Happy Lancashire Day!

This post is dedicated to Lancashire on its special day! I have been here for 2 months now and I cannot say, I know 'Lancashire' but I will admit that I have made an attempt to make out what's in store in Lancashire, at least so much that I could evangelize about it. Obviously, besides experiencing the world ranked MBA in this Northern Powerhouse, which is of course the best thing that has happened in my life, the cities and towns out here have been so welcoming and beautiful. The illuminations at Blackpool had me jaw dropping, the simplicity and specialty of Lancaster keeps inviting me often to visit the city, the coziness and comfort I felt at Carnforth today is inexplicable, Preston keeps pressing to come back with 2 visits so far. Heysham and Silverdale are on the to-visit list next. One thing that impresses me is the smile that each of these cities bear besides the ever welcoming smile on the peoples' face.

Talking about today, I started early and decided to walk around Carnforth. 10:45 at Carnforth station and there I see my friend from Barclays, Kester Johnson also heading to the Heritage centre. He volunteers there every weekend. How cool is that! Thanks to him for the mini map tour and I was out in the town figuring out my way and following Kester's advice. I have always seen people Scuba dive on television but never got a chance to see it in person, trying out is a different aspect. I headed straight to Capernwray Diving Center, about a 4 mile walk from Carnforth. I spent a lot of time observing this sport and it was brilliant. Well, I haven't gathered the courage to try it out myself. After spending good time there, I took a stroll around, Kellet, clicking some beautiful pictures of the snow capped lake district mountains. After spending about an hour, I walked back to Carnforth and went along the almost frozen canal. Back at the station, spent time at the heritage center chatting with Kester before I headed back home after a little stop at the Lancaster city center. Super amazing day, very happy and some deep and self-provoking thoughts that Prosopopoeia plans to convey soon.

Gearing up for a full-fledged week starting tomorrow. Happy Lancashire Day to all Lancastrians! "God bless Lancashire, and God save the Queen, Duke of Lancaster"

Bond strengthens after an intensive week

This week kept us on our toes, literally! Every team was heads down working out solutions for the Marketing case studies. Sitting up late in the nights, supporting each other and finally getting the submissions out there one by one, day after day. Thursday marked a close to the module. It was a nice and fun experience to work with Sarah, Seeba, Chuan and Kenji on this subject and it was so evident that the bond only intensified not just among us but with the whole class.

The week also had other interesting things on my agenda - visiting Manchester to apply for a Schengen Visa, having to work out the train maze to return to Lancaster, meeting a prospective student, connecting with Martin on Marketing and other generic stuff and the usually hated cooking and laundry bit. But guess what, the week is over! It is a 'Free Friday' for the first time. 

I just plan to relax a bit this weekend and gear up for Operations Module, that begins Monday. Happy weekend, happy thanksgiving!! 

The special episode | London

Thursday was a long and a very interesting day - guest sessions, networking events, lunch connects and closed with an alumni event at the Glassblower Pub in Piccadilly. It was a good experience to connect with past students, listen to their experiences and more so, seek inputs and advice from them. Thanks to Sarah and the MBA team for organizing this and a big thanks to the alumni who made it to the evening.

Friday was fun again with Andrew Lloyd helping us build our personal brand. Interesting insights and definitely a few things that I can take back. Late in the afternoon, some of us met with Andrea from the 2015 batch at Cannons Street. Long conversations that made Andrea feel nostalgic and that made us feel curious. That evening, I was off away from my MBA family to Enfield to my cousins place.

Just cannot express the happiness soon after I landed at Enfield Station. For once, I thought I was in Hyderabad. The atmosphere at home, the food and most importantly just spending long hours talking with my sister and brother-in-law felt very very good. The long walk around Enfield island, feeding swans, ducks, geese and seagulls, clicking pictures and spotting rabbits was great. It definitely cannot get better than this. I am off to Lancaster early tomorrow morning, but I am surely going to miss being here. Hopefully Storm Angus wouldn't come way! More from Lancaster!

