Homecoming, my MBA journey post internship -By Udita Nayak from XIMB Bhubaneswar

I still remember the time when my friends and I were heading to our respective internships. The journey was uncertain and with a lot at stake, we were skeptical about a plethora of things. We had thoughts about how the internship will turn out, how the new city will treat us and the entire paranoia surrounding the much-awaited PPOs, among other things. Surprisingly, when I retrospect now, none of us gave thought to the fact that the Part-1 of our much anticipated MBA journey is coming to a dramatic end. After this intermission (our internships), we will be coming back as Second-year students to finish off the Part-2 of our MBA life. This was going to be a roller coaster ride of emotions.

Back to my second home

As we came back to this place, our second home, the excitement and thrill knew no bounds. The incoming batch brought in a motley of new faces, 360 to be precise. They were clueless, inquisitive and inherently excited for exuberance of the first year of their MBA journey. All of a sudden, I was a senior to these folks, their knight in shining armor. This also made me realize that in no time, I will be an alumnus of this college. This was a realization which was very difficult to digest.

One thing that remains implicit is the high paced life of MBA students. Right from the commencement of our second year, we were continuously bombarded with lectures, batch meets, committee work, the confusion of changing electives based on our experience of internship and catching up with our “not so” long lost buddies. Yes, the best part of coming back to college is actually coming back to people who are your friends, competitors, critics, family and whatnot. They are the ones who actually remind you of the song “You are my sunshine”. The reason is simple. They all actually brighten up your day, no matter what the circumstance is.

Friends = Family

I can vividly recall the day when I arrived back to campus after completing the internship. I was feeling a bit homesick when a Whatsapp message popped up asking, “Bro, have you reached?” It was that moment when I knew that this place is my second home. All the memories of the first year are special because they include incidences related to these people, my family. Batch meets, group studies, meals and even grades wouldn’t have been the same without them.

I have a gut feeling that the second year of my MBA journey is going to be a lot better. I’m looking forward to the coming year with my bunch of retards who are always there to lift my spirits. The first year was full of learnings. Second-year will not only be about enhancing the learning curve but also about imparting those learnings to our juniors. We are willing to create an eco-system which is conducive for one and all.

But there is this one thing I’ll cherish forever. I’ve acquired a bunch of “Assets” in the form of friends to ward off various “Liabilities” like low grades, unconstructive meetings, depressing outings, etc and am maintaining “Equity” in the form of good memories. I should seriously consider going for majors in Finance after the parallelism I just drew!

This article was submitted as an entry to Become an Author with Dare2Compete.