End of pre-term? Already? September 30, 2007

I can’t believe I’m almost at the end of the first phase of Business School, even if it is just the month-long Pre-Term. It might just be the fastest month of my life so far. I feel like I just got here, but I’m already at the precipice of exam week. Luckily, I only have exams for Business Law and Economics, because we had our accounting exam on Thursday (blllleeeeehhh, so bad!), and there aren’t exams for any of my other classes. However, I’ll definitely be spending the rest of today and most of tomorrow preparing for these tests.

As I’ve mentioned, many, many times: Business School is freaking hard. I still think that the Spanish is a big part of what’s making it so hard, but also, man, it’s definitely the content. I think accounting would be hard for me no matter what. And the bummer is that even though I’m done with Financial Accounting, I’m in no way done with this subject altogether–starting next week, I have Managerial Accounting and Financial Analysis (two separate courses, ugh). There are definitely moments when I second guess myself, as it’s not coming very naturally at this point. Of course, there are a lot of factors, like being a student for the first time in 6+ years, being in a new environment, taking graduate level courses, etc, so I’m thinking I may just need time to get acclimated. But man, I wish the acclimation process would happen a hell of a lot faster.

Predictably, a lot of what I’m learning here has nothing to do with business, per se, but is more about myself and also about other cultures. A few recent examples:
1. It is illegal to flush the toilet after 10pm in Switzerland (what??).
2. Though I was expecting to need to be culturally sensitive, I never expected to find it the most difficult with my own countrymen, so I’m working on that. (Yep, not used to mixing with Republicans OR dedicated Christians, and, erm, there are quite a few of them in my program. I usually like my friends as Socialist and faithless as they come, so, yeah, I’m working on tolerance. Weird.)
3. It is absolutely possible to overdose on jamon.
4. I can not only live on 5-6 hours of sleep per night, I can also make it to class, regularly, by 8am. (I had my doubts. I think we all did, actually.)
5. The whole “Parisians only talk to French people who are also from Paris” thing? Not a myth.
6. I can’t deal with mania about grades, which is definitely a side effect of having gone to school in Santa Cruz. Given that I’m now in a world of Type A personalities, I’m going to have to get over that, quick. (Good GAWD do I get irritated when people go sprinting to their mailboxes to see how they did on an accounting homework. Who cares? Isn’t the point to just learn something?)
7. If someone from Ireland says to you that you “do good work,” it means you’re cool. (I think.)
8. Networking events are no joke. Man. Especially when they’re hosted by investment banks with money to spare…
9. The Born is even cooler than I remembered, as is the Boqueria (a neighborhood and an outdoor market, respectively).
10. I am a procrastination cleaner. (Not, like, on an Alex M level, yet–I mean, I haven’t been tempted to clean out the fridge or anything–but yeah, it’s in there.)

Lots going on, that’s for sure! Pre-term is officially over after Wednesday, and then, I’m pretty sure we kick into high gear. (Hard to imagine a higher gear than the one I’m currently in, but, yep, I think it’s coming…) Here’s hoping my Law and Economics exams go better than my Accounting exam, wheeeeee…

Personal Vision Statement September 23, 2007

So, I had to write my “Personal Vision Statement” for my Leadership class. Essentially, it’s about my goals and hopes and dreams for the next 10 years or so. For the majority of you, you’ve heard me spout all of this about a hundred times. However, in case anyone’s interested in seeing it in black and white, I thought I’d post it here. Feel free to skim, as it’s typically wordy!

Weddings and rankings and pumpkins, oh my! September 19, 2007

So okay, before I can say anything at all about my last (insanely busy!) week, I have to throw a special shout out to Jen and Laurent, who just got engaged. Yay and congratulations and TONS of love from across the pond! For those of you who don’t know, Jen and Laurent are fellow banana slugs who, like me, were transplants from CA to that freakishly cold Northeastern City (an exodus that, admittedly, I now find nearly incomprehensible, given the effing awesomeness that is my current city, but I digress…). I spent a lot of time with Jen and Laurent in Boston—everything from 8-hour sits at the JJ to brunch on Sundays (often after aforementioned sit, clearly), voice lessons with Laurent, ice cream with Jen, dinner with exceptional sauces and desserts at their house, and a LOT of time talking in between (what can I say, we’re talkers). Obviously, they were a critical and beloved part of my Boston experience, and I could not possibly be more thrilled for them—or the party, for that matter, because if there’s one thing these people know, it’s how to freaking party. So, Bostonians, please!! do me a favor and buy them a congratulatory drink next time you see them!!

