The First Day in Hubli

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Yesterday was our first full day in Hubli at BVB College and it was a full day! We were placed in the dorms with a roommate the night before and woke up in the morning to eat a vegetarian Indian breakfast provided by the college with our group and the other students. We then headed across campus where we had our orientation in the Management building. This building is beautiful and was just built last year. The classroom was very clean and much bigger than what I had imagined. The room was filled with American and Indian students as we split up into our groups based on what organization we are going to be working with. We then worked on a group exercise together to get to know each other. After orientation, we were all given a tour of the campus by the students in our group and it was beautiful and quite expansive. After our tours, half of the groups stayed on campus to work with their organizations and the other half took a bus around town with their groups to meet with people from the company they are working with. We each met with our company leaders for about 5 hours and discussed some problems that they are having or some areas that they need help in. After the 5 hours were up, we were then picked up by the bus and brought back to campus where we socialized with all of the BVB students and ate a vegetarian Indian dinner consisting of white rice, lentil mix, and non (a handmade bread). It was a long day for most of us so we went to our rooms pretty early to get some sleep. The students here at BVB are some of the most warm-hearted and kind people that I have ever met! Incredibly smart, too!

Delhi Day 1 – Erin

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We just completed our first day in Delhi after getting into the airport at 1:25am local time.  After catching a few hours of sleep we had a great buffet breakfast, made a trip to the ATM for Rupees, and took our bus to see India’s first mosque, the site of Gandhi’s last days, some of the president’s 250 acre home, the Indian parliament, and a temple.  Driving through the city, which I learned was home to about 18 million people, and seeing the business of a Friday was exciting.

We are  off to the Agra and the Taj Mahal early tomorrow morning and heading to Hubli the next day (Sunday).  We should be able to update more when we settle in at BVB!

2015 starts off with a bang

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In less than one hour, I will be on the way to Logan Airport. I am so excited to see India and meet the students that we will be collaborating with during the program. I am also looking forward to working in a multicultural and cross-functional team. This is such an incredible opportunity to both expand my global awareness and also cultivate my ability to adapt to new environments and situations. Although I am filled with anticipation for this new experience, I will miss my husband and son. Being away from them may be challenging, but I know they will be safe and happy while I’m gone.

This isn’t the first time I’ve spent New Year’s Eve on a plane, but it will be the first time I’ve ever started the new year in another country. Without a doubt, this will be an unforgettable beginning to the year 2015. Next time you’ll hear from me I will be in New Delhi, celebrating the new year with my classmates in a memorable way.

See you all on the other side of this long plane ride.

taj

New Year’s Eve

Aside

As many of us will begin on January 1 by making a New Year resolution, I will begin my 2015, not by making it, but living it. Not by eating a salad, or by transferring money into a saving’s account, or heading to the gym to do my best “Rocky” montage, (which is Rocky IV by the way, “Hearts on Fire” song in the background, while Rocky chops down trees, lifts rocks, and sprints up mountains, while Drago is training on a space station) but by doing something completely new, in a new place halfway across the world, getting outside of my comfort zone and challenging all that I know to see our world from a new perspective and to continue to grow as an individual.

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I have been given the opportunity to travel to India, not a new deli in Indiana, as many
of my family thought that heard over the holidays, to take part in an Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program on the global scale.  Traveling with Rowdy (photo)
along with a dozen fellow Umass classmates, we will be learning with a purpose as we team up with a local engineering college and work on real projects with real companies ranging from sustainable development through agriculture to working with physiotherapists to aid patients who cannot walk.

Just as many of us do not know what the rest of the year will bring or if we will even make it past February till we conclude that skinny jeans are dumb and not for me, tonight is full of excitement and wonder, thinking about the future accomplishment of this year’s new year decree and all the change it will bring.

With my bags packed, and visa in hand, here comes India and the year 2015…..

5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1….Happy New Year!

Welcome!

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Travel and study entrepreneurship and innovation with UMass Lowell’s Manning School of Business. Undergraduate and graduate students welcome. Students will travel to Delhi, Agra and Hubli, India with Professor Ashwin Mehta and Professor Deb Finch to BVB College of Engineering to learn alongside BVB students and immerse themselves in entrepreneurial mindsets and cultural influences on decision-making. This course is worth 3 credits and is designed to help students understand the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship in today’s global economy and to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset among the students in the Manning School of Business. It will cover different forms of entrepreneurship such as small businesses, growth ventures, corporate entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. The course will focus on innovation types, turning innovation into reality and the process of entrepreneurship. Innovation and entrepreneurship theories and concepts will be discussed with real life examples and cases. This is a winter 2015 course. Apply and learn more.

Read about this award winning program: