How to enjoy an week-end in France

For the first time since the beginning of the MBA program, the chance smiled to me : a 3-days week-end to spend with my family!
Useless to say that it was absolutely great!

With the help of www.abritel.fr I found without dificulty a small cottage in Normandy. Some details which could help to get a more precise idea: 120 euros for 2 nights, 35m2 for 5 people, sheets and towels provided (very rare for a cottage rent). 200 km far from Paris, in 2 hours we arrived in Bonneville sur Touques. 8 km far from Deauville and 20 km from Honfleur, two very known cities on the French Atlantic border.

The time was rainy however enjoyable.

We walked a lot along the beaches, the wind was really strong and cold. Afterwards, we gave encouragement in one of the small local restaurants eating molds and fries, and tasting the original Cidre (nothing to do with the supermarket Cidre taste).

For the most courageous, a wide variety of seafood was available on the market. Unfortunately, I lacked the desire to taste this kind of horrific animals some of them still alive ... However, they are considered a real 'gourmandise'.

If too tired of the MBA, my piece of advice is : relax and enjoy a corner of France!

Whenever I take to penning my thoughts down, I usually wonder what to write about - nature, future, world issues?! Invariably it is always something which is dominantly on my mind at the moment... And this time, it is this break of one week. Unimaginable in an MBA isnt it?
But thank God for the French authorities, who for once decided that this was the 'legal holiday' week of the year, giving most of us a breather! Well, not literally, with the Marketing project still weighing down heavily, and some real time targets to be met, but all in all a slightly more laid back week than the ones that preceded it....

What I am looking forward to ? Not much, really...Just the below :

- Sleeping through 8 a.m and 9:40 am on all the five 'week' days
- Not rushing to ATAC at 19:30 hrs in an effort to pick up some last minute supplies!
- Not getting dressed in formals for another loong presentation
- Not whizzing through lunch in 15 mins - my only proper meal of the day!
- Not looking at the clock showing 20:30 hrs in the MBA building waiting for the day to get over somehow...
- Not trying to get my working group together for the next meeting - everyone's away anyway!
- Not trying to rack my head at 00:00 hrs about taking a pick - Strategy or Financial markets, which one to nail first
- Not chewing on my pencil during a cover letter workshop
- Not struggling to keep my eyes open through Management Accounting lectures
- Not trying to synergise my energies through an OB lecture - which actually leaves me wondering about the whole purpose of the course
- Not trying to hopelessly grapple with my linguistic abilities in the French class - Jees! I am still working on my Hindi!
- Not reaching on time to realise that the last FT is gone - I mean, look at the multiple uses of a newspaper, for instance, my room looks quite clean without a pile of unread FTs..
- Thinking of ways to drag in the coffee vending machine into MBA 11, right through the Corporate Finance lecture


What I will do, however, would be more on these lines :

- Try to "spot the difference" between multiple drafts of my innovatively designed CV, for updating the CV platform (Or is the deadline gone already ?!)
- Count the total no. of trees on campus and try my hand at carving some "tree art"
- Try to 'run'(jog?) for fitness purposes, and not just to class - 15 minutes behind time
- Try and figure out if I can actually spot some stars from the piano bar balcony, when not intoxicated
- Figure out the number cars that are missing from infront of expansiel during the break
- Walk down Jouy to see if there's a world beyond ATAC
- Try and finally figure out the SNCF rail system
- Complete my French homework
- Try to intentionally take 5 hours and 40 mins to 'read' the next Strategy case
- Doze off within 'Bearley' sitting right infront of me on my desk
- Open my letter box

And the feeling that elsewhere in the world, millions of people would be boarding early morning trains to office, taking flights to unknown countries, sailing ships away on expeditions and maybe even crocodile hunting! while am here a la 'good old' Jouy trying to figure out different ways to work out the various items on my agenda....is an amazing feeling by itself!!
To be honest...Looks like I have a very busy week ahead – I mean, come on! Look at the
“not to do” list, it’s longer than the “to-do” one…(Am happy if that makes you befriend the green-eyed monster;)
I guess I should get busy then…..Someone wise once said (Or was it me?) – To be able to nothing creatively is a great art in itself, and demands a lot of time and dedication… Maybe you guys should give it a try yourself. Watch this space, and when am back again, I’ll probably let you know how the much-awaited week was like…Have a great week!!!

Another Week of Challenge & Feeling of Greeness

Its Friday and soon we are heading for an exciting weekend. Several reasons to celebrate that..there were 2 exams one after another, one contest to complete and for 2 groups to present their case on the same day as their exam. It is really interesting to know how differnt group dynamicsa and collaboration worked during last one week.

This is what MBA teaches us. To keep the cool, stay connected with our batchmates, collaborate and continue. This is just the beginning 14 more months of challenges and excitement ahead.

At this point I stop and like other's I look forward to have some quality time during the weekend... I feel more green and would like to share Green feeling with other classmates.

Wishing you all a great and happy weekend.

Cheers
Gaj
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How to Celebrate Birthdays

February is the shortest month of the year so I expected it to go fast but not this fast! And before it comes to an end, I’d like to organize an appropriate birthday celebration for Kiran, Sunjay and Christophe.

I want to know which type of event you would prefer, for now we have two options:

-“Apero” style: similar to what we did last time, it includes snacks, drinks and we’ll add birthday cake. Cost: 4 euros per person.

-Lunch: pizza, salad, drinks, cake. About 7-8 euros per person.

Please use the poll to cast your vote and feel free to comment here in the blog if you have any suggestions regarding food, price, etc.

Thank you and have a great week!
-Patricia

How should we celebrate?
	With an apero, no more than 4 euros pp
	With lunch, no more than 8 euros pp
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Thanks for the Africa Week Pics

Dear Gaj

Thanks for the Africa Week Dinner pics.

Regards
Ibrahim

African Week Dinner

After another hectic week of studies, assignments, presentation and so on....it was time to chill little bit with everyone at Hall D'honneur .

It was final day of African week and it was celebrated with excellent dinner and colorful events.
The event was marked by fashion show and later on by spectacular belly dance performance.
phew!!!!!!Great to see emerging models within the MBA.

To win the Maroc ticket various contestants had to dance on African music. It was interesting as it was an improptu presentation. Ofcourse we had our esteemed judges to decide the best dancer and the winner.

The whole evening was full of fun and excitement. And finally it was dance time!!!!!!!

Another event of cultural exchange. This is what I like about MBA . It gives you an opportunity to learn, learn and learn something new each day.

Even after the event was finished at Hall D'honneur, the party continued at PIANO BAR until late in the morning.

Another week came to an end with a positive feeling as already lot of cultural exchange had taken place in few hours of time.

Please click on the link below to see the pics from the event


My Public Shoebox

Cheers
Gaj

Birthday Celebration -Chilling it out

After hectic week of case studies, strategy, finance and accounting it was time to take a short break from studies and get together at Piano Bar for celebrating Pedro and Bertrand Birthday.

Made me realize that days are going to be like that in near future and such short breaks can create an atmosphere with which we can look forward to the next step!!

It was good because we could take some time together and laugh , enjoy !! The event started with the birthday cheers





As the afternoon progressed we had more people coming in and could talk about things in general. Without talking too much let us see the pics which we all are waiting for :)))))))))

Enjoy !! Cheers
Gaj