Tuesday 20 April 2021

The Pandemic STORY by Kriti Palod on Erasmus+ Scholarship to study in Europe for 4 months

    THE PANDEMIC STORY

                                                         By: Kriti Palod       Batch: PGDM6

I am writing this blog siting at my home. Sounds casual? It isn’t casual for a girl who was stuck in another country while this pandemic far away from her family with all lost hopes of coming back home anytime soon.

So basically my pandemic period had 2 phases, one, doing my Erasmus exchange program (Europe) & another, coming back home (India).

Fortunately or unfortunately, I went to Varna, Bulgaria to purse my exchange program from University of Economics – Varna, in February, 2020, so I had the chance to enjoy many of the things this place has to offer, starting with the natural beauty (the beaches & mountains), the incredible historical heritage and the amazing Erasmus experiences.

I & my international friends knew about how things were happening in China and how fast the virus was spreading. We knew it would be just a matter of time until it would reach Europe as well. Still, we weren't completely aware of how severe the situation actually was and we just kept living our dream, making unforgettable memories, enjoying it and making incredible plans for the upcoming months.

On 10th March, We were in a restaurant, lost in the streets of the historical Varna when they reported on the news the alarming situation in Spain & Italy. We talked and realised the severe reality. That was the moment when our hearts thought of home and our families, more than ourselves. We knew the risk we would take by going home, so we decided to stay in Varna.

It was a 360° turn of all our plans, never knew that the period I expected to try different cuisines in the countryside - I would be cooking 4 meals per day for self, washing my dishes, cleaning my house with no house helps and no home deliveries.  That is because Erasmus is also about adapting, cooperation and evolution in any possible way!

My plan?


At the top of the list are the principles that guide me: reciprocal respect, help, support, and effective communication. I was lucky enough to have more people living with me, with a wonderful sea view, but to maintain the harmony we need to follow these principles and look through the window often. And so that’s what I did!


We decided to use our individual time (because we respect the need for privacy) to keep in touch with our family and friends back home, to study, learn, grow, develop new skills, to take university-related as well as other types of online courses, to read books and to meditate, because we knew we have to use this time in the most constructive and efficient way possible.

Together we learnt Bulgarian, Spanish, Albanian, French, German, Hindi, had fun sports and yoga because we knew how important it is to maintain our mental and physical health. We cooked and had dinners together because we loved to eat. We explored our multicultural origins and traditions and always found out new and interesting things. We also played games, watched many classical, good movies, danced, listened to all kinds of music and admire the sunset.


Another phase started by mid-May, when our course was coming to the end. At that point of time it was clear that all our pre-booked flights were cancelled and the only way left to go back home is by taking evacuation flights (Vande Bharat Mission). I connected with the Indian embassy in Bulgaria. They registered me for evacuation process. The flight was supposed to fly from Frankfurt, Germany. Being on Bulgarian visa with Indian passport I had to take transit visa to go Germany & catch my flight. I managed all on my own; I had this adrenaline rush throughout this phase, of what happens next. Finally I booked my flight tickets, which got cancelled later (17th June) and got preponed and this all happened just 3 days prior my final flight (20th June).

Due to pandemic there was low availability of flights from Varna to Frankfurt. I completed my documentations till 18th, reached Frankfurt on 19th June!

Spent 32 hours at Frankfurt airport, in this situation where Frankfurt was the only place of connectivity for the entire Europe. It was crowed and scary!

And of course none of us can understand what my parents were going through this entire situation. It was my first abroad trip. No matter how old I grow for them I'll always remain that young innocent blood.

On 21st morning I reached India, FINALLY!

I was still sceptical about my quarantine conditions. But then Airport authorities allowed me for home Quarantine. I went home (Aligarh) through a personal cab. Completed my 14days mandatory quarantine & maintained social distance with everyone for around a month.

It was a rollercoaster ride!



WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH GET GOING

 


Benaifer Pereira     Batch: PGDMFC15CM

Majestic memories of the gorgeous greenery, magnanimous mountains, wacky waterfalls, and the rambunctious rains at UBS campus, is such an exhilarating thought. If only I have the chance to enjoy my last year, experiencing the nostalgia of the beautiful scenic views of UBS. Nevertheless, I gradually understood the dynamics of the situation and came to the culmination that the cataclysm was out of hand. So why worry? This is when I decided to spend most of my time at home, soldering with family, enriching my versatility through conditioning newer skills in my realms of interest and furthermore contemplating my thought process and thoughtfulness which otherwise in my ‘precipitous’ life, was literally impossible to adhere to.

Unfortunately, the lockdown was declared while we were at the stint of our peremptory examinations and at that point of time, students’ safety was of utmost precedence. Thus, it was made sure everyone was sent home with utmost provision immediately. Being a final year undergraduate, we were not only worried about our online examinations but also getting the vetted results on time. Falsifying our concerns, the faculty at UBS made sure that the evaluation never delayed, and the learning never stopped. It was in no time that UBS appraised to conduct online examinations which were clenched in very systematic and organized way. I dejected to bid farewell to some of my closest friends over a video call, although our Program Director and Juniors made sure to make the Adieu as memorable as possible, by virtually enabling us take a stroll down the memory lane, further facilitating some emotional speeches and followed by quite a few activities.

I expected things to get better by July-August so that I would get able to meet my new MBA batchmates, but the Covid-19 situation seems to be the getting worst. The concept of meeting new students and batchmates virtually now, is an entirely different experience as compared to interacting with them on campus. Though at UBS, even at such difficult times, efforts are being made to help the students interact amongst one another as much as possible through various plutonic platforms like the case blazer, and outsourced sessions.

The sheer transformation from classroom learning to asynchronized teaching methods, libraries to inornate online platforms, UBS is slowly preparing students to be ready for the augmented future where ‘blended’ learning will be integrated into every educational institution.

While the MBA lectures, personal development sessions and guest lectures, help keep us busy all day, further keeping our systematic stress away. It is with utter eagerness that I wait for the sun to shine on the clock as to when we hasten back to the UBS family and relive the memories we made and cherish the new ones coming forth towards us.

Stay safe and do not forget to learn some new skill!


‘Virtual Experience at Universal Business School during Covid-19 pandemic’

 


    FARHEEN INAMDAR                                   Batch: PGDMBDI1                                                                                         

Being excited about my admission getting confirmed in Universal Business School, I started daydreaming about how life will be on campus. This would be my first time staying away from home in a hostel managing things on my own. But soon in mid-March the nation-wide lockdown was announced. At first I thought everything will be back to normal by July but as time passed things got more serious.

This did not affect the programs planned by UBS, the Pre-Program Activities started off by Dean Digital Challenge, which allowed us to pen down a little note about ourselves. On 6th April 2020, a webinar by Prof Vijay Tandon was arranged in which we got to know about how our induction programs and classes have been scheduled. We had a 30 days Induction Program started from 10th April 2020. This included session by CEOs, business leaders, alumni. It gave us sense of how being on campus would have felt like. By each passing day the excitement of being on campus increased as well as the cases in Maharashtra. By 26th May, online classes began different modes of learnings were introduced such as collpoll and e-library.

Classes are virtual but learning is real. The first question that occurred was how is it possible to interact on a platform without knowing or meeting my Professors or batchmates. To my surprise we did managed to not only interact but also form groups and do various group assignments and tasks. Slowly overtime the frequency of the classes held were increased to every alternate day to daily classes. Also the number of classes per day were increased from 1 to 3. I thought being a first year

MBA student all the basic concepts of marketing, business and economics will not covered but to my surprise at least 2-3 classes were solely designed to tell students the basic concepts of each subject. Each student were assigned a mentor who helps them in acknowledging and enhancing their skills. Each student was given the freedom to select a club according to their interests. These clubs helped students to get to know students who had similar interests.

During the whole pandemic UBS ensured to keep the students engaged with different activities, assignments, presentations and competitions.

The experience has been surreal it allowed me to learn, grow and be confident. It made me realized the value of education and it can change one’s thinking from being worried about my future in the beginning to looking for opportunities to grow. I made friendship which I’ll cherish for life. Every Professor taught us learnings are endless and Unlocked new possibilities.

 

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