Fridays from the Frontline
If you’re budgeting for your MBA experience, you might think that traveling is outside of your reach. After all, who has extra money to spend on a trip overseas when you have tuition and books to pay for? According to Tanvi Nayar, an MBA student at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, that’s the exact wrong attitude to have. Traveling and exploring different countries has been the best part of Nayar’s past year at Tuck.
“I cannot, cannot, CANNOT stress enough the importance of traveling and exploring different cultures,” Nayar shared in a recent blog post. “It has been the highlight of my past year at Tuck.” Already, Nayar has traveled to nine different countries and has enjoyed every second of her adventures, even if they’ve had to happen within a frugal student’s budget. She booked affordable flights, stayed at Airbnbs and hostels, enjoyed cheap food, and walked everywhere, but to gain each culturally immersive experience with her classmates and friends it was worth it.
Read on to learn more about why Nayar advocates for making travel an integral part of your MBA student experience.
The following post has been republished in its entirety from its original source, the “Tuck 360: MBA Blog.”
Why Traveling and the MBA Should Go Hand in Hand
By Tanvi Nayar T’18
If you are budgeting for school right now, then this post is for you.
For starters, please add a new line item for traveling in that excel model you have created. I cannot, cannot, CANNOT stress enough the importance of traveling and exploring different cultures. It has been the highlight of my past year at Tuck. I have traveled to nine countries. They were, however, a frugal student’s trips, consisting of cheap flight deals, Airbnbs/hostels, tastiest and cheapest foods, and lots of walking (which counterbalanced the effects of all the food I ate). BUT the experiences gave me the awesome company of my classmates and friends, and a culturally immersive experience.
So, why do I travel? Meeting people from different cultures has increased my connection with myself, and created a new sense of empathy for strangers. It has made me more grounded and thankful for everything that I have in my life. It has put me in situations which honestly which were uncomfortable at times, but helped me grow immensely as a person and as a future business leader.
If you haven’t yet bought the idea, then here are a few highlights of all my travels, because, after all, what is a post without bullet points?
- Peru, for Tuck’s pre-term program:
Visiting Willoq community and cooking with the locals outside in -10 degrees F with no heaters. True story!
- Cuba, with 60 other classmates:
Visiting a bar in Trinidad which was inside a cave. Rumor has it that it was a serial killer’s hiding place before it turned into a bar. (Yes, very creepy.)
- China, for Tuck’s GIX:
Visiting the family of a middle-schooler to learn about their culture, and realizing that at the core of our aspirations and desires, we human beings are all so similar!
- Solo back-packing through Germany, Czech, Austria, and Netherlands:
Besides the fact that I was solo-traveling for the first time, the best part about my trip was joining a group of girls picnicking on a lazy evening in Vienna. I was sitting alone, reading a book, when I looked at them and smiled. One of them invited me over. My usual reaction would have been to shyly say no, but something inside me (FOMO) made me say yes! A quiet evening turned into the best conversations over wine and cheese!
- Uruguay and Spain: I recently traveled to Uruguay for Tuck’s OnSite Global Consulting program this month. And I am also traveling to Spain for an exchange program at another business school for the winter term.
This is the perfect time to travel. Use your classmates who come from all over the world as resources to learn about their countries. Get inside scoops from them on the best offbeat things to do! Because, if not now, then, when?
