Thursday, 20 January 2011

Day 144: Cure for exhaustion

It has been a super busy past few days but today really takes the cake. I had an 8.30am - 7.00pm day. That means 6 classes back to back with a 30min break for lunch. I don't know how some of my classmates do it but I am so tired at the end of the day even though I had 6 hours of sleep. I know quite a few people who went out last night and one of my group members only ended up going to bed at 5am this morning! Let's just say that coffee was one of my best friends today although I haven't gone down the Red Bull path yet...

Breakfast of Champions
(my P1/P2 "neighbour's" regular start to the day)

The great thing about it though is that despite the fact that I'm exhausted by the sheer amount of activity and work required, I genuinely do feel like I had a great time in school today. Really enjoyed all the classes I had today and feel like I've learnt something, been challenged intellectually and gotten to know people better. People often ask what a day in the life of an MBA is like so here's a sneak peek into what my long day was like.

My first class of the day dissected the US Ford Fiesta social media campaign and we had a lively discussion about the strengths and shortcomings of that campaign from 2009. My key takeaway was to have a clear idea of how you're going to harness all the excitement of the buzz generated otherwise it just dies off.

The next class (double) I had was an Idea Tournament which is kinda like American Idol for Business Ideas except that all of us were the judges. Lots of really cool interesting ideas that had a lot of potential were presented. Honestly, I'd be pretty excited to work on quite a few of them if people were really serious about forming a team.

Following a quick lunch, I learnt more about the death care industry in North America and financial distress from my finance class. I know it's a pretty morbid topic but a really fascinating industry. Very stable revenues as you can imagine! Also, there's a lot of money to be made in consolidating if done properly. ;)

My last class (double) of the day was a computer simulation Marketing Strategy game that we are all playing against each other. My group's company is still in the lead after 3 rounds but competition is getting fierce! Will we still be in the lead after next period? Stay tuned!

Just because classes are done doesn't mean that your day is done. Not by a long shot.

Met up with my group from my first class to discuss a paper that's due tomorrow (last minute panic is a wonderful motivator!) before catching up with some classmates who were still around. Finally managed to eat dinner closer to 10pm. I know many of my Spanish classmates would still think that's early for dinner. ;)

After a crazy day (and a crazy week in fact!), I'm glad the weekend is almost here. Heading to Pangkil (a private Indonesian island off Bintan) tomorrow with a couple of classmates. Must admit it's a bit of a "right of passage" here on the Singapore campus. Seems like just about everyone who studies here spends at least one weekend ther.

I've heard it's just lovely and very very relaxing. A chance to just kick back and enjoy a bit of sunshine and nature. Sounds like just what I need. Oh... and there's no internet.

Perfect =)

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