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...

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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.