February 24, 2011
October 8, 2010
1 year and a bit later...
What a whirl wind year! Since I last posted a lot has happened.
The second term of the MBA was intense to say the least! There was hardly any time to even breathe let alone eat and sleep. There was a lot of group work and we were in so many different groups that often on Saturdays when most would converge at the school to meet with their various groups to discuss the various projects on their agenda you would see people confused as to which group they were working on what! By Christmas we all longed for the well deserved break.
I went off to Dubai and India to see my family where I broke the news of my new found love, Luca. To my surprise it went down very well. Indian families are often very discerning, calculating and think more strategically than hearitly when it comes to their children's significant others. Its often more about the CV than if one can make the other happy in life. The assumption being ofcourse if you do well in your career you must automatically be able to provide which should lead to happiness.
The fact that he has two degrees and both held in high regard by the Indian Parent, Engineering and an MBA, gave him a running advantage. My mother then asked two more questions which were always my premier questions, perhaps because of how I was brought up: Is he religious? and does he love dogs? To my own personal relief and to hers the answers were no and yes respectively, it would have never worked for me otherwise regardless of what others thought.
10 days after graduation on July 17th, 2010 we married in a gorgeous civil ceremony by the sea on the island of Ischia, where Luca was born and family still resides. In August I moved to Rome since I was a fresh graduate looking for work and he fortunately already had a good job.
And here's where I'm at now.
I'm eager to be a DINK- Double Income No Kids, so we can travel the world before we hear the pitter patter of 4 little paws first!
My basic Italian is a bit of a handicap in a country where English is not a predominant language. But with the growing internationalisation of companies I'm hoping to tap into an opportunity somewhere!
But for now as I roar through internet job sites and company web-sites hoping for at least an information interview, I enjoy setting up a new home in a new city, Rome, my 7th home city. An absolutely gorgeous and historically well endowed city that never ceases to amaze no matter where you look. It is a bit more multicultural than Milan, but still no where near the diversity of Toronto, which I miss culturally and gastronomically.
June 10, 2009
MBA catchup
I had previously had every intention of making this a weekly thing, I was wrong! The MBA keeps me working 12-14 hour days and most of my week ends not, but I still intend to try!
How do I sum up the past month and a half!? I've experienced so much! I think I'll try and break it down into groups of topics rather than a chronological rendition of things.
Lets start with what I came here for in the first place- the MIP MBA. We are about 50 students in the class representing 19 different countries. There are 16 Italians students from all over Italy and the rest International. It is truly diverse with English being the first language for only a halndful.
We are a close group so far, and socialise in large numbers for birthdays and aperitivos*. We are also a very supportive group; students who are strong in some subjects offer and do tutor others who are weaker.
We have tons of group projects that take up a lot of time since it involves extensive discussions, but it is truly a good experience...so far. We have also had an outdoor excursion where we spent a week end in the mountains in a town called Bratto* for a fun and interesting two day/ one night team building event. It was by far the most fun experience for me thus far. We had physical and mental challenges during that week and we had the chance to get to know each other a bit better outside of the classroom.
The professors are...interesting. Our financial accounting professor, Davide (D-ah-vi-dey) Chiaroni is by far the best. I never thought I would actually look forward to attending a finance course, but I did! I will comment on some of the others perhaps later on, once the courses are done.
There are some other comments I could make about the MBA set up itself, but that will have to wait a while....for good reason, trust me.
How do I sum up the past month and a half!? I've experienced so much! I think I'll try and break it down into groups of topics rather than a chronological rendition of things.
Lets start with what I came here for in the first place- the MIP MBA. We are about 50 students in the class representing 19 different countries. There are 16 Italians students from all over Italy and the rest International. It is truly diverse with English being the first language for only a halndful.
We are a close group so far, and socialise in large numbers for birthdays and aperitivos*. We are also a very supportive group; students who are strong in some subjects offer and do tutor others who are weaker.
We have tons of group projects that take up a lot of time since it involves extensive discussions, but it is truly a good experience...so far. We have also had an outdoor excursion where we spent a week end in the mountains in a town called Bratto* for a fun and interesting two day/ one night team building event. It was by far the most fun experience for me thus far. We had physical and mental challenges during that week and we had the chance to get to know each other a bit better outside of the classroom.
The professors are...interesting. Our financial accounting professor, Davide (D-ah-vi-dey) Chiaroni is by far the best. I never thought I would actually look forward to attending a finance course, but I did! I will comment on some of the others perhaps later on, once the courses are done.
