October 29th, 2007

Week 5 — Committee elections, Coca cola CEO and Could do with some sleep!

Posted by Jitin
Under: Academic, Events & Speakers, Jitin Dhanani, Oxford Life

Intro   Bua at ChristChurch 1   Bua at ChristChurch 2   Inside ChristChurch Cathedral   Walking by Thames   Rowing on the Thames   Coca Cola CEO   Botley Bop 1   Botley Bop 2  

First up, do not let the sleep deprivation in the blog title not give the wrong impression. It was a good week :-). There were a few positives…

After the low of last week, not getting on the Entrepreneurship OBN, I got on the committee for Alumni relations role for the student advisory board for 2007-08 and also the External relations role for Oxford Entrepreneurs — one of the biggest student run organizations in Europe. The Oxford Entreprenur role excites me no end as this is a organization with 4000+ members and the committee comprising mostly of very very bright group of young individuals (mostly undergrads) is doing some great work and are getting better. Check them out at @ — http://www.oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk/

Must say a special thank u to a dear friend and Mentor who had told me after my last week’s dissapointment — “so what did u learn grasshopper?”. I got the message and and it reminded me that there are no failures — just learning opportunities! Thanks Marc. Also marks for the first group assignment were out. My group got distiction which was real cool. Only 4 / 13 groups in our section got distinction and 8 / 36 across the entire batch. So it was good worthy effort I would think. We need to ensure though that we look to improve as a group and always finish strong to continue this good start.

It was a special week as my bua (paternal aunt) visited me. She has come from india to visit Deepa (me dear cousin) in Birmingham. Its a pity that due to my packed schedule I could just be with them for half a day, but we had a great time never the less. She liked Oxford quite a bit. Some great pictures of ChristChurch and myself :-) attached from her trip. A good friend had requested pics of Christchurch — so maddy here u go! Will be putting up pictures for the Harry Potter hall soon.

Hmm what else. Oh yeah, the (one of the) highlight of the week was the visit and talk by Chairman and CEO of Coca Cola — Mr. Neville Isdell at Said Business School. It was a great talk focusing around coroporate responsibilities and role model corporate citizenship being very important for Coca-Cola. A truly exceptional person, his reference to Nelson Mandela being his hero struck a chord with me as Mr. Mandela is my childhood hero too! I had the good fortune of having some personal face time with Mr. Isdell as I was one of the people organizing and helping out with the event. Attached is a picture of the help group with this truly distinguished gentleman!

The week ended on a great note too. Friday night I was invited over by Larry to his College, New College, hosting a formal dinner night open to limited guests of the college members. It was a grand affair and truly memorable. This is really what seperates Oxford from any other institute in the world. 1000 year old buildings, the tradition, history of presidents, nobel laureates having eaten where we were eating. It was a goosebumpish (did i just make up that word?!!) affair! Thanks Larry!

Saturday night was Oxfords first house party. Hosted again by Larry and his flatmates (Nick, Tian, Vicky) — the party was called “The Botley (street on which they live) Bop (a term used for parties hosted by colleges in Oxford) Antifusc party”. It was a roaring success I felt and personally had a great time. Thanks guys!! Attached are a couple of pics which might give you an idea of the wild night that was.

Sunday night, after a day reading at the library, was Id night hosted at Somerville college (this was the college of former Prime Minister of India — Late Mrs Indira Gandhi). Was good food and some decent entertainment!

So there…quite a week. Next week will see 3 assignments and as soon as I upload this post I will be reading for atleast a couple of hours giving me a good 4.5 hours for sleep (lucky me! )..

Next week…same day…we will be at the halfway mark for the semester. How fast are we moving….vrooooooooooooooooom!

One Response

  1. Your posts are most enjoyable and have me longing to return to the Oxford campus just to re-experience the atmosphere (I was first there in 1971). Your mentor gave you some great advice, i.e., there is no such thing as failure; there is only learning. That’s what I tell all my students too. Enjoy your time at school and may a lifetime of learning be yours.

    Linda M. Lopeke

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