Week 1 – Update

I have finish my first week of classes.  In general, they are interesting but frankly, fairly basic.  I never considered myself well read but what I am realising is that through all of my automatic feeds on various business topics and such, I consume news at a much higher rate than many other people.  Also, I have a knack for remembering numbers so that comes in handy and I can pull stats out of articles pretty quickly.

The classes are all lumped together.  In other words, in one class we are covering marketing and operations and in another we are covering finance, information technology and human resources.  The idea is that no one discipline is managed in a vacuum so each class is team taught by three or more professors.   Some days they will all be in class, others one or two will focus on a particular topic.

The good and the bad is that all of the group work and various tasks and group work must be done but none of it counts toward your final grade in the class.  The only graded material is one written assignment or test (depending on the class).  You have one and only one opportunity which is a bit stressful but I am sure with proper preparation all will be fine.

The weekend will be spent trying to get ahead in all the reading.  Thank goodness I had 70 odd books in Armenia to get my reading skills in shape!

Off to school!

I shuffled off to school today. I had no idea what to expect. I was told to report to room 4C04 at 9 o’clock for the beginning of my induction week. I could not figure why I needed a week but I was anxious to see what was in store for me.

I found the room and introduced myself to Dr. Cecmil and Dr. Braddon, the directors of the MBA program.  I then turned to the others who came about 30 minutes early.  I sat next to a young lady who introduced herself as British born but raised in Iran.  I looked at her eyes and said, “Hayaren khosum es?” (Translation: Do you speak Armenian?)  She almost fell over.  Sure enough, she is Armenian-iranian (aka parskahay).  I was so happy as I had someone who would understand all my little quips which come to me quicker in Armenian than in English.

The day went on and I met my the other 14 people in the group.  They are from all over the world and I am one three native English speakers.  It should prove to be a very interesting debate once you throw culture on top of management theory.