Globetrotting, Ghana & Going Back to Work

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Shelby Chin

We are officially 2^nd years! When did that happen?

Texas MBA students during scavenger hunt

Ready to Compete!

The end of the semester was a whirlwind with finals, papers and an awesome scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt was definitely a highlight of the spring semester as we got to explore Austin in ways that I would have never imagined. Although my team didn’t win, we got lots of compliments in regards to our costumes (Disney princess theme) and had a blast hanging out with each other before we scattered for the summer.

Globetrotting

I boarded a plane the day after the scavenger hunt to begin a month-long trip planned around the Global Connections class to Ghana. I traveled for 28 days (including the 9 in Ghana) and visited Istanbul and Greece before class and Paris afterwards. My travel plans crossed paths with many other globetrotting classmates which made for even more fun. Highlights include beautiful mosques, stunning sunsets, Shauna’s birthday in Mykonos, chocolate croissants, Disneyland Paris and macarons – don’t call them cookies!

The Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Ghana

The trip to Ghana was a highlight of my first year. We had a similar itinerary to Cindy’s trip – as we went to Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast. Learning about history, business and culture while fully immersed in the country was amazing.

Trashy Bags Company Visit

We got to experience first-hand the delicious flavors, warm people and cultural pride. On the cultural side we visited Cape Coast’s slave fortress, rainforests and museums. On the business side we visited the full range – from local palm oil production facilities and casket makers to the West African AIDS Foundation, Unilever factories and the Bank of Ghana. One of the highlights of the class was a visit to Trashy Bags. We had been working on various projects throughout the semester for the non-profit and it was great to meet the people and see the production of the bags. Many of us couldn’t help but purchase several new bags! I had a phenomenal time bonding with my classmates and fabulous EMBA (Texas Executive MBA) students.

Going Back to Work

Starting my summer internship after a year as a student and two days after getting back to the States was quite rough! I’m interning in the People Resources Department, formerly known as Human Resources, at Adobe in San Jose in my home state of California. I’ll be working on an analytics and reporting project and already have jumped right into it! I’ve been getting to know the team and learning about the organization. There are several other MBA interns in my department and I’m excited to hang out with them and old friends in the area the rest of summer!

Food, Food and Food

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Shelby Chin

This post focuses on events with a common theme: food. They all also happen to be a good representation of typical events in my life and the MBA experience!

International Night

Sylvia representing Taiwan!

As Erin’s earlier post discussed, international night was filled with wonderful cuisine and culture. The international students really sparkled throughout the night showing off traditional dress, dance and entertainment. I made the rookie mistake of eating before attending (I was hungry and there was free food at a prior meeting!) but definitely tried to fit in second, third and fourth dinner. For me the highlights were samplings from the Korea, Africa and Taiwan booths. And of course there’s the local favorite Amy’s Ice Cream for dessert! The night was definitely a highlight of the fall semester as enthusiasm was in the air.

Lunch with Gold Medalist Sanya Richards-Ross

The Graduate Women in Business (GWiB) club arranged for a lunch with gold medalist Sanya Richards Ross after her appearance at the Sports Entertainment and Marketing Forum. Lunch with a gold medalist!! How could I say no?! She was incredibly inspiring, down-to-earth and able to talk about her experience as a woman in the sports industry. As I left the lunch I realized the awesome experiences I have available before me just for being a student.

Thanksgiving in Austin

Thanksgiving Dinner with New Friends!

I decided not to fight the holiday traffic at the airport and stayed in Austin for the long weekend. I had an action-packed weekend filled with a football game, shopping, a day-trip to Fredericksburg and catching up on sleep. The best part of the weekend however was our cohort Thanksgiving. Thanks to the generosity (and mad cooking skills) of Mellissa, we were able to hold a traditional Thanksgiving dinner – the first for several or our international students. Being able to share one of my favorite holidays with new friends was something that I will never forget!

What does “non-traditional” student mean?

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Shelby Chin

I had planned on writing a post on adjusting back to the student life, but fellow blogger Lisa beat me to it. If you haven’t read it yet, read it here as she absolutely nailed how a lot of us feel!

I’ll turn instead to another topic that’s been on my mind. Upon returning to bSchool I feared not only classes themselves, but also the fact that I was entering and aiming to return to the public sector. How would classmates react? Would there be any resources available to me? Will I immediately be pegged as “the education person”?

They come from all parts of the country, (and world!) and from all various backgrounds.

The first thing I discovered quite quickly is that there are a lot of folks in the program that would fall into the “non-traditional” background. Before the bSchool journey I had assumed everyone would be a banker, marketer or consultant or was wanting to be one of these. Wrong. I’ll just talk about the folks that surround me everyday while in class. I have several former military folks around me and they had backgrounds ranging from pilots to engineers. I have entrepreneurs that have run or sold several businesses over the years. There are folks that want to go into the sports industry or the animation industry and some that came from working for the government or other public interest nonprofits. I am continually impressed by the diversity of my cohort. Continue reading →

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall….*

Posted on September 11, 2012 by chiralibhandari

* The first line of Robert Frost’s Mending Wall.

