Arriving in a country which has little or no similarity with one’s home country gives gooseflesh, especially when you are travelling outside of your home country for the first time. It’s hard to find answers to questions like “What will the people be like?” and “How will I fit in?”. These questions become far more relevant when you travel 11,777 kilometres away from home and spend about 7 times more money than you would for an MBA in your home country. But as soon as I heard the words “Please fasten your seat belts, your fight is ready for descent…” I realised that the first snowfall, the first party at Jacks or the first class, the people in class and Ivey would radiate the feeling of welcoming.
Just a few days into the program I realised that sleep is indeed a prized commodity. I knew a 1 year program would be hectic, but in no time the definition of hectic changed. Suddenly my pre-MBA hectic life seemed a relaxed one. In a single week at Ivey, the quantum of learning I gained seemed more than what I learnt in an entire semester of Engineering. Phrases like “Building on your point” became a part of my day to day lingo. Weird MBA jokes which only my class mates or my learning team understood began gracing my Facebook wall. The spirit of “sharing and caring” engulfed.
In particular, I was surprised by the power of our learning team. Having 4 more people in your group, who believed in enjoying learning made the entire process so much more memorable. Learning in teams and from the experiences of people in class, networking and knowing different aspects of industries and cultures suddenly adds that extra flavour to the Aggregate Demand Curve, the CAPM model and a Monte Carlo Simulation. Five months back, I would find it difficult to comprehend what news in Financial Times meant, now I am in a group commenting upon the repercussions of a policy change. It all seems like one big roller coaster ride.
Another important realization dawned upon me – hockey does not always mean field hockey. It’s ICE HOCKEY in this part of world, a game about which I had absolutely no idea. Cricket is no longer a religion for people around me. India winning the cricket World Cup is just another piece of news. But soon I saw familiar emotions around me when Canucks made it into the finals of Stanley Cup. The people cheering around me were yelling “Go Canucks” and it reminds you of the familiar chants when you want Roger Federer to get that game point or Sachin Tendulkar to hit that Six.
Having spent 3 months at Ivey and in this program, if someone asked me if it was worthwhile setting the “restore factory settings” button of life by coming to Ivey, I would say for sure yes. I would say so not because of the unique Ivey way of teaching or numerous doors an MBA and Ivey opens, but for what I am gaining outside of these tempting (and absolutely true) attributes. It’s given me a lifelong friendship with 140 intelligent people and the sensibilities to distinguish between the good, the bad and the ugly.
Born and brought up in India, Sapan has a bachelor’s degree in Engineering. He has worked in technology development and implementation with organizations like Accenture, J.P.Morgan and The Royal Bank of Scotland Group. At Ivey, Sapan is the Ivey Student Ambassador, VP of the Business Technology Club and a member of the Consulting Club. He enjoys listening to classical Hindi and Punjabi songs, playing golf and is a die-hard cricket fan.