What a surreal moment it is. I’m feeling happy, excited and sad all at the same time. Tomorrow is our convocation and it marks the last day that we will all be together as a class. If only I could have one more class together in Amp A to hear Gerard talk about cuuuulture, to hear Dany make a funny comment, to hear Selena talk about oil and gas, to hear AK sing ‘Journey’, to see Matt B. raise his eyebrows and deliver a Jack Welch quote, to see Ricky playing on his iPhone, to see Alan playing chess, to see Sudha getting riled up about biotech, to see Vikas being an eager beaver, to see Mark T. take his time to answer a question, to hear David Atkinson ramble off a well-polished response, to see Diana and Adwoa correct the professors with the pronunciation of their names, to watch Heather make an intelligent remark, to see Samar look for water, to see Erin talk legalities, to see Jamie sum it all up, to see Zev talk ‘greed is good’, to see Rahul rap, to see Steph debate accounting, to see Sid talk banking, to see Z smile, to see Sabir say !’er, to see Flossie brew up an wicked response in case she gets called, to see Jeff talk medicine, to hear Joy-Ann talk about how cold it is, to see Jimmy serenade a classmate, to watch Waleed rock his chair, to see Pat deliver his roller-coaster speech, to see Matthew John talk politics, to hear Sebestian talk business, to hear Greg’s deep analysis of the situation, to hear Tom talk face-grinding, to hear Mukul talk cricket, to hear Garima talk India, to hear Raghu make a bold statement, to hear Neal talk numbers, to hear Sunny talk ops, to watch Jason B. trade stocks, to watch Anya talk Russia, to hear Karen talk consulting, to watch Andrew crunch some numbers, to watch Sid D. and Somea in deep discussion, to see Vanessa wearing a ‘vote for Vanessa’ shirt, to see Chris talk IT, to hear Will talk law, to hear Nolan spontaneously whip up a response, to see Ramit staring at Mukul, to hear Alykan talk about oil fields, to hear Pierre Mason crack a joke, to watch Joseph fall asleep, to hear Pier Jr. talk about the lab, to hear LP talk French, to watch Justin P. demonstrate his seeds of greatness, to watch Justin W. put himself out there with a vulnerable speech, to hear Gang deliver a perspective from China, to watch Wei’s observant tendencies, to hear Karthik offer a candid perspective, to watch Senay’s ‘Obama-ness’, to watch Mark R. play professor and teach a class, to listen to Manju’s long words of wisdom, to watch Neha’s facial reactions, to watch Somea’s strong will, to hear Khaled quote a section from the law book, to hear Anurag’s soft-spoken intelligence, to see Dev’s perfectly maintained beard, to watch Ashish snap a picture and to listen to myself ramble about Nortel. Oh – and to wonder why all those AMBAs are so smart…..
Today was a busy day. I had a number of errands to complete, and a lunch to attend before my parents, in-laws, and sister in law came into town. I managed to fit in time for a coffee with a good friend – which was really nice. It made me realize how much I’m going to miss hanging out with everyone. At night, Geeta and I cooked up a bbq dinner and enjoyed some good discussions and laughs with the family..
Dis-Orientation Week Update:
Wednesday: We attended Ivey Laundy! It’s an Ivey tradition for the outgoing class to make/show videos, demonstrate their talent etc. What a funny night. There were some pretty awesome videos with imitations, slide shows etc. Some pretty amazing performances too including singing/rapping/dancing from various classmates. We followed up with an appearance at the Barking Frog, an Ivey MBA’s most frequented club. Crazy times, very little sleep, and my body is aching - a last taste of what partying is like at Ivey.
I can’t believe tomorrow is it ;(
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
‘Disoriented’
‘Disoriented’
We are only a couple of days away from convocation and we have been spending most of the week getting ‘disoriented’. Yes – we are in the middle of ‘disorientation’ week; a week of decompression and social events to become unacquainted with the daily MBA work load and reacquainted with fun.
Thought it would be interesting to recap some of the highlights from this week.
