Originally posted on Financial Times MBA Blog - http://blogs.ft.com/mba-blog/2014/07/28/time-to-move-again/
The shortest I have lived in a city is six days and the maximum is five years. I was only six days old before my parents moved from Karnal, a small town in northern India to Bangalore, also known as the Electronic City of India.
Since both my parents were working, I would spend my day with three different families, who were speaking three different languages. Before I even knew it, I had moved to three cities in India and three countries in the Middle East by the age of 12. And that’s how discovering new places and experiencing new cultures became a passion.
I did my undergraduate degree in London and during those three years I travelled extensively in Europe. I have been working in Bahrain for the last two years. After going through the emotions of deciding to pursue an MBA it was relatively easy for me to answer the “where?”. Having lived in Asia and Europe, North America was my obvious choice.
This fall, I am starting my full-time, two-year MBA at UCLA Anderson School of Management in the heart of Los Angeles. I could not have asked for a more diverse and dynamic place to pursue my education.
Through my posts, I will document my journey as I make my transition from the Middle East to the west coast and from a life of an oil & gas professional to a UCLA student. As an international candidate, I will share my experiences and challenges, which could be social, academic or professional.
I also hope to maintain a dialogue with the readers during these years. Please send any comments, questions, tips for living in LA, MBA jargons and new island discoveries in the comment box below. You can also follow me on twitter @0jain
