Vicariously living through myself

In San Francisco

2009-06-19T22:52:00.000-07:00

After Egypt I went back to BCN for three days. Just long enough for their futbol (soccer) team to win the 3rd of 3 big matches which set the town off and had people partying all night long. I proceeded with selling all the crap that wouldn't fit in 2-70 pound checked bags and 2 carry-ons. I won't go into the fiasco at the airport but suffice it to say that things were not as smooth as they could have been. The flight was fine and I spent a week in Arizona getting my house in order. I spent a good deal of time with Tessa and got to see my dad, mom, chris, andrew, ethan, matthew and many of the friends like chad/marquita, ryan/nidhi, matt and his huge cranium, sal/erica, anthony/kelly, bill, pam, jody and more. It was really nice to see everyone but very rushed. That was the way I planned it though since I decided that I would move to San Francisco and find a job, I knew that if I didn't force a short trip, I could easily has spent way more time in AZ.

Jacob from IESE picked me up from the airport in SF and showed me around his city a bit. The next day I stayed with the friend of another person who went to IESE and by the third day I found a place to sublet in an area of town called the Mission. Its a very cool place to live; gritty but with a lot of character. During the almost two weeks since I've been here I've been applying to jobs and spending time almost every day attending events and networking with people. Today I had lunch with an LBS alum and as their alumni are much more numerous, I feel very lucky that I did an exchange in London. The job search is going as expected. I figure it will take 2-3 months to find the right role. I passed on an opportunity to do data analysis for a 1 year contract as that would be mind-numbingly boring. I had an interview yesterday with a startup but the company seems a bit too early stage, at this point its still in the idea phase. I'm looking for a startup or small business that already has some traction. Its enough of a risk to move all the way over here with no job and hardly any contacts, its something entirely different to take a low paying or possibly non paying role at a startup that has a very low chance of success. Does this mean I have job clarity??? Not quite, but I'm getting there.

Meanwhile, the city is absolutely awesome! The people are way nicer than I expected. I really forgot how friendly people on the west coast (except for LA) are and especially after living in Barcelona where people never talk with you, SF is a really great change of pace.

The cradle of civilization

2009-05-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

After graduating from IESE at the end of April I spent some time playing tour guide to my mom and her friends who were nice enough to come visit and see the big graduation ceremony. The day after we went to Sevilla where La Ferria de Abril (The April Fair) had the city dressed up and looking amazing. There was Flamenco dancing at every turn and tents filled with people celebrating this annual event.

The next day we took a train to Granada which is home to The Alhambra, a Moorish Palace built in the 14th century. Granada is a beautiful city and The Alhambra is mind-blowing, the amount of detailed work that went into its construction is incredible.

After a week and a half of organizing my life around my pending move to San Francisco, I went to Egypt for an 11 day trip. I have not begun looking for a job so much as I have decided where I want to live and figuring out who may have access to the world I want to join. IESE has about 30 alumni in the SF area whereas LBS has closer to 150. One more reason why the exchange was a great idea. I also compiled a list of all the people I know in SF (short list) and all the people I know who know someone in SF (long list) and my plan is to get in touch with all these people and go to every entrepreneurial, networking and/or other type of event until I find the right company. I leave BCN in two days and have been packing and taking care of all the last minute stuff like closing bank accounts, cancelling my gym membership, phone, etc. It will be very sad to move away from this city but I think I am trading one very cool city where I don't speak the language so well for one where I can feel more at home.

Egypt was an amazing experience. I went on this trip solo. After so many group trips where the agenda was set and there was no room to linger or speed things up, I just wanted to do what I wanted when I wanted. I also find that travelling alone opens up all your senses to the world around you and allows one to make friends much easier.

I started the trip by flying from BCN to Rome, Rome to Cairo and then Cairo to Luxor. I arrived super late and negotiated a cab to take me to the public ferry. The cab was negotiated because in Egypt, everything is a negotiation, I mean everything. You'd like to go to the bathroom? That will be one pound. You don't have a pound, that's okay a half pound will do. You want a big water? 10 pounds. Okay my friend, 5 is okay. Where are you from? United States. Go Obama, America is a great country. Anyway, from the cab driver who tried to rip me off by 10 pounds I took the public ferry from the East side of Luxor to the West side where I found my oasis of a hotel waiting for me.

