Hi, I’m Ajay Ganesh.
I currently study a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) at Leeds Business School. I’m originally from Chennai, India. I have enjoyed the challenge of the MBA, so far and when the course leader Ann Michaud, told us about the MBA residential in Istanbul. I knew we were in for a completely out of this world cultural experience.
I made sure I began my journey with no expectations, but endeavoured to enjoy and cherish whatever I faced. As soon as we stepped off the plane, the cultural change was evident and it was a completely new feeling for all the students and lecturers.
After this incredible experience, I will be writing a blog, so you can relate to all my experiences in Istanbul during the four day stay.
Istanbul is a city of almost 13 million people making it the largest metropolitan area in Europe. There’s a unique trend that associates itself to the city with its locality, as it extends both on the European and Asian side of the Bosphorus Straits. This makes it the only city in the world that's situated over two continents.
Walking out into the streets and my first attempt at speaking to the locals was an unbelievable experience. Take it which ever way you want, but I felt our university hit the right note when choosing Turkey for our MBA residential; it was a real test of our personalities.
Our schedules started with early mornings and ended with a 5pm finish. This allowed us enough time to roam around the city. I chose to walk around the city and I made sure I communicated with every Turkish national to completely submerge myself in their tradition and way of communication. I noticed most of our colleagues already started to complain about the food and communication problems they encountered on their first day. Two to three days down the line it was the complete opposite, every student just loved the city and enjoyed their stay.
Istanbul has a large Muslim community and a young population. It’s wonderful to see how open minded they’re to different cultures. I found a complete transformation as we travelled from the Asian side to the European side of Istanbul. Such a change from the hustle and bustle of the Asian side to an organized European side in such a small landmass is quite spectacular. I would call it an 'imperfection' which sounds so strange, but I will cherish this stay for the rest of my life.
After all our presentations with the two family owned business giants in Turkey ' Sabanci' and 'Koc' and seminars on the Turkish economy. The boat trip was a cruise dinner across the Bosphorus Strait. It was an evening to remember, to see the sunset in the horizons of this wonderful city, was a treat to watch.
I would like to thank you to all our tutors and administrators who accompanied us. It felt more like a family atmosphere with us singing and dancing to the Turkish music on the boat and the tutors joining in and singing along with us. It was a great feeling and I think our University has got it right by making us experience a different culture, not to forget interacting with the Executive-MBA students too. They’re students of vast work experience, thus, to interact with them through out this trip and gelling as a family together, it got the thumbs up from me. I have always been a person who is always ready to adapt to any environment and have a love for learning. This experience helped me to learn so much more and I am extremely privileged to be able express my feelings through this blog and I would like to thank the University once again for the same.
