Long time no see!
Yes, I admit. I haven’t been as diligent about my blog as I should have been. And now so much has happened in the last few months so it’ll be an exercise in prioritization for me to pick up several highlights!
Being a second year at MIT Sloan:
Let me start by saying I really miss the graduating 08 class exemplified by the fact that I was still referring to them as “second years” at the start of the term. It was either that or I hadn’t been able to adjust to being a second year just then! Other than the fact that we were the old folks now, second year once again started in full swing. I was at school a bit early since I’m a pilot for the 2010 class and let me explain what a “pilot” at MIT Sloan is. During the first semester of first year at MIT Sloan – which is referred to as core – each student is put in a team of 6 or 7 where they do all the team projects together. And each team is assigned a “pilot” who could be summarized as a “second year mentor” who helps with all the facilitation activities during Orientation but goes on to being a mentor/friend for a lot longer than that – (I was at the wedding of my own pilot who graduated 08 this past weekend : )). I am personally piloting for the Atlantic Petrels – GO PETRELS! They are an exceptional and diverse team of 7 with backgrounds ranging from engineering to finance to media and broadcasting. It’s been great piloting for them and this Sunday we’re doing our second pilot+team get together!
Bridging the gap between second and first years:
There are a lot of events that bring the first and second years together. One of the events that was specifically designed to join first and second years among their respective Oceans (cohorts of around 65 students) was the “Ocean Mixers”. Ocean Mixers which was a great example of the collaboration between the Student Senate, Student Activities Board and the Student Affairs Office at Sloan was intended to facilitate inter-ocean “mingling” between the first and second years. So we designated specific places for each ocean where the first and second years could get together and meet each other. Speaking to my own ocean’s gathering – the Atlantics – I can say that it was a lot of fun to both get together with the 09 Atlantics and get to meet the 10 Atlantics!
Turkey Trek:
Those were a few highlights of what I’ve been doing up to now. These days I’m embarking on something I had wanted to do for over a year – organize a trek to my home country – Turkey! Ali (09), Cenk (10), Erbay (09) and I are organizing a trek to take fellow Sloanies to Turkey over Spring Break. After going to the Japan Trek last year, I understand once again and this time personally how much effort goes into the organization and the good thing is that we have a great team of organizers and a group who is more than excited to go! We will be visiting Istanbul, Ankara and Cappadocia on our visit. And the amazing thing is that the Turkey trek is not the only one being planned for spring break, there is 6 more! Namely Brazil, Thailand, India, Israel, South Korea and Japan (and I hope I didn’t leave any out!).
Try and keep warm (I know I am…) and see you in December!
