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…
Glad to know that you have not reached an Alex M level procrastination, yet, Crystal. This means that business school has not totally warped you…yet. I’m looking forward to reading more about your new life in Barcelona!
Think of this as an opportunity to start slowly with sensitivity toward christo-republicans. I’m pretty sure it would have been more of a shock getting the Republican total immersion experience of a US business school, than the Spanish language immersion experience of ESADE.
Fuck Bush (and god),
Laurent