Consulting summer internship in Sydney

I have done so much in the past few weeks both on and off work that I feel I can write a book on my summer internship and time in Australia. I am still a blogger though and I will make an attempt to distill all that in a blog post. As a result this post would naturally appear more as a laundry list rather than insightful write up of my experience. Hopefully in the near future I can follow up with some thoughts and reflections.

After the first couple of weeks of settling in I was beginning to get deeply involved in my project. The project was an organizational transformation initiative for a Business unit for a huge telecom company. As part of this initiative we were looking at Profitability analysis, operational performance, organization, performance evaluation, service and growth strategy all organized into different work-streams. I got to own a work-stream as well as contribute to analysis and discussions in other streams. Our team was based out of Melbourne so I was on the road for most of my internship. I definitely did enjoy the traveling-consultant lifestyle but it does get tiring. Another interesting aspect of my team was all the five members were from different continents. It was also somewhat reflective of the diversity in the office. For obvious reason I cannot divulge the details of the work I did but it was definitely exciting and I got to contribute a great deal. Darden first year had prepared me really well for this internship as I was well versed in different business areas as well had more than adequate analytical, communication and leadership skills to excel in my work.

Our company also organized numerous events and social activities. These included the Sydney harbor bridge climb, several lunches and dinners with other consultants at some of the best restaurants, client briefs with partners, AFL (Australian football league) experience at MCG in Melbourne, experience sharing meetings with consultants and managers and a dinner at partner's houses. There was no dearth of activities to keep us engaged and entertained as well as give us a good insight into the lifestyle of consultants, managers and partners. To add to that we also indulged in the office social events and the consultant off-site.

We (SAs) did get together to plan a few events ourselves. First was an exciting trip to Blue Mountains where we hiked one day and explored the ‘Jenolan caves’ the next. The place is just a couple of hours drive from Sydney but being there it felt isolated and exotic. All of us really loved this adventurous experience. The second was a trip to Phillip Island where the highlight was seeing the penguins, feeding the Koala, wallabies and kangaroos. I have never seen these animals live before so that was great first for me.

I would sum up my summer experience as very rewarding both on and off work. I don't think this post does justice to that but if you get an opportunity to see some of the pictures you will get a better taste. I came off learning a lot, enjoying myself, developing good relationships and not to forget getting the offer! I was definitely very pleased to secure the offer. Too wrap it all up we received personalized cuff links from Tiffany and co as parting gifts. With the summer internship wrapped up I am excited to get back to Darden for the Second year program.

The best and the ‘West’

The Olympic fever is on and the Chinese have put up a spectacular show. Whether it’s the amazing infrastructure they setup, the flawless execution and organisation, the hospitality of the locals, the sporting crowds, or the spectacular performance of its athletes blowing away the opposition, they have been impressive. Any which way you look at it they have done a brilliant job and I admire them for that. I think it truly deserves applause no matter your viewpoint on the Chinese political and human right situation.

However, it seems that nothing Chinese achieve is going to be good enough for the ‘West’. I have news feed from different sources across the world just so that I get different perspectives on complicated issues around the world. Views from the western media on Olympics have been particularly intriguing. Before the Olympics started there was furore over Chinese human rights record and the Tibet issue. Western media blew the Chinese apart conveniently forgetting parallels such as NATO occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq, Guntameno Bay, attacks on minorities and migrants in US, ruthless detention on illegal immigrants etc. Then there was huge outcry about polluted Beijing and China’s irresponsibility when it comes to climate change. China accounts for 13% world’s Carbon dioxide emissions with 1.3 Billion citizens while US accounts for 25% of world’s emission with 300 million citizens. Add to that it is the only developed country not to have ratified the Kyoto protocol. Ah… and there was the opening ceremony where the Chinese had the girl lip sync to the song sung by another girl, presumably because of physical appearance. I agree that is very prejudist but aren’t these values transported out of the west where ‘fashion industry’, big labels, reality beauty shows and ‘who wants to be a supermodel’ rule? What about the controversy of the underage gymnast in the Chinese team. To my knowledge Gymnastics is the only Olympic sport where the age limit applies. I guess the objective is to prevent children being pushed into the sport and being exploited. Then why does it not apply to other sports such as swimming where Australia is happy to push 15 and 16 years into Olympic competitions. Also how can one claim these girls are underage, just by appearance? It’s very apparent to anyone with some understanding of Asians that due to their culture and physical attributes they look lot younger than westerners. Having said that, they could still very well be underage and the Chinese may have cheated but to assume this and pass judgement is plain ignorant and prejudist.

