It has now been over a month since I left Oxford and I have finally had time to reflect on the amazing experience I enjoyed over the last year.  We have now received our results and I am pleased to report that I passed everything so that I can officially say that I have completed the MFE!  I have been enjoying my time back in South Africa, but I am also missing my Oxford friends and I’m really looking forward to heading back to London and starting on a new adventure in the working world.

Trinity Term was quite different to the previous two terms in that our core courses were completed and we were taking elective courses.  Some of these electives were shared with the MBAs and it was quite a different experience having them in class with us!  It was good to meet lots of new people though and they certainly provided a very different perspective in class.  Another major difference is that we had to face up to the reality of writing exams!  We wrote two sets of exams during Trinity Term.  The first batch was in 0th week (the week before term started) and these covered our core subjects which we had been doing in Michaelmas and Hilary Terms.  We wrote four exams in four days, which was very tough, but we all survived somehow.  The second batch of exams was at the end of Trinity Term and covered our elective courses that we had just completed.  Although we had less time to study for these, I found them much less stressful than the core exams!

Exams at Oxford are pretty unique.  First of all, it is compulsory to wear your sub fusc (men: dark suit, white shirt, white bow tie and women: black skirt/trousers, white shirt, black ribbon tie) and gown.  Everyone writes in the grand old Examination Schools building on the High Street, which has beautiful carved ceilings and paintings on the walls.  It was quite a change from the bland sports hall we used at my undergrad university.  It is also traditional (but not compulsory) to wear a different coloured carnation for each exam.  A white carnation is worn for the first exam, pink for those in the middle and red for the final exam.

Outside of the Examinations Schools in our sub fusc before the Industrial Organisation exam

I think the university authorities would quite like to discourage it as a tradition, but one is also trashed after your last exam.  This involves lots of confetti and silly string!  I wrote on the last day of exams and I certainly enjoyed my trashing and the celebrating the completion of the course with the my classmates!

Confetti attack as part of my trashing after my last exam

General celebrations outside the Exam Schools after our last exam

Rowing once again played an important part in my life with Summer Eights, the main regatta of the year being held.  I also took a break from the studying over our Easter vacation to watch all of the University Boat Races.  The fist of these is the lesser known Henley Boat Races which take place at Henley-on-Thames the weekend before the main Boat Races.  These are the Men’s Lightweight race and all of the Women’s races (Lightweight, Reserves and Blues).  Oxford were completely dominant in all of the women’s races, but Cambridge took the Men’s Lightweights by a whisker!  The following weekend it was off to London to see the Men’s Reserves and Men’s Blues compete on the Thames.  Although Cambridge sadly claimed both of those races, I had a fantastic day enjoying the atmosphere and the after-race celebrations which take place regardless of the result!

During Trinity Term, I also had the opportunity to listen to two esteemed speakers at the Sheldonian Theatre.  The first of these was Nobel Prize Laureate, Desmond Tutu.  He is definitely an entertaining and humourous orator and as a fellow South African, his speech had special significance for me.  The second speaker at the Sheldonian, was HRH Prince Charles.  He spoke on Islam and the Envirnoment, which may seem like a strange combination, but he spoke with strong conviction.  Although I didn’t necessarily agree with all of his views, I respect that he stands up for his opinions and what he believes in.

Prince Charles at the Sheldonian

Another feature of Trinity Term is the numerous balls that are held at the various Colleges.  I went to two: Keble’s Alchemist Ball and Green Templeton’s Diamonds Are Forever Ball.  The balls were an opportunity for us to get dressed up in our best black tie finery and enjoy the food and entertainment in the quads of the Colleges.  My favourite part of these balls were the silent discos where each person is given a pair of headphones with different channels, so that you can choose which channel you want to dance to.  For some reason this is much more fun than a normal disco!

Keble Ball

Another black tie event finished off the year at Oxford for us.  Since graduation at Oxford is organised by the Colleges, our MFE class will not graduate together.  As a result we had a farewell dinner after our exams.  We also had speeches by some of the MFE faculty and Mr Michael Black, the former Managing Director of the American Stock Exchange, as well as a students’ farewell speech delivered by myself and one of my friends.  Although I was quite nervous about giving the speech, it was a very fun night with all of us together for the last time.

To those of you about to start the MFE in 2010, good luck!  You’ll have to work very hard, but it will also be one of the best years of your life.  Make the most of all of the incredible opportunities on offer at Oxford, because the time will pass so quickly that your year will be over before you know it.  To those of you applying for the 2011 admission, I wish you all of the best of luck with your applications!  As for me, I am leaving for London in a week to start work for an insurance company in the City.  Although I am quite nervous, I am also looking forward to a new challenge and I have no doubt that if I survived the Oxford MFE, I can survive anything!

