Sunday, 08-Sept-2024, through Tuesday, 10-Sept-2024
My MBA has officially begun.
I boarded a bus at Trinity, after walking the lovely 30minutes to campus, and found myself surrounded by the people who would be my peers for the next 12 months. It was exciting, intimidating, and overall a completely awe inspiring situation – I couldn’t quite tell you the specifics, but the air was different than the first days of a new job. It was electric, a bit more collaborative, and significantly more excited. These were all people who had chosen to be here – people who were new to the program, and often to the country, all of whom were energetic and ready to dive into the program.
I’ll admit – a little bit overwhelming. But in a good way? In a good way.
The bus pulled out, and we headed toward Athlone.
The Trinity MBA program is split in two – Full-time MBA folks, like myself, and “executive” MBAs who’re doing the program part-time. We were all mixed up together for this orientation, starting off in a small town about an hour and a half away. We’d be sitting in on seminars, doing some team building activities, having meals together… All the things you’d expect from a high-flying program like this.
It was absolutely lovely.
I’ll be honest, though, I was a bit anxious when we started out. I had a rough understanding of the schedule, but for details… well, that was a bit more tenuous. I knew when I’d be attending the various seminars, but… where they were? Where I was staying? Where we’d be eating? No details to be had.
But you know what? Something I’ve been getting better at is sitting back and trusting that, at least here, things will work out. In this case, it worked out perfectly.
I found myself in a lovely hotel room, with a fairly solid understanding of what’d be going down. I knew the conference rooms, the schedule, and the vague idea of where meals would be. Packing, and then unpacking, were second nature for me at this point… so with time to spare, I actually had a bit of free time to relax. I was getting the hang of this adventure – less worry, more patience, and a lot more serenity.
The orientation went on for a full day, along with two more half-days, so it’s not really viable to write everything out… so instead, a quick summary is:
- We kicked off with an “Indoor team building event”, which was… drumroll please… building a bridge out of paper, tape, straws, balloons, and string! It went well… then it came time to drive a little remote control car over the bridge, and it unfortunately went a bit sideways. Literally, as the car got stuck on the bridge. But still – fun, enjoyable, teambuilding.
- I went to Ireland’s Oldest Pub! Sean’s Bar is the oldest in Ireland, and was within perfect walking distance of the hotel… thankfully a few classmates kicked off the adventure, and I was able to swing by a bit afterward to join in on the fun.
- A few seminars on career development kicked off the “learning” portion of the orientation – they weren’t technical, but a mix of info about the program and insights into how we could get the most out of said program.
- The outdoor teambuilding activity was my jam. We engineered contraptions to carry water, pile up pyramids, and even did a neat puzzle game with laying boards across “chasms”. The craziest was a “direct people only using whistles, bells, and claps”… which was absolutely as ridiculous as it sounds. I had a blast, got to know a few classmates, and built quite a few solid bonding moments.
- There was a BBQ dinner! It… uhh… didn’t have any BBQ. Sad faces were had by all. But we went back to Sean’s Pub for a pint, and it was all better
Absolutely an amazing intro to the group, to the program, and to the serene “it’ll work out” nature of Ireland. I was happy, optimistic, and energetic for the next steps of orientation that’d happen later in the week, on campus and in person…
