Two Weeks of Crazy

Where have the last two weeks gone? Technically, although the MBA programme doesn't officially begin till tomorrow, life has already become a whirlwind of studying, socialising and travelling....oh and settling into London.

Studying

Since July, we've had quite a few things to do as pre-course work for the Leadership module at LBS. Mainly these have been surveys - lots and lots of surveys. I've lost count of the number of surveys I've completed from LBS. Our pre-course reading list also got released not that long ago, with a case and several articles that we need to prepare before our first class next week. There's also an official assignment to submit before the end of next week - and yes, that's a graded assignment.

Amongst all this official pre-work, some of us are trying to finish up the online pre-courses in finance, accounting and quantitative methods (some of us have given up); some of us are studying to try and pass the waiver exam for Managerial Accounting and Finance; some of us are brushing up on our language skills to get ahead in/pass the language diagnostic test (of which level 2 is scarily difficult for a second language).

Socialising

As people settle in and arrive in London, there's always some social event somewhere. The official Flat Hunters' Pub Crawls began on 4th August and so far there have been five events at different pubs around London. Don't let the name fool you though, because most people at these events have already found flats and are just there to party :). There's also been a tennis social and a couple of pedibus tours organised. Plus lots of lunches, dinners, drinks - there's really no lack of company!

Travelling

Our class is apparently the first to have organised a pre-MBA trek. About 50 of us and partners were over in Barcelona recently. Aside from this, we're already had the opportunity to participate in any treks organised by the various clubs at LBS. During this time, it appears that the sailing club has been the most active, it being summer. Signups to the sailing club treks have been on a first-come-first-serve basis, including putting payment down for the trek up front. Aside from this, those who have arrived in London earlier and are more settled, have organised thheir own trips in small groups as well.

Oh and as for recruiting, the consulting firms - Mckinsley, Bain and BCG in particular, have already organised pre-MBA events too where attendees were introduced to the world of consulting. And of course, the opportunity to network with existing consultants.

Does it sound like b-school has already begun? It certainly does to me. Timetables were released a few days ago and our calendars are now chocker. Bring on the mayhem tomorrow!

Save on Transport in London - To Do Before You Arrive

This post is meant for new travellers to London or future admits travelling to London for the first time for the Admits Weekend. Or anyone who doesn't know of the Visitor Oyster Card. This can help you save while travelling around in London.

If you're in London, chances are you'll end up using public transport at some point - the tube, bus or train to get around. London is very well connected via public transport (unlike NZ!). Locals carry the Oyster Card which is the cheapest way to pay for single journeys on bus, Tube, tram, DLR, London Overground, Tfl Rail and most National Rail services in London.

I recommend that visitors or people first moving to London get the Visitors Oyster Card which gives you local travel prices on public transport. Thing is, you can only purchase it online and have it posted to your home country. It can take 8-10 working days to get there so make sure you buy it in plenty of time before depart! You can't buy it within London from a ticket station unlike the regular Oyster Card. Well actually you might be able to and have it shipped to a UK address where you can pick it up, but I've not investigated this.

The difference between the Visitors Oyster Card and the normal Oyster Card is that you only pay £3 for the card vs £5 for the normal card (though you'd need to pay shipping fee so get the card posted so it does end up costing more overall for the card alone). But the Visitors card also gives you access to promotional offers on attractions too. See here for details. Like the regular Oyster Card, just top up when you run out of credit on the card.

By getting the card sent to you, you save right from the start travelling from the airport to your accommodation in the city via train or tube. You can also use your Visitor Oyster card to pay for travel on train services to/from Gatwick Airport, including the Gatwick Express. The airports are really well connected. I took the tube from Heathrow to my mate's place in Canning Town and using the Visitor Oyster Card, it cost me £3.10 (off peak). If I'd paid cash, the same journey would've cost £6. You can look up fare prices here on Transport For London.

For visitors not planning to return to London, you can cash out any leftover credit in your card before you leave. As for admits to LBS, you might as well keep the card for when you return to London as it would take some time to apply for a student Oyster Card.

Overview | LBS Admits Weekend Part 1

I recently returned from attending the London Business School Admits Weekend held last week. Let me just say upfront - for those who are planning to apply for the MBA programme at LBS in future, you really don't want to miss the May Admits Weekend! It's part of the whole amazing MBA experience at LBS and is worth every penny and km of travel...at least that's how I felt. So I'm really glad I flew halfway around the world to attend it as I would have been kicking myself otherwise :)

I'll be doing a bit of a series regarding the event, including all the very useful information about the MBA programme itself that I can recall from the event - answers by the program team & current students. It should hopefully provide some helpful information for anyone researching the LBS MBA program and current admits who missed the event.