There are some other comments I could make about the MBA set up itself, but that will have to wait a while....for good reason, trust me.
May 5, 2009
3's company and the MBA
I had written this blog a while ago, but didn't realise that I hadn't posted it. So here it is:
May 2009:
Daniele finally moved in and things are getting along fine so far. Suparna and I are serenaded with piano playing (mainly Elton John tunes) which is sometimes accompanied by soft singing almost every morning and night. He's a good pianist and not too bad of a singer so its quite pleasant, especially since we have no TV.
The MBA has finally started, the Milanese vacation is over.
The orientation day was lovely. We started off in a massive and grand board room with tall cathedral ceilings and ornate work. It was in an old building of the gorgeous Politecnico di Milano Campus, I dare say even more stunning than University of Toronto. Almost all 50 of us were in attendance, with the exceptions of the Mexicans who had to be quarantined in their hotel for 7 days due to a new Italian regulation introduced as a result of the swine flu epidemic. They are thankfully fine and well.
The director of the MBA program, Prof. Stefano Ronchi introduced himself and spoke for about an hour or so followed by his boss who video conferenced in from Shanghai through skype on a big screen. We then each introduced ourselves, followed by some more staff introductions followed by a lovely lunch. The afternoon was filled with more introductions to various processes and details about the program. Prof. Sdogati presented as well, I found him quite hilarious and I am quite glad he is teaching a subject I am not fond of since I will need someone funny, vibrant and edgy to keep me interested - economics of some sort.
The following day classes began with the light subject of financial accounting. In the afternoon we had a great session with the Dean who is obviously passionate about the program and passionate about kicking Bocconi off the top spot. We are hot on their heels with only a few decimal points away!
The third day - 6 hours of Financial Accounting...with an hour break for lunch. Followed by a two hour break before a two hour Italian language session.
And so it begins....
May 2009:
Daniele finally moved in and things are getting along fine so far. Suparna and I are serenaded with piano playing (mainly Elton John tunes) which is sometimes accompanied by soft singing almost every morning and night. He's a good pianist and not too bad of a singer so its quite pleasant, especially since we have no TV.
The MBA has finally started, the Milanese vacation is over.
The orientation day was lovely. We started off in a massive and grand board room with tall cathedral ceilings and ornate work. It was in an old building of the gorgeous Politecnico di Milano Campus, I dare say even more stunning than University of Toronto. Almost all 50 of us were in attendance, with the exceptions of the Mexicans who had to be quarantined in their hotel for 7 days due to a new Italian regulation introduced as a result of the swine flu epidemic. They are thankfully fine and well.
The director of the MBA program, Prof. Stefano Ronchi introduced himself and spoke for about an hour or so followed by his boss who video conferenced in from Shanghai through skype on a big screen. We then each introduced ourselves, followed by some more staff introductions followed by a lovely lunch. The afternoon was filled with more introductions to various processes and details about the program. Prof. Sdogati presented as well, I found him quite hilarious and I am quite glad he is teaching a subject I am not fond of since I will need someone funny, vibrant and edgy to keep me interested - economics of some sort.
The following day classes began with the light subject of financial accounting. In the afternoon we had a great session with the Dean who is obviously passionate about the program and passionate about kicking Bocconi off the top spot. We are hot on their heels with only a few decimal points away!
The third day - 6 hours of Financial Accounting...with an hour break for lunch. Followed by a two hour break before a two hour Italian language session.
And so it begins....
April 26, 2009
Milano! Week 1
After a 10 hour journey over the Atlantic and via Brussels I landed in Milan, Italy with a classmate (who's name also happens to be Milan!).
I made my way to the hotel I was to stay in for 4 nights before moving into the apartment, to meet my room mate, Suparna from Boston/New York. Thanks to the internet and facebook one has a chance to somewhat get to know the other person to an extent. Realities may always be different, but so far we get along well. We're both well traveled, have a good amount of work experience under our belt and have both experienced living outside of home in different cities and countries so there wasn't much of a cultural clash.
Milan (the classmate) moved in with a current MBA student, Anna R, who graduates soon. Thanks to her we set up our cell phones, got some advice on the city and lots of advice on the MBA year ahead. We were also introduced to some of her classmates who have been absolutely friendly and hospitable.
