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. 

"We've got fun on our side"

There are certain moments that just make all of this bullshit worth it. Certain experiences that make me realize that this is EXACTLY what I came to Europe to do this MBA for. This weekend was one of those - and it was amazing in its spontaneous, unpredictable, randomly perfectness.

This weekend was a 5 day weekend in Spain - Monday was something about Maria Immaculada and Wednesday is some Spanish national holiday - can't be bothered to care, all I need to know is that we don't have school. I also can't be bothered to write out the details, but I need to make sure to capture the highlights:

Friday: Karaoke at a Chinese Restaurant

Saturday: Leave on an impromptu road trip with team mates and friends. First stop: Zaragoza

Final Destination: Getxo (Outside Bilbao) where we had our first experience with "REAL" pinxos (little sandwich sized amazing bites of goodness of all kinds of varities, combining meats, cheese, sea foods, and sauces)

Sunday: A lil bit of Bilbao:

San Sebastian:

Here we partied with the locals of Bilbao and San Sebastian as they got ready for the big futbol match between the two cities. The game started at 9, so the town started drinking around 2, with songs and drum beatings echoing up and down the streets. By midnight, we were wading through puddles of rain water, beer, and trash as, not caring if they won or lost, the Basque people continued celebrating.






To recover from the night of debauchery, Monday involved some hiking in Bermeo:

And a visit to the painted forest:

On the 6 hour drive back home to BCN, we stopped at Logrono for some of the best pinxos I've ever had in my life.

We stayed at German's parents house, which was basically a 5 star hotel. The drive home involved my driving stick for the first time in ten years, followed by wine and other entertainment in the backseat. Overall, I don't think you could ask for a better weekend.

Thankful

Thanksgiving away from home is bittersweet (for lack of a better word).

On the one hand, Thanksgiving is the only holiday my family really celebrates as a holiday - the only holiday that, almost without fail, everyone makes an effort to appear for, everyone sets aside. Plus, just being away from the spirit of home for this weekend creates nostalgia. That feeling of everyone coming back and facing themselves just as they are - even if in their "new" lives they're hot shot attorneys, mountain climbers, broadway stars, or medical students. For one weekend, its like things are they way they always were, and that feeling you got your first year in college, that safety of realizing that home hasn't changed, and that every Thanksgiving, its there for you to count on, year in and year out. And to go a year without that feeling is a little unnerving. I'm so far away from everything familiar, everything safe and reassuring...

...but now, I'm creating my own traditions. IESE threw us a "Thanksgiving" but, apart from one tasty turkey, was more an excuse to raise money for charity than to transmit a real feeling of Thanksgiving, at least for the Americans. Don't get me wrong, the charity was a great idea and lots of fun, but it didn't feel like Thanksgiving at all.

 What did feel like Thanksgiving, though, was the potluck dinner Alexa and I threw at our apartment. Her brother and sister came to visit from Boston. They brought along some essential supplies, like stuffing and an inflatable turkey.

The real thing, though, was a little harder (and more expensive) to get, but apparently a gourmet butcher shop will deliver anything for the right price. We picked up two massive turkey and were lucky enough to have a man's man from America's heartland carve it up for us:

We invited most of our American friends, and some other nationalities to mix it up, and ended up having quite an amazing spread:

 Nothing makes me happier than feeding people, and everyone said our Thanksgiving was waaay better than IESE's. The food was amazing and everyone was happy to "celebrate freedom" by stuffing their faces with sweet potato pie and mass quantities of turkey:

Is still Mo'vember, so most of the men are continuing to adorn each picture while "Changing the face of men's health" with their mustaches, for which I too am oh, so grateful.

Cooking too many dishes at once

That's what IESE feels like right now. I have 5 burners on a stove, and a pot or pan on every burner. And if you don't stir each dish regularly enough, its gonna burn. And I only have the option of one burnt dish.

Its funny that I'm finding time to write this on one of my busiest nights. The stress is just too overwhelming to not come up for air. Its not that I'm working 24/7, but its that working more than I am just isn't productive or sustainable. Everyone who's not going through this process is telling me about this and that "short cut" that I should be able to take, but its not about that either. Its not about the grades on the page, its about earning those grades. Sure, all I want to do is pass all my classes so that I don't get kicked out. But I want to actually EARN passing grades in all my classes, so I feel like I'm surviving and learning and obtaining from this MBA what I am meant to, what I came here for. If I don't earn my grades, than I'm not getting what I paid money for, I'm not getting the experience of surviving and coming out the other end stronger or wiser.

Its just that, too often, I feel like I don't have what it takes to survive...

Living the dream

As I was riding my bike home last night from my accounting study session, it really hit me that I was living out my dream of sorts. Here I am, in an amazing, vibrant, culturally rich European city. A metropolitan hub, like I've always wanted - and I'm riding my bike through it at 1am, and still actually feel safe. I felt accomplished, as after spending 3 hours working with a Canadian guy, a Polish guy, and a Japanese girl, I felt like the "grape juice of accounting" had started the "fermentation process" in my brain for the first time in the two weeks that I've been struggling with it. My short bike ride would take me home to my amazing 4th floor apartment where I would gossip with my roommates for a while before going to bed. We'd bitch about having to wake up merely 5 hours later, but I think its all absolutely fantastic.