The ‘west’ has time and again raised the issue of ‘freedom of press’ in China and Russia. They say it is the only way to ensure unbiased reporting of events. Well! If you look at the past 5 years of American journalism or even at the events currently unfolding in Georgia I would have serious doubts about this claim.

Coming back to the Olympics, so why is there such a huge outcry against the Chinese? Is the ‘West’ jealous that someone has challenged their long standing dominance or are the Chinese just oppressive, dictatorial, cheats and child abusers? You decide!!

One person I am sure the Chinese are grateful for is ‘Phelps’. Thanks to his extraordinary performance American press has finally something good and relevant to talk about.

Disclaimer: I have not run any fact check on this, neither do I claim to have an unbiased opinion on the issue. I have just attempted to put forth my thoughts on what appears to me as a very hypocritical stance whose underlying motivation is not very clear to me.

Management Consulting Summer Internship in Sydney – Week 1-2

We started our internship with 3-day training in resort in cape-cod. We were all provided lavish rooms in villas on the resort and most of the training took place in the conference rooms in the villa. The event as much for socializing with other interns form all over world as familiarizing us with tools used by the firm. Also included were case practice and sessions to help us understand what to expect in the consulting world. I particularly enjoyed the social events in the evening; casino night was easily my favorite.

After a long flight we reached Sydney on Monday and were glad that we didn’t have to go to work today. I joined another intern to explore the surroundings and get a first look at Sydney. At first impressions I compared Sydney to New York, lot smaller with little more culture and lot more flair, ah and of course lot better weather too.

View of Sydney harbour bridge from down the street

Our office was on the 22nd floor right in downtown with a great view of the opera house, Sydney harbor and the bridge. You feel truly blessed to have such a view at work. We figured that concentrating on work would be a challenge to which our manger joked about putting us on the opposite side of the building but thankfully didn’t. We were setup with laptops and familiarized with the processes and policies. The rest of the week was slow as we got onboard and up to speed on the project. We did get opportunities to meet with partners and they briefed on some of the work they were doing. I was amazed at both the quality of the work and opportunities to make such a huge impact. It all sounded very interesting. Some of the B-school myths about consulting were getting cleared.

View from our office

There were 4 interns from US B-schools HBS, Tuck, Hass and Darden (me) and one from Melbourne Business school. The US school interns were all based in Sydney, by choice. I was assigned to a project for one of the big banks in Australia. However, the client suddenly decided to cut back on costs as it approached end of financial year (End of July in Australia) as a result the project was delayed. As an intern, it was not possible for me to wait so they reassigned me very quickly to a project for a telecom client. This work pertained more to organizational change and turnaround, which I had no previous experience in and hence very excited to pursue. I always thought I would be pretty good in organizational issues through my years of experience in service industry but I guess I’ll find out soon. IN spite of quick reassignment I had free time on Thursday and I was offered an opportunity to leave early and explore Sydney. I took the opportunity and headed to check out Bondi Beach which though not crowded was a good sight. I still firmly believe that nothing can beat the beaches back home in Goa.

Bondi Beach
The weekend the office headed for a Ski-trip offsite to Thredbo. The winter here has just about started and we landed their on the first weekend the Ski slopes opened. Rumour has it the entire event was moved up so that Summer Associates could participate. That would make us an unpopular group but if the office folks felt such emotions they did a good job of hiding it! With only one ski slope open most people chose to skip skiing in favor of hike to Mt. Kosciusko. There was plenty of snow around and it was just slightly above freezing. The 3 hour hike and back was delightful. A small group of us had some extra fun slipping and sliding on the slopes rather than sticking to the trail. The scenery around was beautiful and especially so while sitting on the lift up and down as it allowed us time to view and absorb it. Later that night we had bit party at the local bars and club. It started just before the France-Australia rugby test and went late into the night. The dinner and drink expenses were all borne by our firm which I thought was exceptional generosity. My HBS-buddy and me ordered a Kangaroo and we had the pleasure of cooking it as well. It’s very common to find “cook it yourself” places in Australia apparently and I enjoyed both the Kangaroo and the experience of cooking it.

