11:30 p.m., the night before orientation, I’m sitting in my new apartment between half a dozen semi-opened IKEA boxes, my suitcases still largely unpacked, only milk and cereal in my fridge, scratching my head, wondering how I ended up halfway across the world here. This wasn’t the dream start I had imagined while applying to B-School.

And then I attended orientation session, met the people I would be spending the next 2 years with, started to learn my way around school, and jumped off a 30 foot tree (I’m not kidding!). In the space of those 5 days of orientation, my enthusiasm returned. I realized that all 170 of my classmates were as lost as I was. Some had left the security of their jobs to come back to school, some had relocated with their families, some had no clue which career they were going to go into, some were coming back to school after a gap of more than 10 years, and some had decided to relocate to USA even though they didn’t speak English very well. But in all this confusion and chaos, I could feel the underlying bond of community starting to tie us together. People were willing to help and offer advice to classmates who had been complete strangers just a couple days ago.

And since orientation, the spirit of collaboration and camaraderie has grown even more. From having numerous offers from students I have just met a couple of times to take me shopping (I don’t own a car here), to classmates sharing information about prospective employers, there hasn’t ever been a time when I’ve felt alone or have asked for help and not received it.

The entire experience at Goizueta has made me realize that I made the right choice coming here. I know I’m a part of a strong community and there are people watching over my back. Be it the professors, the administrative staff, the former students or even alumni, I know anyone and everyone who is related to Goizueta will do everything in their power to help me.   

I have enjoyed my 3 months at Goizueta so far, they’ve been intense, fun and enlightening. I can’t wait to see what the other 21 have in store!

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