With Andrea	At Glassblower Pub
With Andrew Lloyd	At Enfield Lock

London | Half week through!

Landed in London, Monday morning. After a little scuffle with the train, tube and roads, found our way to Tara Copthorne Hotel in Kensington. Soon we were back again, but this time a friendly fight with the tube to get to Baker Street. Regent's College is where our sessions for the day were to happen. A nice lavish campus, but hardly did I get to go around, that evening. Mindful Manager was our agenda for the day. Late evening, we were all seated in the hotel's lobby working out our assignments. As Patrick quoted 'the hotel lobby literally turned into an MBA class'. Each group busy working and not giving the other hotel guests a place to sit!

Tuesday was early for me, since I decided to leave ahead just to go around Regent's College. Perfect day, and a lot of perfect and imperfect captures. Critical reasoning workshop was on the cards for the day. It was fun to do those exercises in a team but was surely work for the brain. I loved it though. Back in the hotel again a busy evening extending into the night.

I was expecting another scuffle with the tube on Wednesday since we had to get to CIWEM in Farringdon, a new place. But the tube got lucky. It wasn't a hassle at all to get to the venue. What was in store - Core Capabilities workshop on Listening & Questioning hosted by Asma Mansuri & Sabah Hydari from Impact Factory. To me, once again the winning moment was when everything intertwined back to the crux of the Lancaster MBA Programme. I am really liking this of late. The workshop itself was impactful and the two impactful speakers definitely won 'listeners'. The art of asking questions was thoroughly exemplified in the post lunch session on Questioning. Insightful exercises, combined with quotes of personal experiences and filled with humor and fun, established the connect. A good number of takeaway's definitely. Amidst a busy week of assignments and home works, this session was an energizer and breather yet informative and insightful. Thanks to Asma & Sabah.

Post that it was Henry Minto from Minto Mediation who spoke to us about 'Mediation' in the business context. There were two examples that I could relate with so closely that I ended up calling two of my IBM colleagues late evening to discuss it. It was a unique encounter for me, since I never got to meet someone from that background till date.

Ought to close Wednesday on a wonderful note. A question to think about - "Why are we so infrequently the people we want to be?" (courtesy: Asma Mansuri) Think about it! I am!

P.S: Recommended reading from today - "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell. Chapter titled "The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes" was really intriguing. Not that I read it yet, not sure if I will read it any sooner. PC's philosophy is already awaiting my attention :)

In the tube!	QuestioningWorkshop	Asma & Sabah
Lisa & Karine - The pillars of our programme.	With my lovely marketing group!	Henry Minto on 'Mediation'

Lancaster MBA goes to London!

After the long date with Marketing, Friday saw an Integrative Thinking workshop hosted by Peter. Basically integrating key aspects from modules covered thus far. A very interesting and thought provoking one, indeed. I will leave it right there, without further details. I also had a meeting with Martin to discuss and brainstorm ideas related to advocacy and marketing of the Lancaster MBA programme. It was super nice connecting over coffee with Martin. Saturday and Sunday were dull! Gloomy atmosphere and we were off to finishing assignments and case studies to free ourselves a bit next week. Calls to India, lunch at Bhargava's, more calls to friends and cousins, dinner at Dhall's, packing, printing, sorting and off to sleeping shortly. Tomorrow morning, Lancaster MBA goes to London!

Date with marketing!