Now that Trinity term has begun, it is time for a little introspection. I believe most of us have a sense that the most gruelling months are behind us; we may now set some time aside for a cool-headed self-assessment of how this year has been, and what we may expect from the two months that separate us from graduation.

The examinations, three weeks ago, may have been quite a stressful period, but in hindsight I am glad we had a hard time: a solid, cold assessment of learning objectives is part of what makes the MFE such a good educational signal.

The course is so well designed that we do not have examinations around Christmas – a very good thing in my opinion. The recruiting season mainly takes place from September to March and there is nothing more dangerous than to be overworked while looking for a job. With respect to job hunting, our class did very well. I cannot sufficiently stress the value of attending the University of Oxford while searching for a job, especially in times of hardship. Our class will start working for the best firms one can think of, particularly – surprise, surprise – in finance. The Business School will certainly release the numbers in due course as it should truly take pride in its placement statistics. By the way, good luck to all final round applicants!

Here we are, then,  with a job contract in our drawer and new plans in our head. This term, we may take up to five electives, some of them exclusive to the MFE, others shared with the MBA students. I elected Continuous-time finance and I must say that it is not for the faint-hearted, the mathematics of it being a bit scary (think measure theory and similarly arcane stuff). Most of us see it as a challenge…and I see it as an opportunity to crack more geeky jokes!

I’m also taking an econometric forecasting class with David F. Hendry.Wikipedia describes him as “one of the greatest econometricians of our time”. Awesome! Professor Hendry teaches a quite heterodox approach to econometrics, with methods adapted to the radically unstable world we live in. That will complement nicely the excellent (I stress the word) course in classical econometrics that the similarly excellent Pr. Sheppard taught us in the first seven months of the year.

Now if mathematics are not your cup of tea, we’re also offered “softer” courses in private equity, international trade, corporate valuation (i.e., M&A), you name it. Lectures are given by practitioners as well as academics.

I just left the School and Oxford is relaxingly sunny today. I swapped deep Swedish house music for Chopin’s ballads on my iPod. The city’s amazingly beautiful and smells like summer. We are now allowed to walk on the grass in the college quads – an occasion to play some crocket while surrealistically drinking some champagne. Talking about grass, the football pitches have been transformed into cricket fields. I thought that was a scandal before I actually tried it and ended up playing for my college!

As I feel like cooling down this term, I started doing research with Pr. Ramadorai, a hedge funds expert. I’m working on commodities and liquidity, a subject I am very much interested in. It promises to be a lot of reading, but I’ll get to use more Matlab and the mere thought fills me with joy (what, is that wrong?). We’re actually allowed to undertake a research project in place of an elective and few of us have chosen to do so. Friends of mine will be working on anything from measures of financial risk to the modelling of military events. Needless to say, Oxford is the place to be for anyone with academic aspirations or a wish to delve deeper in any given subject. Remember, we’ve got the second largest library in the United Kingdom!

Keeping a cool head will also be necessary for those of us who started investing on the markets. Altogether, we put several thousand pounds of our own money at risk. That says a lot about the confidence we place in what we learned in Oxford: when it comes to my new understanding of finance, I feel entirely comfortable putting my money where my mouth is.

Well, it has been an incredibly long time since I last posted, but this is mainly due to the rapid increase in workload experienced by the MFEs over the past term!  We have had a big assignment due almost every week and this has led to several long hours in the library.  In addition, I also had some job interviews to attend (I have now received an offer, so I’m glad that process is over) and lot and lots of rowing!  If I had to write about everything I’ve been doing this term, it would be a very long post indeed, so I will just describe my personal highlights from the term, which are all sporting-related.

The first of these was the Varsity Ice-Hockey Match between Oxford and Cambridge.  Being South African, I don’t know very much about Ice-Hockey, but I developed a bit of an appreciation for it when I was on exchange in Canada in high school.  One of the Russians in my class was representing the Oxford team, so we had quite a large MFE contingent together to go and support him.  The game was absolutely epic!  Cambridge were winning 6-5 until Oxford equalised in the last minute.  The match then went into sudden death overtime, where one of Saïd’s MBA students scored the winning goal.  I can not describe the atmosphere in the ice rink (which was packed) when that happened, there was pandemonium as everyone was going wild with celebration.  I was unable to attend the Women’s match the next day, but I am pleased to report that Oxford also claimed victory in that match, with my fellow MFE blogger Joyce as the top scorer!  That weekend I also happened to watch the Olympic Ice-Hockey Final between Canada and the USA.  There were strange similarities between that match and the Men’s Varsity Match, with an equaliser in the final minute and sudden death overtime.  Lucky for me, both times the team I was supporting was victorious!

