The time has come…….
Soon enough the time had come to commence the journey. This was after an invaluable week-long break, wherein we could manage to get most administrative details sorted out – bank account, grocery shopping, familiarising ourselves with the campus, etc.
And so 126 enthusiastic, budding would-be MBA’s poured into the Forum. As I walked in with mixed feelings of excitement and apprehension, I felt a lump in my throat………. I could see numerous men and women buzzing excitedly. For the big day had arrived.
As the clock hit 0900 hours, the Director of the school Prof. Michael Osbaldeston addressed us. It was interesting to hear why Cranfield calls itself a “School of Management” and not a business school, and his statement that we should think of ourselves as investors rather than as customers. And it was even more interesting to hear John Glen, Director of full time MBA programme share his expectations that were sprinkled with a good dose of humour. We were straight away made to experience the fine organizing skills at work in Cranfield - we had already been divided into three streams – Red, Blue and Green, and our name badges together with coloured pins representing our stream were handed over to us.
We were then introduced to Claire Priest, the Lead Orienteer (an outgoing student from the 2003/04 batch of Cranfield MBA’s). She set down the agenda and the orienteers, wearing respective coloured t-shirts led us to what will be our home for Term 1 – our Lecture Theatre. And oh boy! What magnificent hues of Red (my stream) could be seen all around the class.
GET IN! No….no……. this wasn’t any orienteer shouting instructions to us. It was the THEME. And our orienteers’ were no less diverse than our batch – Jan (Germany), Kofi (Ghana), Adam (Britain), Kai (Hong Kong) and Namrita (India). Our introductions – first in pairs and then in fours continued till lunch time. Post lunch, we completed the registration formalities, paid the fees and received our laptops. Then we went on a campus tour and later re-assembled in our lecture rooms. Then the (R)evolution began….
It was not exactly a trip down memory lane, but more of an account of the orienteers’ experiences at Cranfield. Besides covering the do’s and don’ts, it gave us an insight as to how we should extract the best out of this one year – extract from not only ourselves, but also from the faculty and the complete year at Cranfield. It couldn’t have been better than that! Or could it? The best part of the day was yet to come – we went horse racing!!!!!
Now you may wonder, how on earth can a management school take its students horse racing. Well, the fact is …….it did just that. The only difference was…..the grounds were the Stafford Cripps hall and the racing was happening on-screen. The vocal cords were stretched to the fullest capacity and the crowd cheered and roared. At stake was just fun money but the enthusiasm was real. With very falling horse, the voices went hoarse. And with every dark horse suddenly taking the lead, came even louder cheers.
The evening ended with dinner, drinks and loads of fun.
And so 126 enthusiastic, budding would-be MBA’s poured into the Forum. As I walked in with mixed feelings of excitement and apprehension, I felt a lump in my throat………. I could see numerous men and women buzzing excitedly. For the big day had arrived.
As the clock hit 0900 hours, the Director of the school Prof. Michael Osbaldeston addressed us. It was interesting to hear why Cranfield calls itself a “School of Management” and not a business school, and his statement that we should think of ourselves as investors rather than as customers. And it was even more interesting to hear John Glen, Director of full time MBA programme share his expectations that were sprinkled with a good dose of humour. We were straight away made to experience the fine organizing skills at work in Cranfield - we had already been divided into three streams – Red, Blue and Green, and our name badges together with coloured pins representing our stream were handed over to us.
We were then introduced to Claire Priest, the Lead Orienteer (an outgoing student from the 2003/04 batch of Cranfield MBA’s). She set down the agenda and the orienteers, wearing respective coloured t-shirts led us to what will be our home for Term 1 – our Lecture Theatre. And oh boy! What magnificent hues of Red (my stream) could be seen all around the class.
GET IN! No….no……. this wasn’t any orienteer shouting instructions to us. It was the THEME. And our orienteers’ were no less diverse than our batch – Jan (Germany), Kofi (Ghana), Adam (Britain), Kai (Hong Kong) and Namrita (India). Our introductions – first in pairs and then in fours continued till lunch time. Post lunch, we completed the registration formalities, paid the fees and received our laptops. Then we went on a campus tour and later re-assembled in our lecture rooms. Then the (R)evolution began….
It was not exactly a trip down memory lane, but more of an account of the orienteers’ experiences at Cranfield. Besides covering the do’s and don’ts, it gave us an insight as to how we should extract the best out of this one year – extract from not only ourselves, but also from the faculty and the complete year at Cranfield. It couldn’t have been better than that! Or could it? The best part of the day was yet to come – we went horse racing!!!!!
Now you may wonder, how on earth can a management school take its students horse racing. Well, the fact is …….it did just that. The only difference was…..the grounds were the Stafford Cripps hall and the racing was happening on-screen. The vocal cords were stretched to the fullest capacity and the crowd cheered and roared. At stake was just fun money but the enthusiasm was real. With very falling horse, the voices went hoarse. And with every dark horse suddenly taking the lead, came even louder cheers.
The evening ended with dinner, drinks and loads of fun.
posted by Sandeep Gupta at
9:09 pm
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