“Hell Week” 5 days of cold, wet, brutally difficult operational training on fewer than four hours of sleep. Hell Week tests physical endurance, mental toughness, pain tolerance and your ability to perform under high stress. Above all, it tests determination and desire. This is the first training week for the NAVY seals, and the Smurfit MBA foundation week wasn’t far behind.
OK, so maybe I’m being a tiny bit melodramatic, but I did find Foundation Week challenging. Even though I lost my faith years ago, I was nearly tempted to say a little prayer that they would go easier on us in week two.
Over the weekend I checked my time-table for Monday week two. We have just two lectures, Niamh for Financial Reporting and Damien for Marketing. Damien was our very first lecture in “Hell week” and scared the bejesus out of all of us so I make double sure I have his pre-reading done.
Monday rolls around and everything goes without a hitch. I actually enjoy it, but Damien gives us yet another assignment, will the fun ever end? Thankfully I make it through the week unscathed and things are looking up. We have the welcome dinner on Friday to look forward to.
After the dinner on Friday night we all headed to Sams Bar on Dawson Street and the drinks were flowing. The guys from India love to dance, they were up on each other’s shoulders like they had just won a general election. It was a great night and I’m already looking forward to our next night out.
Now I’ve been informed that it’s my turn to write a blog about week two. Great, because I just didn’t feel like I had enough work to do. I thought about doing what the Scottish comedian Frankie Boyle does; locks himself away in a remote farm house, gets high on Tramadol and runs around the house in his underwear while coming up with creative ideas, but I’m not Scottish. Instead, I decide to just have a few beers and type it at my kitchen table instead (fully clothed).
If the last two weeks are anything to go by, this is going to be an amazing year. I will be travelling to Istanbul for a week in October as part of our GNAM and our class will be travelling to Singapore/Vietnam or South America as part of our study trip in March. I can’t wait! I definitely feel I have made the correct decision by doing the MBA, but only time will tell. I’ll let you all know at the end of the year.
Ian Ahern, MBA 2017-2018