Maybe some of you can still remember my post entitled: One Leap at a Time

Well, am taking another leap. It’s the MBA this time. Oh yest, it is The EM BEE AYE!

I’ve just completed  the 4-day intensive course- 8.30am to 8.30pm everyday. The good news? I came out alive! I didn’t get sick (except for just one night when I vomited,literally, from reading just too many things) Mind you, that was just the introduction. Yes…yes… just a start of what I have put myself into. LOLS :)

If you wonder why I’m taking the MBA, well, I have the passion for learning new things and great great things! Whether I have learned or applied all of them is another question, another story. Now, if you ask for other reasons, can they just be my homework? I’ll let you know when I finish the entire program, okay? I don’t want to embarrass myself much, right? Please agree.

Where? Aha! If you are in HCMC then you can already guess WHERE! ;-)

Enough pep talk and let’s move on to my observations and experiences during the last 4 days.

Read 10

1. The coffee- it’s the most important thing for me but drinking 10 cups every day wasn’t so good. Although I knew I needed that to get the work done, I had some problems sleeping in the evening and I could even feel my heart jumping in and put of the chest. Oh yeah, just like the ones you’ve seen in cartoon movies?

2. I was the only non-Vietnamese. Well, that could be an advantage or a disadvantage. Good because I could learn more about them; bad because during lunch, when they just want to relax and all, there is no one I could talk with. They were all too engaged speaking in Vietnamese about the course (or something else) and I didn’t want to disrupt by asking questions coz well, it was their break time; my break time too. Good thing I had my books, my phone and my laptop with me.

3. As we were discussing about graphs, our lecturer said something like ‘small minds have unstable emotions, they go up and down’. Hahaha! I chuckled, I was checking myself. True…I made it personal. So we can actually learn many things about ourselves when we enroll in Data Analysis. ;-)

4. Most lecturers didn’t tell us their names; maybe they thought it was a waste of time .They just went directly on what they were supposed to do which was why I don’t know their names but I can describe them…but no… you don’t want people to describe you unless the descriptions are all favorable to you. I just hope my lecturers and especially my classmates remember my name.I’d be doomed if they’d describe me like how they’d describe the lecturers. Troi oi!

 5. One of my classmates commented something like ‘Vietnamese work to live and not live to work’ which was why they only perform according to what is expected and not beyond or why they come late for work. He was trying to explain how the foreigners should handle Vietnamese employees and that foreigners should understand Vietnamese culture and integrate this to their business structure. That was something new to me. Hehehe coz so far, majority of my Vietnamese colleagues are on time and are very motivated to excel.
6. There were a lot of Viet Kieus and Vietnamese who’d spent their 4 to 5 university years in Australia or the USA. So when I talk to them, they have different understanding and opinions on issues compared to the other attendees who have been groomed all their lives in Vietnam. They all compliment each other and well, based from what I have seen, I can predict a better Vietnam with the modern Vietnamese business leaders. I just hope they’d blend and not divide.
7. I’m already well-aware that Vietnamese have higher volume when they speak to each other. Quite often, they are not fighting or anything but as pressure builds up and we have a deadline- people start screaming all around me I have to tell them to talk calmly. They make me nervous! I try my best but you know, just like the saying ‘When you’re in Rome…’.

 8. A quarter of my classmates expressed that they want to be a lecturer in one of the universities in Vietnam when they finish the course. I didn’t understand that at first as for me, enrolling in an MBA program is so damn expensive. I’d thought that anyone enrolling in this graduate degree wanted to be managers or entrepreneurs. But then later I realized, maybe they want to learn and impart more theories. Gain more experiences perhaps? I believe they have very good reasons.

9. Most of my classmates are still in their mid 20s. I was impressed on the first day. Although I’d felt ‘ancient’ whenever they asked  me about my age :p The question about age is inevitable in Vietnam so I have developed my own coping technique- I ask them first ;

10. 90% of my classmates have wonderful parents who pay for their MBA. WOWZER!

The reason why I don’t state the name of the university here is because I am new to this institution. I don’t want you to enroll here (just because I am here ;-) , LOLS) because I am new here and I can’t give you a solid recommendation yet as to why you should study or why you should spend your money here. If you’re interested in doing MBA in Vietnam, come back from time to time, I might be able to convince you why this school is the best when I have found stronger grounds. But not yet…

Oh yes, I will continue to blog about my experiences as far as my MBA developments are concerned but no, am not gonna write about the academic aspect, but am gonna tell you what I see, what I feel, what I experience as I continue to learn more about the Vietnamese culture..this time…as a student ;-)

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and I hope you’d drop by again.

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