Fall Term 2011

I didn't do a very good job of blogging this term, but I did snap the occasional picture and put it on Tumblr, but Tumblr doesn't let you export, so now I'm consolidating them here. I was having too much fun and doing too much "growing" to have the time to blog...but here it is!

Bar Crawl 2011

Bar Crawl 2011 - Trophy wives...The Vallfogona family.

 Throughout the night Steph kept saying - I'm jealous of them, I wish we were them, but I don't. This year is pure amazingness. The worst is behind you, you know what to expect, you have your friends, everything is just set into ENJOY mode. You just have to cherish every moment. And that's just priceless. I've never felt so happy to be in the moment I am, neither longing for the past nor the future. 

After the bar crawl, we all woke up this morning and eventually everyone climbed into my bed to look at pictures and swap what we did and didn’t remember from the night before. Then we threw on some form of clothing (though I think I walked out of the house fairly naked, as Julie commented that she could see my ENTIRE bra in the shirt I was wearing) and walked around Gracia until we came to Plaza de Vila de Gracia and had lunch at Amelie. We drank coffee, we ate salads, we gossiped, and the little Italian men played clarinets. Kathy said it best - we’re in a woody allen movie. Every part of it. I want to cherish every moment like today - what more could you want then sitting in a plaza with a pleasant breeze with good food and good friends and more or less not a care in the world? Life will never be this good again - MUST CHERISH THIS AMAZINGNESS> 

Buh bye, Vancouver!

Well Vancouver, you and I didn't get off to a very good start, but in the end, I am sad to leave. I did a fairly terrible job of blogging while I was here, but I wanted to throw together the remaining memories I have of this place.

 New windshield wipers! The drizzly Vancouver summer, and my DUI-carrying co-pilot, necessitated me to buy new windshield wipers since the sound and ineffectiveness of the old ones makes our drive unbearable...at least, for him.

It took me a while to get into the swing of things at work, but the "Team building" event at the driving range helped!

Things got better as I started to make friends - the first step of which was my hiking/camping expedition to an island - I actually slept in a tent! For two nights! Not entirely sure how I survived...

And of course, this summer wouldn't have left any kind of positive taste in my mouth without one particular individual. 

I feel like my time in Vancouver was a bit of a Cinderella story that starts of with the sad maid who hates her life, and then makes friends with the animals, gets a fairy god mother and meets her Prince Charming.

Vancouver is amazing!

Vancouver is an absolutely fantastic city! Even if the internship thing doesn't turn out to be my dream job, I would absolutely love to live here! This city has it all - nature, culture, food, and incredibly friendly people.

This weekend Alicia came to visit me from Hawaii - she's generally following me around the world these days as she's moving to Barcelona in October. The first day, we explored Stanley Park, which was absolutely beautiful. We started off in the forest along what I guess you could call a VERY easy hiking trail and ended up at Beaver Lake:

We kept on in the general direction of the beach and although we got lost a couple of times, we finally did make it there and had a delicious overprice drink and snack at the Teahouse Restaurant.

We then took a VERY long walk along the beach and the Seawall and all the way through Yaletown - I think we walked for a grand total of three hours that day. 

That night, after some failed attempts at hitting up the party scene in this town (I'll be sure to make more) we ended up in an amazing bar called The Pourhouse where we proceeded to spend the next 3 evenings. The bar tenders are super knowledgeable about alcohol and the entire 1920's culture of speak easys and prohibition. I've literally never learned so much in a bar in my entire life.

The next day we went to Granville Island, where I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven. This place has it all - art, music, alcohol, and most importantly - FOOD! We started off by strolling through the market where we were AMAZED by all the different goods and goodies on sale. Then we went to find the last performance of the Jazz Festival that was taking place in the city that week. On the way back to get some food, we checked out all the jewelry makers and stopped by the Granville Brewing Co to do some beer tasting:

We them sampled all the fares of the market - well, not all, but plenty. I clearly bought too much food because as I was sitting and enjoying my dessert - a white chocolate blueberry roll - it fell out of my hand and was DEVOURE by a seagull, despite the fact that the roll was 3 times as wide as this things beak. Definite highlight. We then stumbled upon a random circus act performed on a sail boat by two random French people (its not the best picture):

At the end of the day we came back to the Pourhouse to listen to some live jazz and get some more lessons in  1920's alcohol culture. Apparently there are all kinds of crazy alcohol laws in Vancouver, including not being able to serve people who are standing up. We ended up there the next night too! On Alicia's last night we went out in Kits and found a place that was serving 50 cent chicken wings with some very friendly foresters. Apparently, forrestry is the big industry in this "province". Guess that makes sense! 

