International Enrollment kicks off...

Today was the first GSB classroom experience- International Enrolment (IPEP). Quantative Enrolment (QPEP)started last week. It was great to meet about 50 or so of the international students at the GSB and another 50 or people who have been doing the Quantative stuff. It seems the IPEP seems a damn lot easier than the QPEP work- although I did not expect to be video taped during the presentation exercises today...

On other news, San Francisco was awesome on the weekend. My friend was the perfect tour guide. The fact that he is a DJ meant that I was able to see 9 clubs and various bars in 2 nights... He shall come in handy on those gettaway weekends to the city when I need to escape from the MBA madness.

I hit Walmart twice in the last 2 days and have finally almost got my room fully supplied...
There have been some moans about the lack of available late night eating areas on campus amongs other things (or how far everything is- which is reflective of the huge Stanford campus)... Having a car and/or a bike is almost a must... Let's see how long I can last. I'm just not falling for the huge rush of people grabbing deals left, right and centre without taking a step back and evaluating what options you have- I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm no rush, although I recognise the necessity of having a vehicle whilst out here.

I'm totally shattered, completely overwhelmed...

Now in the normal MBA playbook, you are meant to visit the MBA program of your dreams before you apply or take the acceptance after having at least taken a peak at the school you are going to spend over $100K and live for 2 years of your life. Well I did not, I applied and accepted the position at the GSB without ever setting foot within 2,000 miles of the campus, I relied totally on what I had read and personal experience. I had it in the back of my mind-"what if I hate the campus? Or Stanford does not live up to all the ratings & hype?". After all we all have our personal opinions which can sometimes widely differ from the norm. I was even about to set myself up for disappointment when I saw the grey weather in the morning- "I thought California was meant to be ALWAYS sunny? And on my 1st day it's cloudy!". First impressions are everything.
But today I finally made it onto the campus, and had all my expectations were met if not exceeded. The campus is just breathtakingly huge and beautiful. And yes, the true California sunshine returned at 10am and lasted the whole day- not a cloud in the sky.
Everyone I met was also very friendly, and this made things run pretty smoothly on my 5 hours on campus, taking it easy touring with my mum whilst doing my chores. I then attempted to do 2 hours of shopping (getting the essentials) before the jetlag kicked in as predicted...
Tomorrow, we head for San Francisco. I'm shattered.

The last few miles...

I'm in California!!!! Not quite at Stanford, but near enough- I'm at a hotel in Palo Alto that at a guess, is a couple of miles out.
Oh my God! First impressions is that it looks just like parts of Africa- only more developed (obviously). A developed Bongoland! I could get used to this.
Don't even know why I'm on the computer, 10 hour time difference from Tanzania- I best go to bed. Tomorrow I move in and do some touring with my mum, not to mention sort the basics (student ID, bank account etc...) Could be a long day- just hope I don't burn out by 2pm as jetlag kicks in...

5,000 miles or so to go... Goodbye Britain

After almost starving on the British Airways flight due to the strike being put on by the catering staff (Gate Gormet), I'm going to stock up on munchies for the Atlantic crossing tomorrow.
But being back in the UK has been pleasant. Now for the final plunge...

Last blog from Bongoland- 10,000 miles to go...

So this is my last blog from "bongoland", I can't believe 7 weeks has passed since I finished work in the UK and set out here. Although, the prime focus was to relax and sort getting my new passport and visa, my main concern was getting too bored. I have not let the sun, beach and sea get to me and restricted myself to 2 trips to Zanzibar. I have gained some valuable experience on my short 1 month internship on the Tanzanian capital markets which has kept me busy, and added a much needed extra dimension on my resume. I was able to keep up with the pre-pre term preparation mainly involving hundreds of dollars worth of credit card expenditure that I really could have saved up for other things. I finally did the excel skills assessor yesterday and I was surprised by the result; apparently I lack the basic skills in "printing" spreadsheets, I suppose it’s something that I never do that much of.
Some useful messages came through this week from Stanford on the first few days for international students such as setting up a bank account, getting a cell phone, purchasing a bike etc... And on the accommodation front, I have been notified of my suite and room mate as well. My mum was relieved that there is an organised trip to Walmart on the Sunday I actually move into Schwab from the weekend stay in San Francisco, leaving me to finish off any last minute shopping and importantly, leaving my mum with more time to rest (it’s 10 hours time difference between Tanzania and California) before flying on to her next stop in Philly to visit my sister on the Monday. I've also contacted an old friend of mine that I knew at the age of 11 years old when I was at boarding school in Kenya and who now lives in the bay area and has offered to give my mum and I an assisted tour of San Francisco that weekend, it will be weird to not have seen him for over 15 years! Furthermore, an American friend of mine that I knew from boarding school in England has just moved from NY to San Francisco just this Friday gone- so I'll be in good company in the region thanks to old faces, what a small world. But before all that, I'll be back in England briefly early next week to collect my stuff and any spare moments I'll be sure to be in a beer garden at a pub to enjoy my last few English pints and ales.
It still hasn’t properly sunk into me yet, 12 years ago my parents sent me to UK to study, now I’ve opted to pack up again and send myself to study, this time over 10,000 miles from home.

Not on the pre-pre term preparation checklist but...