On our way up to Mt kosciusko

Next morning we tried a run on the bob-sled which was lot of fun. On our way back our colleagues were generous enough to divert to Canberra to give us a glimpse of the city. We also stopped by parliament building for a few minutes. We were back in Sydney late evening. I reflected on the exciting and eventful first 2 weeks on my internship.

Parliment building in Canberra
To be continued…

Summer Internship

I realise I haven't really talked about my internship yet. If you follow other MBA bloggers you might be seeing their posts on internship progress, while I continue on and on about my travels. The reason is I haven't started it yet; I start tomorrow. I am interning with a top consulting firm in their Sydney, Australia office. The world of consulting excites me and I feel lucky to have secured an offer from my top choice firm. I am equally excited about working in Australia. I have never traveled there and continue to hear excellent thing, especially about Sydney. I first fly to a destination within US for a 3-day training and offsite, and then head down to Sydney. Its going to be a long flight!

Since I came back from Europe I haven't done much except eat, sleep, drink, watch movies and read books. Though I did take a intermediate salsa class and play a few games of tennis. All in all it was a pretty leisurely time. Now I have to change gears again to a hectic work life. I am not sure how I feel about that. I was getting used to doing absolutely nothing and living at my own pace. Well! lazy thoughts apart I am still pretty excited about Sydney and consulting work. I shall keep you posted on my progress.

Backpacking in Europe - Paris : Day 3-4

One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things!

Having covered a lot in the first 2 days, the next two were less hectic but equally enjoyable. Weather wasn't the best though but the slight persistent drizzle didn't stop me from seeing what I wanted to. My disappointment was not being able to see Palace of Versailles as it was closed on Mondays. I only got to see it from outside and walk around in the gardens. However, the visit to 'Hotel des invalides' on Day 3 and Basilica of Sacre Couer, Notredame and Ste Chappelle more than made up for it!

Catching the RER train to Versailles
Palace of Versailles

Gardens in Palace of Versailles
More from the gardens

Pillars opposite to Hotel des invalides

Hotel des Invalides

Moulin Rouge in Montmartre Basillca of Sacre Couer
Notredame
Inside Ste-Chappelle

Paris has way too much stuff to see in 3 or 4 days. Everything is spectacular and interesting, city is diverse, exciting and on top of all that, Romantic. I definitely think it lives up to all the hype that is created around it.

This brought and end to my 2 week backpacking trip. I felt I wanted to travel more, a lot more. There were so many places in Europe left to cover, I had to come back. I felt such incredible energy and freedom during this trip. I was doing whatever I wanted, going where ever I wanted staying as long and enjoying myself to the fullest. At the same time I learned a lot about Europe's history, art, culture and lifestyle. I felt enlightened enough to the recognise the limited extent of my knowledge and understanding. This trip certainly cleared some misgivings I had about Europe and Europeans. It came at the right time for me as I try to be more open minded and perceptive. I have always been on a quest for meaning and purpose, and this experience was another critical element of my construction and philosophy.

I leave you with a famous quote from Mark Twain

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.

Backpacking in Europe - Paris : Day 1-2

Paris, je t'aime! Well what else can I say. A lot has been said and written about Paris. I definitely found it to be a very romantic city; beautiful with great history and culture. At the same time I was amazed with the number of people. A huge urban sprawl wasn't one of things I expected to see in Paris and it was that neat either. This facts apart it still was a really delightful place to be in and I thoroughly enjoyed my 4 day stay. In fact there is so much too see in Paris and I took so many pictures I'll have to narrate my story in 2 posts. Here goes

Beautiful narrow streets in Latin Quarter

River seine from one of bridges

Famous Pyramid entrance to the Louvre. The museum houses over 200,000 paintings. It took me about 5 hours to cover. Most people stay for the entire day

Napoleon's dining room(Part of Napoleon's quarters) Inside the Louvre

Obelix at Placa de la concorde. You can also see Champs-Elysees and Arc de triomphe in the backgroundView of Champs-Elysees from in front of Arc De Triomphe

Arc de triomphe at the end of Champs Elysees

My first close look at Eiffel tower

Champs de Mars as seen from an Eiffel tower. A concert had just started.