Saturday: Ivey Formal, aka “prom” night. What a night! Can’t say I remember it all unfortunately ;) Good friends, good company, and lots to celebrate – enough said. I was honoured to be selected by the class as the winner of this year’s MBAA Outstanding Contribution Award. Thank you!
Here are some of my favourite memories from the night: when Gerard Seijts was awarded professor of the year, the crowd chanted ‘cuuuulture cuuulture’ over and over. Here’s the background on this one: Professor Seijts’ most used word during his Leadership course is the word ‘culture’….add on a Dutch accent and you’ve created an Ivey MBA’s favourite phrase; ‘cuuuulture’. At the end of the night, we found a video camera that had been left behind. We got excited and a few of us began filming some pretty interesting videos at a late hour. We had a good laugh watching them the next morning. One particular Doctor (let’s call him Dr. Ethical) tried to convince me to pawn the camera in exchange for some shawarma at Barkat’s. Barakat is a popular shawarma joint frequented by Ivey MBA students.
Sunday: Ivey Circle Goodbye/Hello Lunch + Bowling: Geeta (my wife) was President of the Ivey Circle during the school year. The Ivey Circle is a social group for the partners of those attending Ivey - It’s a support network for our partners and they do all kinds of things ranging from social events to charitable drives. We spent Sunday afternoon socializing with Ivey Circle members; saying bye to those of us leaving and hi to those that are just joining the new May class. Sunday night was all about bowling. Team 5 met up for an early dinner, reminiscing on our year, putting together bowling 101 summary notes for the class and discussing our bowling strategy ;) – Just kidding! Fun times, fun times!
Monday: Paintball + Pub Crawl. I haven’t played much paintball (only once before), but I must say that it was quite the experience. I have a few war wounds like many others. It hurts when I sit ;) We pubb’ed it up at night hitting three locations in as many hours. Pretty crazy night to say the least. I can’t say I was expecting it to be a super-fun night after a long, tiresome day of paintball in the forest, but it turned out to be a lot of fun.
Tuesday: Golf + rest time. We played a round of 18 at Forest City National – best ball format. It was awesome being out for the first time this year. I can’t say I played exceptional but I hope to play a lot more during my summer break. Following golf, I came home and fell asleep and I guess that’s why I’ve got energy to write this right now.
That’s my mid-week update. Stay tuned for the rest of it after convocation.
We are only a couple of days away from convocation and we have been spending most of the week getting ‘disoriented’. Yes – we are in the middle of ‘disorientation’ week; a week of decompression and social events to become unacquainted with the daily MBA work load and reacquainted with fun.
Thought it would be interesting to recap some of the highlights from this week.
Saturday: Ivey Formal, aka “prom” night. What a night! Can’t say I remember it all unfortunately ;) Good friends, good company, and lots to celebrate – enough said. I was honoured to be selected by the class as the winner of this year’s MBAA Outstanding Contribution Award. Thank you!
Here are some of my favourite memories from the night: when Gerard Seijts was awarded professor of the year, the crowd chanted ‘cuuuulture cuuulture’ over and over. Here’s the background on this one: Professor Seijts’ most used word during his Leadership course is the word ‘culture’….add on a Dutch accent and you’ve created an Ivey MBA’s favourite phrase; ‘cuuuulture’. At the end of the night, we found a video camera that had been left behind. We got excited and a few of us began filming some pretty interesting videos at a late hour. We had a good laugh watching them the next morning. One particular Doctor (let’s call him Dr. Ethical) tried to convince me to pawn the camera in exchange for some shawarma at Barkat’s. Barakat is a popular shawarma joint frequented by Ivey MBA students.
