Early days

16 days into life at Fuqua, I'm beginning to get the gist of what my life is going to be like over the next 2 years. I see a lot of alchohol, a lot of Franklin Street and late night cab rides home, a lot of high stress, a lot of group dynamics and a ton of memories (good and bad) coming up. This an exciting time for me. I've already started discovering things about myself that I would never have without this experience. Some of them are flattering and enhance my sense of self, while some of them are plain depressing. Either way, it all adds up towards my cherished goal of "self awareness".

Orientation week is a bit of a haze already. I know there were a lot of speakers talking about a lot of great things but that's as far as my memory serves me. I do remember all the bars we hit during the evenings though :). One of the highlights of O week for me was the scavenger hunt. I think that was an excellent way of throwing people into a fast paced, intense but fun situation that led to instant bonding. My team got lucky as we got a double Dukie who knew almost all the on campus locations. My contribution to the team in the spirit of team Fuqua was to shave my back and paint my face blue (paint) and white (with lotion. that's right). I decided not to go as far as getting a Mohawk. Not with official picture day the next day. My teammate C was a trooper though and took one for the team. A quick trip to Target, a cheap set of clippers, and one dirty bathroom later, he was sporting what was one of only 3 mohawks in the entire first year.

To cap off orientation week, the 2nd years organized a kickass 80s party! It was the first 80s party for a lot of people and people got totally into it! My personal wardrobe consisted of items from Wal-mart, Target, the salvation army center and the local thrift store. I thought I had a great outfit, so did the guy dressed up as Magnum PI, so did the guy dressed up as "maverick" from Top Gun....until the Ghost Busters arrived!! All four of them! Those guys were awesome. Needless to say, they picked up the "best dressed" prize.

This week is dedicated to the Integrated Leadership Experience which is essentially all about ethics, leadership, multi-culturalism and bonding with your classmates and study teams. I'm looking forward to the rock climbing thing tomorrow!

In between all the fun, I did get some studying done. Survived my first test at Fuqua, made my first team presentation and did some assignments with N.

ps: I just realized I didn't talk about the section olympics! So much to talk about, so little time!

Dr. Phil in Durham

I'm just a little drunk. Scratch that. I'm quite drunk. Naa. I've had a lot to drink. Yeah, that's what I was looking for. 7 beers and 1 bacardi and coke is a lot of booze! The idea of mentioning this is to set the tone for the rest of the post.

Shoutout to N if you read this :). I decided to jot my thoughts down despite the reservations I talked to you about today.
It seems like some people do read this blog, so....Disclaimer: the following contains random thoughts and observations and attempts at psychoanalysis which are more than likely completely off base. I shall type out an actual account of the fun things going on in my next post.

Over the last 3 weeks in Durham, I've probably had more to drink than the last year! (okay so maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but you get the point). All people want to do is go out and party (read: drink). The 5 days of health sector bootcamp was the only respite I got from the non-stop socializing. I use the word "respite" because it was reaching a point where it was getting a little tiresome. Of course, I spent those 5 days freaking out thinking I'm the dumbest kid in class since I had no idea what anyone was talking about. And then they thrust this project on us that made absolutely no sense to me. We (my team and I) did figure it out in the end, but that was pretty stressful.

So coming back to the social aspect, the dynamics at play have been quite interesting. Everyone I've met has been *really* friendly and people are really nice out here. However, the fact is that B school is going to attract a lot of different personality types. So you have the extremely driven types, who want to meet everyone and do as much "networking" as possible. Watching them at a party/social event is like watching someone doing the speed dating thingie. They'll be really friendly with everyone but it's like they're constantly assessing your worth based on their own criteria. They'll determine your value, spend some time with you depending on your perceived value (the value could be social, professional etc) and then quickly move on to the next person. You won't really know why the person who was so friendly the last time doesn't really have time for you the next time you meet him/her.

Then there are the people I like to refer to as "hawks". These are the single people who're constantly making a different kind of assessment. They're trying to sample the "market" out there, figuring out what their options are and positioning themselves to have the best "shot" at a potential girlfriend/boyfriend. These people move quickly through the group and single out the potentially interesting/good-looking guys/girls and focus on them. This can be bad for your ego if you think you're the shit (to borrow from my teenage cousins' lingo) and people basically "pass" on you disdainfully :).

Then there are the people who're trying to get to know as many people as possible simply because they've moved to a new city and don't really know other folks. They want to make sure they give themselves the best shot at being included in any groups/cliques that might get formed over the initial days since no one wants to be left out. Everyone wants to find that group of friends that they can hang out with casually or just "chill out at home and sit on the couch and chat" as M said. They try to meet as many people as possible.

Finally, there are the people who are genuinely interested in their classmates and just want to chat sans agenda. They just want to get to know people, where they're from, what they want to do etc.

I do *not* think I fall in the last category unfortunately. Also, I haven't necessarily been guilty of or been at the receiving end of any of this.

These dynamics don't really lead to a bad atmosphere. Everyone still has a good time and I've made some great friends.

The other observation I have is about the international students. Despite all the talk about the diverse student body, I see a lot of segregation. A lot of the students from S. East Asia (China, S. Korea etc) and India tend to stay in their own little groups. There might be some interaction, but it's at a very superficial level. This body of students hasn't really been socializing with the rest of the student body. It might be a cultural (going to bars/clubs might not be everyones thing) and/or language (some people aren't that fluent in English) thing. Some (international) students might feel intimidated by the prospect of interacting with other people in a social setting where all the above mentioned dynamics leave very little room for talking to someone slowly, casually and without pressure. Hopefully this will change with time as school starts.

More on HSM bootcamp, settling in at NC, partying in Durham/Chapel Hill etc in next post.