up close and personal

OK I’ve done the useful part last time, so I just want to write about personal impressions so far.
To me somehow MBA is a program of extremes – it’s like a rollercoaster, when at certain moments you are flying high above the ground, but at others you’re so close to it, you don’t know if you survive…
When people are describing MBA, they refer to the time as best in their lives, but there are some things I wish I have known about MBA in advance:
· First very simple thing, which is very hard to get used to – how hard it is financially. Probably, London is not the cheapest place to live in and probably LBS is not the cheapest program, but it’s really hard. All of us worked before and had certain life style – mine included getting out with friends, travels and many presents for those I love. JUST FORGET ABOUT IT. The earlier the better. I am here on my own and I work part time to pay for my apartment and bills and the most luxurious indulgences I can afford are strawberries for breakfast (sometimes) and Mango shower cream (because I am absolutely addicted to both) – not much. When I just came to London I could not adopt very fast and continued my normal life which resulted in the fact that I have spent 5 times more then I expected in the first month. So probably the orientation program should include course called “Effective money management” or “How to survive without money” – I am sure the course will be very popular especially among girls.
· Secondly and much more importantly for me – how very often superficial are the relationships among people. Maybe, it’s cultural thing and my perception is influenced by certain stereotypes, it doesn’t help to feel better however. When you are new in the environment, you try to know as many people as possible, just not to feel lonely. This means that people do the first step very easily, but then most of them do not have strength to make the second. As a result you have many acquaintances and almost no friends – you are always surrounded by people and you are always lonely. The fact that people are very often extremely competitive (and probably I am one of those people:-() makes communication even more difficult. I have not figured out how to overcome this barrier, but noticed that in many cases people stay very reserved.
· The last thing is stress – I always worked hard and almost always in a very stressful environment (you know, Russian business also reminds me of a rollercoaster), but here I feel the pressure much more then I used to do at work. So, my advice is to expect a lot of pressure and to try to protect yourself somehow. And by the way, the fact that you’re on the dean’s list doesn’t guarantee you’re a great person and internship at UBS doesn’t transform you to god (please, don’t tell UBS, though).


· Now about good things. My birthday was couple of weeks ago and my whole stream (70 people) was singing “Happy Birthday” to me, later that day I had a dinner with my new friends (yes, despite above said I do have friends here) and they said a lot of good things to me. Complete surprise – not that I think that I don’t deserve good thingsJ, but it’s so nice to feel that somebody cares about you.
· My friends from Moscow came to me last week and we spent great time together. For the first time after the studies started I have not done anything connected to MBA for a whole day (I have not slept for 2 nights after, but it doesn’t count). We were walking a lot, went to STOMP show and had a lot of fun. Now I know where to take my parents in summer J - they do not speak English, but for STOMP it’s not necessary.
· I am doing acting classes – and it’s much fun also. As every girl, from the age of 12 to 15, I received a lot of Oscars and had plans to marry Johnny Depp , but then he has chosen Vanessa Paradis (without even asking me first) and I started to study math…. So MBA gave me an opportunity to feel myself a movie star again. I can’t say that it’s easy for me, but the teacher is great and the group is very supporting.

I think I can go on forever …. And yes, next time it will be practical again (about Morgan Stanley “portfolio in peril” simulation).