Next day I went to the Temple of Karnak all morning long and basically cooked like bacon in a frying pan. It was my first time back in 100+F temperatures since being back in Arizona and I see that my body has shed its ability to cope with such hellish temperatures. Karnak was massive and its stone hieroglyph covered columns dominated much of the structure.

After half my body weight evaporated while at Karnak, I sat at a beautiful restaurant trying to rehydrate while eating tahini and hummous and smoking sheesha. This gave me just the energy I needed to make an afternoon of Luxor Temple. Like most places in Egypt, the photos just don't do it justice, especially during the day. But when you consider that these temples are more than 2,000 years old and have been in the middle of an inhabited city the entire time, it shows the remarkable staying power of the hieroglyphs and craftsmanship.

In the evening I returned to the same restaurant for dinner. I was sweaty and disheveled and just about to dig in to my Lonely Planet when I looked up to see someone from one of the other tables peering down at me. She (Amanda) very graciously explained that she had traveled alone many times and indicated that my filth was welcome at her table. Before she had a chance to change her mind I was seated among 4 girls who were traveling across Egypt. An invitation to join four girls for dinner doesn't come along every day but what made this situation even more odd was that two of the girls were attending Thunderbird, a top MBA school located in Phoenix. Both were in the Middle East doing internships in Jordan. Amanda was one of the T-Bird students and was originally from San Francisco. What's more, a third girl, Kate did her MBA at Georgetown and was from SF. The fourth girl, Aileen was a nurse from the US but living in Cairo. It turns out that Amanda and I knew two of the same people as she grew up with two students from IESE. That was an amazing array of coinkidinks.

Amanda and Aileen were planning to travel to Hatshepsut, the death temple, the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Nobles. I explained that I hoped to do a hike over the mountain from one site to the other and in short time it was agreed that we would meet at quarter to six the next day to travel together. Lucky for me the arrangements were made because at six a phone call dragged me out of my slumber, out the door and into the waiting cab. We arrived at the temple early, before the heat and ahead of other tourists. We had the place to ourselves the entire time. Here you see Aileen and Amanda looking small in relation to this huge and very well preseved monument.

We ate breakfast on the top of the mountain separating the death temple and the valley of the kings. Our view was over all of Luxor and the Nile flowing off in the distance.

The photo below shows Amanda on our decent into the Valley of the Kings. It really feels very similar to any of a multitude of valleys you would see in Arizona the only difference is the openings that look like mine shafts which lead to some of the greatest discoveries from the ancient world, including...

King Tuts tomb which was discovered in the 1920s and which is so extremely famous because the items held within were so well preserved whereas almost all other temples had been pillaged many centuries or millenia ago. My favorite part of King Tuts tomb was the 5 minutes spent inside, my least favorite part was getting thrown out and having my camera confiscated for taking a photo (without flash) and then paying $10 to get it back. Note: photos will not be tolerated in King Tut's tomb AND the guard has eyes in the back of his head. Note to the note: whereas everyone in Egypt is more likely than not to accept a bribe for just about anything, the guard in Tuts Tomb is less likely than not. Keep that in mind. Don't let the $10 curse of Tuts Tomb get you too.

Okay this is getting too detailed and I am getting too tired to continue writing. This is the superabbreviated version of the remainder of the trip. I took a public bus to a place called Aswan where one of the coolest temples ever built is located. Its the closest I saw to the mythical nature of machu pichu. I stayed the night in Aswan at an amazing Nubian hotel made in the traditional style of mud brick and high windows and with the relaxing sounds of Nubian music always floating around the great opens spaces of the hotel. After Aswan I returned to Luxor then jumped on a 2 night cruise up the Nile on a Felucca which is a traditional sail boat like they've used on the Nile for thousands of years. Two days were spent with a group of 10 sailing back and forth across the Nile as we made out way north. The group was very fun.

