For all the core courses at LBS the class is split into groups of six (depending on the class/stream strength) and no two individuals are from the same nationality. The flavor of “diversity” that the school specializes in offering, permeates to such a micro level!
My study group consists of Turlan, Ben, Alexi, Alex and Daniel from Kazakhstan, Germany, UK and South Korea respectively. The first time I spotted Turlan ever in my life was when he was standing by himself beside the door at S1 lounge during the first MiF meet and greet session. Self-assured and totally relaxed, with a wine glass in his hand, he seemed very approachable. Little did I know the camaraderie built over that meeting was soon to bloom into a long lasting friendship! When I was given the names of my study group members, I was glad to leave it to Turlan to get the rest of the team together. I hadn’t a clue about the others!
However, today, I know that each of them is an intellectual capital I look up to. Alexi – plans his work well, Alex – starts early and keeps going till he is done, Ben – he is always in the library buried in books (well, doesn’t mean he is all work no play), Daniel – travels from far away and still makes it to all team meetings on time! For inspiration, I just look up to them, nowhere beyond! They have all become quite dear to me.
The team exhibits incredible levels of commitment and discipline, culminating into interesting perspectives time and again. We work in total sync. There wasn’t much time last couple of months to do anything fun as we were all busy finding our footing amidst the course and it’s demands. Since our first team dinner was at an Indian Restaurant at Brick Lane which everyone thoroughly enjoyed, my heart melted at the realization that I could invite the team over to my place for home cooked Indian food as a gesture of appreciation. However, to invite someone over, ‘cooking’ needs to be done. As critical as I’ve gotten in the past about food, I’ve only ever eaten, never cooked!!! I took it up as a challenge and decided on a fancy menu – paneer butter masala, channa & green peas masala and vegetable pulav with raitha! My initial attempt at mass fancy cooking proved to be a success – most of what I cooked soon vanished and I’m sure these guys weren’t trying to be nice to me! What makes me call my study group, one after my own heart is the fact that after dinner was done and we were generally chatting around, suddenly Turlan pops up and says can I have Indian masala tea?! While cooking is more like a new adventure sport for me, making masala tea is my forte. I’m addicted and can’t live without it! Soon after, the whole team wanted tea. Gladly, I served them my favorite!
Being in this team makes me feel at home. They let me be while they also push me beyond my boundaries to rediscover myself. Once the core courses are over, i will miss them loads but this team will always stay close to my heart!