I know it’s not been a while since my last post. But I had to write. There is so much going on around me. I have very many things to talk about and it was difficult to choose. And then I decided to pick up where I left last and to keep my promise….of writing about the cultural difference – a bond or a barrier. As you read, you might relate to it and agree or disagree. This is just my opinion based on my experiences but I invite you all to a healthy dialogue so please post comments / email if you would like to discuss, ‘like’ if you like it, add anything else, share your experiences about how you dealt with it.

I will be honest. It hasn’t been easy. I have been here for almost five years, worked for an American firm for 4 out of those 5. But not being born or raised here made a lot of difference when it was about being social. Mostly as I couldn’t find a common ground to break the ice. I now understand a little bit of baseball and soccer but not enough to discuss in detail. And cricket (CRICKET!!!!!) is not popular here !! I couldn’t talk about college teams and rivalries (I didn’t do my undergrad studies here). I couldn’t talk about great steak joints (I’m a vegetarian). I couldn’t talk about good bars and pubs (I don’t drink).

So, not being born or raised here makes a lot of difference. Or does it??

I chose to take a leap of faith and started attending the happy hours in Dallas before joining school. I still didn’t drink but decided to try and face these barriers to see if it was really a cultural difference or just a product of my mind that stopped me from mixing with others? I will be honest again. The first happy hour was not in the least what I had expected – at least for the most part. I was quiet for some time but eventually I started talking. It was then that I realized even I had a few things to share. I was talking about Dallas, about India, discussing about school (McCombs) and asking questions. Hmm… not bad at all. I went to the next happy hour and yet again to the third one. It got better with time.

I am working on being social. There is a lot to learn and do. But I am glad I have started my journey. More often than not, there are many things I can share with others. I realized I can talk about all the places I have been to in the USA. I can talk about my experiences as an architect. And by answering questions about India I think I have cleared at least some misconception about the Indian ‘Arranged Marriage’ system which is often misunderstood for ‘Forced Marriage’. It’s only by talking and asking questions that we can clear our doubts and those of others’ as well. I have started doing that. I just had to stop being hesitant. Now that I have, I am enjoying. I made a few more friends; I am getting to know my study group better by the day and I made some more friends!!

Culture can or can’t be a barrier. It depends on how you want to perceive it. It’s all in the mind. I don’t have to do what everyone else is doing all the time and I still can be social, even with all the differences in lifestyle, culture, language. In fact, because of these differences, there is so much more to share and learn. Nothing can stop you from succeeding if you are willing to take that teeny weenie extra step. Being at McCombs is providing me with just the experience! I am glad to be here. Mantra for the day – relax and start talking!!

My next post – keep you guessing……

International Night 2011

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Purva Upasak

If you were to walk in the McCombs School of Business the second and third week of November, you would have been confused. There were dance practices, there was music and there were a lot of MBA students enjoying themselves (not that we don’t do it regularly, but this was a lot more fun!). November 18th was the International Night – a celebration of the many cultures that form the diverse McCombs family. It was organized at the Frank Erwin Center, across the main campus.

The International Night is an annual event that brings together the international students from different parts of the world and gives them a chance to showcase their culture. This event is organized by the International MBA Student Association (IMBASA) and the MBA+ Leadership Program.

There were booths by Global African Culture, China, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Southeast Asia and Taiwan. There were also performances by Chinese folk dancers, a Brazilian capoeira group, and Mexican mariachis. For children there was a balloon artist, juggler, clown, face painter and Amy’s Ice Cream (do try it, it is one of the many amazing things about Austin!). In short, there were booths, there was food, and there was music! There was also an international fashion show and dance routines performed by the students.

If you are a part of the McCombs family, this is one event I highly recommend! It is not just a great way to learn about other cultures, but it is so much fun that missing it is simply not worth it!

The amazingly hilarious Sumo dance!

The winning Korean booth

* All photographs courtesy Fernando Gonzalez, MBA ’12

Roommates: A Mix of Cultures

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Al Ntiri

One of the things I was looking forward to most about the MBA experience was learning about other parts of the world. I love getting exposure to different cultures. That’s why I joined IMBASA last year. It’s also why I’m spending my spring semester on an exchange program in South Africa.

But enough about me. Two of my classmates have had a significant cross-cultural experience just within their own apartment. Gui Sessa is from Brazil. He shares an apartment with Tejas Gohokar from India, both this year and last year. As roommates, they have shared a lot of information about their respective countries. Although there are several differences between Brazil and India, they have a number of similarities as well, which have helped these two build a stronger bond.

Outside of the sharing of cultures, one thing that impressed me was that each of them is teaching the other a language. Gui is teaching Tejas Spanish and Tejas is teaching Gui Hindi. And neither of these is their first language. As a person who is not bilingual, I find this quite impressive!

It is this type of cultural exchange that makes McCombs a great program to be a part of. There are several opportunities to expand your horizons and learn about another part of the world. There are MAP trips, Global Connections, or Exchange Programs. Or you could do what Gui is considering and take a trip to India (or another country/region) after graduation.

Either way the opportunity is there. I encourage you to take advantage of it.

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