Sunday: Ivey Circle Goodbye/Hello Lunch + Bowling: Geeta (my wife) was President of the Ivey Circle during the school year. The Ivey Circle is a social group for the partners of those attending Ivey - It’s a support network for our partners and they do all kinds of things ranging from social events to charitable drives. We spent Sunday afternoon socializing with Ivey Circle members; saying bye to those of us leaving and hi to those that are just joining the new May class. Sunday night was all about bowling. Team 5 met up for an early dinner, reminiscing on our year, putting together bowling 101 summary notes for the class and discussing our bowling strategy ;) – Just kidding! Fun times, fun times!
Monday: Paintball + Pub Crawl. I haven’t played much paintball (only once before), but I must say that it was quite the experience. I have a few war wounds like many others. It hurts when I sit ;) We pubb’ed it up at night hitting three locations in as many hours. Pretty crazy night to say the least. I can’t say I was expecting it to be a super-fun night after a long, tiresome day of paintball in the forest, but it turned out to be a lot of fun.
Tuesday: Golf + rest time. We played a round of 18 at Forest City National – best ball format. It was awesome being out for the first time this year. I can’t say I played exceptional but I hope to play a lot more during my summer break. Following golf, I came home and fell asleep and I guess that’s why I’ve got energy to write this right now.
That’s my mid-week update. Stay tuned for the rest of it after convocation.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Bitter Sweet: What a year!
Today marks the first day of my post-MBA life. That’s right – I’m done and it’s bitter sweet.
My value investing team finished off our very last MBA project last night. Ramit, Justin, Heather and I effectively hammered though a demanding final project, pulling a couple of very long tiresome days. It was symbolic of what the MBA was all about: hard work, collaboration, passion, and a sense of accomplishment.
So how do I feel?
I am excited, I am happy, I am relieved, but in all honesty it has been an emotional week for me. I’m sad that the MBA is over. It’s been the most incredible, life-changing year of my life and I’ve made so many amazing friends that I will see less often and will miss dearly. Change has never been something I’ve enjoyed. The MBA has made me far more accustomed to it but I know it’s harder for me than some others. I have one more week of nothing but free time to enjoy with my MBA colleagues before we say adios; we call it ‘disorientation’ week. A number of events are planned including a prom, golfing, bowling, paintball, clubbing, dinners, parties and of course convocation. I am not leaving here without my degree ;)
Most surprising changes in me during the year:
-I’ve become a Facebook addict along with the rest of the class. Prior to the MBA, I never went on Facebook more then once every couple of months. I wonder if this will last?
-I’ve become an SMS texting monkey like everyone else in the class. I never texted much before coming here. I’m proud to finally say that I discovered the iTAP functionality on my phone and can text just as fast as everyone else now. Ok – maybe not as fast as those ‘crackberry’ addicts.
-I’ve gone way more grey than I ever expected. Yup – even the top is going grey and so are some of my beard and chest hair too ;) I know you didn’t need to know that!
-I’m going bald. I was in denial for so long but the receding hair line is here to stay and probably will grow over the coming years.
-I went through that party phase that everyone generally goes through in their late teens and early twenties - at the age of 28 ;)
-I feel like my age again. Prior to the MBA, I always felt like I had to act way older than I was. I’m comfortable with being young again. I know I’m still uptight and intense, but I’ve learnt how to have fun again.
Most important learnings from the year:
-Effective leadership is about so much more than you’d think.
-The power of collaboration and team work.
-Put yourself out there; make yourself vulnerable.
-This quote from Nelson Mandela sums one of my key learnings:
“Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the Glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone.”
Favourite quotes from class during the year (names kept anonymous):
“assets are something people eat”
“a large % of criminals come from and go to Toronto”
"why develop a website in Canada for a bunch of farms to click and order lubricant"
“I feel like I’m in a Petri dish of male testosterone”
“errors are ok in general hospitals”
“I wouldn’t perceive BMW as a value but it’s valuable”
“the really smart people either burn out or become crooks and go to prison”
Team 5:
In closing, I wanted to make a special mention of my first learning team from the year. When I look back at this year, I realize how critical those first few months were. It was a time of anxiety, sleepless nights, and stress. Those first few months really set the tone for the remainder of the year and I was blessed to be a part of ‘Team 5’. We wrote a blog about our team earlier in the year in an effort to share our story with the hopes that other teams could benefit from our positive experiences – have a read if you get a chance. What was truly amazing about our team was that it was about more than school and academic achievement. It was about friendship, collaboration, mutual respect, common goals, and having impact. Thank you Garima, Heather and Matt for an amazing year.
