Saturday, May 14, 2005

TOUCH!!

Just got back from our second MBA girls touch rugby practice. As mentioned previously, the European MBA Olympics are coming up (MBAT, see www.mbat2005.org). Being a class of only 104, we have, you might say, a small disadvantage competing against teams such as Insead with what, over 700 students per year?? And even LBS with between 200-300 students in each year of a 2-year program. I understand that LBS has a year-round women's touch rugby team that competes in the US and Europe. Hmmm, apparently the matches are drawn out of a hat.... here's hoping we avoid an early-competition clash with LBS!!

So we have 24 girls in the class from which to gather a touch rugby team. I have been somehow named 'captain', mainly because of my encouraging girls to sign up and pushing to create a team, but I've never played rugby in my life. I am proud to say we've gathered a team of 10 girls together though, and are slowly learning the rules. It has been a fun game to learn. The Americans (myself included) have to fight the urge to charge forward and pass forward... we have girls from Britain, America, Canada, New Zealand, Thailand, and China.

One of the guys team came along and said "girls rugby practice is more fun than guys rugby practice!" I'm sure the spontaneous laughter after every play was part of the fun... not that we don't play hard! Watch out at MBAT...

Friday, May 13, 2005

week in the life

So what is an example of a week of Cambridge MBA life?? Well no such thing as a 'typical' week, and in fact I often have a thought of "when I get into a standard routine, or when it is a less-busy week, I will do such-and-such" only to realize that there is no chance of that in this busy year and every week has some sort of 'exception' making it atypical. But it is definitely exciting for sure.

An example of life in the dayplanner this week:

Mon/Tues:
-End of a weekend trip to Rome. (Now that we are in the last term, with electives and more individual work instead of projects and exams, there appears to be slightly more opps for weekend travel.)

Wed:
-Catch up on mountain of emails from trip away
-Go for a long run along Trumpington Rd in the (yes) sunshine.
-Complete summary of a mock hostile takeover bid for Corporate Governance class.
-Prepare for tomorrow's recruitment fair.
-Attend guest speaker: former chairman of BBC Gavyn Davies discusses dealing with politicians, and experiences with the BBC and Iraq war controversy.

Thurs:
-Go to the gym.
-Catch up on reading for Social Enterprise and Capital Markets electives.
-Attend Cambridge-Oxford recruitment fair. (An annual event that alternates location between Cambridge and Oxford each year, this year was here. Attendees included Amazon, Google, Dell, Ernst & Young, CapGemini, Fidelity, Loreal, Merck, and many more. I was most interested in Merck personally.
-Go to drinks reception with Oxford and Cambridge MBA students. A uniqe opportunity to meet with counterparts at "the other place" (not supposed to mention Oxford by name of course!). Actually a great time out.
-Finish the night at RiverBar for a promotion on dinner for all associated with the business school, celebrating the leaving of a great staff member and also our weekly pub night. Many pictures and wine glasses later...

Fri:
-Sleep in, recover.
-Attend lectures in honor of previous class graduation.
-Work on CV and job applications.
-Potential for another pub night, with last year's MBA class.

Sat:
-Girls touch rugby practice 11am! Getting ready for the MBAT, the European MBA Olympics held in France at the end of this month. Of course it helps for our team to learn how to throw and catch a rugby ball first... (my self included).
-Free time!

Sun:
-Attend annual MBA class football tournament: MBA class of last year versus this year. Rumor is that the faculty may pull a team together as well...

(Note: in case you are thinking, hmmm, that's a nice description of your week, but when do you go to CLASS?? The electives are scheduled in different phases, and it happens that my class load was virtually none this particular week. Next week back to 6 lectures or so...)

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Roman Rendezvous: me + gelato!

Just returned from a romantic weekend trip in Rome. Ahh the eternal city...I love the mixture of real life and ruins, all intermingled on the same streets. I think before I went to Rome I somehow pictured the Colosseum to be free standing in a large field or something, not mixed into the city with buildings and modern roads all around. Granted, there are other ruins nearby as well (the forum) but still. The juxtaposition is great, somehow even more magical than having a 'modern' and 'ancient' part to the city.

My boyfriend's reaction to each new amazing sight (a deeply affected "whoa" with wide eyes) was worth every minute. (It was my second trip to Rome so I was slightly less wide-eyed but still loved it.) The ruins in the forum, the colosseum, St Peter's Basilica's immense size and spectacular features, the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican museum ceilings and frescoes, the Pantheon -rebuilt in 120AD and still used as a church! And on and on, not to mention endless churches, neighborhoods with character, fountains and piazzas, and pasta/pizza/gelato to bring about smiles at every corner.

Speaking of gelato...divine of course. But I never noticed HOW popular it is in Italy...not just for tourists, and not just for younger people either. On our Saturday night stroll through the squares, most(I mean definitely a majority of) people we passed were concentrating on the cone of ice cream/gelato in their hand, including parents and grandparents and people of all variety. On street after street..I've never been in one place with so much ice cream in my life!!! Not that I am complaining...

Monday, May 02, 2005

queen of the Cam

Have you ever wished that you could have a day where everyone who saw you would stop and stare, exclaim in a mixture of wonderment and envy at what they saw? Then perhaps you should get a meal from Sala Thong restaurant on Newnham Rd, which provides for 30 pounds a 1.5 hour punt ride with Thai dinner included. (NO I am not getting commission from them for marketing the concept by the way! ;) Just had a great time last night. Though perhaps I should...)

Apparently word is not yet out of this phenomenon in Cambridge, because as we slowly punted down the River Cam on this gorgeous summer day yesterday, the entire population of Cambridge residents and visitors exclaimed loudly, pointed and stared as we passed by with full meal service on our punt, bottles of wine and silver platters of amazing Thai food. Heads turned, people on bridges pointed, fellow punters exclaimed "That's the way to do it" and "why don't we have that??" My friend and her boyfriend who were visiting from Miami agreed it was the perfect Cambridge experience. Relaxing, decadent and delicious... a brief respite from the busy MBA lifestyle.


Jose and Colleen: cruising the River Cam in style Posted by Hello