Gauri Sambre

When I took the decision of pursuing MBA I knew my life was going to change but what I had imagined was far different from how it actually rolled ever since I started my journey with this esteemed institute that is VESIM and it all started with the outbound program. When I first saw our schedule I was a bit confused as to why a college would organize an overnight program before people even knew each other and like many other students I thought it was going to be a bit difficult to adjust. But as I went ahead with the journey I soon realized the purpose of it and how well the college had fulfilled it. 

I reported at the college at 7 am as per schedule and joined in the hustle and bustle of the students and the staff. Soon we were provided with breakfast and left the premises in our respective buses around 9 o clock. There were 60 unknown faces in the bus and I was still a bit nervous when one of the staff members came forward and told us that we had two ways of commencing this journey, one was to sit quietly engrossed in our phones or sleep and other by playing a game to pass time and interact with other students. As soon as he announced this some students took lead and we all started playing games. Being an introvert person that I am I was surprised to have found myself engaged in enjoying the company of total strangers. 

We reached Rambhau Mhalgi Prabhodini (our venue) around 12.30 And here there were 180 unknown people that I was going to have to adjust with. But then the first activity itself was planned so tactfully and in a way that all students would get to know each other. We were asked to form different groups and introduce ourselves and talk about our interests and many other things with different people who also shared their views and opinions about various things. Through this activity I learned that the students I was interacting with were not only from different academical backgrounds but also from different cultural backgrounds and had come from all over the country. This was the first time I was talking in depth with people from different cities and states. It helped me gain knowledge about their cultures and lifestyles. Later we were allotted our rooms and by this time all my nervousness had vanished into the thin air. I was ready to make friends with my roommates and as I had expected we all got along in no time. 

The next activities were planned in a way that we had to apply management skills such as planning, organizing resources, problem solving, decision making, co-operating ,time management etc in the 

tasks. It was probably the first time that I was practically using all that I had learned in the past five years. It was the first step towards a corporate lifestyle. That was when I realized that MBA is all about practical knowledge and application skills. There was also a sports activity in which we all got a reality check about where our physical strength stood and how much we need to work on it. 

Overall it was an amazing experience by the end of which everyone was comfortable with each other and it gave us a good gist of the entire MBA journey that stood ahead of us. I am nothing but grateful that I participated in this program and saw a positive transformation in myself.