It was a long 27 hours journey for me when I arrived at Bhubaneswar. Frankly speaking, at first I was excited about IMI as well as Bhubaneswar. But as I entered in Orissa I got cold feet. As I peered out from my train window I was unable to see any industry or even a city for that matter. It was all jungle and farming and mountains. I started to bless myself.

A driver from IMI received me at the railway station. I was the second student from my batch to arrive in the campus. So I witnessed the arrival of almost all my other batch mates.

The campus infrastructure is awesome. No wonder I am delighted to stay in such a beautiful campus. Later, when my father asked me on phone - “How’s the campus?” My answer was -“It is exactly the same as they show in Bollywood movies”!

The “Orientation Week” started from the next day. I managed to make a few new friends on first day itself. This made me comfortable and I enjoyed the entire week right from the inauguration ceremony. Honestly, I had never imagined that I will ever get an opportunity to be in the audience when Regional Director of Reserve Bank addressed us on the first day. It was thrilling to say the least. And then a series of guest lectures started where we were addressed by industry stalwarts. Each exposure was unique and special. Tremendous learning from the day one!

Since I had taken break from my work, I am now attending college again after the gap of 2 years. The professors here reminded me of my teachers and professors of my earlier school & college. I started to expect something more from them. And guess what - I succeeded. I congratulated myself about my decision to join IMI.

My thoughts would remain incomplete if I do not share something about my seniors. Anywhere else, the new students are apparently always scared of their seniors. However, that wasn’t the case here. The care and support I experienced from my seniors here made me very comfortable.

My home is nearly 1600 km away from Bhubaneswar. At IMI, I can do whatever I do at home and now it is second home for me. Thank you IMI Bhubaneswar for providing me the right environment to feel at home and focus on my learning.