My name is Evelyn Lee and I was born and raised in Perth, Australia. I study a Master of Management at University of Sydney, which allowed me to join the CEMS program. In the CEMS program, I spent a year on exchange; a semester abroad at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, and finally a semester at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, in Dublin, Ireland. I would definitely say this experience has changed my life- as I can truly say I am a global citizen and have opened my mind to understanding different cultures, languages and most importantly people. Unfortunately, it was cut a little short due to the Covid-19 situation, but in this blog, I’d like to share how CEMS Club Dublin was an integral part of my master degree experience.
In this degree, we have many requirements to fulfil- being bilingual and learning a third language, attending a certain amount of skill seminars and workshops, completing a business project… the list goes on. Most, if not all of these projects were very enjoyable, but it does get very busy and if I didn’t take a step back to enjoy the fact that I was studying abroad, I may have missed more moments. Especially now that I’m writing this while the world is social distancing or in lock down, it’s easier to reflect on the fun moments that I wish I cherished more in the moment. CEMS Club Dublin consists of various teams of people volunteering to make that semester abroad a more memorable experience, and for that I am grateful.
CEMS Club Dublin Committee: 2020 Term 2
We had the events team who from day one, helped organised events so that we could quickly get to know each other. Travelling across the globe not knowing anyone was a little out of my comfort zone, but of course that was partly the point. It was nice to have other people go through the same thing though. As we were living in Dublin, it was inevitable the amount of times we would just meet at a pub. The local tavern in Blackrock- Three Tuns Tavern- became a hotspot and the place to go after class on Wednesdays. We had other events like lunches, dinners, hikes, a pub crawl- even karaoke! The various array of events definitely helped strengthen the bond within the cohort and allowed us to create the most memorable events.
We had the alumni relations team, who were members of our current, or previous cohorts. Thanks to this team, we were able to meet CEMS alumni from all over the world who currently work in Dublin. Getting the chance to talk with alumni who now work at companies such as Google, Facebook, Salesforce, and so on, was really valuable for networking, gaining insights on work life, and motivation overall on chasing that dream career.
We had the finance team, who looked after our finances for events which simplified everything for us when we wanted to eat, drink and travel together, which of course were the highlights of our time bonding with one another.
Last but not least we had the marketing team, including the social media team who ran this blog, the Facebook and Instagram pages for CEMS Club Dublin- which also contributed to the Social Media Marketing class. The marketing team handled communications to the cohort, and kept up the online brand image of CEMS Club Dublin catering to current CEMS students, alumni, and any potential future students. Although the Covid-19 situation had forced us all to return to different countries across the world and work remotely with little interaction, this team did their best in keep up engagement and morale.
If you’re looking at CEMS and wondering what the CEMS Club does- this is it. It’s a community of people who work together to bring out the best of their master degree. Out of the three CEMS Clubs I was a part of, in Sydney, Beijing and Dublin, I must admit the team in Dublin was my favourite, by far. I’m very grateful for the people that made up the committee for my cohort; It truly made a difference in my CEMS experience and have the memories and friendships to prove it!