From where the Felucca landed I caught an overnight train to Cairo where I spent a few fantastic days and was put up by Aileen who proved to be a great tour guide and a very nice host. She had a killer pad close to the US Embassy and very close to everything a tourist would like to see. I spent one whole day at the Egyptian Museum which is easily the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts anywhere. Any item would be a prized possession in a different museum and this place was literally overflowing with amazing items. I met up with Yasser from IESE who took me for a great dinner and drove like a maniac (which is the only way to drive in Cairo if you want to live) all over town including to an On The Go gas station that was the only place in Egypt where prices were actually listed on items and no negotiation was needed. One day Aileen showed me many of the cool spots around the city and with some of her friends we watched from a park overlooking the city as the sun set and the call to prayer from dozens of mosques drifted across the city. My final day was spent in a fast paced viewing of the Pyramids where I hired a horse and rode in from the desert. My guide was crazy as hell and liked to get the horses running while he screamed at the top of his lungs..."Hababe Hababe, I love you, YIIIIIEEEEEEEEY! That was a good way to end the trip and a great way to see the Pyramids.

Now what?

2009-03-14T08:20:00.001-07:00

Only 3 weeks of school left and no clarity as far as work is concerned. That is a bit disappointing as one would expect to have everything figured out at this point but considering the economic meltdown around the world, a lot fewer opportunities are available this year compared to past years. However, according to many visiting speakers, the time is right for entrepreneurs to build a business that can work in this economy and then thrive when the economy picks up. This works well for me as I plan to join either a startup/growth company or the very entrepreneurial arm of a larger company. As before, I hope to join a company that creates a social impact and does not simply seek to milk its customers for every cent possible.

I came across a very funny show featuring a former LBS graduate. The links are below and show what happens when you mix the sophisticates of the west coast with the patriots of middle america. If you have some time to kill and you're not too busy paintballing, give a watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG2GwSpO7tc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71MTHjvCeyw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHKxqrZQKLw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2zmOK_POpg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXjJDk8ehro&feature=related

I'm living in one of the most famous buildings in Spain by possibly the most famous Spanish architect. His name is Antoni Gaudi. My building is called La Pedrera. Do a Google search to see some photos. I walk through the tourists each day as I go in and out of the front door.

In the beginning of April, 30 of us from IESE are heading to Japan for a two week trip which coincides with the blooming of the cherry blossoms. Its supposed to be fantastic. Afterwards I will meet with Chad in Germany for two days of the Spring Beer Fest then we'll come back to Barcelona for a few days before he departs and my mom arrives. She's leaving north America for the first time. I'm very excited to show her a bit of Spain and to have her see IESE during our graduation. Tessa is supposed to come also but hasn't yet booked a ticket.

A few words about London Business School vs IESE: LBS had fantastic professionals come to campus all the time giving presentations and recruiting. Their career services was more organized and helpful. Their classes were well structured and they had a good balance between academic professors and very experienced practitioner professors. Their entrepreneurship classes were excellent. However, the people were nowhere near as friendly as those at IESE and the relationships created were much less strong. Also, whereas IESE has a huge focus on academics, the feeling at LBS was that academics were secondary to finding a job. Each school is excellent in many areas and each offers a different value to potential students. If I had to make the choice between the two, I would still choose IESE but I absolutely wouldn't change my decision to go to LBS on exchange as the school was excellent and a great place to spend a term.

Foggy London Town?

2008-10-09T03:39:00.000-07:00

Its been two weeks since arriving in London for the exchange term at London Business School. During that time we started classes, I found a flat in a gorgeous part of town, bought a bike to ride 20 mins each way to school and started learning some proper English. For instance, over here mail is called post, pants are called trousers as pants refer to underpants, and sweaters are called jumpers. If you want to fire someone, you sack them. If you are laid off, you are made redundant. If something has taken a long time, its taken ages. If you have a lot of something, you have loads. When you have good luck or good things happen to you, you say, "happy days."