And on to the other big news of the week: ESADE is the #1 International Business School again in the Wall Street Journal’s annual rankings!!! Yippeeeee! This means that, according to one source, my school is the best international school in the world. And given that these results are pulled from a survey of 4000 recruiters around the world, I’d say my odds of getting hired after school look, well, exceptional. (Sorry, dad, no matter what you say about PSU, I’m pretty sure ESADE kicks its ass. Hence: Barcelona.) In true Spanish style, they treated everyone to a cup of celebratory cava at lunchtime when the news hit. (Sadly, I didn’t get to partake—I was busy not learning about accounting but trying anyway.) Here’s some more info about why my school rocks, though: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118960965927825185.html?mod=home_we_banner_left
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/MB_07_Scoreboard.pdf

Personally speaking, this last week has been busy busy busy. We had an accounting test yesterday, on top of a group homework assignment for accounting that we spent the bulk of the weekend working out. Have I mentioned how much distress this class is causing me? Because it’s causing me some distress. Big time. The test yesterday? Creating cash flow statements from balance sheets? Um, yeah, I’ll pretty much be psyched if I get any credit at all. When I’m with my group, I mostly understand the mechanics of these many and mysterious spreadsheets, but, uuuuugh, when left to my own devices, I’m apparently useless. I pretty much spent the hour scratching my head and staring really, really hard at the paper, as though the answers might somehow materialize before my eyes (aaaaah, so much the grown-up SCORE! kid, in sooooo many ways…). Clearly, the answers did not just materialize, so I only got about a quarter of the way through it, which is awesome. In better news, my professor was kind enough to check in with me after class and ask me how it had gone. I told him, in all honestly, that I felt like I bombed it, and it was totally reassuring to hear him say that it’s pretty normal for people to do poorly on the first quiz, because the learning curve is steep. Remarkably, he seems to be confident that I’ll catch up (based on what, I don’t know). I appreciated the vote of confidence, though, for sure. My other classes continue to cruise at breakneck speed, and econ and stats continue to be my favorite classes (I still can’t get over the fact that I really, genuinely like stats—so incongruent with my personality, right?). And if I’m truly thinking about consulting after the MBA, the econ stuff will be pretty useful, I think.

Right, the pumpkin. A group of friends and I have taken to doing Friday night dinners out (seems to be a consensus that we deserve a nice night out after back to back to back to back to back 12-16 hour days!). I’m hoping to post some brief reviews of these places soon, when I have time (more to keep track and avoid repeats and have ideas of stuff to do when you all come to visit than to actually take the review part seriously). Anyway, last Friday we went to a great little Italian place down the street from my piso, and imagine my surprise when my risotto came in an actual pumpkin! It was a very Laura-esque meal, and I enjoyed it all the better for that. Anyway, I’m enjoying the Friday night dinner groove, and the people with whom I share it. (I wanted to post a picture of said pumpkin, but am having problems uploading. I’ll post it as soon as I can. Sorry!)

One happy side of effect of mostly feeling fat, ugly, and, adding insult to injury, stupid, is that I finally got my act together and joined the (admittedly, kind of crappy) gym around the corner, and got groceries (real, actual food!) for my house. It was awesome to work out—I don’t know how I’ve been out of the gym for so long (3+ months—eek!)—and it feels good to actually stay home to eat food, even if the food I cook is a sad, sad comparison to the delicious meals that Laura makes at home. (Nostalgic sigh…) I’m hoping that these things, in tandem, help me get over the fat/ugly thing (I just feel SO provincial in my GAP pants here!). As an aside: I’m obviously speaking hyperbolically, as we know I am wont to do, and am NOT fishing for reassurances/validation (mom). Just saying living in Spain makes me feel, erm, conspicuous, I guess. Oh, and the stupid thing? Time, I think, is my only solution here. Unfortunately. To Laurent’s point, at least I can blame the Spanish for the perpetual feelings of intellectual inadequacy, and not, you know, my own inability to grasp, say, accounting, for one. And since I’m pretty full immersion with the Spanish, it’s only a matter of time before it starts to click, right?

This coming weekend is the Fiesta Mayor de Barcelona, celebrating something to do with the city’s Saint, San Merce. If I recall correctly, this means various plazas will have things like human castles (“castellers”) and the Corre Foc (catalan for “running fire”), which is a bunch of people running under a dragon-like thing (think Chinese New Year), and there’s a LOT of fire/pyrotechnic insanity involved, at the same time (hordes of kids with M80s and no supervision: always a good idea). I’m not sure how this correlates to whatever Merce was sainted for. I think Spaniards just like excuses to set sh** on fire. Also, the weekend includes free concerts and various parties in plazas and a serious amount of public drunkenness, I think. Perhaps the best part of this is that we get the day off on Monday—hurray! You know what I’m NOT going to do on Monday? That’s right, accounting. You know what I AM going to do on Monday? You guessed it, play with fire and drink beers in public during the day. (Noonan: wanna make a trip this weekend???)

One final note for this overly long entry: THANK YOU to everyone who’s completed or is about to complete that pinche survey for me. I realize it’s probably kind of obnoxious and irritatingly vague, and potentially feels like a waste of time, but the sum of all of your feedback is what matters, and I’ll be interested to hear the results (no pulling punches, got it?!—honest answers only, however brutal they might be!). I’m here to grow and learn, dammit! And this, sadly, is part of it. So: be as tough as you can, okay?