...My father has kindly agreed to send me to have 2 hour golf lessons every morning from today until I leave in weeks time. I've had lessons and played golf before when I was younger, but they were pretty much forced onto me by my father who had just taken a shine to the game and wanted all the kids to get into it and accompany him- unfortunately at the time my sport of choice was tennis- so although I put the effort in, I would have rather be playing tennis where my heart was. Things have certainly changed, now I think I'm ready for this game of choice for business types.
So I had my first lesson today, and it was great, my priority is to work on my swing on the range rather than just leap onto the golf course- that's if you can call the Dar es Salaam course a golf course! The course is severly underfunded and really needs some corporate sponsorship to get anywhere near international standards. As my dad said- funding is the issue- a professional golf course requires an irrigation system equivalent to one required by a modern town of 15,000- now where is a developing country like Tanzania going to sort one, when the city water system itself needs work. As multinational companies flood into Tanzania, we hope they will put up the required funding- after all the executives would certainly want to play an occasional round now and then at a course that is right in the city centre! I'm definitely looking forward to trying out the world class Stanford course.

All clear for go

So I finally got my visa this morning following an early start at 7:30am. Despite spending about 3 hours at the embassy, I should praise the embassy on their efficiency yet maintaining thorough checking for a vast no. of people, my mum tells me that there have been quite a few criticisms in the papers about their “over-fussiness”. Understandably so given the current state of world affairs. Some of the locally recruited staff seemed to be confused about exactly what documents students visa applicants should bring with them. For instance, why were they asking me for my high school certificates when clearly my bachelor’s degree certificate is evidence enough that I’m qualified for an MBA? Actually if they were really pushing this case they should have asked for my GMAT and university transcripts and most importantly my Stanford Admission letter! Yet, the memos put out by the embassy & on their website state that they are not in the business of assessing whether one is qualified to attend a university course- that’s what the admission process is there for! I made a judgement to process my visa in my home country rather than doing it in London, I recommend this process for international students if this option is available in order to get the advantage of beating the queues and waits of 5 weeks for the interview itself in major international cities like London. On the other hand, having it done somewhere like London would have eliminated the anxiety students face in knowing that as long as you have all the documents stated and met all requirements you’re fine, rather than being hassled for unnecessary documents or unrelated requirements by less competent clerical staff in countries such as Tanzania.
Apart from that, the actual counsellor was really friendly and I got an ego boost as he congratulated me on my admission and shared anecdotal accounts of his friends' application attempts- yes, I'm so grateful for getting in to such a competitive school. Then the counsellor asked an unexpected question -"So what are you going to do after the MBA? Investment Banking'?". I was a bit thrown because although the first question is fair and I'm meant to resolutely respond that my primary concern is to return to Tanzania, I don’t think he is meant to encourage me to seek/take a US job in the point of view of the immigration policy for students!? Last time I checked there were zero investment banking opportunities in Tanzania. Of course I answered “Who knows, should the opportunity present itself maybe- but in the long term, international development." It was ironic that during the wait there were 3 recent issues of the “Money Magazine” in the waiting room, so I was able to read up enlightening articles about the US economy and future job prospects just prior to being called up for the interview.
So as they would probably say at NASA (congrats on the shuttle landing by the way- sorry, the aerospace enthusiast in me is thrilled)- “Mbwana, this is Houston, you’re good to go!”- Only minor checks are left, including checking that my health requirements are OK- in light of Britchick-mba's recent experience, I'm going to visit the doctor and make sure all my tropical immunisations are up to date and more importantly to verify which immunisations are necessary for the US. So in approaching the final week here in Tanzania, I’m looking forward to going out for my 24th b-day this weekend and I could be back in Zanzibar next Friday to enjoy one of the greatest asset of my country- the sheer beautiful and relaxed nature of our tourists sights- I won’t be back at the earliest, in a year, and there’s no place like home. So bring in more farewell parties! Then it’s Jet setting to the UK to collect my stuff and say goodbye to rainy England and hello sunny California.

Final red tape hurdle in sight...

I said I was cutting it close, but not to worry- The final bit of red tape to allow me to make the journey into the US is in sight. My new passport was returned within 1 week of sorting out all my finger & handprints. I've amassed all the 14 certificates/letters/statements/forms required to apply for F1 visa. My visa interview is set for next Thursday (11th) at 7:30am! After that I'll have 10 days left in Tanzania and I shall cease my short 1 month summer internship at the stock exchange for some quality relaxing, I won't mention the Z word- but yes, it could be a possibility if finances allow it.

I've managed to also solve my problem of transporting all my stuff to the US from the UK. Since my mother is coming with me, she'll travel light whilst I use up all her spare luggage capacity to load up all my stuff. It also makes sense to abandon stuff in the UK that I can easily re-buy here in Tanzania and in the US. Some things will just have to be left behind...

Totally unrelated but interesting is MTV's debut arrival tomorrow in Tanzania... My sister asked me whether we should attend this and I have to ask myself two questions:
- With my 24th b-day looming am I getting too old for this stuff? If I was a couple of years younger I would jumped at the chance of going...
- Tanzania is not normally associatd with such modern US exported culture, maybe I should spending my last days here in Tanzania finding more locally cultural nightlife or just plain relaxing. Then again, I'm beginning to like the recent African hip-hop music out there, and I'm scrambling about to load up my mp3 collection with the stuff.
Yes, these are attempts at excuses for not going... I'll probably get dragged along anyway. I'm not one to pass the opportunity for a party.