Easter Time !!

Salvate all, hope everyone is around. Its Easter time which means time for prayers, get-together, shopping and celebrations. Easter is celebrated on a grand scale in all parts of UK and Manchester is no exception. There are events organized by the council and some by other private societies at city center. The buzz in the market streets makes it lively and appealing. There will be discounts and offers on many items sold in major stores like Next, Debenhams etc., which means its a great opportunity for shopaholics to fulfill their appetite. The restaurants, nightclubs and pubs will also be bustling with great deals, food and live music to let your hair down. On top of all these, summer is exhilarating here with sunny and breezy days. So you would see lot of young crowd soaking under the sun and living it up wherever you go. Trafford center is one place to visit during Easter time. If I havn't mentioned about Trafford center in my previous blogs shame on me :(
Because it is one of the biggest shopping centers in the whole Europe and is just stone throw away from city center. The Trafford Center is popularly known for its vivid and quirky resemblance to a rococo/late baroque architectural style and is home for plethora of retail stores, cinema, restaurants and other fun activities. An ideal day out in Trafford center would be shop till you drop, when you drop grab some yummy Nando's chicken (I would highly recommend coz its my all time fav which even beats my fav grill chicken back home in India) and then some bowling to digest the food. There are other fun activities too if you aren't great bowling fan. There is no better time than Easter to visit Trafford and loosen your purse strings. Ladies would love it and wouldn't want to leave the place so boys better watch out for your credit card bills ;-)
So it doesn't matter if you are an atheist or religious but Easter is fun here. I personally spent the Easter weekend in Manchester and now cooling my heels in Leeds with couple of my old buddies. Can't tell you guys how much I am missing Manchester and just raring to get back. While this is the buzz outside for Easter, university takes off as most of the students and staff go on a holiday. There will also be some events organized by student council for those who stay back. Alright now, I have to get back to studies and prepare for my exams and assignments. Well let me reveal you guys a little secret about my MBA. There will be a study trip to abroad all expenses paid by the University as part of your curriculum and that is going to happen in the month of May for us. The best part is where we would be going to and I am not going to reveal that now. You should watch out for my next blog for that, so stay tuned folks ;-))

Second Semester

"Hey its me again..plain to see you again..." that’s the song "Voice" from Cheap Trick which I thought would be appropriate to say Hello to you all :)

Enough of innovation now and lets talk about second semester of MBA now. This semester was full action with interesting modules like Strategy, Supply Chain, Project Management etc. I have already talked enough about Strategy in my previous blogs so would like to keep it short. It was a great exposure on strategy with right composition of theory, case studies and simulation. Simulation has come to an end and everyone of us were asked to present reflecting our learnings. Then followed by an assignment critically analysing the theories on strategy. This is an outstanding way of learning as strategy is such an important aspect in any business. There was supply chain module which discusses different ways of increasing the efficiency of supply chain which gives competitive advantage for any organization. There was also project management which deals with scheduling, organizing resources focussing on cost, quality and time in achieving any common objective. The class was divided into teams to chose any project and critically analyse the extent to which it was a success or a failure. The main advantage is the tutors carrying substantial amount of experience in respective fields which gives more insights into the theories and their application in real life during the sessions. Assignments will give scope to research into each module and contributes to the learning. This will enable the student to be well equipped with the concepts, history of their evolution and the application. The other aspect which made this semester interesting was doing multiple assignments and working with different set of people. We were continuously on our toes and running from pillar to post to get things done. The last week was a marathon week packed with presentations and assignments and when it was over we all understood the importance of organizing ourselves and handling stress. That’s what happens in the real world when we get out, there will be occasions testing our capabilities and highly stressing with packed schedules where you need to do different things at the same time. I am glad that we had to go through this and it was the hidden agenda. On that note, I sign off to continue with my assignments and simultaneously prepare for the exams. Wish me luck folks and I talk to you all soon.

Life outside classroom

Interesting sport competitions in the campus

Indian cricket fans celebrating world cup victory in semi-finals

What’s happening everyone? We in Manchester are enjoying the early days of summer and with the day light savings reversed, the day seems to be longer. We have already talked about the summer so let’s move onto something else now. I have focused inside classrooms before and its time the focus is shifted to outside where there are so many activities going on and how students enjoy these. Salford University offers so many opportunities to make the stay at the University memorable with things like Student Union, Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE), Student life award to name a few. These activities bring a lot of zing to student life in this university and they are all great fun. I am associated with few groups like SIFE which offer great chances to increase your network. Networking is the key and no such opportunity should be missed especially for post graduate students as it is one of the roads to progress the career. So being part of these groups which engage in voluntary work and other activities would widen the network which comes real handy while looking out for a job. Some of the undergraduates leading different projects as part of SIFE are very talented and very skill full. While leading a project on their own can prove hectic for post graduate students, involving in one or more of these projects can be fruitful for them. There are also sport events conducted by some of these groups and in fact there is a club for everything from cricket to rugby to football. So students who can better manage their time are at advantage. The other day there was a screening of world cup cricket match by one of the student societies and I was lucky to be part of it. The match was nail biting and fans were in full force equally from side. The atmosphere was electrifying and it was a great relief when we ended up on winning side J. While this was on at one of the University bars, outside there were other sports organized by another society and it was fun catching a glimpse of that too. Student union elections just concluded and voting option was online too which made it lot easier for many of us. These positions in Student Union come with responsibility and at the same time provide great visibility to the elected ones. Some of the candidates were campaigning aggressively for their victories. Student Life award provides opportunity for voluntary work, attend workshops and contribute to the University outside their course which helps them to run for student life award at the end of the academic year. Interlink is another program that needs a special mention here as new students will be assigned a mentor who will arrange some trips to the local places to help them better accustomed with the culture and atmosphere. Some of the trips arranged in this program can be really cheap and if you are here please don’t miss out on this program. I have to get going now but will be back with lots of news from the campus, till then hasta-la-vista J