August 2nd, 2018 was a great day. I completed my first semester at Duquesne University and all my hard work paid off. All the late nights and the countless hours put into studying was worth it, but I was definitely ready for the upcoming break. To be completely honest I’m a mama’s boy. I’m also very close to my family, so when it came time to move to Pittsburgh two months earlier, it was a challenging move. Being away from my family for two months was difficult, especially since I have never moved away from home.
When it came time for vacation, I was excited. I drove back to Toronto a couple days after our exams finished and I couldn’t be happier to be home. I missed being with family and friends; the feeling of being back in Toronto was a feeling like no other. The first thing I wanted to do when I got back home was drive downtown to see that gorgeous Toronto skyline with the CN Tower peaking up over all the other buildings. It was great to be back with my family, but what I missed most was the home cooked meals from my mom and my grandma. I loved being back home in Toronto for a few days but unfortunately, the trip didn’t last as long as I wish it would have. My family and I had some other plans which were much more celebratory than my homecoming, that being was my cousin’s wedding!
My cousin met his wife during a trip we took to the United Kingdom, about three years ago, and we made a full circle this past August to witness the two get married in London. I was there in London for about a week and a half it was a trip to remember. I have some family in London which we are very close with, but we have never had the chance to all be together, due to everyone’s busy schedules. This was the first time in my 25 years that my Canadian family along with my United Kingdom family all came together, so it was an amazing time. Although it was a wedding, it felt more like a reunion with very close family, and it’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
Indian weddings tend to be very festive and colorful events, and it’s always a pleasure to be a part of them. They usually consist of a week’s worth of events and that’s exactly what I saw in England. I arrived in London on a Tuesday and we were celebrating non-stop until the following Monday. It was great to see all my family gathered together and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
But wait..there’s more! My vacation didn’t just end with the wedding. As soon as I flew back to Toronto from London, I came home, changed, and headed straight downtown for Drake’s concert! What a concert it was! It’s always great to see Drake perform, and what made it even better was that he brought out Travis Scott! Bringing out the man with world’s current number one album was definitely the icing to the cake.
Now I’m back in Pittsburgh after a well-needed break, and I can’t wait for the challenges that lie ahead. My cohort is one step closer to completing our MBA, and I think it’s safe to say that everyone has already gained a tremendous amount of knowledge in the past few months. Second semester, here we come! – Akash Verma
One-Year MBA 