By: Trinisha Basak, Class of GMBA 2017

In the two years of our MBA life, we rarely get the chance to spend a whole day with classmates without having the tensions of assignments and exams. I was lucky to get such a chance three times: the first during our study trip to MIT Boston, the second during our short term exchange at Stanford University, and the third during our graduation trip.

In the second year, many of my classmates went for a semester exchange to different universities. The few of us who chose to stay in China were also busy with internships, hunting for jobs, and travelling. So I didn’t get a chance to see my close friends for a long time. In the beginning of 2017, when we decided to go on a trip before our graduation, I was very excited. I was determined to join the trip. We had chosen the place by voting: a weeklong trip to different places close to Chengdu. I joined the trip for four days.

On the nigh of June 15^th, I flew to Chengdu with a few of my other classmates. In the morning of June 16^th, we took a bus to see the panda resort.

There were around two hundred pandas in that resort. We spent two hours walking through the forest, seeing adorable pandas and chatting with friends.

We took several photos in the panda resort.

Afterwards, we boarded the bus to go to Mount Siguniang. We halted the bus for lunch. We had local food at a local restaurant and enjoyed their traditional singing and dancing performance. A few of our classmates joined them in dancing and singing. We played a numbers game where the loser needed to perform. It was so much fun.

Later in the afternoon, we resumed our journey to Mount Siguniang. It was high in altitude and our trip organizing team was efficient at making preparations for everyone to go to that high altitude. We had a tour guide who introduced us to their different local practices. After I reached hotel in Mount Siguniang in the evening, I had a cold and fever. My friends arranged for medicines and took very good care of me. Next day I skipped the morning activity to take a rest, but in the afternoon, I joined my friends on horseback riding over the Mount Siguniang landscape area. It felt like meditation because it was so beautiful and peaceful.

Celebrating the End of our MBA at Mount Siguniang in Chengdu

The next day we went to see other parts of the mountain.