I won’t stop writing quite yet. I’ve got a long summer break ahead and I’ll need to fill in my time. I’m not sure what my plans are for blog writing but I won’t call it quits yet, at least until convocation and disorientation week are complete.
Until next time.
Sacha Gera, MBA
My value investing team finished off our very last MBA project last night. Ramit, Justin, Heather and I effectively hammered though a demanding final project, pulling a couple of very long tiresome days. It was symbolic of what the MBA was all about: hard work, collaboration, passion, and a sense of accomplishment.
So how do I feel?
I am excited, I am happy, I am relieved, but in all honesty it has been an emotional week for me. I’m sad that the MBA is over. It’s been the most incredible, life-changing year of my life and I’ve made so many amazing friends that I will see less often and will miss dearly. Change has never been something I’ve enjoyed. The MBA has made me far more accustomed to it but I know it’s harder for me than some others. I have one more week of nothing but free time to enjoy with my MBA colleagues before we say adios; we call it ‘disorientation’ week. A number of events are planned including a prom, golfing, bowling, paintball, clubbing, dinners, parties and of course convocation. I am not leaving here without my degree ;)
Most surprising changes in me during the year:
-I’ve become a Facebook addict along with the rest of the class. Prior to the MBA, I never went on Facebook more then once every couple of months. I wonder if this will last?
-I’ve become an SMS texting monkey like everyone else in the class. I never texted much before coming here. I’m proud to finally say that I discovered the iTAP functionality on my phone and can text just as fast as everyone else now. Ok – maybe not as fast as those ‘crackberry’ addicts.
-I’ve gone way more grey than I ever expected. Yup – even the top is going grey and so are some of my beard and chest hair too ;) I know you didn’t need to know that!
-I’m going bald. I was in denial for so long but the receding hair line is here to stay and probably will grow over the coming years.
-I went through that party phase that everyone generally goes through in their late teens and early twenties - at the age of 28 ;)
-I feel like my age again. Prior to the MBA, I always felt like I had to act way older than I was. I’m comfortable with being young again. I know I’m still uptight and intense, but I’ve learnt how to have fun again.
Most important learnings from the year:
-Effective leadership is about so much more than you’d think.
-The power of collaboration and team work.
-Put yourself out there; make yourself vulnerable.
-This quote from Nelson Mandela sums one of my key learnings:
“Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the Glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone.”
Favourite quotes from class during the year (names kept anonymous):
“assets are something people eat”
“a large % of criminals come from and go to Toronto”
"why develop a website in Canada for a bunch of farms to click and order lubricant"
“I feel like I’m in a Petri dish of male testosterone”
“errors are ok in general hospitals”
“I wouldn’t perceive BMW as a value but it’s valuable”
“the really smart people either burn out or become crooks and go to prison”
Team 5:
In closing, I wanted to make a special mention of my first learning team from the year. When I look back at this year, I realize how critical those first few months were. It was a time of anxiety, sleepless nights, and stress. Those first few months really set the tone for the remainder of the year and I was blessed to be a part of ‘Team 5’. We wrote a blog about our team earlier in the year in an effort to share our story with the hopes that other teams could benefit from our positive experiences – have a read if you get a chance. What was truly amazing about our team was that it was about more than school and academic achievement. It was about friendship, collaboration, mutual respect, common goals, and having impact. Thank you Garima, Heather and Matt for an amazing year.
I won’t stop writing quite yet. I’ve got a long summer break ahead and I’ll need to fill in my time. I’m not sure what my plans are for blog writing but I won’t call it quits yet, at least until convocation and disorientation week are complete.
Until next time.
Sacha Gera, MBA
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