A bit of a run down on what I did in London last week leading up to the event:

Sunday

• Arrived in London mid afternoon completely exhausted from over 14 hours of flying from Singapore. Couldn't sleep a wink on the flights so I'd gone almost 48 hours without sleep due to the time difference.
• Managed to last till 8.30pm London time before I fell asleep mid conversation with the mate kindly hosting me. I tried very hard to stay up to a decent hour to minimise jet lag.

Monday

• Woke up at 7.30am London time ~ yay not really jet lagged!
• Planned to get a UK SIM so I could get data connection rather than using auto roaming - made sense to just get one now since I'd be moving to London later anyway. As I was staying in East London not far from Stratford, I headed out to explore Stratford and the huge Westfield Mall there that was developed for the London Olympics. I'm also a Westfield stockholder so I figured it would be nice to see one of my investments in person ;)
• Spent the day wandering about Stratford, visited 4 different supermarkets and picked up my SIM before heading back for dinner with my mates.

Tuesday

• Woke up early too but felt kinda lazy and tired. Considered going to town briefly but didn't feel up to it.
• Spent the day instead exploring Canning Town and er...the supermarket >.<
• Headed back earlier for another night of good home cooked dinner and interesting conversation spanning risk management, London real estate, Michelin star restaurants and politics.

Wednesday

• Woke up early again and the weather was pretty lousy. Had a mid-morning nap while waiting for the rain to stop so I could go out :p
• Headed to central London to check out the Museum of London. I love how most of London's museums are free. Interesting fact: in excavating to build the Crossrail line, they discovered a tradition Maori weapon artefact. Seems NZ has followed me to London ;)
• Headed to the National Portrait Gallery to escape the rain. The Tudor gallery is highly recommended!
• Met an old schoolmate for dinner in Covent Garden

Thursday

• Met up with another MBA admit for lunch and to wander around Paddington/Little Venice in the afternoon. We'd arranged it via WhatsApp.
• Around 40 of us who were already in London then met up at a rooftop bar (very pretty views and highly popular with the professionals) for some pre-Admits Weekend socialising. This was followed by taking over another bar (much cheaper drinks) and then splitting up to have a very late dinner. Met amazing people and marvelled over the background diversity.
• Some of the group headed out clubbing afterwards. Was getting late and felt bad if I got back really late and woke my kind hosts up, so headed home with people going in the same direction to arrive at midnight.

Friday

• Met up with new friends from last night for drinks in afternoon...and met a few more new people
• Wandered around the area before heading to a pub near the LBS welcome reception venue in Shoreditch.
• Met more new people at the very packed pub and had very loud conversations over the din. Did not make time to have dinner - big mistake
• Headed to the LBS welcome reception starving. Good thing there were nibbles but unfortunately they were nibbles.
• It was a massive turnout with current student ambassadors. Met even more new amazing people and had more very loud conversations over everyone else's very loud conversations. Repeated where I was from, what I did, what I wanted to do over and over and over...you get used to it.
• Had an amazing time but passed on the post event clubbing/partying as I wanted to be awake for the full on Admits Weekend day.

Moral of the story - plan to be in London early for unofficial pre-event socialising! It's much easier to meet and remember names and faces in batches.

Next up is a detailed post on the first official day of the Admits Weekend :)

Seeing More of NZ - Easter Trip to Cape Reinga

So it struck me that with only a few months left in NZ, I've not played in my own backyard enough. How did it happen that in the last decade, I've not made time to fully appreciate the natural wonders here? As such, I planned a camping trip (or some would say "glamping" since the camp grounds had hot showers) up North to Pukenui and Cape Reinga which I've always wanted to see but never got round to.

I'm so glad I did! The views were simply amazing and reminded me of what I'll be missing when I leave. Below are some of the highlights from my trip :)

Earth meets sky at 90 Mile Beach low tide

Sand dunes beside grassy hills at Cape Reinga

Sunset sky at Cape Reinga

Stunning sunset at Cape Reinga - in the center you can see the waves from the clash of the Tasman Sea & Pacific Ocean

Cape Reinga lighthouse

Henderson Bay - quite a popular surfers beach

Matai Bay is very round so you can see waves at its mouth where the water collides

You can fish off these rocks at Matai Bay

Shipwreck Bay

Low tide at Shipwreck Bay - Panorama

River at Spirits Bay - up ahead is a stunning shell beach