Quickie

Was reading one of my classmate's blogs and was reminded of a quote our Project Management teacher gave regarding the allocation of resources for a project.

What is the difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment'?

In an eggs-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' -the pig was 'committed.

Oh delicious pork. How I love thee and your other white meat.

*immature snicker*

Pardon the interruption

For those of you anxiously awaiting Part 2 of my trip to Montserrat you'll have to wait till Friday. I got bigger fish to fry today.  (It rhymes)

Beyond the personal and educational development, a big reason people attend B-school is to change careers or accelerate their current trajectory. To facilitate that transition, ESADE has developed weekly seminars to prepare us for recruiting. Some of our Career Services counselors are former I-bank recruiters or Consulting firm recruiters so the previous seminar was to outline the do's and don'ts of recruiting. Given what transpired at ESADE Career Week I'd like to create my own Do's and Don'ts list applicable for the students and company representatives.

Do: Attend the company presentations for those companies you are interested in.

Don't: Get called out by the company representative for doing something other than listening attentively. Happened a couple of times in different presentations. It's like when you're gf catches you looking at the pretty girl across the street. You swear that she just looks familiar and you were trying to pinpoint if you knew her from high school or university but at that point your cover is blown.

Do: Welcome the company on behalf of ESADE.

Don't: Say the company name wrong. This was my boneheaded move. I was the company host for AD Little and introduced the company as "AD Little" at which point the Principal started off his presentation with "I'd like to thank you all for your interest in Arthur D. Little." Like saying to your gf "Remember that time we went to that restaurant" to which she responds "That wasn't with me."

Do: Utilize the networking coffee session to gain personal insight into the company.
Don't: Pull out your CV and go over it point by point with the recruiter or aka how to slowly kill the recruiter.

Do: Realize that as important as getting a job or an internship is, really, in the end it's just a job. A job is just what we do to fill in the time in between all the other things that are more important like family, friends, socializing, etc.
Don't: Forget that I still need an internship/job to pay for stuff.

My materialism and hippie-ism has a conflict of interest.

Being a tourist

A couple of weeks ago we had a long weekend due to a bank holiday falling on a Monday. I had decided to take a one day trip somewhere and decided upon Montserrat. As usual pictorial tour as follows.

The entire train was full for the duration of the 1 hour trip from Plaza Espana to Montserrat. Those red dots that indicate what station you're approaching becomes like a giant middle finger by the 45th minute.

The cremallera (train) that takes you to the Abbey.

Safety in numbers. I don't understand why people congregate like that. Guess what happened when the train came? They had to move down to where I was because that car became full. Bryan 1: Other tourists -2. Why -2? Because it's my blog and I dictate the scoring.

 

 

So as you can see the weather was absolutely beautiful and the monastery very cool looking. The thing was rebuilt in the 18th century due to Mr. French tiny man, Napoloean, razing the building. Take away point here: Never trust tiny French men with grand visions of world domination because they'll even take out your 9th century churches.  

Disney plagiarizes everything. For the longest time I always thought those statue heads in Haunted Mansion were some Disney magic technology but then I realized this trick has been around for centuries.

The summit of Montserrat is 1236m above sea level and is the highest point in the Catalonian low lands. As some of you can attest I am a person of great physical ability so I figured I'd give this "hike" a try. The route I'm about to take is the one that goes from the center of the map to the top right. No biggie.

Jagged rocks. Not to be confused with the popular R&B group of the 90's Jagged Edge. The similarities are uncanny, I know.

View from about the 1/3 point looking down towards the monastery. As I've maxed out my attention span and probably yours, I'll save the rest of the hike for the next post. Don't let the suspense kill you.

Relaxing Friday afternoon

It's Friday. Our course load on Fridays is pretty minimal. We have Career Impact Cycle in the morning and language classes in the afternoon. Being that this is the Friday before our big Career Week our teachers have decided to take it easy on us and really lighten up the intensity of the work.

Thanks to my secondary school education I've managed to be placed in Level 3 Spanish. Our teacher is really awesome and focuses our teaching on getting us to just talk a lot instead of poring over grammar and vocabulary from a textbook. Although our classes are from 2-5 Wednesdays and Fridays I actually look forward to them and my classmates really make it interesting with their quips and varying viewpoints. It's actually kinda funny because it's the only time where girls actually outnumber the guys. 3 guys 6 girls. The topic of conversation, at times, gets steered into more feminine oriented things. We had an interesting session where I learned how to go to a pharmacist and ask for medication to relieve cramps.

