Embrace the weird

Today we had our official orientation where Dean Bruner and a whole bunch of other people welcomed us, the class of 2010 to Darden. I was so looking forward to hearing the Dean speak and I wasn’t disappointed. But the most memorable speeches of the evening were by the associate dean for diversity and the President of the DSA (Darden Student Association). I wish I could remember more clearly the 3 point advice each of them had in their speeches. At the time I remember repeating them in my head so that I’d remember them for this post. But in the party that ensued, I think I kind of laughed it all away!

But basically, we had a really good evening. Right after the orientation, we had the class photograph on the steps of outside the Saunders Hall. It reminded me of my J2EE Class photo when I was a trainee at Infosys Mysore. I was late for the photo so I got to stand right up in front. The same thing happened today and I had to stand right up in front – which is pretty good considering that I might possibly be the shortest person in my class! Oh these Americans, they’re so darn tall! Apparently this is going to be a before-after picture, with the “after” picture being during graduation. Hopefully by the time that picture comes along, I’ll be a few pounds lighter. After the picture, a few of us went to hound Marsh, our director of student affairs, to ask him about our section allotments. So yours truly got a preview of the section lists. I’m in section D and I’m so looking forward to getting to know my class and maybe bringing home the Darden Cup from Section A.

Darden hosted a picnic for the CO2010 and their “partners” in the Flagler Courtyard. As is usual, there was good beer and great food. Darden really has it right in the food department! All their meals are sumptuous, considerate (for vegetarians) and generous. A big cheer to the staff at the Abbotts dining room who had this spread put out for us and also for walking around the groups of people with pitchers of beer, always ready to refill our glasses! There were a few tables with chairs around but most of us just rested our butts on the cool grass and enjoyed the food, the fun atmosphere, the great company and some friendly banter. Thanks to the longer summer days, it was 8pm and still light out when the bunch of us decided to call it a night and go to bed early (for a change). All of us agreed that 8AM was a bit too early for classes to begin and that it was going to take a lo..ot of getting used to adjust to this schedule!

Tomorrow is the first day of class. Although there are no cases to be done for tomorrow, we’re going to find out who are learning team members are. I’ll try to write a little more about the learning team concept at Darden. But for now, I’m thinking to myself once again about how cool it is just to be a part of this amazing school. It’s a good feeling to go to bed with.

Note1: If you’re wondering about the title of the post, this was a quote by the associate dean of diversity. He said that every once in a while you will find a member of your class or LT who’s a little weird and unlike the rest. Get to know this one a little more and embrace the weirdness since that’s how you grow and not from hanging out with your own kind of crowd. Made a lot of sense, if you ask me.

Note2:Visit this post on JulyDream for some stats on the CO2010.