December had dawned. Lectures had ended. Assignments were submitted. Our semester one was on the verge of being over. My MBA class was perfectly poised to start preparing for the exams and 24 hours per day felt too short.
The MBA Alumni Christmas Dinner in the first week of December gave us the perfect opportunity to relax from our preparations and enjoy a lovely evening over mulled wine networking with the UCD MBA alumni at The Merrion hotel. The evening was filled with inspiration by an enlightening speech from Mr. David McCourt. We were meeting alumni who had walked this MBA journey before and we listened to their successful stories. It was a memorable and magnificent experience, followed by a few, if not more than few pints of Guinness in the beautiful Dublin city after the Christmas Dinner.
MBA Alumni Christmas dinner From left to right: Himanshu Kamat, Shubham Sahai, Gerard Finneran, Akhil Khare
As exams neared, the walls of the MBA Suite at UCD Smurfit began appearing colourful with Corporate Finance formulae and supply-demand graphs for Business Economics. Preparation was in full swing and soon, it was show-time. The exams were challenging and for someone like me who thrives on challenges, I loved every moment of it.
Semester One Celebrations at Nolita
With the exams finished Guinness would have been the most spoken word throughout the cohort. Celebrations were in order. Christmas songs were filling the hearts, and decorations were bringing smiles. Immediately after the exam we had plans to celebrate the end of Semester One at Nolita. As always, after dinner Guinness was a tradition.
Most of my MBA friends had made plans to go home, including me. I decided, however, to leave a little later as I wanted to relax and travel around this beautiful country. Some of us planned a trip to Galway, and I was particularly excited to visit places from Ed Sheeran’s music video Galway Girl. It was the perfect trip to unwind from the hectic routine and enjoy the Christmas markets and happy vibes on the streets.
Galway
I am now entering this Christmas break with mixed feelings. The MBA at Smurfit is like riding a thrilling rollercoaster that one never wants to get down from. But here I am, seatbelt unbuckled for a month until the next ride begins, and a chance to reflect on the MBA journey through Semester One and to travel home, carrying the excitement for the next ride – Semester Two.
On one hand, it is going to be fun to travel home to meet family and friends, but on the other hand, I am going to miss my MBA friends and the MBA momentum during this break. I am as excited to return to Semester Two as I am to relax during this break. I am seeing a huge personal transformation in myself in the last four months both from a personal and professional perspective. December certainly has been an oscillation of work and fun, and this is the perfect balance.
Sláinte!
Akhil Khare, FTMBA 2018/2019