Anyways, I digress. Our Spanish teacher told us that we would watch a movie in class. We are all thinking this is great. Kick back. Relax. Watch a nice Spanish movie on a Friday afternoon. Our teacher shows us the DVD. El Orfanato or Orphanage in English. It's apparently won 7 Goyas, which are the Spanish equivalent of the Oscars. So now we're thinking cool, a very well reviewed popular Spanish film about an orphanage. My classmate asks "Is this a scary movie?" Valid question considering the title but the teacher reassures us that its just a mystery movie.

2 hours later I've about wet my pants, one of my classmates had to leave the room because she was so freaked out and the entire class now has horrible images of freaky little orphans. Now I have a wonderful night ahead of me where I'm just waiting for the stupid deformed kid with the sack mask to show up at my door. Muchas gracias profesora. Muchas freaking gracias.

A star is born...

First of all I have to give credit for the title to my German classmate. The first thing she said after what transpired was "you should title your blog A Star is Born", which I've done.

So anyways, Monday was our first day of Finance. Our Finance professor actually reviews the class list beforehand to identify those who worked in finance previously and those who had certain industry experience. 

Monday

8:40 A.M - Professor starts rattling off names. After acknowledging the person in question she confirms their industry experience i.e. " So XX you worked in commercial banking in Germany. So XX you worked in retail. So XX you worked in telecom" and so on and so forth. Timestamps below are approximate.

8:40 A.M. - She starts going around the class calling out select names and confirming their previous work experience. Things going somewhat smoothly as a cloud of unrest hovers over the class. This is affecting the whole class because she is not just picking out people with finance backgrounds.

8:45 A.M. - She calls my name and I figured she was just gonna acknowledge that I worked as an analyst at a Financial Advisory and Strategy firm. Seeing the sequence of events that transpired before me I was ready to say just say yes and have her move on.

8:46 A.M. - "So you worked as an analyst. You are our star then." W...T...F. I did not ask for this. Couple of things crossed my mind immediately.

1) I was gonna get called on at some point during lecture and most likely when I least expect it due to the cold calling system of the professor.

2) I know I'm gonna screw something up in front of the class to completely undermine that title.

3) I'm an idiot for touting my abilities on my resume. 

8:47 A.M. - I vehemently deny the fact that I know anything related to Finance or that I'm a star. Far from it but the teacher continues to push this expectation. She and I are gonna regret this later.

10:30 A.M. - Things are going smoothly. People are answering questions despite the cold calling. I have yet to be called upon and we have moved on to financial statement analysis.

11:05 A.M. - We start the discussion of what constitutes assets and liabilities for certain industries. For example, in a service industry such as marketing would you see significant fixed assets? No. You would see higher proportions of A/R and A/P compared to a steel manufacturer.

11:15 A.M. - I thought I was paying attention but apparently I was only halfway there because Murphy's Law kicked in. Professor asks me "In a bank what would be the current assets and what would be the current liabilities. Let's start off with current assets."

11:15:25 A.M - My mind churns and thinks. Okay so deposits and loans. Easy.

11:15:45: A.M. - I answer "Customer deposits should go there."

11:15:50 A.M. - Professor states "No we are talking about current assets and not current liabilities."

11:15:55 A.M. -*!@#$!%!&

11:16 A.M. - I somewhat recover and state loans are on the current assets side and then completely blank on what other assets a bank could have (inter-bank transfers).

11:17 A.M. - Epic failure over.

So my foreshadowing was absolutely correct. A star was born and then it immediately burned out. Serves her right for having high expectations.

O Canada! Our home and native land!

So I'm an American. Born and raised in the US of A. Any American, yours truly included,  will tell you that Thanksgiving is one of THE biggest holidays in America. It combines all the best aspects of America into one day. Ridiculous amounts of food, football and family squabbling.

The Americans in the ESADE MBA program have already started planning our Thanksgiving feast here in Barcelona and I've been looking forward to spending the day overdosing on tryptophan and gravy, with a sprinkling of steamed veggies thrown in to even out the nutritional content.

