Today has been a spectacular day (I know I seem to now be saying that almost everyday but it really is true!). Picking up a chai on my walk to school (which I love!) has now become a regular feature. Today started with one of the coolest things one can ever get to see – Matt led us to the BMW MINI Plant in Oxford. We all took the bus together there, so going beyond JMH on Cowley Road was a new experience. We got to the plant, were split into 2 groups (the photo above is of the Red group I was a part of), had a safety briefing, donned our vests and safety glasses and we were off. Unfortunately no photos are allowed inside the plant for obvious reasons but let me try and bring it alive for you – we got to see an entire MINI produced end-to-end across different assembly lines on a floor with ~1000 robots, producing 1000 MINIs a day, 1 every 67 seconds. As someone working for a logistics company, so many of the logistics and supply chain concepts were in action – Autonomous Guided Vehicles or AGVs, Just-in-Time and Just-in-Sequence, the plant having its own track next to it to transport finished cars, maintenance and repair operations inside the plant, holding of critical inventory within the plant, order to lead times of 3 months, and 22 hours being the time it actually takes to produce 1 mini, customization and the fact that you have 42 tyre types to pick from and so much more!). Nothing can beat watching the robots in action though – it really was a hypnotic effect (as our tour guide had aptly told us to expect)! Transformers in action!
Lunch for me today was checking out PastaFasta in the Covered Market, followed by a cookie from Ben’s cookies. I felt super guilty after – but my classmates came to my assistance – back in class, atleast 2 other classmates were also munching theirs. Strength in numbers indeed ;)
The class for today was on taxation and we were introduced to what taxation is all about (why on earth does the US have double taxation for its citizens for example?); this is where having a class as diverse as ours works really well as every country has different levels of taxation (and countries such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have no personal income tax at all!). The professor encouraged critical thinking and that made the topic come alive for us. Looking forward to international taxation tomorrow!
I may have found my favourite chai latte in Oxford afterall – at the Queen’s Lane Coffee House, reputed to be the oldest coffee house in Europe (since 1650).
We were all then back for the talk of this evening which was on Shakespeare and the Renaissance – it was amazing! The Professor introduced us to different periods in history – Antiquity, Medieval, and the Renaissance and how all these inspired Shakespeare’s work. We even got to read some Shakespeare out aloud. I am going to visit Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s birthplace) soon and watch a play there so this was a fantastic introduction. I could barely contain my excitement! What a wonderful end to the day.
CBL’s food recommendations have been spot on so far – I tried another recommendation for dinner tonight – Majliss, for some Indian food takeaway. It was excellent – felt like a home-cooked meal :)
