Summary of Fall A

Things that I did wrong

Networking - I think I really did a bad job here. In India, you meet these people that are no where connected to you and you strike a conversation, you talk about Ganguly and BINGO!!! they have an opinion... you talk about government and how less it cares... you get statements, you argue, you question... you talk about malls in Gurgaon, about crime in Bihar, about curruption in Haryana, you even talk about Tsunami!!! the crux is you are able to talk....
... and here I have met these people day in and day out with whom I cant connect, there is no link, I dont know the QB of Ohio state (okay QB = Quarter Back in (American) Football), I dont know who is running for the governer of Michigan, I dont even know the difference between a mall and a store, there is no tlk of corruption here (they have given networking a different meaning now), and worst of all I dont know what cyclones have hit the florida last summers... I dont have a common ground to talk over... and now... there is no effort. I think this needs to be changed sooner or ...
Follow-up - Though I was okay to build a channel with most of the recruiters here, I think I need to make that channel flow more often. Shall be my priority for Fall B.
Steps -

1. A lot more football games this semester.
2. A lot more newspaper reading.
3. Efforts to make connections with more Americans and to learn their issues.

Things that I did right

Focus on Academic - Well I wanted to focus on my acads in MBA and I think I did pretty well here. I think most of my section-mates liked/hated me for interrupting the classes with my doubts but then I think I wanted to get the most academically also. Icing on the cake - of the three courses for which the grades are given I have "Excellent" in all :)

Summer Search - I think I was able to manage my expectation well and focused well on consulting. It was really helpful in saving my time by eleminating other options. However, I think I will have to work on my back-up option the next semester.

Small but close group of friends - Yes I did fail in Networking on a broad scale but then I think I was able to carve out some small space for myself in a close group of friends and I think that is what I am... So far so good.

Learning Culture - One of the good things that I managed was to learn the American way of life... not that I am on top of it now; however I certainly made a lot of improvement on my speech, words and phrases, and also in terms of learning things about the culture here.