Café Italiano

Entrepreneurship group meetings are always fun. With authentic Italian coffee made in this interesting Bialatte coffee machine served in tiny espresso cups. Occasionally served with Pasta made by authentic Italian groupmates :)

Bialetti coffee machine

Groupmates - Salvatore, Elisabetta and Katharina

Espresso cups

frontpage news

I am on the homepage of the Graduate Business Council at Schulich School of Business! Cool, no? Even if it was a photo from the weekend party called Olympia :P

kristen stewart

Kristen Stewart is the new Jennifer Aniston!

Saw Twilight, very entertaining. Plus has Kristen Stewart. So there you go, is a good watch.

damning evidence

Damning evidence has been found that Siddharth can actually cook not just edible, but tasty Indian food!

Yes, I have been enjoying cooking the past few days. Good tools, good ingredients and plenty of time to experiment with has brought out the natural cook in me :)

relaxing baths

All North American homes have a tub to take a bath in. And now that these days I am not very busy, I take leisurely baths :) Just love it!

Things have not been the same in Toronto since coming back from California. Yeah, the weather is pretty much the same prompting me to think that the term 'Canadian Winter' is actually an oxymoron! :P

But besides that, since I do not have any travel plans over the weekends, I can take it easy. Sleep for hours, leisurely read up or go to the library whenever I want. I cannot study efficiently in the living room that I have so whenever deadlines are tight or I am in the mood for serious mugging, I go to the Schulich Library. It's quiet, homely and you usually bump into someone or the other which can be a welcome relief after being cooped up in the house for long.

Next weekend in Rochester with Alok again and then few weeks later will spend a final week in Atlantic City, New York and with Atya. FYI: Travel to the USA by air from Canada and re-entering Canada on a single entry visa is Ok and is the same as traveling by land. Trip's impending end is not a good thought. Sigh.

Downtown Toronto and India town tomorrow! Shall get more stuff to enable me to make sabzis like the one I made below B-) Am rather proud of it, was edible and tasty too.

I just realised I've never posted a pic of us dormmates together! About time I do.

Europe or North America on exchange?

I faced this question myself in my first year - choosing between schools in the EU vs. those in North America for my fall exchange semester of 2009-10. Ofcourse, you all know what I chose - Schulich School of Business in Canada. Now here's why. First, make a list of things you want to do on exchange. Then think hard about it. Do you really want to tell your grandson a story and a hear his response like this:

I once went to Vienna and we had this great sandwich by the riverside with your Sarvesh Uncle, and it was beautiful.

Where's Vienna and what's so great about a sandwich and why go with Sarvesh Uncle in the first place?

OR like this:

When I was in New York, I met this crazy French dude and we went to this bar across the Grand Central Station. And just as we were starting to have fun, guess who walked in ? Yeah, George Clooney!

Yeah, the big Apple is awesome and the party must've rocked hard for George Clooney to be there!

You should go to Europe if:

• Tourism to you means staring at a bunch of really old rocks in Rome...
• ...with a bunch of Indian dudes...
• ...after sleeping over in a Eurail train the previous night to save some money...
• ...while not being able to even order coffee in the city's most popular coffee shop because none of your groupmates can speak Italian.
• If exchange to you is about blowing up two lakh rupees you paid as fees for this term on pointless lectures...
• ...which you will try to bunk as many as you can...
• ...instead of even trying to take an interest in their teaching methodology and content.
• If exchange to you is only about tourism and a having a checklist of the number of countries and cities you have visisted.
• If you want to make contacts in a part of the world which does not speak your language, has a declining population and is destined for economic oblivion soon.
• If you can live without access to Indian food or edible and cheap western food OR can cook well enough
• Have a larger budget but lower appetite for fun
  

You should go to North America if:

• Tourism to you is more about doing exciting stuf...
• ...with people from all over the world...
• ...while sleeping over in cheap youth hostel the previous night where btw you meet a whole lot of interesting and wierd characters...
• ...all of whom can speak good English in addition to the eclectic mix of exchange students you are traveling with from all over the world. Its true, in Quebec city, I was with a gang of people in which there was atleast one native speaker of Spanish, Portuguese, German, French and Italian besides English, ofcourse.
  
• If exchange to you is also about experiencing education in some of the world's best MBA schools and getting your money's worth...
• ...during which you will be required to study in challenging courses and compete with students here...
• ...since the teaching style and way students work is a bit different.
• If exchange to you is more about meeting new people, relatives and friends who are in the US working or studying
  
• If you want to make contacts in a part of the world which contributes 30% of global GDP which has an increasing population and is on track to remain the engine of the world's economy for a fair bit longer and make good friends with the gang of exchange students in your university while touring around
• If you crave for parathas with makkhan often since you have to walk just 10 minutes to get it in most cities here at cheap rates OR cannot cook well enough
• Have a smaller budget but big appetite of fun
  

So basically, as Sarvesh has often heard, in North America:

• You get better tourism - less rocks, more people
  
• You make better friends from European exchange schools and better contacts in North America
• You get quality education from universities global recruiters recognize
• You get to meet most people you know in the US who can also accompany your travels (make note of the italicized most, NJ)

But not everyone has a 3.8 GPA. Hence, Schulich and Toronto. I rest my case.

Schulich life

Schulich School of Business, south entrance

View of the courtyard from the 3rd floor looking east

Writing names of coursemates in the class break of the International Business course

 

  Raghav and Audrey in deep conversation

 Steve and Jo post the lecture