Spectacular view of Paris from Eiffel tower. You could identify many landmarks. Can easily see Hotel des Invalides with golden crown, place where Napoleon is buried.

The other side from Champs de Mars. View from Eiffel tower

Eiffel tower lit upFirst two days were indeed exhausting. There is so much to see in Paris and the streets are so inviting that you could walk them endlessly. I certainly ended up doing that a lot. Next two days were quickly exciting. Stay tuned for more pictures.

Backpacking in Europe Part 2 - Barcelona

My second stop on the backpacking trip was Barcelona. I was not staying in a hostel this time around but I heard 'Kabul' is a really good one and located very close to 'La Rambalas'

I had been to Barcelona before, in March, and covered most of the popular sites. I have written all about it here

http://anandologue.blogspot.com/2008/03/barcelona-gbe-part-two.html

http://anandologue.blogspot.com/2008/03/barcelona-gbe-part-two.html

this time around I chose to enjoy the Barcelona Nightlife and cover sites around the city. I'll describe those in this post.

Sitges beach as you approach from the town

Streets of Sitges

View of Barcelona from Mirablau bar on Mt. Tibidabo

Exotic Restaraunt in midtown Barcelona. It had couhes and beds for couples to lie on and eat. Never seen that before. Barcelona has excellent variety of restaraunts with great food. Its much cheaper than other European cities. It also boasts excellent nightlife with clubs open 7 days a week, packed from atleast wednesdays to sundays and open till about 7 am in the morning. Sorry I dont have more pictures for public viewing ;)

Heading towards Monserrat on cable car

Looking down at the tram system from St. Juan

Beautiful shrine atop St. Juan

Approaching the Monastery in Monserrat

Monastery entrance

This trip to Barcelona was little bit different from my earlier one but equally if not more enjoyable. Barcelona is a beautiful city with lot of character. It boasts a variety of sites from historical, architectural splendours, musuems, palaces to gardens for recrreation to variety of restaraunts, bars and clubs for exciting night life. If you haven't been here you are really missing something!

Backpacking in Europe Part 1 - Madrid

Here is my travelogue on the backpacking trip in three parts. Since there is a lot to write and pictures tell a thousand words, I will make this a photo-blog, mainly narrating my travel through pictures. It so happens that this is also my 100th post and writing about my Europe trip seems an apt way to go about it. When I started this blog I never would have wondered that I would reach this milestone. Anyway, here goes. Hope you enjoy this 3 part series

First Look at Plaza Mayor. it was originally founded in 15th century

walking down calle mayor. One of the beautiful streets in central Madrid

Kids dressed up for Festival of San Isidro. The celebration marks the beginning of the bull fighting season

Traditional dance form I caught in Plaza Mayor

Cathedral Nuestra sra. de la Almudena. Right next to the the royal palace

Palacio Royal. view from the cathedral. Palace is magnificent and the luxury reflects the grandeur of Spain in medieval times

View of Madrid from the cathedral

Fuente de neptuno (Fountain of Neptune) on Paseo del Prado

Entrance to Museo del Prado. One of the most famous museums in Europe. Has a great collection from 14th century to modern times

Downstairs Bar at cats Hostel. Hostel I stayed at. It was a fun and exciting place to meet travelers from all over

Parque Del Retiro. A huge park near the center of Madrid. Houses 2 museums, a lake, rose garden and was the biggest park I have ever seen

Rose garden at the park

More from the Park

The magnificent entrance of the National Library

Goodbye Cats Hostel. I am Leaving Madrid for Barcelona

I did also manage to see Musuem Thyssen Bournemisza, Archaeological Museum and the Atocha station. Also of note is the fact that night life in Madrid goes from 12 am to 7am every night, yes 7 days a week. The flurry of tourist does help to keep it going but the lifestyle amongst city's younger population is pretty much of living life and partying. Not only did I enjoy the great sights and museums Madrid had to offer but also the exciting and energetic nightlife. I Definitely recommend a visit to anyone who hasn't been there yet.