Naveen's Journal

Last to last Sunday, I had the chance to be at Clara Zetkin Park to enjoy the carnival atmosphere for the 5 and 10 KM races sponsored by Sportscheck. Actually it was Ronny’s participation which excited me even more to go and see. He finished a commendable 15th with a time of around 39 mintes for the 10 KM, with winner clocking around 32 minutes. It has already pumped me enough to decide that I’ll be aprticipating in the Leipzig Marathon next year

Few pictures from the event -

Well, if the beginning to my European sojourn is something to go by, then definitely it’ll be fun to be here for the next year. Before I could post some pictures of the beautiful city Leipzig is, and about other things here, I am compelled to write the experience we had yesterday. As part of our Welcoming event at HHL, Porsche organised a grand reception for HHL students, and it was a pretty long day having the great mix of business, strategy, fun and adventure! Starting the day with case studies and presentations on the Global warming issue, which is forcing the EU to bring CO2 emmission norms which’ll put cars like Porsche off the streets for sure, we had a gala lunch at the sophisticated Porsche facility in Leipzig which is the production center for all Cayene models. And after brainstorming during the afternoon on the CO2 issues and devicing strategies for Porsche, we were pleasantly surprised to know that the powerful beast Porsche Cayene Turbo was waiting for us at the Porsche Testing tracks, to give us the rides of our lifetime!

And what a ride it turned out to be! It’s impossible to explain the feeling that you get while bumping on those chicanes at almost 200 miles per hour! I was fortunate to be beside the driver, Manuel, and toook the following video. Also enjoy few pictures of the Porsche museum having all cars in its line – from the Carera GT2 to the Cayene to vintage sports cars!

Well, I know it would come as a surprise to most people who know me and are reading this, and also to some of my close friends also, that I’ve moved to Germany to pursue MBA from the HHL – Leipzig Graduate School of Management. And after landing here on the 28th of August, its been a week completed here!

Everything happened so fast that I didn’t even get the time to realize that I’ll be away from my country, family and friends for 1 year, and the last 1.5 months before coming turned out to be the most strenous days of my life so far!

As for Leipzig, its a historic city in the eastern state of Saxony and about an hour away from Berlin. Whatever I’ve explore of it so far, it seems to be a calm and nice place to stay and is extraordinarily beautiful with thousands of old buildings all around the city which have been renovated ornately after the reunification. Leipzig used to be one of the foremost industrial cities of Germany until the 2nd world war, with a great publishing industry, textile industry and obviously the Trade fair capital of the world. But since most of the city got destroyed in the WW, and thereafter in the GDR regime, Leipzig lost most of the industries, business and its old charm. However, it was in Leipzig that the peaceful protests started for the reunification in 1989, and thereafter its been a happy story with many industries coming back and city attaining past glory.

As for HHL, its an awesome place to be in and study, as we have a batch of students representing more than 12 countries from all around the world. The facilities are great and industry exposure unparalleled in Germany. With tie ups with BMW and Porsche (both having plants in Leipzig) and associations with almost every big German company, it surely is the place to learn your business!

I’d be posting pictures and more details of my wonderful stay here soon, and am looking forward to the Welcome events next Monday-Tuesday for M9 (our batch) having participation of JP Morgan CEO, trip to the Prosche Cayenne facilty and thereon!

Tchus! (Deutsch for bye )