You got one year of study to master, divided into three parts, more or less bite-sized. The fall term lies before you, menacing like the stages in the Alps for Tour de France bicyclists after the prelude in the plains. But unlike them, you are without doping.
The fall is going to be harder than the following terms, the MBA coordinator told you. Typically American with the words “You gotta get your feet wet“. In German they would probably say „they will throw you into the cold water“. That you get an involuntary full bath in German is revealing, somehow.
And that full bath comes faster and less expected than you thought. In the form of a tropical, heavy rain on your way to Subway during lunch break. During first week they served you lunch in the form of taking you out to restaurants, picnics, buffets. But the honeymoon is over. And now that the second week has started, you have to organize your own lunch. A cafeteria, large and subsidized like in Europe, does not even exist.
Squeezed in between lectures and refresher workshops, you got one hour. To appease your stomach, that is about to rebel after a bowl of cereals for breakfast. To get to know your co-students. To relax before five hours of afternoon classes start.
The self-sustaining and economically thinking get the food they brought from home out of their bags, while other hungry people gather in the lobby. They gather in small groups to swarm out into the surrounding streets to end their longing for nourishment. With bagels, sandwich, pizza, burgers, soups, noodles, etc. Your ad-hoc team, consisting of Pallavi, a vegetarian Indian girl, Jarid, a vegan American, and you, sets out.
The step out of the building almost takes your breath. Hot, humid air around ninety degrees Fahrenheit invades your lungs. But the steam sauna is not enough. The rain turns the two-minute walk into running a gauntlet. And thus, your team runs up the hilly road to Forbes Avenue, one of the main streets dissecting the city center. Not named for the New York magazine, but a British general. In 1758 he conquered a French fort after a longer siege where Pittsburgh was built.
Besieged is also the first food place you headed for. Due to a lack of time, you have to do without Panera’s freshly baked stuff. You switch to Subway instead, on the other side of Forbes Ave, which looks like a typical American downtown road with its shops, restaurants, illuminated ads and looming skyscrapers in the backdrop.
At the counter, you hastily opt for sub with chicken and bacon, in opposition to your vegan and vegetarian group majority. The advantage of fresh preparation of your food is equalized by the downside of too many choices regarding the ingredients. What type of bread? What vegetables? What cheese? What sauce? What side, if any?
In a way overstrained are also your companions. Jarid by the double size of his sub. Pallavi by the blandness and softness of her food – a sad, bad by now familiar picture while having food with Indians here.
The topic of your conversation: The future. You will have a secure job after you are done with the program. A blessing. Or a curse. But in any case less stressful than searching for a job like your co-students. Jarid wants to look for something in Seattle, the city of his dreams. Pallavi could imagine to stay in the US and work here after her studies. Not out of love to this country, but due to the higher salaries compared with her home country.
Future. In the short term, an afternoon full of math, statistic and accounting is also future.
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