beer factory, I have to decide how much beer to put in the market. Every red token is a crate of beer.. the temptation is high!! Let's flood the market!! BEEEEEEEEERRRR! HAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Hughes Hall MCR has the best president it could hope for.. SHE even cooked cakes to welcome us!

Kick off!

Day 1, also known as "the first day of school". Everybody in business suite.. playing silly games just to get to know each other!

Lunch at King's College

Lunch at King's College! Having lunch here is really a privilege..

Welcome day @Hughes Hall

Welcome day @Hughes Hall!! Here the presidents of the MCR (basically the College student association) welcomes us at the college and gives us the first of a LOT of welcome packs!

Hughes Hall also has a nice pub, including free fussball... of course everybody drops there before going to bed. Open until 12, beers starting from 1,90£!!

Dinner at The Eagle pub: the plaque commemorates the table where Watson and Crick announced the discovery of DNA!!

Week 0: ovvero settimana scorsa. I primi timidi contatti tra studenti, ovviamente si esce tutte le sere!

Hughes Hall: Chancellor's Court

Il nostro appartamento è al pianterreno di un cortile interno privato del College chiamato "Chancellor's Court". A destra, la vista dalla finestra di camera mia.

Il cortile è circondato da casette a 2-3 piani interamente abitate da studenti: per ora è semideserto, siamo solo 4-5 studenti MBA e Master in Finance, ma dalla settimana prossima arrivano anche tutti gli altri iscritti post-grad (post-laurea, ovvero da 21 anni in sù) a quest'anno accademico: PCGE, Medicina, Legge.. praticamente un cortile di secchioni ;D

L'interno della camera

A chi ha chiesto di vedere la cameretta (ovvio, la mamma, a chi avevate pensato? :P ) ecco uno scorcio della vista interna. Vivo al pianterreno in un appartamento composto da due camere da letto singole di almeno 3 x 5 (armadio, scrivania, letto, poltrona.. e posto per appendere le poche foto che sono arrivato a portarmi), bagno, corridoio e cucinetta privati. Alla fine ce la passiamo alla grande..

14/09/2009: Partenza!

Gli inizi sono sempre difficili: pensavo a questo, mentre Trenitalia mi sollecitava a lasciare il Bel Paese piazzandomi 55' minuti di ritardo sul regionale Lugo-Bologna (non male, 55' di ritardo su un viaggio di 50'...).

Per il viaggio di andata ho optato per una configurazione "heavy duty":

• 1 x Valigia blu rigida (24 Kg)
• 1 x Valigia rossa flessibile (22 Kg)
• 1 x Borsa Portatile (circa 7 Kg)
• 1 x Chitarra (circa 5 Kg)

Peso totale: poco meno di 60 Kg. Ecco spiegato perchè ho preferito volare British Airways, che con 33€ di valigia extra mi ha fatto volare senza dire beo (quoto Ninja ed il suo "truffa airlines" per ulteriori informazioni sull'argomento). Un saluto alla famiglia e la foto ricordo, i registri dicono scattata alle 20.49 del 14/09/2009:

A parte la sveglia all'alba (grazie ancora a Roby e Raffi per avermi ospitato e reso l'amaro boccone più digeribile) e l'aereo alle 7.20 AM, il viaggio è andato benone, anche grazie a Nicola D'Elia, primo compagno di venture conosciuto in centro a Londra, che ha accettato di farmi da "tassista" sul suo pratico minivan noleggiato per l'occasione, scaricandomi comodamente all'entrata di Hughes Hall!

Ecco una diapositiva con la gloriosa Alma Mater in primo piano! :)

A presto per un aggiornamento sulla mia cameretta!!

Benvenuti!

Oramai è ufficiale: da inizio settembre mi trasferisco a Cambridge, presso la Judge Business School, per frequentare un MBA della durata di un anno.

E allora perchè un blog? Lo scopo, almeno al momento della sua creazione, vorrebbe essere raccogliere le esperienze di un Romagnolo a Cambridge e soprattutto mantenere un contatto almeno virtuale con Parenti ed Amici, molti dei quali oggi sparsi in giro per il mondo. Penso alla sorellastra che è itinerante in Italia con il suo spettacolo, ad oggi da qualche parte nel sud.. e ovviamente ai genitori che spero seguiranno più o meno da casa facendo il tifo! Penso a Mitch in California, Ninja in Norvegia (per quanto?..), Taba in India, solo per nominare i tre che per combinazione sono online ora.

Essendo un buon 90% degli amici italiano, ho anche deciso per ora di ricorrere alla tutto sommato amata lingua natia. Dovessi incontrare dei sostenitori locali (non vedo come potrebbe essere) valuterò l'opzione bilingua..

Come lancio ufficiale direi che può bastare, ora ai posteri l'ardua sentenza, come mi piace citare in latinorum facendo finta di averlo studiato, "alea iacta est"!