In the first four days we saw some of the main attractions of Milan and got over jet lag. We then moved to our apartment close to the campus in the city itself. The building is pretty average looking on the outside. There is a big iron gate that is locked and one has to buzz to get let in. Followed by a marble-y tiled walk way and stairs to the main door of the building. The walkway is flanked by foliage and grass on either side.
As we waited outside for the owners, the coordinator from the school who helped connect us with the landlords and our third room mate, Daniele who was arriving from Rome, we assessed our surroundings. It was a quiet neighborhood and our building was on the corner of a side street and a semi-main street.
We were then greeted pleasantly by a tall Italian middle-aged (mid 50-ish) couple and their adorable Dachsund. The Dachsund inspected our luggage as we headed in.
As I walked into the apartment I was wowed! It was even nicer than in the pictures! We were incredibly fortunate. The landlords were super nice and friendly and spoke good english. They had bought two apartments when they were first married and combined them through renovations to create a 3 bedroom apartment with a ridiculous amount of storage space. There is almost a whole apartment in storage space with closets and attic cabinets everywhere. As you will see from the pictures in this album, it is also very bright and spacious. We have been told by many that we are not only lucky to have found a place to live in Milan, but that we've found a great place in a great location with good landlords who speak English.
Knock on wood!
Daniele returned to Rome that evening. He moves in at the beginning of May.
The apartment:
April 13, 2009
Au revoir Canada!
Packing for over a year is insane. How is one supposed to pack everything one needs for that amount of time with a limit of 23Kg x 2!? Impossible! But I did it.
Ok, not really. Thankfully my Mom is flying through Milan on her way back to Dubai in about a week and a half and will bring some more of my stuff then.
So Canada, this is it. I will say Au Revoir. Which I think is appropriate since its literal meaning is 'till we see again'.
I am going to embark on a 15 month adventure that I hope will extend to at least 2-3 years either in Europe or somewhere else in the world. I wouldn't be opposed to it extending even further. I would like to explore opportunities in Singapore and Hong Kong or really any other enticing place where there may be a challenging project for me to chew on in the midst of a culturally rich and interesting place.
Canada has been good to me. I have learned so much and grown so much. I was a mere 16 when I moved to Halifax and lived with the lovely Amaratunga family in their gorgeous home on the banks of Lake Micmac. 10 foggy months later I moved to Toronto.
Toronto. T Dot (12 years later I'm still not sure where that comes from). This is a fantastic city. It is so unbelievably culturally rich and diverse. I can eat any cuisine my heart desires and learn about any culture. I love going to Little Portugal and Little Italy during the soccer finale and I love taking in a free concert at the Harborfront in the summers. The festivals every week end of the summer forces you to enjoy the city. Toronto summers are exhilarating. The beach volleyball, the lake, the islands, the food, the people, the culture and the ease. It is so easy to live here, so easy to find a friendly face (although downtown it may be alongside a slightly imbalanced person too but that's part of the charm!).
Its too bad a majority of the fun can be had in a minority of the year. 4 measly months of summer has been a hard pill to swallow given that I had never experienced anything lower that 12C until I moved here! But everything else about Toronto generally makes it worth it and thankfully the summers come just in time to remind me of how great this vibrant city really is.
However, I have been looking for an opportunity to leave for a while. I never really thought it would happen. It was just one of those day dreams. My friends are part of the reason I never pushed myself to find a way earlier. The friends I met in university have stayed with me for 10 years. We are family. We know each other's idiosycrasies and love each other for them. We know when to give each other space and know when to be right there. We have all been through many high points and low points and have ALL always been there. ALL. That is hard to find and I found it here. Perhaps we graduated towards each other because most of us are not from Toronto and don't have immediately family here. So we became each other's. I remember when I was terribly ill one year with the flu. I could barely walk, I was so weak and I was living in a 3 floor house on my own. One friend immediately dispatched another friend with soup and ginger tea. I had to crawl to the door to open it, but they were the only ones to come to my aid in a time of need. If it weren't for them I would have starved because I was too weak to go out and too weak to stand and cook something up. Despite how ill I looked my friend still came in, gave me a hug and made sure I was back upstairs alright before leaving.
There are many other instances where there are no words to express how truly amazing there friends really are. We called ourselves the Museion- the gathering of muses. Rarely do we live up to that name, but we have a lot of fun. The Museion has gathered others along the way, but the bond between the original nucleus is unbreakable. I will forever treasure that and will miss that the most. That has been what has always made me feel safe in a city in which I have been living alone, away from my biological family for many years.
