IE Networking Cocktail

"Ambassadors" Desh and Lisa welcome you to the IE Networking cocktail! lol

The IE IMBA Office put together this simple cocktail event along Serrano 99~ on one of IE's green lawns. The objective of this event was to allow students from the April and November intakes to get to know each other. Personally I thought it was cool for them to do so. But considering it was on a Tuesday / a school night, I wasn't entirely sure if a lot of people will turn up. Regardless, I went anyway.

The event started at 730pm. I went there at 745pm... with a little hesitation. Knowing how things work here in Spain, I know that parties usually start at a much later time. But in my mind, well, I thought I'd just go early anyway. I figured there would be others like me who would classify the evening as a school night and would come early / leave early. Walking up to Serrano 99 felt weird... I honestly felt as if I was the only person that was going to be there.

Well, turns out it wasn't the case (phew)! Fortunately a small crowd of about 25 people had already gathered at the place. All the tables still had food (mini burgers, jamon serrano sandwiches and other stuff) and the bar was completely intact! Interestingly as well, the school hired 2 performers to play some Portugese music in the background. Pretty cool!

Wine, sangria, beer, soft drinks and water~ all on the house (our tuition probably paid for it too, come think of it)!

I can honestly say I don't know almost everyone in this photo

During the course of the cocktail party, I had a chat with my classmate Shalabh on how we should be using this opportunity to meet people from other sections or intakes.

He had a pretty valid point... in 2 weeks, it'd be the summer break. We'd be away for 3 weeks... and by the time that we'd be back in September, we'd be piled up with lotsa work. A presentation after another, report after report. And immediately after that, exams. And after that, another round of Change modules.

Term 2 would go by so fast... and it essentially meant that we'd find ourselves almost half-way through the MBA program already. I took what he said into mind... and decided I better meet more people TODAY (unlike my previous post title, it's now "Better Now than Later").

The boys from the IMBA program meet an alumni from the MIM '09

So there~ I took the initiative to have a chat with people I didn't know. I met Unoma Eke from Lagos from A2. I learned that her surname apparently meant "Day" in her language. Pretty interesting factoid! Likewise, during that span of time, Lisa, Desh and I thought of coming up with an A1 Term 1 Awards Night for our class. In many ways, it's one of those activities that would help foster a better bond amongst all members of our class. And... well... it should be a good last attempt of having fun as a group before things get immensely busy after the break.

No, it's not the start of a heated argument. Just Peter and Tiago talkin'~

On my way out of the venue I thanked the IMBA team who organized this event. I usually find these school-initiated opportunities genuinely good and I appreciated that they did something like this. Honestly, it's possible for them not to have done anything. But they did~ and it's all in the spirit of allowing us to increase our network despite the rigors and hectic schedules of the MBA program.