Summer Home

This weekend, I moved in to my apartment for the summer! Its pretty bare which makes it somewhat depressing, but I'm sure Ikea will help me make it a little more homey, despite the $100 budget I've set for myself there.

The bedroom: (I ended up moving the bed later, and didn't take another picture. It is now in the corner, which actually leaves a big hole behind the head because the windowsill prevents it from being flush with the wall. But I couldn't handle it where it was - I need to feel the stability of a wall. Plus, there were street lights pouring in through the blinders and it was very creepy - right on my eyes:

The living room: Not much to say about it. Nice couch. No TV. Yawn. I think I'll buy tealights for that weird thing in front of the fireplace: 

The kitchen is miniature and I don't want to depress my mom by even posting it. Basically the way its set up - and this set up is non-negotiable - prevents you from opening up both the fridge and oven all the way. Independently - not at the same time. You simply cannot open them fully - forget about standing in FRONT of it while doing so. It does prevent fridge-grazing, however. 

The bathroom's fine except the hose the hold-in-ur-hand shower is on is such an awkward length I can't help spraying the ENTIRE bathroom with water if I happen to drop it. But that's pretty classic. 

Survived!!!

Well, its a little anti climactic, but the year is over! I survived the first year of the MBA, the year everyone said would be the absolute hardest thing ever. Overall, I'd definitely say it was worth it. All the tears and the frustration was worth it. I've definitely learned about myself, what I'm capable of, what I'm good at, what I'm interested in...but still haven't quite figured out "who I am". I thought by nearly-27 all these things would be figured out and settled but alas, no! The things that have truly made this year worth it, though, were the amazing profs, my oh-so-special team, and of course the friends I've made here.
Not all the teachers were great, of course. But the few that were were truly, truly great. These men were meant to teach, and I learned something new, interesting, and important in their courses every day. Our class did a bit of a farewell to our favorite profs on the last day of class. My personal favorites were our first term Marketing teacher, Carlos, our 2nd term Operations teacher, Edu, and our 3rd term econ teacher, Perdo. Although the Russian IT guy was pretty awesome too.

Our team was pretty much a disaster, as far as work teams go, but we definitely had a good time. We barely worked together, barely improved as a unit, and barely scraped by with all the assignment. Barely, but we did, and I don't think we win the vote for the worst team, so that in and of itself needs to be considered a success. True, we fell apart into the "core" 4 - me, Ian, German, and Anton, with Kye Chan close to the center but still somewhat in the periphery. Then we had the Catholic pair, Ken and Jose, nice guys, so sweet, so hardworking...just not super out there on the social scene. And then, there was Gourav. What can I say about him. He tried. We tried. Sorta. It just didn't work. You can't with them all.

As for the friends and parties, well, my facebook page speaks for itself. I am super excited about living with Kathy, Julie, and Stephanie next year, although I'm really going to miss Alexa like crazy :(

Spring Break!

The best part about spring break is that we still have spring break - even though most of us are in our late 20's, a far cry away from being the crazy college kids somewhere in Mexico guzzling tequila and waking up with strangers on the beach. WOOO!
Originally, I wanted to go home for Spring break, but thinking (prior to the emergency trip last month) that Cali was too far too fly for 1 week, I decided to do the next best thing - Israel. It would be a cheap vacation, buying my flights with miles and staying @ my friend's place - a.k.a. Hilton Paula.

Somehow, with minimal effort, I happened to recruit my boys to come with me. Even though we spent much less time together than I anticipated, it was awesome having my favorite people in my favorite country.