I have a purpose, and I'm moving forward, even though I'm not entirely sure of the direction. I am completely and utterly overwhelmed in school. Our schedules are insane, and I am lost in at least half of my classes.

Doing 2-3 cases every day and thinking in terms I've never thought in before is really hard, and I feel stupid half the time, but its also incredible. I finally feel my brain WORKING and I'm confronted, even ACCOSTED, by something new every day. My understanding of the world is expanding in a way I can't quite quantify or identify yet, but I can absolutely feel it happening. Things are making sense and falling into place, slowly of course, but I find it all very exciting.

I'm sure if I re-read this in 6 weeks or so when I'm beyond stressed out and all the novelty has worn off I'll roll my eyes at my naivete, but that's precisely why I'm writing - to capture this feeling of "OMG this is IT, THIS is why I dropped my life and came here."

My life here right now really is everything I've always wanted. Barcelona is amazing. School is great. Though I haven't tapped all or really any of them yet, I know I will have great opportunities, if I get my ass in gear and start working towards them, so I know I'm not just here on a prolonged vacation (despite the constant and rambunctious partying, I do remember that I am here for more than that). My roomates are fantastic, and we're having a great time together:

Everyone, well almost everyone, I meet at school is really interesting. The majority of them are really smart, and it feels great to be surrounded by people that actually challenge and interest me. Don't get me wrong, there's the fair share of idiots and annoying douchebags, as you'll find everywhere, but, unlike in other places, I'm not forced to hang out with them for prolonged periods. I actually have the option of surrounding myself with people I genuinely like and, so far, they actually seem to like me to!!! (Hope that lasts!)

Not to say that life is absolutely perfect. Of course its not. School is overwhelming, and despite how much I'm learning, I'm stressed that I wont get passing grades. I'm gaining weight at an alarming rate - bocadillos de jamon con queso will do that you, and even if I wanted to cook healthy, PAM (or any other form of cooking spray) doesn't exist in this country. About the only Spanish I speak is when I'm ordering the food that is making me fat. Despite the large number (20%) of Spanish speaking students in our class, I don't speak Spanish to anyone at any point, because the common language is English and they all speak it fluently. Of course they don't want to sit there and wait for me to stumble through my pluscuamperfecto constructions. I have yet to meet my tall dark and handsome Spaniard - or anyone meaningfully tall, dark, and handsome for that matter. I think my French love story is the only one I get in Europe in this lifetime. Luckily though, finally, these things aren't stopping me from enjoying all the other things I've got going for me here.

I thought I'd be more home sick, and maybe, once again, once the routine sets in, I'll get more homesick. Of course I miss my friends, but I feel really good about the friends I've made here - especially Alexa, my blessing of a roommate:

So, after a month of not writing, this is my checking in that life is great. Now, off to finish Capital Markets reading for tomorrow, and crossing my fingers that I can get a copy of the FT before class so that our crazy (but really, brilliant) professor doesn't call on me and humiliate me and kick me out of class - as he is prone to do to people who don't answer adequately. Ohhh IESE - and tomorrow I have a lecture on the Opus Dei nature of our school to look forward to. Woohoo?

First week in Barcelona!

Clearly, I haven't been updating this as often as I would have liked. I had big plans to catch up on the last week in Jordan and my week in Greece, but real life has started and I'm going to have to rely on pictures to remember the amazing times I had. At a time when I'm going to need it the most, my self-discipline is dwindling.

This week has been a busy one, and I haven't taken a single picture of note, so nothing to post in that regard.

It has been eventful though.

Alexa arrived on Tuesday and that afternoon we went to Carrefour and bought appliances, followed by a KFC Dinner! You gotta have the American favorites when overseas just to maintain your sanity and for a little taste of home. Having a microwave, toaster, and a hot water boiler in the apartment now makes all the difference!

Although I joined a gym last Friday, my first attempt to actually go there wasn't until Tuesday. I looked up the schedule, got dressed, packed my stuff, and went downstairs, all excited to ride my bike to the gym. I walk to the bike parking area and discover this:

If you can't quite tell what's wrong with this picture, I remind you that one usually sits on a bike, and the bike, in the state that I found it that afternoon, was missing the seat...I went home and pouted and did NOT go to the gym.

Wednesday was the first day of school, although we were really only there to take the Spanish test. Alexa and I took the bus together, recording a 45 minute door to door round trip. Its not so bad, and as we are the first stop on the line, we do get seats so, in theory, we can be productive on the bus in the mornings. Since then, though, Alexa tested out of Spanish and I've been riding to and from school on the back of Andri's moto. It is about 20 minutes faster, so its worth the ride, but not worth me getting my own.

