Surf competition on Bondi Beach, Sydney
Bondi Beach, Sydney
Opera House at night, and also the view from our table for my birthday dinner




Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House
Sydney across the harbour
Sydney Harbour Bridge
Downtown Sydney
Downtown Sydney

University and Allocation

Hello!

It’s been a while since I’ve written and I had anticipated to write a new blog much sooner. Time however, is very limited when you are doing your Master’s. I really wish there were more than 24 hours in a day because I’m not quite able to get my 8 hours of sleep in. But I will make it work!

I will apologize ahead of time if my response to your e-mail or message is delayed! Life has been very busy and it will only continue to get busier each week.

Right now I’m in week 3 of this semester. In total there are 10 weeks of class and 2 weeks of specific projects that must be done. Along with the usual of class, we have to go to networking events and skill building seminars which are done outside of class time (for some of these seminars we get credits). Each class requires 2-5 readings of text, articles, or chapters per class. So, for 4 classes a week I average about 9 readings a week, which may not seem like a lot but unfortunately they are not a 2 page article, but rather 20-30 pages per reading. So that keeps me a little busy as well. I have four hours of class a day, plus group meetings/projects before and after class.

So as I had mentioned in the last blog, we were finally told where this program will take us next! I will do the next semester in Rotterdam, in The Netherlands, and the semester after that I will be going to Barcelona, Spain! Both these countries were in my top 5 choices out of 24 countries. I’m very lucky to have both countries out of my top 5 since the majority of the students only received 1 out of their top 5. I am very happy to be studying in The Netherlands since the Rotterdam School of Management is a high ranking, reputable university (with an even heavier workload... so I’ve heard). Furthermore, I’m very excited to live in The Netherlands again close to friends and family, and most importantly much closer to my Dad... I’m extremely glad that I can return to him sooner than anticipated.

The last semester of this program will be done in Barcelona. Although I already experienced two great cities in Spain in 2007, I only know a small fraction of Barcelona itself. I have heard great things about the university known as ESADE. This will also be another opportunity for me to use and improve my Spanish.

Interestingly all these schools keep me quite close to the ocean, which I quite like!

I reckon this blog will be a bit different than my Ecuador blog. Given that the workload and program is very intensive, I have little time to get myself into interesting, unpredictable, semi-dangerous, situations. As such, this blog will focus on a whole different journey. To keep you interested, I will try to throw in some random thoughts or facts. For example, English words that I was unfamiliar with before I arrived in Australia are: queue, fortnightly and bond. Which mean: line-up, bi-weekly, and damage deposit for a rental property.

Furthermore, the city of Sydney has been fantastic so far. It has many parks and sport amenities as well as many harbours of course. It is very easy to get around the city by means of bus and train... I prefer to walk however so that I may encounter interesting, unpredictable things. Additionally, the food is great! Every ethnic food is available, although I have yet to find the Dutch Pancake house (although once a month a lady comes to the university to sell Poffertjes!).

And just to recap or perhaps clarify, the semester I am doing now in Sydney will count towards my Master’s of Management. The semesters that I will do in Rotterdam and Barcelona will count towards my Master’s of International Management... hence why I will get two Master’s once I’m done.

I would also like to quickly thank everyone for the birthday wishes and cards! Thankfully my roommates retrieved my mail out of the mailbox which is home to a very large hairy spider. I celebrated my 24th birthday having dinner and drinks with friends in Circular Quay Harbour with a great view of the Opera House from our dinner table.

Returning to my point of not getting my 8 hours of sleep in ...I’m off to bed! For most of you, enjoy the whole of Tuesday yet, and for the others, enjoy whatever remainder of Tuesday is left! That’s worded awkwardly— sleep is calling me ...Goodnight!

Program Structure and First Week in Sydney

I’ve been in Sydney for a week and a half now and a lot has happened. Last week Wednesday through Friday we had orientation which was only for the Master of Management or Master of Management CEMS students. It’s a very small group. About 40 students total; of those 40 about 20 are doing the Master of Management and doing all of their semesters in Australia. This group consists of both local and international students. There are about 12 students doing the Master of Management CEMS program. These students are known as Incoming CEMS Exchange students. Those students are doing the exact same program as me but are already in their second semester and have chosen Australia as their second semester exchange university. Then there is a group 8 students, including me, who are the CEMS students in their first semester. Wherever a CEMS student does their first semester is their “home university”. So for me, University of Sydney is my home university. So those students who are perhaps coming from London School of Economics or from Rotterdam School of Management, will receive their master’s from that specific university. Wherever you start is where you receive your Master’s from. But what makes this program so unique is that we receive two Master’s degrees; one from the “home university” and one from the CEMS organization in Europe.

Tomorrow will be a very interesting day. Tomorrow our fate will be told! The group of 8 students will find out to which country they have been allocated to for their second semester.

This MM CEMS (Master of Management CEMS) program is very intense. We have four compulsory courses. I have class from Monday to Thursday and each day is dedicated to a different class. For example, Wednesday is dedicated entirely to Managerial Economics with 2 hours of class in the morning and 2 hours of the same class and professor in the afternoon. Fridays are reserved for group work which every class heavily emphasizes. There are about 3 readings to do each night to prepare for class the next day.

I must say orientation for the new Master’s students was rather intense. Although class did not officially begin until March 1^st, we already had group projects and had to do quite a bit of work. On Friday we had a very formal seminar with a company called Deloitte. We had to meet downtown Sydney at the Deloitte offices and we had an afternoon filled with information and more group projects. I found it to be quite interesting.

Last week was the week where all the students came back to the University; basically what happens in our September semester. They call it O-week here and they have many events that allow you to get to know the University. There was an opportunity for the students to check out all the clubs and societies that the university has. It ranged from sports, to political views, and religions, and causes... I can’t even describe it but they literally had a club for every student! They even have a chocolate society! And it definitely reinforced the stereotype associated with chocolate because the whole booth was surrounded by females. I myself joined the ski and snowboard group. I’m not exactly sure what it all entails but it’s mostly a way to socialize.

My weekend was quite busy as well since I was looking for a more permanent form of accommodation. I stayed at a very nice hostel for the week but of course having a room of your own is very nice as well. I highly recommend the hostel I stayed at for anyone, including older people and families.

Finding a private room in Sydney is not that easy however. There are many apartments that are “over-rented”. Some apartments are a bit cheaper but you’re most likely going to be sharing a room with 3 or 4 other people. Some other students had inspected apartments where 10 people or more were living; sleeping in the bathtub, on the balcony and in the kitchen. This situation seemed to come up quite often and among a certain group of people that I won’t mention. Either way, I found a place close to the University; about 10 minutes walking. It’s quite nice and I’m living with a Dutch girl, an Italian couple, and a guy from New Zealand. There was a rather big spider in the hallway yesterday, it was hairy and about 3cm big (crunched up) and FORTUNATELY it was dead. I kindly asked the New Zealand guy to dispose of it. I knew it was dead but having to walk past it every time wasn’t that great.

My perspective of time has altered somewhat. Although I did not suffer from jetlag, somehow the feeling of time has slowed. I’m not sure what it is, but last week Tuesday seems weeks ago.

Since my time here I’ve eaten kangaroo steak two times and it is quite tasty. I would compare it to a normal steak, it’s red meat and has the same type of texture.

So far I really like Sydney. I’ve walked a lot in the downtown area and it’s a clean, lively city but relaxing at the same time.