Orientation Week Over

Orientation week kicked off on campus, but after only a few hours we hopped on a bus and went up to Lord’s Cricket Ground. If you’re like me and don’t know anything about cricket, this means absolutely nothing to you. However, if you’re a cricket fan, a huge smile just came across your face. Lord’s is ‘mecca’ for cricketers, and widely considered the home of cricket. Cricket has been played at this location since 1814.

Lord's Cricket Ground

LBS MBA2010 is a group of 320 people from all over the world. Our group’s nationality diversity was highlighted when we played the “International Citizen Game” on our first day of orientation. We created around 25 teams based on nationality and each team prepared a two minute presentation on their culture and what it’s like to work with people from their country. The Chinese won first place, followed by a team from the U.S. (interesting given what happened at the Olympics!!).

One of the most anticipated events of orientation took place on Wednesday – finding out study groups. The school creates our study groups to for us, and there’s no changing them. I think I got lucky; my study group looks like this:

• A Swedish guy who most recently lived in Brussels with a background in operations management
• A Bulgarian guy who managed businesses in Bulgaria
• A Colombian woman who most recently lived in the U.S. with a background in corporate finance and investment banking
• An Israeli guy from the telecom industry who formerly served in the Israeli military
• A Canadian guy who most recently lived in Vienna and is a concert pianist

I think it’ll be great to work with all of these people, and I know I’m going to learn a ton from them.

Thursday was our “Away Day”. We ventured up in to the English countryside to a corporate training site for team building exercises. The really fun stuff was on the ropes course, and two best events involved climbing up 40 foot telephone poles. (I hope to post a photo soon!) Many of us were skeptical about how much we would take away from the day, but on the way home we all agreed that it was a fantastic experience that provided us a chance to get to know all our team members extremely well.

After a great orientation week it’s finally time to get to work – 6 hours of business statistics on Monday, ugh…

First Day in London

I just finished my first day in London. After arriving at Heathrow airport 30 minutes early, a nice middle-aged man driving a Peugeot hauled me over to my home for the next 3 weeks, 3 Durweston Mews, Marylebone. Upon arrival I found a well-furnished, two-story flat that definitely could serve as home for the next three weeks. Yes, it’s small, but it’s well maintained with new appliances and should make for a good place to stay while Jamie and I find a place to live.

Immediately I had a long overdue shower, and then I walked over to LBS to get my student ID and welcome packet. My student ID afforded me access to the LBS library, where I sent emails to my family announcing my safe arrival in London. Next on my to-do list, a cell phone…

Well not so fast. In order to get a monthly cell phone plan, the company must run a check to ensure the address on your bank account matches your address in London. Of course mine did not. So, after being denied a UK mobile, I went to the bank to update my address to the flat where I just moved in. We’ll see tomorrow if this works.

After paying £9 for a chicken sandwich and fries (yes, that’s just under $18) I proceeded over to the evening’s festivities – the LBS Flat Hunter’s Pub Crawl. Undoubtedly created by students, this ‘reason to drink’ takes place every day of the month leading up to the start of business school. Marketed as a way for students to meet flatmates and share stories about estate agents, this gathering of MBA2010s was an excellent way to socialize with my new classmates. After hanging out at the pub until 1am, I called it a night. (BTW – This pub served Sierra Nevada, however I preferred the local brews that I’ve never had before.)

I left San Francisco 29 hours ago. I’ve already met so many cool people, and so far my time in London has been great (as I listen to the rain outside my bedroom window!).