I got in late at night and luckily a nice English speaking couple helped me take the right train, since its impossible to get any information from any signs about public transportation. I do love hearing Hebrew all around me, but not understanding a damn thing is incredibly frustrating. My first day in Tel Aviv I spent eating a typically huge Israeli breakfast and laying on the beach with the boys:

The next day was the beginning of Passover, and I thought it would be pretty cool to spend it in Israel. We ended up going to the parents of one of Paula's friends and having a very un-traditional Seder, with minimal reading and lots of Russian food. I think we even had bread at the table...and went out to the bars afterwards. love Israel!

I spent the rest of the week enjoying the days -well, mostly enjoying the nights. Somehow, I have much more fun going out in Tel Aviv than  I do in Barcelona. Paula and I hopped around to her favorite spots with her friends. I visited Prorok again, where I had my memorable Like A Virgin Karaoke performance.

I joined the boys again for a couple of days for a trip to the North - we visited Nazareth, Haifa, and Akko on the way to the Golan Heights. Nazareth was underwhelming, as the boys expected something special from the city where Jesus was born. The boys also wanted to visit Mt Hernon, where I froze my ass off not being prepared to walk around in the SNOW. Otherwise, the Golan Heights were green and beautiful and a complete change from the landscape we were seeing earlier in the day. On the way back, we stopped by the Kineret and I regretted not having insisted on spending a weekend camping there.

The next day, though, Elinor, Paula's friend, took us back to the Kineret and we spent my second to last day enjoying the sunshine, barbecuing, and swimming in the sea.

. And, in keeping with what is now "tradition", on my last night Paula and I once again went to Goocha, and ended up bar hopping all the way back home concluding the night at 6am, drunk, happy, and reeking of cigarettes.

I love Israel, and will definitely be back again soon!

Why did I come here? Oh yeah, a job...

The point of this MBA, the point of the TWO year MBA, was to have a summer internship. This serves both the purpose of, well, making a little money, but also of doing something NEW, before going back to where I came from if no new opportunities present themselves.
Well, after just one round of interviews with Gas Natural Fenosa, the local gas and electric utility company, they have offered me a summer position! Not only am I not really interested in the job, I didn't even apply! The only reason they even interviewed me is because I checked the box on the career services website - I didn't even write a cover letter! I took the interview because I knew I needed interview practice. And, as an added bonus, the whole thing was going to be in Spanish! It definitely helped by ego to not only be complimented on my Spanish by the HR woman interviewing me, but to also actually receive a job offer from them. It was definitely attractive - staying in Barcelona for the summer, doing something I know I can easily do, and getting to practice my Spanish all summer. On the other hand, its doing basically almost exactly what I was doing before.

Now that I had this offer, though, I figured I could look into the other option that had been made available to me. My dad's friend started up and owns a company called Newspaper Direct, better known for its PressDisplay.com service. Apparently they basically power the online version of almost every published newspaper out there, and are launching an application for smartphones and stuff too. Apparently, their problem is that they have too many brands and a little bit of an "identity crisis" and I could work on their marketing team helping them with this re-branding strategy. Well, that sounds whole helluvalot cooler than designing processes for a utility, so, I think I'll take it! 

Thank goodness the world keeps shrinking....

There's some expression that goes "Life is what happens while we're busy making other plans"...and so it is. And nothing gives you perspective on these plans that you're making than when something REALLY happens. A couple weeks ago my little baby sister Liza got into a terrible car accident just meters from our home. I found out about it almost a full day later, which left me feeling terrible, completely powerless to do anything to help anyone from thousands of miles away while my sister lay in the ICU. 

So I started making plans to come home. Luckily, the term was a week away from ending and we were to have a 5 day weekend - one I planned to spend in Italy with my girlfriend, but c'est la vie. I went to talk to the administration to see if I could get some extra days off since it was, after all, a family emergency. I can't say I was very pleased with how IESE handled it....Elena, the head of the MBA, calmly explained to me that IESE had a no-exceptions policy. That the 80% rule covered emergencies such as this, and if I missed more than 20% of any one class, I would get an incomplete for that class. Calm, simple - no exceptions, work within the rules. The lack of empathy was truly appalling. 