Above is a photo taken by Felix of our initial arrival to London Business School. LBS is an old school on beautiful grounds. The location is just across the street from Regent’s Park and the area is surrounded by mansions. They say LBS is more diverse than IESE with 60 backgrounds represented but I would argue that the classes are much less diverse. LBS has around 1,000 students in total whereas IESE has closer to 400 students with over 50 backgrounds. Many of the LBS students are British or American. Its also harder to meet people at LBS as people are not as friendly as IESE. The professors are excellent and the guest speakers far surpass what we get at IESE. CEOs of huge firms drop by regularly as their offices are located somewhere in London. Things are also much more organized in London as compared with Spain. Which is to be expected but I’ve also heard that many people who come to LBS from the States do not think things are very efficient. After arriving from Spain, I would argue that things are unbelievably efficient but maybe that also has to do with my ability to ask questions and understand answers here whereas in Spain I’m typically in a state of communication confusion.

Below is a photo of Felix and I standing on the great lawn in front of the school.
Because I only have class Monday-Wednesday, I spent about a week sleeping at my friend Nani’s place while looking for a great place to live. Thanks again Nani! The new flat is in a suburb-feeling area of town called Hampstead Heath. Close to everything but outside of the crazy and crowded city center, Hampstead Heath is filled with Yuppies, dogs, babies, bikes and nice shops and restaurants. There is also a huge natural area which my flat borders. The Heath, as its known, is what London looked like before it was developed. Similar to the Squaw Peak area in Phoenix, The Heath sits in the middle of this area and has ponds, old growth trees, grassy areas, views over the city, and trails for walking and biking. Below is a photo of some Londonites enjoying a sunny day in the grassy hill area of the Heath which overlooks the city.
I live with two Irish people, Padraic and Maurie who are in their 20s. They are both extremely nice and friendly. Almost every time we speak I ask them to explain the significance of words or things. For instance, last night Padraic came home with a steak pie. It looked like a regular pie but apparently it was filled with steak, gravy, and other items. He then explained that pies are a regular meal here. Half a pie is below.
The photo makes the pie look a lot less edible than it does in person. But before you go thinking that the Brits have disgusting eating habits, I would like to draw your attention to an amazing display of Americana: https://webmail.london.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_V-2NKUlzns You probably missed this event in the Olympics but I’m sure it will be right after the floor exercises in 2012.

Below are some photos of my flat.

The red brick building was built in the late 1800s or early 1900s and has a nice garden out front with roses, benches and trees. My room has a super comf bed and plenty of space for the 50 pounds of stuff the airline allowed me to bring.

The flat was redone recently and has a large kitchen which overlooks the front yard and is where I check my email and enjoy coffee and tea every day.
The living room has a couch bed, overlooks part of the Heath and doubles as a private room for any guests who might come to town. Hint hint.Our flat is located two floors above the book store you see below. The restaurant to the left has some fantastic indian food and behind the tree on the right is the cafe where I sometimes grab a coffee to go and a muffin.

Finally, below is a typical lane on the outside of the Heath. This gives you an idea of what the trees look like within the Heath but of course, there is also plenty of overgrowth everywhere.

Overall, the first two weeks here have been better than expected. There have been a few very cold days and its rained for part of three days but I've been told this is some of the best weather they've had in months. Mostly its been sunny but a little chilly. Would I live here? Not sure yet, if it was always like it is now, I would have no problem but the real test will be Nov & Dec when its freezing and rainy. Luckily I have already figured out how to cope with the loads of crap weather: I will simply wear my jumper, trousers and long pants, eat a meat pie, wash it down with afternoon tea and hope for the upcoming happy days.

3 days in Andorra

2008-09-14T02:00:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we returned from a big group trip to Andorra. There were 16 of us in total, 12 first year IESE students, 3 friends, and yours truly representing the second year. We rented a 16 bed chalet on the mountainside.