Aside from studying and assignments, the major activity that consumed my life over Hilary Term was rowing!  I was very pleased to make it into the Pembroke College Women’s First Boat for Torpids, which is the name of the main inter-college regatta in Hilary Term.  Torpids (and Summer Eights, which is the regatta in Trinity Term) are bumps races, which as far as I am aware, is a format unique to Oxford and Cambridge.  The rules are a bit complicated, but the basic idea is that the boats start lined up along the bank, about one and a half boat lengths apart.  When the start canon (and yes, it is an actual canon) goes off, the aim is to catch up to and literally bump into the boat in front of you, without being bumped by the boat behind.  If you bump someone, you start in their place the following day.  Thus, the aim is to gain as many places as possible over the four days, with the ultimate winner being declared head of the river.  We had a bit of a fiasco on our first two days that resulted in us losing a place.  However, we came back really strongly on the second two days, bumping on both days, which means that we had a net gain of one place!  The last day of the regatta (Saturday) will certainly be one of my most special memories from my time at Oxford.  Tons of people came out to watch and were cheering like crazy when we came into the landing raft after bumping Exeter.  It made all of the long hours of training (often in the early morning and/or rain and/or cold) worthwhile!

The night that Torpids ends involves lots of partying and celebrating, but I couldn’t partake in the celebrations too much, because I had to be up early the very next morning to race in the Varsity Mountain Bike match.  Having rowed six races in the preceding four days, I was rather tired.  Also, I hadn’t been doing much cycling training because all of my time had been devoted to rowing, but I hoped there was some cross-over fitness between the two.  However, there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to beat the Tabs (as Cambridge students are known here) at something.  I am very pleased to report that we did just that!  The Oxford girls claimed the top three places in the race, resulting in a dominant victory over the Tab girls.  Sadly, Cambridge won the Men’s title, but that is definitely another day I will never forget: winning the Varsity Mountain Bike race is certainly a very special memory for me!

As you can tell, it is definitely possible to fit in other activities outside of the MFE, despite the heavy workload.  We are now in our Easter break.  However, we write exams for our core courses in 0th week of Trinity Term, which is just less that four weeks away.  As a result, my holiday will consist mostly of studying, with some training with the MFE Erg and Fitness SIG thrown in so that I can be fit for more rowing next term!

The fact that this post has been saved as a draft for over 3 weeks now, just talks about the nature of this term. It has been stressful and very fast-paced. Assignments and group work has been the predominant mode of working this term.

Recently(well, it was recent when I last saved this draft) , I happened to visit Cambridge – an exchange organized by the Saïd Business School Finance OBN with the Judge Business School Finance club. Apart from the painful 3 hr long journey, it was a great experience to visit the “other” university. Oxbridge, as they are famously known as – Oxford and Cambridge are similar and diverse at the same time. Apart from the old-world charm, both universities and the microcosm of the business schools are starkly different. Being a loyal Oxonion, I will stick by my alma mater, but I really liked Cambridge as a city – it is small and very pretty.

Back at the School, the term rapidly moves through to the 5th week. It is amazing to wonder how short this course really is and how much there is to learn in these few months. This term is loaded with assignments – as compared to the first term. A lot of group assignments as well – this gives a chance to learn from your classmates. I must admit that for someone who hasn’t had a background in finance or economics, it makes the material pretty challenging. I think this term is fascinating, considering the fact that our 4 subjects have overlapped into 2. So, Asset Pricing 2 (which is also called “Empirical Asset Pricing”) is all about testing the theories in finance and uses most of the techniques we learn in Financial Econometrics. And Corporate Finance 2 talks about contracting, information asymmetry and other micro-economic concepts that we learn in Economics 2. I have personally felt a sense of déjà vu so many times this term!!!

The business school finally got us some recreation – a Foosball table!!!

There has been a tradition at the MFE for Valentine’s Day – where all the boys gift flowers to the girls. This year continued in that vein – the pairs were formed randomly (in some cases – maybe not in some) and it was sweet to see the love amongst fellow classmates We even presented a rose to Prof. Ramadorai (our Asset Pricing 2 professor) – we thought it would lead him to giving us simpler assignments (though that didn’t happen).