So, who’s up for some unsupervised amateur pyrotechnics and public drunkenness this coming weekend? Any takers? You’re tempted, I know…

A+, yay! September 12, 2007

There it was. In bright red, beautiful ink: A+. My first actual assignment for business school, and I got an A+. Hurray! Of course, it wasn’t a terribly difficult assignment, and it didn’t take me very long, and I must admit that I actually found it somewhat satisfying to complete (still shocked that I both like and understand statistics), but still, an A! Given that I went to a university that didn’t have grades (or much of a math requirement), this is especially exciting. My darling little professor even went to the trouble of announcing the names of everyone who’d gotten an A on the assignment. It was definitely a good way to start what had been an otherwise trying morning, and gratifying in a very juvenile, I-feel-like-a-first-grader (-and-like-it!), kind of way. Additionally, I followed the class perfectly today (probability: not as hard as I thought it would be!), and actually enjoyed economics today. Yay! I’m still feeling a deep, deep loathing of accounting (especially because we had the day off yesterday, and it was a beautiful, perfect, Mediterranean day, and I spent my day shut in my apartment reading accounting cases), but am even coming to enjoy my Law class with Speedy Gonzales. Yet more evidence (as if we needed it) that I’m much more a “concept” person than a “details” person. I can say with complete confidence that I’ll be very excited to hire an extremely competent accountant when I have my own business. (In addition to hiring an extremely competent assistant as soon as possible, obviously.)

Accounting: more than just + and -… September 6, 2007

As I come to the end of my first week of classes, I wonder: is it hard because it’s new, and it’s business school, and business school is supposed to be hard, or is it hard because of the pinche Spanish? Or both? Or maybe I’m not as sharp as I usually (in all modesty, obviously) think? No, no, it can’t be that, right? I mean, I like to think it’s not a lack of intellect on my part, but I suppose that remains to be seen.

On the one hand, it’s awesome to be in a classroom full (56!) of bright people, having interesting conversations (and sometimes debates) about immediately relevant business topics. On the other hand, I feel totally overwhelmed by the volume and speed of delivery of all of these new topics. In a bizarre twist, my favorite class is Statistics, quickly followed be Economics. Both of these professors are awesome and tenured and very dynamic speakers. My stats professor is a funny little man who capers around the room telling stories of his many and varied travel and life experiences–he was a Jesuit for Socialism activist in the 60s!–and in the middle manages to make things like Standard Deviation seem interesting. On breaks, he actually smokes a pipe and takes his coffee with his students. He’s fantastic, and I would love to be at the table with him and my grandfather for dinner one night–I’m sure the conversation would be illuminating. And my Econ professor is a very dry, very jaded, very Catalan ex-consultant who holds a Ph.D. in Econ from Columbia–very sharp, and very easy to follow.

Accounting and Business Law are another story entirely. Seriously, isn’t Accounting just supposed to be adding and subtracting? Credits and debits and P&L statements? Apparently not. There are all of these terms and things I’ve never heard of, and I’m honestly struggling with what goes where on the effing balance sheet. It’s infuriating. Again: is it the Spanish or the concepts that’s killing me? In either case, I’m freaking ahogando (drowning, gringos), and we have a pretty big group assignment to complete for next week. (Don’t get me started on my group dynamic. It’s going to be an interesting semester…) Obviously, it’s going to be a pretty long weekend of tinkering with pretend numbers. And Business Law? I was really excited for this class, but man, I’ve never heard a human speak so quickly in my life. Seriously, this guy makes Lorelei Gilmore look like an amateur in the wide world of competitive speaking, or something, if such a thing existed. Really. Like Dickens, I get the feeling he must get paid by the word. I see no other rationale for spewing forth such an incredible volume of words at once. Monday was rough, because not only was he speaking at an appallingly fast pace, but he also spent a significant amount of time talking about something I had never head of before, “persona juridica,” which I understood to mean a concept of a fictitious-person-who’s-treated-like-a-person-but-isn’t-really-like-a-person (I  know, confusing, right?). Turns out “persona juridica” means “corporation.” Right. Clearly. Today was marginally better, but really, only marginally.

In summary, I’ve spent the last few days in a mighty pendulum swing between feeling totally excited (because being in school again pretty much totally rocks, except the 8am part, and the feeling like an idiot part) and totally befuddled.  Hopefully it’s just part of the acclimation process, and I’m not actually an imbecile (yes, yes, that’s how I feel a good strong third of the time). Also, I’m really banking on my language skills to kick in and help me out.

In a related story, my (already ridiculous) coffee intake has spiked significantly. And it’s only Week 1. Whew!

One week down, 80 to go… September 2, 2007

So much happened this week, I hardly know where to begin. (I would, of course, have updated much sooner, but we still don’t have internet at home, so this is going to be a pretty long entry—apologies in advance.) Anyway, I suppose I can start with Monday, right?