The MBA programme officially ends in Sep. The last couple of months is set aside for the Individual Project which can be an academic/research piece or an internship or both.

Meanwhile, because classes have ended and some people will start to leave Cambridge, on Wed, 10 Jun 09, the Director gave us a Farewell Session. Much like how the Welcome Session on the first day.


The difference is that we now know one another pretty well. Everyone knows everyone by first name.



Afterwards, we went to Christ's College for a garden party by the invitation of 2 rather senior classmates. =))

We had wine and chats. Such a lovely gesture by our classmates.

This is the Christ's College garden, packed with MBAs.

The event was lovely, except that it was marred by some competitive idiot who deliberately came up to me to say some nasty things while we were standing there enjoying the wine and lawn. =_=

Towards the end of the garden party, we got hungry. So, we started to round up people for dinner. We got Wontak (South Korea) to talk to the Little Seoul people... And we got the nice private space to ourselves.


Even Dr Runde joined us!

He was clearly relieved that his first batch of MBA students (he just took over the directorship in 2008) have completed classes. It must have been a tough year for him.


The last day of class took place on Fri, 12 Jun 09.


The last lecture was by Lord Stevenson and his friends from the Tate.


And the day ended with drinks (courtesy of Lord Stevenson) at Brown's.

It was the last session. Many many people were present. There was excessive chatting and urgent bidding of farewell.

Here we have Dr Runde's good/bad, i.e. Ken (Japan) and Darren (US). He will remember them for a long time to come. =))


MBA THOUGHTS & REVELATIONS

Through the MBA programme, I have been nursing some thoughts. This is probably a good time to put them in words.

(A) What does an MBA look like? (On the Individual)

Before I started on the MBA programme, I thought it would be full of super-smarts and aggressive alphas. By now, it is apparent that while there are some such stereotypes in the programme, there are also some who take it upon themselves to act like a stereotype, when they really are not made that way.

It can potentially get quite hilarious when observing someone trying to be 'MBA-like' as if that means anything to begin with. I remind myself that I've seen this happen before. There were perfectly decent people who heard that the fashion industry was a bitchy mess, and so decided to act that role to appear 'authentic' and to 'fit in'.

(B) We are the World! (On the Group)

Because the Cambridge MBA is culturally-diverse, differences along cultural fault lines are too apparent to ignore. Cliques are formed quickly and firmly. Beyond the polite hellos, it is sometimes difficult to break into these groups.

On a specific occasion, a clique of about 25 mainly from UK, US and Australia made a weekend trip to another British city. Judging from Facebook pictures, it was a rather well-planned trip by a native and the Anglo-Saxon group had a lot of well-intoxicated fun. But this visibility resulted in some sourness amongst the class, especially amongst those who thought they were minimally associated with some in the group.

Of course, the person who publicly pointed out the exclusivity of that group had to be a European. On the side, my German friend wondered aloud to me whether those from the EU ought to be starting something on their own. =))

Separately and subsequently, a couple of Mainland Chinese organised a karaoke session and invited only (south)East Asians and overseas East Asians (e.g. Canadian-born Chinese). However, the reaction to this party was rather different as those on the guest lists aren't really tied together by any sort of meaningful 'social/common glue', e.g. language or religion or amicable history etc. They just happen to look more or less similar. In the end, the invitation for the event was expanded to include classmates from outside of the original list. And perhaps so, the event did not result in any 'public outcry'.

I observed these incidents with much curiosity. 2 issues struck me hard.

(1) Overseas East Asians are on both lists. Regardless of maturity/age, they are generally friendly with everyone. More so than those who reside in their country of ethic origin. Perhaps this 'friendly with everyone' disposition is what they have acquired growing up with people who are not like themselves.

(2) Judging from the reaction of some in class, being part of the Anglo-Saxon group is cooler than not being part of it. I wonder this has to do with history, visible consumption power of those represented in class, 'real' GDP per capita, or it's just plain group/peer dynamics.

And all this time, other quiet and rather invisible groups, such as the Russians, the Indians etc, have been doing their own thing.

Upon such observations, I extrapolate the dynamics to the world politics level, shake my head and worry about the world's future incessantly.

(C) Growing Together (Just on us...)

Between 'Good Fren' and me, this has been the best experience of our 3.5-year relationship... yet. From inception to execution to completion. Our attempt at putting together our home some time ago comes quite close, but not as thorough as this experience.

Because we have gone through the same MBA programme, it may be tempting to think that we have been doing the same stuff twice over. Actually, we cannot over-emphasise the importance of ‘division of labour’. E.g. I cook, he washes. I organise the social gatherings, he collects the payment. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We joke about applying to the same company and offering ourselves as a ‘package’, because we can function extremely effectively as a team. We wonder whether any hiring person out there will recognise this odd yet precious potential.

Through this rather ‘safe’ experiment/experience, we have learnt even more about each other and ourselves. We can see and feel the changes, and we had each other to grab onto while the changes took place. Some more painfully, than others.
.....................................................

The MBA journey has almost ended... This is also the start of the next phase... It excites me to think about the possibilities amidst this pessimistic economic climate.