The term has sped by – and already its the 7th week upon us. Soon, the Easter break will start and those 4 weeks are going to be the most hectic ever!! There is loads to catch up on – and those 4 days of exams (THE exams) will culminate all the learning at the MFE so far. I am going to be heading back home for 1 week (to be a part of the Oxford India Business Forum in Delhi). Hope to write again soon!!

In posting each day about my trip to Uganda, I’m very behind on all that has transpired in real time – my life at Oxford. As a very quick update, when I got back from Uganda, I basically had 24 hours to unpack and then repack for an ice hockey tour in France and Switzerland. While competing against Courchevel, Mirabel, and Grenoble (marketed as a game of France vs. England), we had a chance to ski in the French Alps and enjoy a lot of high quality team-bonding time in a luxurious chalet. I admit that during Michaelmas term, my attendance to ice hockey slipped quite a bit as Givology and adjusting to the MFE subsumed a lot of my life, but as the Varsity game against Cambridge fast approaches, I understand the importance of full commitment. By the time I arrived back at Oxford, I basically had two and a half days to prepare for my Economics midterm. Alas, despite the pressure, I don’t regret all my travels this winter break!

Highlights of First Week: Other than my Economics midterm (rather straightforward and much less daunting than I anticipated), I enjoyed getting back into the mood of a student. At first, it felt really surreal to be back in class after three weeks in Uganda and then one week in France, but I quickly adjusted within a few days. Most importantly, going to Uganda revealed to me how much I have to appreciate – the opportunities and luxuries afforded to me in my life at Oxford. As a result, I look forward to this semester with an even greater anticipation than before – as this year may indeed be my final year of study, I intend to take advantage of everything!

My classes this term are much more applied. In particular, I enjoy the fascinating microeconomics lectures by Professor Thanassoulis because he’s extremely engaging and great at distilling difficult concepts into understandable components. Asset pricing this term focuses on the empirics, which I find a lot more interesting, and Professor Ramadorai banters with the class, keeping everyone on track!

On the Givology side, I spent a lot of time catching up with prospective partners from around the world – Contact Skip in Peru, Science for Humanity, Jacaranda, Future Leaders Academy in Kenya, Notre Dame HS in Uganda, and Nido Disperanza in Cameroon, among others. We have a huge backlog of potential partners to interview…it’ll definitely be tough striking a balance as we want to make sure we have the resources to fully dedicate and support them fully.

Notably, on Sunday, I went to formal dinner at Pembroke with Erin, Kate, Ellen, and Pranav from my class! I really enjoyed the experience, and after dinner, Erin showed me the trophy case containing the medals of Sir Roger Bannister, a distinguished neurologist and former Master of Pembroke College…and the first man in history to run the mile in less than 4 minutes. Goes to show that intelligence and athletic ability don’t necessarily have to be mutually exclusive!

Highlights of Second Week: Not too much happened early in the week, as I felt rather sick. With YouthBank and Givology work piling up with my absence, I spent most of this week clearing through weeks worth of e-mails and work. Thanks to Coonoor, our Director of External Relations and Outreach, we’ll be taken on as a client by Service Corp Consultants from Net Impact. I also made an application on behalf of Givology to the Oxford Volunteer Consultants, which places MBAs with organizations looking for external feedback.

Notably, I had a very busy weekend. On Saturday, I woke up early to compete in the Social Venture Competition, organized by the Private Equity Oxford Business Network. As the only non-MBA participant, I was a last-minute addition to the team. Despite having the smallest team and very limited time, we did a full valuation and presentation about a potential m-commerce investment. We didn’t win, but regardless, it was a good experience, though I think myself rather insane for choosing voluntarily to complete a corporate finance/valuation project for fun! Also, I take pride in the fact that as the underdogs, we exceeded expectations – in particular, the fact that we did a valuation from scratch and caught a major mistake, while the other teams didn’t even bother.  I worked with Farell and Jenn – two MBAs who I’ve gotten to know, both with really interesting backgrounds and experiences.

After the competition, I biked to my ice hockey game against Milton Keynes. We lost 7-2, but the score didn’t reflect our performance – the game felt a lot closer in actual skill. I scored both goals, but frankly, their goalie didn’t seem particularly experienced. After the game, I went to see Sherlock Holmes, perhaps one of the best movies I’ve seen in the last few years! Definitely worth it to see the movie on the big screen – I loved the quirky dialogue and the intricate plot. (Alas, I’m addicted to the detective genre in general – right now, I can’t stop myself from indulging in episodes of Detective Academy Q…an unfortunate source of procrastination)

On Sunday, I went to the Ashmolean Museum, and was astounded by how much larger the collection has become! With the reorganization of the exhibits, the explanations and themes emerge much more clearly. I spent about 1.5 hours at the Museum, and resolved to return, as fully appreciating the content requires at least a full day or several visits!