For those who don't know, Andorra is a tinny country squished between Spain and France. It has skiing in the winter, great hiking in the summer and is historically insignificant. We decided to use our four day holiday to drive the 3 hours up to Andorra and explore some of its surroundings.

Above you see the 16 of us who decided to hike for one of our days. There are 5 1/2 Americans, 5 Germans, 3 1/2 Indians, 1 Bulgarian and 1 Moroccan. There is also one Hungarian midget but he is hiding in the back. You will find out why very soon...

Our trek was to peak the highest moutain in Andorra. Not very high at just under 10,000 feet but if you consider we came from sea level in Barcelona to 6,000 feet elevation at the trail head and gained 4,000 feet in the 5 mile ascent to the peak, you realize, this was not an easy hike. In fact, the hike was so difficult, the midget didn't make it. Below you see Velio after finishing off the last of the midget. Lucky for him we came prepared with dental floss. Fact: Bulgarians love eating midgets. Its true, look it up on Wikipedia.

There were small lakes all over the mountain range. They are fed by the snow and rain that occur quite frequently in dem der hills. The day before our hike it was raining and lightning so we were quite lucky with the weather...or were we???
Party on the peak. Who brought the strobe light?

I guess no strobe light is needed when you have millions of pieces of hail coming down. In case you are wondering, this photo was taken with my new Canon 40D SLR camera using a Sigma 18-200mm lens. I bought the camera while in the states and couldn't be happier with the quality of the photos.

After enjoying the hail turned slush turned rain storm for about 2 hours of total awesomeness, the guys who finished the hike earlier (Zach, Gurveer, Steve, and Naresh) greeted us with cold beers. I mean, really, is there any better way to finish an 8 hour hike to the highest peak in the country after being pelted with hail, sleet and rain for hours??? Actually, yes there is, about an hour later we were all relaxing in the thermal pools located in the center of the city. Its not easy to be an MBA, but we do the best we can.

This final photo shows the hail/snow that was happening in the mountains while we were making our way down. This is the view from our chalet.

10 more days until I leave for London for the big exchange. Until then tengo mucho espanol. I also need to finish off a technical note on Social Entrepreneurship in Health Care that I'm doing for my internship.

BIB - Back In Barcelona

2008-09-10T03:31:00.000-07:00

After a wonderful summer, I am back in Barcelona studying Spanish. The first part of my internship in Kenya was an amazing experience. My time back in the states was relaxing and fun and now I am finishing up the second part of my internship while concurrently taking Spanish and preparing for my exchange program in London. I leave in two weeks.

I will fill in some more details about the last few months in a future post but for now, I will discuss some good news and some bads news. The bad news first, yesterday I had my first real accident on my moto. I was driving to school as calmly as I have ever driven. I entered a roundabout with cars all around me. I needed to get over to the right so I was looking in my mirror and for no reason whatsoever, the car in front of me stopped. I noticed too late and although I hit my brakes, that didn't prevent me from smashing into the back of their SUV with my poor little blue moto. The noise was terrible. I was convinced my whole front end was destroyed. My initial reaction was shock, followed by, "oh crap, now I'm going to get run over." But the little moto that could didn't even stall. The SUV started to move and I noticed a great big dent in their back bumper. I followed the person as they moved out of the rotunda. Now I thought about dealing with the police and insurance, tickets, all the other crap that happens after an accident. I continued following the SUV until we hit a stop light. I noticed they didn't really seem like they intended to pull over. After the light, we drove as normal and next thing I knew, the SUV was passing another car. My insurance worries drove off into the distance with a dented bumper and I made my way to IESE. The good news is that I just scratched my knees a bit and basically broke the front of my moto but apart from that, this accident has a happy ending (remind you of anyone?). Hopefully that will be my one and only accident story while in Barcelona.