I took what I could get and flew home. I was surprised that I was able to find such a cheap and convenient flight on such short notice - it felt like I was back in sunny so cal within mere hours of being in Barcelona. The week flew by between spending days in the hospital and nights catching up with friends. Liza improved dramatically while I was there and I was relieved that she would be checking out of the hospital the day I was flying home. 

Otherwise, coming home is strange. On the one hand, its wonderful. You come home, everyone's excited to see you, your life looks so cool and glamorous to them - you're doing all these things and changing while everyone else is in their daily routines, staying the same. But the problem with these visits home is that they come to an end - you enjoy the things and people you've missed and then you have to leave them behind. Its so easy to adjust to what you've always known - but so hard to adjust back to the challenge that we're living here. Each time involves separation anxiety and a brand new culture shock. No one likes being the tiny fish in the huge pond...

Calçotada

This weekend we went with the Catalan students to Tarragona to participate in a Calçotada, a feast held between the end of winter and March or April, where calçots, something between a leek and a bulb onion,  are consumed massively. We started off the day with a tour of Tarragona, enjoying the sunshine.

We then went into the country side for the actual feast. The meal starts with going outside to the open grill where the table is set for everything you need to enjoy the Calçots. Calçots are then barbecued and dipped in salvitxada or romesco sauce, and accompanied by red wine or cava. Pieces of meat and bread slices are roasted in the charcoal after cooking the calçots.

The actual eating process can get a little messy...

We then had a very long 3 hour meal with beans, pork, artichokes, bread, and a dessert that was basically Creme Brulee in a cake - DELICIOUS. I don't know how much of a cultural experience it was, but as far as gastronomic experiences go, it was amazing!

Multi-Culti!

Every year, IESE throws an event that combines all the best that it has to offer - rambunctious, creative, gluttonous students from all over the world. From 6pm to midnight, they rent out a huge space by the beautiful Mont Juic and every country represented by a student at IESE sets up a booth where they serve traditional foods, but, more importantly, traditional drinks!

I tried to join the Russians, but I rarely talk to any of them. Additionally, IESE only has me listed as an American, since I only have a US passport, so I was never on any of the Russian communication. Hence, I joined TEAM AMERICA!!!

The best part of being on Team America was the performance we put together. Led by Mr. Aaron Powers (tall guy, front and center) we practiced for a week straight in our living room...although clearly that was not enough. The main thing to keep in mind during this disastrous performance, is the fact that the event started at 6pm, and we didn't go on until 9pm...we were all following Aaron, and he had been drinking for at least 3 hours at that point. Most of the team was far from sober as well...We had a blast, though, and this was the final result:





I shifted allegiances throughout the evening, after copious amounts of Polish vodka, russian blintzes, and Brasilian capirinhas....

Team Building

Every term, we're supposed to do a "team building" activity. Last term, it was more of a getting to know you activity as we did a scavenger hunt around Barcelona. In the end, the purpose was to have beers and hopefully get drunk together. My team's pretty good at that.

Work-ethic wise, we've been falling apart. We were never very good to begin with, due in part of the fact that one of our team members, Ian, is just ridiculous good at everything, so we always have him to bail us out when we go wrong. But overall, we don't exactly work as a team, and motivation over all has been very low. We're lucky in that we all get along, which some teams don't...but the work doesn't always get done.

ESE took us to the forest of Sant Cugat and has us do a lot of "reflection" and team-buildling games, followed by a traditional Catalan mean. This is the highlights of the day...can't take credit for most of the video editing, but I did try to cut it down some from what was published...

I

Party Party Party all the Time Time Time

This weekend was a three day weekend because IESE put on a conference, that I did not attend or have any interest in, called Doing Good and Doing Well. So, we basically ended up just having a great time all weekend. I think this is what business school was supposed to be - organized good times, some learning here and there, and a general free for all. I think now we're all just catching up for the time we lost over the first term and the first half of this term. A brief summary:

SKIESE

After a week and a half of HELL, including 4 exams, a paper, and two team projects, we were finally rewarded with what we'd been looking forward to for WEEKS - SKIESE. Since the moment they took 360 euros of our money, we'd been counting the days and stocking up on alcohol. We completed our last 9-question multiple choice final exam for Operational Finance at 10:30am on Friday and hung around Pedrables patiently until 3:30pm when the bus would take us to the magical tax-haven principality of Andorra.

