The World is my Oyster

Wow. Global Partners MBA Program, future class of 2011, has officially begun. It’s hard to imagine that in slightly less than one year, myself and 25 other incredibly bright and unbelievably supportive students will have formed the strongest of bonds and everlasting friendships, traveled the globe, and graduated with business degrees from renowned graduate business schools around the world. It is merely the end of day three of the program now and, if I can speak for my colleagues, I believe we feel like we have already known each other for months.

Yesterday’s challenge and ropes course at Stone Mountain certainly played its part in that as well.

I definitely can promise you that I never dreamed anyone could get me to walk across a wire 30 feet in the air, or to climb a 30 foot pole and jump off the top. But that’s what GPMBA will do for you. Push you to your physical, mental, and emotional limits and encourage you to leap outside of your comfort zone.

I can only imagine what the next 14 months have in store for us…

GPMBA Atlanta Orientation, 1 week down!

And it begins…

As a student in the Georgia State University Global Partners MBA program, I have embarked on an incredible journey with 26 of my new closest peers (like it or not, we’re together full time for the next 10 months!). We will be living and breathing this program until December 2011 when we will graduate. Week 1 has been jammed packed with getting to know each other, our facilities, our professors and faculty, as well as beginning studies – namely business statistics and leadership.

My top 5 memorable moments of week 1:

5. Laughing at how confusing the parking deck for Tower Place 200 can be (how many of us parked in the wrong deck or took wrong turns attempting to get there?! Not to mention how many tries it is taking to have the parking passes actually work…)
4. Discovering that GPMBA provides us with Starbucks coffee in our lounge!
3. Hearing the backgrounds of our diverse class, especially all the fascinating places people have lived / worked / visited!
2. Sharing our MBTI II personality assessments and realizing that even after less than a week, we can identify at least a few key traits for everyone
1. Cheering on fellow classmates while we ALL conquered fears doing the team Challenge Program ropes course at Indian Creek Lodge!

Finally, my advice for anyone starting this program in the future: Be proactive! Initiate contact with your fellow classmates prior to orientation if at all possible. We had approximately 4 different “meet & greet” type events that we self-organized (i.e. meeting for drinks, dinner, movies). One happy hour even included some members of the class of 2010, which was an awesome opportunity to ask more questions and gain a more realistic perspective on what to expect. These meetings really help ease the inevitable awkward “getting to know you” first day for anyone who can join!

That and do not underestimate how long your statistics homework will take…