Tuesday 8 January 2008

Great expectations

The Hilary term started today (well not quite, we're still in week 0) with a session on this term's Entrepreneurship Project (the EP). It was great meeting all the new friends we've made after a gap of about 3 weeks, catching up, discussing Christmas break activities, etc.

Activity has already started, needless to say on the EP, but also on the term's timetable, course packs, electives, and study groups. This term promises to be even more exciting than the last one: on the one hand the strange classmates we had are now friends; on the other hand the EP, the electives (with different study groups for each), and the intensifying career preparations will make sure we have an extremely dynamic 10 weeks of Hilary.

Our experiences from Michaelmas term should help us handle the pressures of Hilary better; yet the unknown - the EP - will make it more interesting and challenging. For sure, though, the EP will give us more satisfaction than the rest of the academic learning put together, as we consolidate all that we've learnt in these two terms and see it come to fruition as a coherent whole. And that is incentive enough for all the hard hours of work I know we'll need to put in.

Now, the question is, will I be writing a similar post at the beginning of Trinity term as I am writing here? I guess time will tell. I'll be keeping my fingers tightly crossed!


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Sunday 6 January 2008

Oxford in pictures

Here are some images of Oxford (taken not in the best weather conditions, I am afraid), which highlight just how beautiful it is.



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Hilary - the beginning

Here we are, at the start of the 2nd term - Hilary (the first was called Michaelmas, the third, Trinity). Week 0 starts tomorrow. Actually week 0 is just designed to ease us into the academic term, which, because it is all of 10 weeks long, picks up and maintains momentum from day 1. Another 10 weeks, then, of new subjects and courses: Marketing and Operations Management, which are mandatory modules, and Financial Management, Global Strategy and Technology & Innovation Strategy, which are my electives.

Week 0, then, starts with a free Monday, followed by 'Entrepreneurship Project' presentations on Tuesday, and Elective presentations for Trinity term on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday we have a careers fair in the business school, with about 12-15 companies attending.

Week 1 then begins with a bang on the following Monday, and I'm sure will leave us with no breathing space for the next ten weeks.

New class sections this term, which along with the electives means four different study groups, too. It should be fun mingling with a new set of people, many of whom will now share similar interests (true for the electives). And then we have the EP - the Entrepreneurship Project which is in a fifth group. Group work, therefore, will take on a completely new meaning this term, with our having to adjust, and readjust, to different group dynamics for different modules.

Exciting stuff!


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