Following the tradition started with our first term midterms, we patiently whittled away the hours at the cafe down the street from school, basking in the sunlight:

Properly inebriated, we boarded buses 70 at a time and a few drunken hours later arrived in our hotel in Andorra. The hotel was nice enough, and we enjoyed a buffet dinner and then took over the hotel's lounge as all 280 of us continued to drink away the stress. I, of course, on day 4 of sleeplessness, didn't drink and tried to sleep, but failed. That didn't stop me however, from going skiing the next day!

What DID serve as an obstacle where the other 120 people in line ahead of me to rent equipment the next day. As rental was included in our price, everyone had to rent from the same place at the base of the mountain and it took us close to two hours to finally get our stuff and get on the slopes. Lisa ditched me pretty quickly for Miguel, and I joined Andri Ian German and Grant. We had an AMAZING day of skiing, but I definitely have never fallen so many times or skiied SO fast in my life. I was exhausted but amazingly happy. We then came back to the hotel for the traditional drink and jacuzzi time. IESE had organized ice skating at some Palau de la Something, but how they could think anyone could ice skate after a day of skiing is beyond me. The problem was that dinner was also at the ice skating rink, and as we missed the buses for the ice skating we missed the buses for dinner. So we decided to take the city bus that apparently ran there every 10 minutes. We thought that it was only 8 of us missing the ice skating but after 20 minutes of waiting at the bus stop, we were soon a crowd of 60. Come on IESE....common sense please. Would it have killed them to arrange for a late bus?

Dinner was disappointing, too, with people scrambling like mad every time a new tray of food came out and most of us leaving hungry, and hence, quite inebriated since the only thing there was plenty of was wine and beer. From the dinner we went back to the resort where there was apparently a bar/club for us to party away the night at....






The next day, we got up and did it allllll all over again, with the most amazing weather on the most amazing mountain. I am definitely completely in love with Andorra and sad that I probably wont have the chance to go back this year, with everything else going on.

The trip home, however, was less than ideal as it took us 2.5 hours to drive the 40 kilometers out of the Andorra mountains, and we all got back annoyed, exhausted, mildly-hung over, sunburnt, and far from fresh. But it was all worth it!

Independently Mobile!

The biggest accomplishment of Term 2 so far has been my new-found mobility:

I really didn't want to get a moto, because it was one more thing to worry about, and be responsible for. I wanted to move to a "real city" so that I would have access to public transportation and wouldn't have to drive anywhere, so it seemed silly to get a moto. But the truth is school is very far, unaccessible by public transportation in any reasonable, efficient way, and there just isn't enough TIME to deal with public transport. There is a bus that stops within a 5 minute walk from school - BUT, it only comes once every 30 minutes, it takes about 20-30 minutes, and its another 10 minute walk from the bus stop home. This results in up to an hour simply for the process of getting home - time I just don't have.

Fall term I relied mostly on rides from my roomate Andri and my teammate Ian, and for the most part this was a satisfactory arrangement. Over time, though, I started feeling annoying to constantly have to ask people for rides, and because these are also the two people that help me the most with the academic aspects of school, I was starting to feel like I was relying on them for too much. Andri actually literally saying that to me, that I relied on him too much, didn't help either.

So, I sucked it up, and I got a moto. The first few days were tough, and I was super tense and terrified on the 15-20 minute ride to and from school. I also refused to drive anywhere BUT school, since I was scared of unafarmiliar routes. Slowly but surely, though, I've made progress. Wednesday I drove Alexa from home to and from the gym (which is only 1.5 KM away, so it was a good starting point) and Friday I took the two of us all the way from school to the gym and home. Last night, though, was the biggest accomplishment yet - I ventured to a completely unknown place - the OTHER gym by school. Though I did get lost, I managed to pull over, take out my phone, re-find myself, and eventually, find the gym. A small accomplishment, but for me it was the overcoming of a huge, albeit irrational, fear. It was well worth it, too, cuz the other gym offered a kickboxing class that my gym didn't, and it was GREAT.

Today, I have a new obstacle - pumping gas.