That afternoon, I worked with Jia on figuring out the logistical details for our NYC exhibition of the artwork we collected and created in Uganda. We’ll also be publishing a book to compliment the exhibit – with the end of March as our target date for opening night, we have so much work outstanding. (But, of course, fun and meaningful work!) Jia found an ideal location and printer partner, so we’re in the process of hashing out the details to make sure our exhibit receives sufficient media attention and generates at least $20,000 in profit. At 9:30 PM, I decided to make a last minute submission to the St. Gallen Symposium and spent the next three hours writing up an essay on the theme of “Entrepreneurs: Agents of Change.” (If you’re curious about my paper, e-mail me and I’ll be happy to send it.)

So, now third week has begun – frankly, I can’t believe how quickly time has passed. With term in full swing, we have lots of assignments due. But I suppose my travels have shown me the worthlessness of stress – maybe because I’ve seen much more, I’ve developed a healthier perspective on the balance of life and work.

One step at a time, all can be accomplished! Admittedly, I’m still clearing my backlog of calls, meetings, applications, and papers, but eventually, I’ll finish.

As it’s been a while since my last update, I’m going to give a brief re-cap of all that has transpired during holiday break and the start of Hillary term. Truly, I’m really enjoying my life at Oxford – having been here the year prior for the MSc in Economics for Development, I discovered that each term seems to be better than the prior term!  As the MFE focuses specifically on mathematical derivations, theoretical models, and utilizing Matlab programming for forecasting and simulation, I’m learning a lot of interesting quantitative techniques. Despite the long hours of class each day, I truly enjoy the lectures and the content of the course, especially financial econometrics and economics. We have some new professors for Hilary term, and they are really great, in particular Professor Thanassoulis, who teaches Microeconomics. Three hours in his class disappears so quickly – he’s really engaging as a lecturer and distills difficult models into very digestible components. But a lot of my learning also occurs outside of the classroom through informal seminars and speaker events. For example, last term, I heard Justice O’Connor, George Soros, and Jeffrey Sachs spe5ak!

Michaelmas term was filled with lot of different adventures – I’ve been keeping busy playing ice hockey, running Givology and YouthBank, enjoying the arts and cultural events at Oxford, and traveling as much as I can within the United Kingdom. In the fall, I had a chance to visit Stratford Upon Avon, Warwick Castle, the Lake District, and Belfast. To document some of my activities, I maintain a regular blog on my website: www.joycemeng.com/.

Notably, this winter vacation, I went to Uganda to visit the Circle of Peace School, one of Givology’s partners. In so many different ways, this trip really transformed my life. To read a day-by-day account of my activities at the Peace School, you can visit www.wix.com/joycemeng/uganda2009 or go to the “Journal: Notes from the Field” section on Givology’s website (www.givology.org)

The story behind the Peace School is truly tremendous. As a family-run school, the Peace School provides free education to over two hundred children who otherwise would not be able to afford tuition fees, many of them AIDS orphans. Despite 15 years of delivering quality education and helping hundreds of children, however, the Lower Campus of the school was unexpectedly evicted in December 2009 by its landlord, affecting grades Pre-K through 3rd grade. At Givology, we worked really hard to secure funding to move the entire primary school to the Upper Campus. In light of increased enrollment, we’re aiming to invest $10,000 in 2010 to build new classrooms, a library, a computer lab, and expanded dormitories for the children!

While in Uganda, my heart shattered into a thousand pieces every day when I witnessed the challenges the children faced, but there is a powerful sense of hope beneath it all. To help raise awareness and funding, Jia and I started the “$50 Campaign for the Peace School”. We asked the children we met in the school and village to draw the answer to the question: “What would you buy with 100,000 shillings?” Over three weeks, we collected 165 drawings and portraits of the children, along with countless video interviews, photographs, and profiles. For a simple question, we expected straightforward answers, but the process of collecting these drawings reveled to us so much about the challenges and aspirations of the children. Fundamentally, we exposed differences in how children from poor families in Uganda value items compared to their counterparts in the US – $50 becomes a mammoth sum capable of enabling dreams.

Below are some photos of me with the children from Uganda, including a youtube video of the Peace School Complex.

The exciting news is that this work we collected will be showcased as an art exhibition in Chelsea (New York City) in late March! In addition to the drawings, I’m in the process of publishing an art book that accompanies the exhibit with the work that we collected and the reflections of our time spent at the school. (So, I hope I reassure all of you who worry that the MFE is too time intensive that if you appropriately manage your time, it’s quite easy to fit in a lot of different activities.)

