#mscba

After the Operations and Supply Chain Management exam, we started our first week of December with a new subject, Managing Information Systems (MIS), which I found super cool. The course was much more interesting than I expected. Frank Goethals, our awesome professor and his tutor, Shamel Addas did surprise us with many mind-blowing technological subjects relating to twenty trends in digital innovations. Every block, we watched and studied several video clips with case studies of different kinds of technology across the world, including testing, recently introduced, existing, developed, out-of-date, supposed-to-be-produced-but-never-become-real products. Thanks to those wonderful lectures, we have a better picture of how innovative and imaginary human can actually be.

One more important lesson we learned from this course was the information security and some useful tips to protect our personal data from being tracked down. In addition, we had extra self-study hours for Excel with constant support from our professor, his tutor, and our colleagues. On the last day of the course, we had an inspiring presentation by our guest lecture from Salesforce. And that was enough for a great week of studying. The highlight of this week was the Sinterklaas party:

Even though the party only started on Thursday, most of the preparations kicked off on Monday or during last weekend. Not only TIAS Students, but also program managers and TIAS staff celebrated this event. Everyone put their shoes in front of the fireplace before going home on Wednesday. Then, on Thursday morning, we received a pink lovely present from Sint and Piet.

Main activities of our Sinterklaas can be described by 3Ps definition: “poems”, “presents”, and “pancakes”. Each group wrote a poem of 24-30 lines about every member of a randomly chosen group. Then, on the Sinterklaas party night, groups read their poem, and guessed which group wrote it. What I like most about this activity was that since the poem was personalized, many special (and sometimes private) stories and typical personal traits were mentioned in the most hilarious way. After that, everyone picked a present from the table, unwrapped, enjoyed, and laughed.

The party ended with a typically simple but delicious dinner with pancakes, brownies, candies, chocolates, and of course, lots and lots of wines and beers. During and after dinner, we had really nice chit-chats about every topic in the world. For an international student, this is an unforgettable experience. I had my first Sinterklaas, which is also my first typical Dutch special holiday, with many surprises and joys. I enjoyed every single moment the week and that special pleasant night thanks to the TIAS Student Association board and all of my lovely classmates.

In a nutshell, a mind-blowing MIS-module plus an incredible Sinterklaas party equals a totally awesome week. 

This was the eleventh week already, time is running fast. We all are still recovering from the last weeks - Operations & Supply Chain management and Business Economics. Namely, on Sunday we were supposed to hand in two reports from Business Economics. So no easy and laid-back weekend for the most of us.

As I said we are already studying for a few months at TIAS now and the school is getting more interesting every day. Many cultural differences and people from different backgrounds in education are fascinating, and we all can learn a lot from each other. For example the Halloween party, that was really fun. In the Netherlands when you give a party with a theme and people have to dress but, Dutch are not really fanatic about being creative and dressing to the theme. But when you are having a Halloween party with people from other countries it is totally different! And I like that.  

After this week, Business Economics is behind us and a few other things are coming up, but the track choice is the biggest one I think. Or at least for me it is. Some people know exactly what they want and they already knew which track they were going to do. Others are still searching for what suits them the best. We already had some track information presentations to help with our choice, but sometimes other influences or other people’s opinions can help. That is where the individual coaching comes in. In the last two weeks we were introduced to our individual coaches. The information and the goals of all students were considered and we are placed with a coach who can help us in our future plans. When I speak for myself, I can say that I have a very nice coach and that I already came through some decisions already.

Before I started at TIAS, I thought that marketing or change management would be the best choice for me, simply because I liked it a lot. As I say now; ‘I liked it’, because after the classes in finance and accounting I realised that finance is something that really suits me. I like it because it is concrete and not about processes and models all the time and - nor unimportant, my grade wasn’t that bad either.

We definitely will make the rest of the year a success!

First exam is now behind me! It has been a very stressful week, even though we did not have any lectures. Instead, we had a vision of an extremely hard accounting and finance exam. Me and my friends were sitting every day at school, spending up to 10 hours for pure learning! You will say 'crazy!' but I say 'MScBA!'. Spending so much time with my friends during preparations and feeling the same about the upcoming was a great experience. We were all united and everyone was helping each other. After the exam we were all discussing the results, glad that it is finally over!

Now, preparing for another exam we have a plenty of free time. For students that mean: party time! Utrecht is a perfect place to sit in the bar with friends and enjoying the time. My favourite is Se7en at Mariaplaats and King Arthur near the canal, with a amazing crème brulèe. This kind of activity is especially recommended when preparing for next exam. I found it highly important to make as many friends as possible. Spending quality time with people, sharing the same experiences is a fantastic feeling. Even between lectures, at the longest, 1 hour break, we are trying to go for a lunch together.

The Dutch Kitchen

This weekend I have also tried the Dutch Kitchen! The result was 1 kg more in my body. However, it was delicious and I definitely want to do it again! Until that time, I am working out at a gym. I have found it very nice, that most of the gyms have student packets! The prices are very affordable, sometimes even less that 5 euros per week (Train More and WorkOut are 2 of my favourites!).

Utrecht is a beautiful place, full of different activities to do. I love sitting near the canals on Saturdays, drinking morning cappuccino’s with my housemates or visiting the Vredenburg, which is a market, where I always buy the freshest fruits, vegetables, cheeses and seafood.

My next goal is to go by a canoe through all canals in Utrecht. It will be probably a long - term goal for spring/summer, but it is a must-do. I also have to climb The Dom to see the panorama of Utrecht, it has to be breath taking!

Above a very interesting, interactive website of 2013's global brands ranking.  You can read inspiring interviews, surf by industry and have an interesting insight of each listed company. 

“Leaving the old behind—the structures, tenets, and modes of operation suited to a world now obsolete—and charting a bold new path into an unknown future that is ours to shape, is a task for leaders: Brands and consumers working in tandem to create shared value.”