Thanksgiving came early for me this year as I got an invite to the Canadian Thanksgiving. Our neighbors up north give thanks to the bountiful harvest of the year a month earlier than the Yanks due to their colder climate. So as the Canadians love to say it's aboot time for the pictures, eh?

From what I learned about the Spanish turkey industry, large turkeys are typically grown so that they are ready by November to coincide with American Thanksgiving. Apparently there are enough ex-pats living out here that they cater to that. In any case, being that we are a month away the polloteria had to confirm with the turkey farm to make sure there was a turkey ready for slaughter. An unlucky turkey was and he was sacrificed for our gluttony the day of the feast. The poor girls who prepared the turkey had to chop off it's head, clean out the intestines and de-feather the thing. Gobble gobble.

Oh you sexy turkey with your brown skin. I could eat you up.

Fowl on the play. Illegal vegetable on the turkey. Do you like bad puns? I sure do. 

This was to go with the 4 bottles of wine we consumed even before dinner started. Yeah it was going to be one of those nights.

Stuffing and turkey like a fat kid and cake, a perfect match.

It's feasting time!!!

You don't know how hard I tried to get to at least 5 plates of food but I had to stop at 4 because I was gonna throw up. Plus I needed room for dessert. We (7 Canadians, an American and an Austrian) ended up only getting through half the 9 kilo turkey.

 

It took me a grand total of about 10 seconds to get through this slice of apple pie and 15 seconds to get through the slice of cherry pie. The extra five seconds due to my body needing to grow a second stomach to fit all the food.

Our poor showing in the eating of the turkey allowed for leftovers, which I was more than happy to take home. So thank you to my Canadian classmates. The meal was the best one I've had since I got here. Now I need to convince the Americans that I haven't pledged allegiance to the maple leaf, eh.

Marketing Mumbo Jumbo

Fun little exercise we performed in our Marketing class today. Our professor included a huge caveat that this is by no means scientific or completely accurate but still fun nonetheless.

Name the first thing that pops into your head when asked and three reasons why you chose it.

1) What is your favorite wild animal.
2) What is your favorite domesticated animal.
3) What is your favorite bird.
4) What is your favorite fruit.





My answers were
1) Grizzly Bear

• They eat well. (Salmon, berries, etc.)
• They get to hibernate
• They live in awesome environments. Alaskan/Canadian wilderness.
  

 2) Dog

• Loyal
• Obedient
• Fun

3) Eagle

• Awesome
• Top of the food chain
• Gets to live in awesome environments. 

4) Grapefruit

• I love sour things
• They are a fairly large fruit. More to eat in one sitting
• Available everywhere

So now you ask what's the point of this exercise? Million dollar question of course. So.....
1) Tells you what kind of person you think you are
2) Tells you what kind of person you really are
3) Tells you what kind of person you aspire to be
4) Tells you what you want in your life partner.

Given the results of the exercise I truly apologize to my life partner. I do not consider you sour, available everywhere or large. I really don't. I promise. Stupid marketing exercise.

Lost in Translation

Quick post to keep the flow going.

Today in Econ class our professor who probably doesn't have the best grasp of the English language was talking about the black market and the correlation between taxation and black markets. In the midst of his now weekly diatribe he stated "Once you go black..." and paused. I swear it took superhuman efforts for the entire class not to yell out "YOU NEVER GO BACK" and relegate it to a smattering of laughter and elbow nudges. I love how certain things are universal in this crazy world.

On a side note today was our second basketball practice and I must say our United Colors of Benetton team is pretty damn good. Our goal is the absolute demolition of all other business school basketball teams at MBAT in Paris. Cries of mercy will be heard from Paris, France come March.

Pictorial Tour #2

Feeling a bit lazy today so I'm just gonna let the pictures speak for themselves.

Spanish style architecture but this is actually a Chinese restaurant. The bottom floor kinda gives it away.

You really can't have enough knives. Even when you think, "Hey maybe 25 is enough" it really isn't.

The nicest H&M building I've seen in my life. Located off of Plaza Catalunya on Avinguda Portal De l'Àngel. 

 

Looking down Avinguda Portal De l'Àngel . It's basically a giant street flanked by clothing shops and other stores. The Spanish equivalent of the outdoor mall minus the* [insert your joke here].