I finally did go to the gym after the Spanish test, and the experience will take getting used to. Following an aerobics/dance class in Spanish is hard - in theory, you just follow the instructor. But this flamboyantly gay man was so all over the place, keeping up with him was virtually impossible. Everyone speaks only Spanish, and everything in the gym is written in Catalan. I haven't gone again yet, but intend to try the yoga class tomorrow.  On the way back I discovered what are called "chinos", stores owned by Asians, for the most part, that have all kinds of random stuff. In a way its a mini-Target - you have appliances, school supplies, beauty products, some clothing, housewares - but everything is fairly cheap and in a limited selection. This is where I am taking my mom when she gets here next week to buy much needed storage items for my room.

As for the Spanish classes that started on Thursday, I initially placed into Spanish Level 6 (out of 10 possible placement levels). The class was pretty good and with the exception of 1 or 2 people, everyone was on the same level. The teacher, however, was another story. How you can be a teacher of Spanish as a foreign language and fail to explain to a class of intermediate students the difference between the use of "le" and "lo" for direct object pronouns and the difference between "ser" and "estar" is beyond me. We're not the first ones to ask this question - it confuses all students. What kind of teacher are you? She then decided to "change things up" in the afternoon and thought it would be a good idea to split us into two groups and have us discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Spanish. You don't do that on the first day of class with a group of students that can barely construct temporally complex sentences. The next day of class was even worse, as she decided to teach us "emociones", somehow supposing that, at level 6, we didn't know what "estoy triste" meant.

Luckily though, due in part to our superb level of Spanish and, undoubtedly, in part to the fact that we were a pain in her ass with our specific question, I and 3 other students were taken out of her class and merged into a new level 7 class. The new professor, Carlos, is fantastic. The man was born to teach, and is also doing his PHD in linguistics, which makes his explanations of things really interesting and clear, to me at least. I'm struggling slightly in this class, but I'd rather be the weakest speaker and learning than the strongest speaker and bored. We have a test to pass into level 8 on Tuesday, and we actually had class today (Saturday) due to the fast pace of the program.

Tonight, my flatmates and I are attempting to throw our apartment's first party. It will be small in scale, since we don't want to piss off our neighbors yet. I guess we'll see what happens!

Getting Settled in Barcelona

I've been in town "permanently" for 3 days now. Starr and I came in from Greece on Wednesday morning, thoroughly exhausted and kicking ourselves for not spending more time on the islands, and for being so cheap with our flights home. Starr pretty much looked like she was going to kill someone for the duration of our flights, and I don't think she'll be coming to Europe again any time soon.

Since arriving, I've made some major accomplishments! I finally have a cell phone - a Blackberry, not an iPhone, I decided for the sake of convenience to be " like everyone else" and just get the bbery. I have plenty of time to play with future generations of iPhones. I've never felt the need to be one of those "early adapters".
All of my roommates finally arrived by Wednesday night, and we all went over to Kathy and Stephanie's apartment. It made us realize how NICE ours is, and how invaluable AC is :) True, in a month or so it wont be hot and it wont matter, but right now the heat is suffocating and I've spent every day between 3 and 6pm hiding in my room with the AC blasting.

Starr was leaving Friday, so our night out with the other IESE kids for the first official BOW (Bar of the Week) was a short-lived night. We never actually  made it to the BOW, as our 11-person group took a while to assemble and make our way to the Mexican restaurant where we ended up having dinner at 11pm. Gotta love Barcelona time! (Although Starr did not, and, once again, looked like she was going to suffocate someone any moment, and some male members of our group were differentiating themselves in being the unlucky victims of the potential suffocation)

The next day Andri and I went to check out the local gym, and ended up joining DIR Tarragona for 50 euros a month. The gym is actaully really nice, but 1.6 kilometers away which, in theory, can be considered part of the workout - I just hope I don't become too lazy to actually go there.

In the afternoon we went to IKEA, and now have made progress on making this place of ours a home. The IKEA trip was pretty humorous, with me and Ladina insisting that we "need" this and that for the apartment, and Andri standing in front of the cart, arms-crossed, stern-father like, shaking his head. In the end, like Andri said, it was a good compromise - he wouldn't have bought ANYTHING of what we bough if it were just him, and she and I would have bought 3 times as much. Our foyer now has a cute table, chair, and shoe rack and we have all kinds of kitchen gadgets. We weren't able to find a tea pot, toaster, or microwave, so that'll have to wait for another store. They also don't have any kind of plastic drawer storage. Our bathroom is currently one huge cluttered counter, because there's nowhere to put any of our stuff. The guys at the bicycle store though recommended we go to Carrefour, so hopefully we can get something there!

That brings me to my final accomplishment - I bought a bicycle! Its very strange to me that I have a bike, but now I do!! Every single other person I know is buying or renting a scooter/moded, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I'm terrified of driving it and of navigating on the streets with the crazy taxi drivers. I still don't know how I'm going to get to school, because riding my bike uphill for 3 miles might be outside my strength, patience, and motivation capacity, but at least for getting around to friends' houses, the grocery store, and the gym, I'm covered.

Outstanding issues remain the plastic bins, the appliances, and, of course, getting through the accounting course, the resume building exercise, and the Spanish test, all before Sept 1st!