But thanks to the Internet, the world is smaller and they won't seem so far. Thanks skype! :)
With that, skype you later Canada!
Ok, not really. Thankfully my Mom is flying through Milan on her way back to Dubai in about a week and a half and will bring some more of my stuff then.
So Canada, this is it. I will say Au Revoir. Which I think is appropriate since its literal meaning is 'till we see again'.
I am going to embark on a 15 month adventure that I hope will extend to at least 2-3 years either in Europe or somewhere else in the world. I wouldn't be opposed to it extending even further. I would like to explore opportunities in Singapore and Hong Kong or really any other enticing place where there may be a challenging project for me to chew on in the midst of a culturally rich and interesting place.
Canada has been good to me. I have learned so much and grown so much. I was a mere 16 when I moved to Halifax and lived with the lovely Amaratunga family in their gorgeous home on the banks of Lake Micmac. 10 foggy months later I moved to Toronto.
Toronto. T Dot (12 years later I'm still not sure where that comes from). This is a fantastic city. It is so unbelievably culturally rich and diverse. I can eat any cuisine my heart desires and learn about any culture. I love going to Little Portugal and Little Italy during the soccer finale and I love taking in a free concert at the Harborfront in the summers. The festivals every week end of the summer forces you to enjoy the city. Toronto summers are exhilarating. The beach volleyball, the lake, the islands, the food, the people, the culture and the ease. It is so easy to live here, so easy to find a friendly face (although downtown it may be alongside a slightly imbalanced person too but that's part of the charm!).
Its too bad a majority of the fun can be had in a minority of the year. 4 measly months of summer has been a hard pill to swallow given that I had never experienced anything lower that 12C until I moved here! But everything else about Toronto generally makes it worth it and thankfully the summers come just in time to remind me of how great this vibrant city really is.
However, I have been looking for an opportunity to leave for a while. I never really thought it would happen. It was just one of those day dreams. My friends are part of the reason I never pushed myself to find a way earlier. The friends I met in university have stayed with me for 10 years. We are family. We know each other's idiosycrasies and love each other for them. We know when to give each other space and know when to be right there. We have all been through many high points and low points and have ALL always been there. ALL. That is hard to find and I found it here. Perhaps we graduated towards each other because most of us are not from Toronto and don't have immediately family here. So we became each other's. I remember when I was terribly ill one year with the flu. I could barely walk, I was so weak and I was living in a 3 floor house on my own. One friend immediately dispatched another friend with soup and ginger tea. I had to crawl to the door to open it, but they were the only ones to come to my aid in a time of need. If it weren't for them I would have starved because I was too weak to go out and too weak to stand and cook something up. Despite how ill I looked my friend still came in, gave me a hug and made sure I was back upstairs alright before leaving.
There are many other instances where there are no words to express how truly amazing there friends really are. We called ourselves the Museion- the gathering of muses. Rarely do we live up to that name, but we have a lot of fun. The Museion has gathered others along the way, but the bond between the original nucleus is unbreakable. I will forever treasure that and will miss that the most. That has been what has always made me feel safe in a city in which I have been living alone, away from my biological family for many years.
But thanks to the Internet, the world is smaller and they won't seem so far. Thanks skype! :)
With that, skype you later Canada!
April 12, 2009
Italian Consulate - Part III
Ok, I'm trying to catch this blog up to where I am now because I leave Canada in 13 hours!
I had planned on going to the consulate a few days after my return from Ottawa. But before I did I got a call at 7pm one night from Ms. Spedicato. She asked me to come to the consulate the next day. Like I said before, when Ms. Spedicato says jump, you ask how high. I thought it odd that a government official was calling me at 7pm at night especially since govt. officials almost world wide are known for working light hours and are out of the office as soon as the clock hits 4 or 5pm. But I wasn't going to argue, I was glad.
Alessandro was also summoned at the same time. We were ushered in and Ms. Spedicato processed us at the same time. As she went through my documents she came to the letter from Ryerson. After reading it she asked me if I paid for it. She was appalled at the fact that there were 4 spelling mistakes in it! She immediately called up Mr. Ferguson and asked him how a letter from a well established university in an anglophone country could possibly submit a letter with spelling mistakes. He apologised profusely to both her and me and offered to write another letter. Ms. Spedicato informed him that I had gone all the way to Ottawa with that letter to get it legalized and did not have the time to do so again.