*I had a joke lined up for that but my brain is feeling kinda fuzzy so forgot what I was going to write. Feel free to enjoy your own joke.

Avenida Diagonal near Maria Cristina. Europeans really know how to do avenues well and I love the wide open feel that these streets give you. They always say you can't really get lost in Barcelona because all you need to do is get yourself to one of the major roadways like Avenida Diagonal and then orient yourself from there. I'm sure I'll still find a way to get lost. 

Anyways, Career Week is coming up and internship deadlines are right around the corner. It's game time now.

Round 1a of 5 done

It's been a while since I've posted and it was all due to our Pre-Term exams. Just a little background information on the ESADE course structure. The 18 month full time course is divided into 5 terms of roughly 3.5 months. We also have a Pre-Term which is considered the catch-up month to provide everyone Intro to Accounting, Project Management, Econ 1 and Business Law. To everyone's detriment they've crammed about a semester's worth of material into 48 hours of lecture. Obviously a lot of the material was kept summary level to avoid peoples' heads from exploding but I'm sure for a lot of people it felt like there was a lot of info.

Anyways, as I have yet to receive the results from those exams I will call it the successful completion of Pre-Term. I honestly like the ESADE MBA culture because it is very collaborative in terms of learning and studying. Countless times we've been told that there is no bell curve and the intent of the program was not to weed out the bottom 10% but to provide an environment for learning and teamwork. In essence this fosters an environment where people want to help each other out with the goal being that everyone does well and not that you beat out the rest of your classmates. There's already enough competition amongst classmates for post MBA jobs why create a continual sentiment that you need to be better than anyone else. Maybe I don't have the killer attitude that enables me to crush my competition, but most people I know who've maintained that type of mentality are usually dicks.

Not all of the past week was spent poring over books. I actually got a chance to go to the Green Day concert at Palau Sant Jordi. Hats off to my classmate who got us down to the floor when we actually had reserved seats.

It's funny because Green Day has been around for so long that they've created two separate demographics amongst their fans. Those who first heard about them in the mid 90's when they were rocking out at Woodstock and every pop/alternative station was playing songs from Dookie (me and others in their mid-late20s)  and those who caught them in their later days (Warning/American Idiot) era (teens/early 20s). The concert was awesome but it was very interesting to see the waves of excitement and recognition as Green Day alternated between their older songs and newer songs. The oldies like me get excited when they play Welcome to Paradise and the teens would get excited when they played 21 guns.

The "God I am old" feeling was a double punch this time around as A) I saw a huge queue of parents in their cars waiting to pick up their kids after the concert and B) my body ached from 2 hours of being on the floor and the next day I was actually sore from standing. WTF.

It was well worth it though because I got to hear one of my favorite songs live. At times as I talk to people from back home and get updated on the ongoings of life and events I missed, I pause to wonder if getting an MBA in Spain was worth it. When you top that off with the anxiety of post MBA employment, stress and worry associated with classes, exams and time management it's hard not to doubt your decision. But then you look back at all the fun you've had with your classmates, what you've learned from everyone's experiences and what you've learned about yourself in such a short period of time that it's easy to realize that this was absolutely the best decision you've made. I keep waiting for the hammer of reality to knock me back into negative land but it hasn't happened yet. Until then in the immortal words of Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day....

Another turning point;
a fork stuck in the road.

Time grabs you by the wrist;
directs you where to go.

So make the best of this test
and don't ask why.

It's not a question
but a lesson learned in time.

It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.
ESADE MBA365.com

Momma's Boy

I am such a momma's boy and my mom spoils me rotten. My mom asked if I wanted anything from back home so I mentioned that some Japanese dried goods would be nice and the result was this:

Forgot how freaking large US trash bags were. This thing dwarfed my mini bags that I use. The mini bags are just absolutely a pain for a lazy person like me. If there's one thing America does well is create goods or services that allow for "efficiency".

So total haul for the delivery was about 6 packets of instant curry, two bags of seaweed, three bags of crackers, a box of vegetable soup, two instant noodle mixes, some fried rice mix, instant miso soup mix, a towel and some other random items. Last but not least....

Note from mom and a DVD of Japanese TV shows she recorded for me. She still treats me like I'm 10 but sometimes I can't complain.