As an update, Givology has been going well! To date, we’ve raised approximately $70,000 in online and off-line funding to support over 1,300 students in 12 different countries. We have 4,000+ supporters on Facebook, Linked-in, and Twitter, 1,100+ registered donors, 11 chapters started at universities, high schools, and various cities, 30 core team members and 90 volunteers globally, and 22 grassroots partners. The sad news is that our partner in Haiti – La Valle Community – has suffered from the earthquake. We’re in the difficult process of trying to track down the students that we sponsored to make sure that they are alive. To assist with the reconstruction process, we’re raising funding to rebuild the three schools in the community that were completely devastated.

After coming back from Uganda, I went to compete in an ice hockey tournament in Courchevel, nestled in the French Alps with the Oxford Women’s Ice Hockey Team. We’re a blues team, but the atmosphere is rather relaxed compared to some other sports!  Although we lost all of our matches against Grenoble, Courchevel, and Mirabel, I had a lot of fun with my team. (To market the games, posters were put up throughout the city declaring “England vs. France”. As you can imagine, despite being an Oxford student, I definitely don’t feel very English at all! As most of our teammates hail from Canada, I bet they felt the same when they played the English national anthem at the match.) The Varsity match against Cambridge is impending at the end of February, so my team has been training very hard. Ice hockey practices still start at midnight – alas, that’s the one thing I’d change!

YouthBank (www.youth-bank.org) is also going well – our 2009 fellow class will graduating this April, so I’ll probably fly to Lagos to assist with some training sessions and the disbursement of the microcredit loans. The business is now comfortably above break even, so we have considered a lot of new ways to expand. As we increase our core set of businesses, we expect that the YouthBank community center will accommodate even more fellows for expanded impact. It’s really rewarding to see how much YouthBank has progressed over this past year – in fact, we have a new scaling strategy to start new centers. I got some really helpful tips from students who attended the “Scaling Up” panel at the Skoll Emerge Forum, held at Oxford, in which we were featured as a case study.

The nature of the Oxford term allows a lot of flexibility to explore and experiment – 8 weeks of intense coursework and then 6 weeks of break in between to digest all the material and absorb the content.

It has been quite a while since any of us last updated our blogs, having enjoyed a lovely Christmas break.  However, Monday was the start of week one of Hilary term, so it’s back to a busy routine for us MFEs!

So what does a typical MFE student do over his or her Christmas break?  I would say that the majority of students went back to their home countries, but a surprising number chose to stay in Oxford or the UK in general.  I fell into the latter group, as I decided I would be better off seeing some other parts of the UK rather than going back to South Africa.  I stayed in Oxford until a few days before Christmas, generally trying to study (with varying degrees of success) and also trying to get in shape for rowing this term.  Myself and a couple of classmates who also row formed what we like to call the MFE Erg and Fitness SIG, where we had a few erg sessions together, which were all great fun.  A proper normal SIG is a Special Interest Group, which is formed and run by students, with funding from SBS.  These include anything from Women In Business to Leadership and Asia Pacific.  All SBS students were also invited to a Christmas party at the house of the Dean of Saïd Business School, Colin Mayer.  Those of us left in Oxford went along, where we enjoyed mulled wine and mince pies and got to chat with the Dean and his family in a relaxed, informal manner, which I thought was great.

The day after the Christmas Party, I left for York, where I spent Christmas with one of my good friends from home who is currently living there.  It was much colder than Oxford, and rather snowy, but I was happy to enjoy my first ever White Christmas!  After spending a week in York, we both headed up to Edinburgh, where we met up with some more South Africans to celebrate Hogmanay over New Year.  Edinburgh is an incredibly beautiful city and I’m really glad that I took the time to visit and see its many attractions.  It also has a five day Hogmanay Festival over New Year and we participated in many of those events, including a torch-light procession and a special night-time tour of the Castle.  We also went to the famous Princes Street party on New Year’s Eve, where we saw in 2010 with thousands of other people in -8 degree weather!  The highlight of my night was definitely the spectacular midnight fireworks display over Edinburgh Castle.

After an awesome two weeks away, it was back to Oxford and back to the reality of our Economics mid-term exam in First Week.  However, on the day I returned, there was a massive snowfall in Oxford.  Given that snow is rare in Oxford and that being from South Africa means snow is still quite a novelty to me, this excited me a great deal!  As a result, I spent lots of time taking photos and built my first ever snowman!  The excitement was short-lived, as I soon started to have enough of slipping on pavements and everything being wet and slushy and generally unpleasant as the snow melted.  Nevertheless, I’m glad I got to see the city covered in snow, because it just made everything even more beautiful.

