17th MBAT at HEC Paris

This is one event that every MBA must go for. The school was very supported, and even vido recorded the classes for the benefit of those who were going. Too bad the class was 'Operations Management', and I seriously doubt if anybody viewed that recording. Here is a quick summary:

Day 1:
We left for the three day event early morning. We took a bus from SBS to Waterloo Station in London, and caught the Eurostar to Paris. It was my first experience on this train, and I enjoyed it. We had a strong contingent, and created quite a bit of noise (to the anger of fellow passengers). Once we reached Paris, we did some sight seeing, and then headed to our hotel, which was more of a motel, and in the middle of nowhere. There was only one hotel next to the campus, and with so many B-schools there, I am sure its very difficult to get reservations there, unless you book much much much in advance. We went to the HEC campus in the evening for the opening ceremony, followed by drinks.

Day 2:
The sports got underway, and we started well. LBS had a stong contingent of close to 200 students, and a Booz Allen sponsored bus (loaded with booze). In the evening, I, along with some other classmates went to Paris, and had a great time. (that is minus the difficulty conversing with the people who refused to speak English). We thankfully had Prashant with us, who knew some French. Even I tried the French I had learnt for a couple of years in 1991-1992. :)

Day 3:
We did really well in Rugby, track & field, table tennis and rowing. In cricket, we did not do very well. In the evning we agin went to Paris, (the HEC campus was somewhere in the fields outside Paris). We did the touristy things, went to some churc, walked along the river, went to the Louvre, and then walked all the way to the Eiffel Tower. By the time we got there, it was already dark, and we got to see the shimmering tower, which was great. We then headed for some pub, where an evening of drinks and dance had been organised by the HEC people. We got back quite late.

Day 4:
It was raining early morning, and we played LBS in the men's rugby final. Although we lost, t was great to see so many classmates turned up for the match despite the partying the previous night, and the rain in the morning. We had the closing ceremony, after which we left for the train station, and took the Eurostar back to London.

DO NOT MISS THIS EVENT !!

May Day in Oxford

This not a distress call due to an assignment overload, but an account of the actual 'May Day' celebrations in Oxford.

This is another old Oxford tradition. I got to know about it only last night when some of my classmates circulated an email that there was some choir singing happening at Magdalen College.

So I woke up around 5 in the morning and cycled to Magdalen. where Kitty (our classmate at magdalen) let us in through the side gate. By the time the choir starte singing at 6 am, the place was packed. Kitty was a great host ... she even organised some snacks for us.

The crowds on the streets were quite big as well. There is an annual tradition that people jump into the river from the bridge next to the college. No matter how many barriers the cops put p, people still manage to jump. I am sure the students kept the tradition this time as well.