It is not every day that life offers you a chance to experience Mumbai. The city of dreams. And also of traffic, 24/7 incessant rain, and a melange of cultures walking across streets brimming with the aroma of steaming hot vada pavs in every turn you take.

 It is also not every day that life offers you a chance to be a part of an institute like BITSoM. Now before I brag about this brand new B-school in town let me walk you through our dramatic entry into the place we’d call our homes for the next two years.

With packed bags (almost too heavy for flight cargo even with the student pass) and a heavy heart, we bid adieu to the lives we’ve known, and to the cities in which we’ve grown. A brand new start in a brand new school. Sounds exciting, right?

But hold on, we might have to grab a few tissues here. Cue initial euphoria, a flood of emotions, and homesickness. After we made sure we had cried our hearts out inside the four fancy walls of Regent Hill we were finally ready to kickstart our orientation week, which would span two weeks.

Dressed in formals head to toe, we walked into our seat of learning on the eighth floor of Hirandanani Knowledge Park. After a scrumptious breakfast, we were all geared up for our first ever session- hands down one of our favourites to date – the welcome address by our Dean Banerjee. This session will always remain special to us for two reasons- one, it is unusual to see the Dean of an institute exude such warmth and joy. Two, it is even rarer to hear a Dean not talk about the final placement package in the welcome address and instead emphasize ‘true learning’ instead of grades, collaboration instead of competition, and mindfulness in a world of the rat race. It was probably this eureka moment that made us all realize the kind of institute we have become a part of.

 What followed for the next two weeks was a mix of fun activities and thought provoking talks by industry stalwarts. We had the privilege to hear Mr Dilip Gaur, Director, Aditya Birla Management Corporation Private Ltd, talk about what it takes to make it big in life. Prof G Sundar, Director, BITS Pilani – Hyderabad Campus, spoke about the legacy of our parent institute BITS Pilani. The killer FOMO session by Dean Banerjee. The mind-bending case study session with Prof Anirvan Pant, Associate Professor (Strategic Management) at IIM Calcutta. A session on redefining traditional education by Dr Pramath Sinha, Founding Dean of ISB and an eye-opening talk on entrepreneurship by Prof Srikant Sastri, President, TiE Delhi-NCR. Not to forget the stellar industry speaker series that featured Ms Vigyeta Agrawal (Head of Marketing, Voot,Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd.) who shed light on the world of marketing, the Dabbawalas session which taught us about a traditional and sustainable business model in today’s time, and a session on finance by Mr Fazal Ahad (Co-founder & MD,  Merisis Advisors). A special mention for Prof Leena Chatterjee’s self-development workshops which started us on the journey of crafting personal development plans for ourselves.

 Now on to the fun part. The fact about being the second batch at BITSoM is that you get the advantage of having super cool seniors. (To the seniors reading this, you can treat me when we meet). We had a lineup of interesting activities which were meticulously planned to help us get to know our batch mates, break the ice and improve our team working skills right from Day 1. Model MBA grads, eh? A few games which stood out were BITSoM Pong, Speed Introduction (Dating?), dance workshops, impromptu skits for marketing hypothetical products, club fairs, quizzes, and section wars. The highlight of these two weeks was the Terrific Tuesdays. On the first Tuesday, we had the opportunity to meet our Chancellor, Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla. In the fireside chat that ensued, we had our Dean Banerjee ask Mr Birla a range of questions spanning from the BITSoM vision to work-life balance in today’s era. The following Tuesday was the glittering and glamorous Fresher’s Day, where we danced (perhaps also drank) our hearts out.

 Our two weeks orientation culminated in Talent Night where we had our batchmates showcase their skills, sing, dance, act, and cheer. Indeed, a perfect end to a perfect start.

 These two weeks were more than just fun and frolic and case studies and talks. This was the beginning of a new chapter in our lives, the one where we became friends from strangers and family from friends. The one where we work together to become the best versions of ourselves. The one where we make memories that will hold the most special place in our hearts. And most importantly the one where we became part of the BITSoM family. And thus began our journey in the city of dreams, with us living a dream to make our dreams come true.