Back to school, back to school...

It seems like this was all everyone was saying today, in that familiar Adam Sandler sing-song voice…

Yes, today was the first day of school!

But before I get into today’s details, I should talk a little bit about the orientation events that took place over the past week or so.

The official Rotman orientation events began on Wednesday, with two full days of: learning about the kinds of problems MBA students are expected to solve; listening to members of the GBC speak about events, clubs and Rotman activities we can look forward to; and probably most importantly, meeting our fellow group members for the first two quarters of classes. These are the groups we will be spending most of our time with working on projects, assignments and presentations, so I was happy to finally meet them.

After our two-day on campus orientation, we spent the weekend in Haliburton, Ontario for a weekend of camping and team-bonding. Approximately 300 first- and second-year students from the full-time and part-time MBA programs spent two and a half days making friends with each other. For me personally, some of the most memorable activities included:

• The Trading Game: I don’t want to ruin it for anyone, but if you don’t know what it’s like to be in a trading pit, you will once you experience The Trading Game… Sort of…
• The costume party: The theme of the costume party was “When I grow up”, and everyone had to dress up as something you wanted to be when you were a little kid.
• Late night bonfires.
• Beach volleyball during free time: It seems like the Rotman Class of 2013 has some pretty talented volleyball players among us!
• And of course, laughing until my sides hurt.

As sad as I was to leave camp though, I was extremely excited for my first day of classes. Today started out with Foundations of Integrative Thinking. To be honest, I am still not entirely sure what the course is all about, but I hope to have a rock solid idea by the time the final exam rolls around. We had to read and be prepared to discuss four different readings of varying lengths in case our professor, Professor Womack, cold-called us with a question. Apparently, Rotman professors LOVE doing that!

I also had my first classes in Statistics for Managers and Financial Accounting. Even though I have studied statistics and accounting in the past, it has never been presented to me the way these professors presented the material, so I am definitely counting on learning something new in these two classes.

My calendar is quickly filling up with Rotman activities left, right and centre, so there will surely be more to share with you very soon. Stay tuned!