She did suggest that perhaps he misspelled 'Sacred Heart' as 'Scared Heart' since he issued the letter on February 13th, however there were three other errors that could not be condoned.
"Would you please refund her money Sir?", she asked in a polite yet stern manner.
Ms. Spedicato was not to be messed with.
I got my DV processed and I got my $15 back from Ryerson the following week.
Italy here I come!
I had planned on going to the consulate a few days after my return from Ottawa. But before I did I got a call at 7pm one night from Ms. Spedicato. She asked me to come to the consulate the next day. Like I said before, when Ms. Spedicato says jump, you ask how high. I thought it odd that a government official was calling me at 7pm at night especially since govt. officials almost world wide are known for working light hours and are out of the office as soon as the clock hits 4 or 5pm. But I wasn't going to argue, I was glad.
Alessandro was also summoned at the same time. We were ushered in and Ms. Spedicato processed us at the same time. As she went through my documents she came to the letter from Ryerson. After reading it she asked me if I paid for it. She was appalled at the fact that there were 4 spelling mistakes in it! She immediately called up Mr. Ferguson and asked him how a letter from a well established university in an anglophone country could possibly submit a letter with spelling mistakes. He apologised profusely to both her and me and offered to write another letter. Ms. Spedicato informed him that I had gone all the way to Ottawa with that letter to get it legalized and did not have the time to do so again.
She did suggest that perhaps he misspelled 'Sacred Heart' as 'Scared Heart' since he issued the letter on February 13th, however there were three other errors that could not be condoned.
"Would you please refund her money Sir?", she asked in a polite yet stern manner.
Ms. Spedicato was not to be messed with.
I got my DV processed and I got my $15 back from Ryerson the following week.
Italy here I come!
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ottawa Canada
My friend suggested we spend the week end in Montreal where we could stay at her parent's place, do a bit of shopping and then head to Ottawa Monday morning to get to the Ministry. It is a 5 hour drive from Toronto to Ottawa and the same to Montreal. But its only 1 hour to Ottawa from Montreal.
We left early Saturday morning and got to Montreal in 4 hours. I've been known to have a lead foot which resulted in a friend nicknaming me Mach 1 many years ago. After this trip she upgraded me to Mach 3. In my defence, I didn't even touch 140Km/hr once. I'll just say cruise control is an amazing thing.
After a lovely week end in Montreal we reached Ottawa Monday morning and headed straight for the Ministry. We parked (for free!) behind the building, entered through the back where a polite security guard checked our IDs and headed on to the lobby where I would wait my turn to be called in to get my documents legalized. While we sat on the couches in the lobby- surrounded by flags from all over the world, we happened to face the set of Canadian provincial flags. Since we had nothing to do while we waited we decided to try and guess what flag belonged to which province. We both scored 1 out of 10!
We left early Saturday morning and got to Montreal in 4 hours. I've been known to have a lead foot which resulted in a friend nicknaming me Mach 1 many years ago. After this trip she upgraded me to Mach 3. In my defence, I didn't even touch 140Km/hr once. I'll just say cruise control is an amazing thing.
After a lovely week end in Montreal we reached Ottawa Monday morning and headed straight for the Ministry. We parked (for free!) behind the building, entered through the back where a polite security guard checked our IDs and headed on to the lobby where I would wait my turn to be called in to get my documents legalized. While we sat on the couches in the lobby- surrounded by flags from all over the world, we happened to face the set of Canadian provincial flags. Since we had nothing to do while we waited we decided to try and guess what flag belonged to which province. We both scored 1 out of 10!
In my defence, I didn't grow up in Canada. I know I try and sneak that excuse on almost everything, but this time I think its valid! My friend was born and brought up in Quebec, Canada. We have both lived in Toronto for about 11 years so you would think that we would get the Ontario flag right, right? Wrong! We both knew the Quebec flag and that's it! Shameful I know.
As we texted friends trying pathetically to describe the flags in front of us so they may google and let us know, my name was called.
Before heading back to Toronto we decided to see the frozen Rudeau Canal. It's quite amazing to see people skate along a whole canal with coffee shops and skate rental booths set up along the ice. While we were sliding around in our sneakers amazed that we were standing on the canal, I saw a maintenance truck drive by in front of us. I know they say that ice is thick, but thats when I decided to step off the ice.
We had lunch and made it back to Toronto...in 4 hours.
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