Monthly Archives: March 2016

Campus Living, Clubs, International Exposure, Life at Nanyang, Sports

Cricket World Cup – Go India!

Though cricket is the sport most followed by Indian sports-lovers, the encounter between India and Pakistan is a special occasion for each and every Indian and Pakistani. Once the match schedule is released, Indians and Pakistani alike will try to avoid agreeing to any important appointment on the  day when India and Pakistan meet on the field. This is the time when a sense of unity is felt among all Indians and everyone has only one thing on their mind: their country team must win the match!

To allow all MBA students from other countries to share the joy and excitement, the Sports club organized a Live telecast of the India -Pakistan world cup match at a big screen on campus on March 19 . The event did not only allow the multinational bunch to spend fun times togethers, but was also platform used by many Indians to teach other students the basics of cricket.

While spectators from all around the world enjoyed learning about a  sport previously unknown to them and joined the excitement of watching their first cricket match, the Indian students especially enjoyed the win of the Indian team.

Both, teams and supporters, certainly gave 100%  and watching the cricketers, and their fans, helped the cohort to not only understand each others national pride but also made everyone relate to the competitive strategies discussed in the MBA classes.

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                       Students watching cricket on campus – a breath-taking match!

Campus Living, Clubs, Cultural Events

Happy St Patrick´s Day – keep calm and go green!

On Sunday, March 20th, the beer, wine and liquor appreciation club and the cultural club co-hosted an event to celebrate all things Irish!

The day started off with a get-together at the Nanyang MBA campus, where beer was dyed green, in keeping with the festive spirit. All those who attended either wore green, or as close to green as they could find.

Soon after the green beverages were finished, and all hands were covered in color too, a bus delivered the even participants to a spot just outside of the Fullerton Hotel in downtown Singapore. Taking a left from the hotel, and crossing the Cavenagh Bridge, the dressed-up crowd saw, and heard from far, bag pipe players wearing what appeared to be Scottish kilts. But lacking an Irish participant, the MBAs were not familiar with Irish culture, and were happy to explore a new culture while decorating themselves with the free give aways: balloons, shamrocks, hats, rattles,  – all in green.

Equipped with all kinds of Irish paraphernalia, the student group was on time to watch Singapore´s very own St Patrick´s Day parade – but the parade was not! Waiting for thirty long minutes in SG´s hot and humid weather,  the exhausted MBAs ended up finding shade under a tree, determined to not leave before the fun started. Of course, as soon as one of the group members decided to go and get water for the thirsty bunch, the parade started! Having missed the start of the parade, the newly found St. Patrick fans hurried to follow the musicians in the parade back across the Cavenagh Bridge, dancing to the many playing bag pipes, and an assortment of drums.

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After a short fun march through downtown Singapore, it was decided to move on to the open air festival at the Battery Rd, stopping at a burger place.  There, the hungry folks were not only gifted some festive green hats from the wait staff, but also  treated to “Seven Nation Army,” among many songs, including a few Cranberries hits, by the band playing on one of the many stages. Only after the band stopped playing, it was time to return to NTU campus. What a fun St. Patrick’s Day event!

 

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Cultural Events, International Exposure, NANYANG-WASEDA, Programme, The NANYANG MBA

Waseda Double MBA students learn Japanese at Nanyang

by Rondel Apelo, Nanyang-Waseda Double MBA student

日本語 (Nihongo, Japanese) has always been an alluring language, so much so that I’ve never heard anyone say that they didn’t want to at least try to learn Japanese. So when the opportunity came about that we can learn some basic Japanese, I was more than delighted to pick up the chance! Little did I know that aside from the learning the fundamentals of Japanese, I would be learning more about its culture and gaining friends along the way.

As part of the Nanyang-Waseda Double MBA cohort, I enrolled into the Japanese Language course. From all walks of life – India, Philippines, China, and of course from Singapore, a diverse bunch of students went into class, two times per week from November ‘15 to February ‘16.

練習しましょう (Renshū shimashou, Let us practice) was always the starting phrase! And ちいさい テスト (Chiisai Tesuto, Small test) was always something to watch out for. As anyone can imagine, it was very dynamic, sometimes very confusing, but definitely 100% fun and worth the time!

From Hiragana to Katakana, from おはようございます (Ohayou) to こんにちは (Konnichiwa), we learned the very basics of Japanese Language from our Sense Akiko Ito (伊藤). Challenging as it was, our instructor made it a point to always ensure that we would be able to follow the lectures and even provided us with some additional learnings while even outside of class. The dynamics of the class also played a key role in the overall learning.
Occasionally, the class even had “local” visitors, our Japaneseclassmates, extending a hand to help us learn the “How to’s” and “what not’s” in Japanese. Though I still have a long way to go (and I would still probably get lost in translation when I do start my last trimester in 早稲田 Waseda Tokyo), I felt it was truly a wonderful experience. More than just the basics of Japanese, I got a deeper appreciation of the culture and a desire to know more about the Language. Something that I believe I will last even outside the four walls of the classroom.