Aside from the excitement of the snow, I have spent the last couple of weeks revising and in particular, learning for our Economics mid-term.  As my first Oxford exam, I was rather scared for the Economics exam and stressed about it a lot.  However, it was actually not as bad as I was expecting, but I am very relieved to have it out of the way so that I can now focus on the busy, but exciting, term ahead!

A beautiful snow-clad UK welcomed me as I sat staring at the video display on the flight back to London. After the warmth of India, the cold of the British winter felt almost surreal. I was taken aback by the ruckus created in the media about the snow and its effects on transportation. I thought India was the only place where we get paranoid about the weather gods!!!  After a long wait at the terminal for my baggage, I managed to catch a bus back to Oxford.

The past week disappeared studying for a mid-term exam in Economics. I had carried all my books back home with the (optimistic) intention of making up for time lost in the first term. As expected, there wasn’t much that I did with respect to those books. To all future students – if you plan on going back home, please enjoy yourself and dont annoy the flight authorities with that extra baggage; especially considering that you would have to drag it back yourself. After that great one month break, we had to get back to the books at neck-break speed.

We get to choose 5 elective courses for the Trinity (final) term – either 5 courses or 4 courses + 1 independent dissertation. We had presentations by professors offering the various electives. There are specialist MFE electives and then there are MBA/MFE electives. After attending these presentations, I am really excited about the Trinity term and the opportunity to specialise in areas of my interest. Though, the path to reach that point is fraught with 4 core course exams and a multitude of assignments and group work!!!

Today, I attended a session by Johannes Huth, the CEO (Europe) for Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts & Co (KKR). This was my first taste of the Distinguished Speaker Seminar sessions that happen at the Business school. Being an avid follower of the private equity industry and a big fan of Barbarians at the Gate – it was interesting to understand aspects of corporate governance when a firm is taken private. Roger Carr, Chairman of Cadbury is next on the list – and following current events is likely to be another blockbuster. The Private Equity Conference for 2010 would happen sometime in March and I am looking forward to help organize an event of this magnitude.

The Oxford Union (the debating society) organized an interesting debate on the proposition “This House would now withdraw from Afghanistan.” The speakers boasted of some  prominent names including the renowned author, Frederick Forsyth. Experiencing a debate in those hallowed halls is a pleasure and the quality of speakers is usually very good. The lifetime membership (although steep) is a great value for money, especially if you intend to listen to some very interesting debates and speaker sessions.

To round things up, the year started really well for me. I received a job offer at an investment bank – I hope to concentrate on enjoying the rest of the 2 terms at Oxford, learn beyond what the textbooks teach and probably travel.

One of the most interesting aspects of studying for a Masters course at a Business School is the diversity of people you crash into at coffee breaks and run-ins to the class. I have had some amazing conversations with the MBAs at the Saïd Business School, ranging from the practical to the absurd. These students are much older, yet bring so much of energy and enthusiasm through the various activities they organize! One of the USPs of the MFE is to work alongside the MBAs. Though the MFE may be a lot more technical than the MBA (and we do pride ourselves on the “learning”), putting the real world with the academic one adds so much more to the experience than just learning finance from text-books. I am looking forward to the Trinity term, where we get to share electives with the MBAs. A lot of recruiting happens through networking (you will hate that word by the time you finish the course); so be prepared to get to know as many people as you can.

To add to this eclectic mix of people is the world outside the business school. The Saïd Business School often talks about the uniqueness of being a part of the University. I never realized it, until I started interacting with students from my college. Apart from attending formal dinners (served 3 course meals in Potter-ish dining halls) and other social “bops” that keep cropping up over the weekends, I have had a great time just talking about so many issues pertaining to their “non-business school” lives. Getting to live along side budding medical professionals, lawyers, scientists and engineers is an experience to relish. Magdalen College had its own Christmas festivities – with the choir performing, a huge Christmas tree and a nice dinner to go along with it. I wish I could spend more time with these folks as well – hopefully I will make up for it in the next two terms.

We (the MFE class) are probably at our individual home countries or some other warmer place by this time. But before we left for the break, we had a well-deserved Christmas/Michaelmas term-end dinner funded partly by the School. This is another unique concept – SBS provides the class with a budget of £3000 to spend on anything the class wants to. Usually this means food!!! To top it up, with a 75% response ratio to the term-end survey, we get an infusion of £1000. Talk about incentives!!! So, our class representatives set up a nice dinner at the Oxford Retreat; which was followed by Secret Santa as well. We really needed this outing, after getting all stressed about the corporate finance assignment.

