My first week of school

So… school. The whole (or like 50%) of the reason I am here. We started this week – overall, not a difficult week. It was generally an introduction to everything about this year – classes, staff, each other. This year is going to be very tough. But more and more, I am positive in my decision to come here. I’ve never met a more supportive staff and they have put a lot of support in place to help us succeed. My first semester consists of at least 9 classes (maybe ten) and its going to be a doozy but it’s giving me exactly what I want out of an MBA – the ability to have the knowledge to work in other fields and understand the conversation. While I’m pretty terrified, I am also just so excited.

Picnic lunch in the Meadows, this great green space directly behind the school

There were definitely some highlights of the week outside of class as well. I went to a debate regarding the Scottish referendum – Should Scotland be an independent country? It’s fascinating to watch the passion this brings out in people. I’ve had lots of drinks in lots of pubs with my cohort. They will be one of the large reasons I survive this coming semester. In order to be successful here, it’s going to take a lot of effort and work and support, both here and from home. But I’ve yet to meet one person I don’t like so I think we will be good.

Scottish referendum debate – It was standing room only

We’ve also had some scheduled events as part of the program. Wednesday evening was the Welcome Party for the entire postgrad business program. While the room was overcrowded and very hot, the free drinks and food were flowing as was the conversation. We were able to meet people from other programs, which was nice, and also got to really start to know the staff. It’s a little strange just because the MBA program is so different in terms of structure to the rest of the business school – it has a lot of it’s own perks but that also means its more isolated from the other programs. I really hope that there are more opportunities like this to network outside the program. Thursday was our Alumni scavenger hunt, up and down the Royal Mile. Loads of fun and walking, that ended with drinks as well (starting to see a pattern here?) in this cool old building, hidden off the Royal Mile.

Scottish drummers at the Business School Welcome party

So we were the worst team at the scavenger hunt which meant we still run a prize- a spy kit to help improve our skills

The highlight of the week was definitely the Ceilidh (pronounced  kay-lee) last night. Everyone in the program put on their best clothes (including some Kilts) and we danced traditional Scottish dances for hours. Of course, I was out there for every one of them (except 1 repeat of an earlier one – NO ONE CAME AND GOT ME FROM OUTSIDE). It was for both my MBA cohort and the EMBAs so it was another chance to meet some new people (can you see a trend?). It was an absolutely amazing time and I loved it. Every second of it.

First dance of the night

Neil, Erin, myself, and Sukhi – somehow I’ve already become known as someone who will go out for a drink. Always. As Jean and Sara could tell you, it’s all about my Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).

The dance we all could figure out

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll post some more pictures of the pictures page! Monday and Tuesday we are doing a Leadership and Team Building retreat up in the Highlands so I’m sure I will have more to post soon.