Off to a 'Marketing' start, Monday to Thursday was hands full with Marketing content. Quite inquisitive, insightful and lots of learning. I personally liked the holistic view of the 'Total Product', with Debbie Denton talking about the 'Substance', passing on to Sheila Malone to discuss about 'Service', subsequently to James Cronin on 'Symbol' - the brand management and brand identity and finally concluding with Haley Cocker discussing Marketing & Communications. The cover and crust was Pricing on which we submitted an assignment this morning facilitated by Richard Meek. A wholesome four days and intense content and a lot to takeaway but a few to definitely remember. 
The evenings were pretty much confined to the MBA Suite or the Social Hub, working on assignments and case studies. This week the temperatures also went to as low as -1 accompanied by rains. Got our business cards, profile photos, getting things ready for the upcoming London week. #LoveLancaster

Light Up Lancaster Festival | Esquire Visit

Introduction to referencing and plagiarism in the morning and a practical exercise on trading and economics in the afternoon was our agenda for Friday. Being an early close, other essential chores were quick enough to grab the void. Saturday and Sunday were pretty much spent studying and preparing for the super busy Marketing week ahead.

But two important things to quote from Saturday. I got my first haircut done in the UK. I being very particular about the type of cut and hairdo was apprehensive about getting it done in Lancaster after having heard and seen some not-so-good styles. After much deliberation I finally decided to experiment. Landed up in 1, Kings Street and right at Esquire Gents Hair Salon! After seeing the sight of men with really tiny hair step out of the salon, I decided to go back, but I had to get a cut done to tidy up, for my upcoming London trip. So decided to take the plunge and in no time I was in the hot seat. Emma was my hairdresser and ensured she understood what sort of cut I needed. Though I explained it, I was not really in the best of the moods. So I started a conversation with Emma and kept it on until the ritual was over! And lo! In 15 minutes I had the best of the hairstyles that even my barber back home in Hyderabad couldn't get to! Very very satisfied. Well, a huge paragraph as this may seem too much to talk about a haircut, but for me it really does matter - ask my friends and family and they will tell you! :) Next time you want to get a perfect, customized and neat hairdo done, get to Emma at Esquire, 1 Kings Street. This is it! I have found the place for the next 1 year at least! Woah! What a relief!

The next thing, worth mentioning was the Light Up Lancaster Festival. All the more special because Team Skiddaw - Sunny, Deepika, Nathalie, Ketan, Patrick, Chuan and Yusuke had organized a little event for us on this occasion. We were all up at Ashton Memorial in Williamson Park to view the fireworks. That's not all - there was hot pizza and drinks to complement the cold weather. An evening filled with fun more because of the company than the occasion. Thanks to Team Skiddaw for hosting a nice get together. Reached home real late. Off to a late start on Sunday, already extending into Monday and the super marketing week begins in 9 hours!

 

Illuminated Ashton Memorial!	With Emma @ Esquire

Now, November!

It is hard to imagine that we are almost at the end of 2016, while on the other hand it is hard to imagine that I have been in Lancaster for just a month now. What a contrast!

Today we marked the Micro Economics module done. After 3 days of continuous lectures, tests and quizzes, Thursday marked overall completion. But I must say, I personally enjoyed the Game Theory aspect of the module. While the general content was fine, the practical and real-world applications of Game Theory were intriguing. A combination of reality TV show episodes, mimicked games and taught content made it very interesting. Well, I didnt score great on the tests, but I enjoyed learning the concepts. Thanks to Prof. Alexander Matros - what I thought would be something I would dislike, turned out to be a lot more interesting because of the content on Game Theory. +1.

Today, we connected with Sue Roberts again, in preparation for our Marketing module starting next week. These reflective and self-awareness sessions are always nice because they push us to do something that we generally would run away from. Today's reflective tasks were very personal but thoroughly insightful. 

It has otherwise been a busy week with a lot of assignments, home works and more. Today myself and Pavel attended the Faculty Forum meeting - an incentive for being elected as Academic Reps. It was nice to connect with new people. On Tuesday we had official class photographs. All suited up and crisp! The Light Up Lancaster festival is also just round the corner and we already had a Fireworks Spectacular on campus today.

Overall, a thoroughly busy but educative week - a few learnings I will surely remember for life. It's getting colder! It's getting busier! It is November!

Reflecting! Can you spot Sue?

During the class photograph	Prof. Alexander Matros! Game Theory!
Light Up Lancaster!	This evening at the Faculty Forum.