The breadth of the University allows you to attend so many sessions on diverse subjects. We had Nobel Laureate Mr. Amartya Sen at the Sheldonian to talk about his latest book. I will miss the session by George Soros (which I am sure would have been a run-away hit considering the crisis), as I would have left Oxford by that time.  There was this talk by Shakira at the Oxford Union as well. No wonder, we had a huge queue to get in. Next term we have cricket legend and politician, Imran Khan at the Union along with others. These activities outside the walls of the business school are not to be missed for anything – they complete the Oxford experience.

The next term is due to begin from January 18th and the fight for survival would re-start once again. You would always look back and reminisce at the opportunity cost of taking up the offer. Could you have done something else? Did you make the right choice? I guess most people would have to dig deep to know the answer to this question. For me, I am happy that I came to Oxford and the UK. For an international student, who has never set foot outside his home country, you learn a lot. Not just the academics, but also the way of life. There is a difference in the way people think and behave and it is crucial to understand this difference.

Oxford during the holiday season is truly very cheery (at least before everyone departs)! On Monday, I went to our MFE Holiday Celebration at the Oxford Retreat. After eight very intense weeks of term and a corporate finance case due that very morning, we all looked forward to just kicking back and enjoying some good food and conversation with friends. If this is supposedly the “easy” term for the MFE course, I can only wonder what lies ahead…

Some reflections on the course:

Asset pricing: I find the material very interesting, but often times, the lectures are rather hard to follow, especially during the final weeks when we focused on specific models of information asymmetries and liquidity frictions. I know that during break, I will definitely need to grapple with the material.

Corporate finance: I really enjoy Professor Noe’s lectures! With all the basic capital budgeting and cost of capital calculations out of the way, we’re now learning more interesting concepts such as the effect of information asymmetries, principal-agent models, and real options. We just turned in our case this past Thursday. If I hear the words “BSQ and Kmart” one more time, I may just about go crazy…what a relief to have the case behind us!

Financial econometrics: In the last few weeks, the course got substantially harder. Hopefully, next term we’ll get to more applications, but right now, we’re in the process of unfurling the underlying theory. Because we have weekly assignments to turn in, financial econometrics never strays too far from my mind. Professor Sheppard is a really effective lecturer – we move a brisk pace without compromising clarity.

Economics:  We transitioned from macro to microeconomics and general equilibrium theory. I like Professor Eso very much – he has such a great sense of humor! For example, during our last class of term, Gloria Gaynor’s “I will survive” greeted us as we entered. Next term, we move into market microstructure and more specific applications of microeconomics in financial markets.

Overall Reflections: The MFE moves at such a brisk pace that sometimes I wonder if I’m losing sight of the forest by focusing on the trees. I definitely need the break to fully internalize and appreciate the material, but frankly, ninth week exhaustion has substantially lowered my productivity. I just wish there was more time for contemplation and intellectual discussion – one essential part of the Oxford tradition is the essay and tutorial, but unfortunately, it’s not part of the MFE program. I sometimes feel as if we’re on a treadmill – if you stop to think rather than just focus on keeping up, then you get left behind.

Sometimes, I long for more dialogue and opportunity for discussion. Our class size this year is particularly large, partially due to the recession. I miss seminar-like discussions and the opportunity to engage and challenge the material – here, we have no time. We’re often instructed to take what we’re learning as granted and mechanically apply the models to solve problems. And frankly, there’s too much discussion in class on what material is included versus excluded in the exam. I love learning for learning’s sake – it’s a bit off-putting for us to spend so much time going over the exact examinable content. It’s almost as if “education is a commodity” – an item with a price tag to be bought and sold (perhaps this is the nature of all business schools, which in all fairness, is consistent with their underlying philosophy). I really can’t complain about the helpfulness of the lecturers and the staff at SBS, though. Because education is treated like a consumption good, all the professors and administrators are incredibly helpful and take our feedback very seriously – our timetables are organized, and we get detailed weekly summary messages, invites to events, and up to 5,000 pounds of a class social budget.

On Tuesday, I went to Balliol’s Christmas Dinner (I’ll post some pictures later). Our hall was decorated so beautifully – we had a very traditional Christmas meal, complete with Christmas crackers, noisemakers, and other festive toys. With everyone blowing up the balloons and trying to get them stuck in the rafters, I’m sure the staff regretted giving them to us in the first place. What a tasty and wonderfully festive celebration!