Istanbul

2008-06-15T14:39:00.000-07:00

Some pics from the recent trip made to Istanbul with fellow completed first year Ewa. We were welcomed by an incoming first year named Ece (her name is pronounced like saying the letters "H" "A") who's generosity and hospitality were unbelievable. She picked us up at the airport and took care of us until she dropped us back at the airport. It was fantastic. I don't do that for my best friends and she did that for basically complete strangers. No wonder Turkey is supposed to have some of the best hospitality in the world. I mean how many places do store owners bring you tea while you're searching their wares? The trip was 5 days and our time was packed with things to do. The weather was very nice and aside from a bit of a drizzle one day, we had nice days.

The food was a huge highlight. I had no idea that Turkish food would be so good. It helped that Ece took us to great places but I was amazed at the quality and quantity of food. A normal meal consisted of cold appetizers, hot appetizers, several main dishes followed by desert. The best thing about it was even our most expensive meal cost less than an average meal in Spain. How much did we enjoy the food? Our average dinner was almost 3 hours. How can that be you ask? I'm happy to say that the scales were tipped by what is certainly my all time record for a dinner: 4 hours! No joke. We were really in a restaurant for 4 hours. Sure we were the last to leave and enjoyed a few drinks but believe me we were eating for a ridiculously large portion of the time. I suppose the view from our table helped. We dined while the sun set as you can see below.

What do Turks do for fun you may wonder? Well Turkey is a Muslim country. But in contrast to all the countries you associate with the Muslim religion, Turkey is modern and they separate religion from politics. Sure many of the people are religious but that doesn't mean they don't know how to have fun. This is where many people go in the evening and where we went after our 4 hour dinner; a Backgammon & hooka bar. For the record I was going to win the second game against Ewa. What happened during the first game was lost in a cloud of apple flavored tobacco smoke.
There are many landmarks that define a city. In most Islamic countries you will see Mosques everywhere. Just like there is a church every 5 inches in the states, Istanbul has Mosques. The difference is that many of the most spectacular Mosques in Istanbul were created during the Ottoman Empire from the 14th-17th century. During this time the Ottoman Empire encompassed not just Turkey but many of the surrounding countries. You may remember hearing the name Constantinople during your history classes, Istanbul used to be Constantinople. It was incredibly rich and powerful and as you can see they found no better way to spend their money than on creating spectacular Mosques.

Below you can see Hagia Sofia in the background. It may be hard to tell but the statue of liberty could fit inside. So could Notre Dame. The place is friggin huge. What's really cool about this mosque is that it was actually a church built in 532. It stayed a church until the Ottomans took over Constantinople in 1453 then was converted into a mosque. All the crosses, jesuses, marys, madonna's with child, etc. were painted over. In a Mosque's its not allowed to have depictions of people. However, it was converted to a museum in the 1930s and over the years the paint has faded and now some of the Christian symbols show through the paint and some of the mosaics of Jesus and others have been uncovered. Its the only mosque in the world where Christian and Muslim symbols and art is presented.

The photo above gives you an idea of how large this place is and the photo below shows the 20 story tower inside which they are using to make restorations.

Next on the agenda was the Blue Mosque. Why is it call the Blue Mosque you may wonder? Well because its blue and its a mosque. Actually its named for the "brightly colored tiles that line the interior" that's how Rick Steves describes it in his guide book and if you don't know Rick Steves yet, you don't know Jack! Throw away your piece of crap Lonely Planets and buy Rick Steves' guides for whichever countries they are available. You won't believe how good they are. Anyway enough ranting, here is the interior. Its mandatory that shoes are taken off and all women must cover their hair. Kind of how all men must take off hats in churches or all men must wear yamuka's in temple. Does anyone know how to spell yamuka?
If you can just look at the photo above for one more second you will notice that someone brought his own book of a higher power to the mosque. Assalamu 'Alaikum Rick.

Below is the rather borringly named New Mosque which sits in the perfect position to watch the Bosphorous flow by. The Bosphorous Straight cuts Istanbul in half which puts half in Europe and the other half in Asia.
Aside from 4 hour dinners, we took in some of the entertainment. The guys below have an amazing capacity to spin in circles without falling over. The Turkish band plays, these guys start spinning and some crazy trance takes hold. Seriously, your 5 year old would fall over 100 times trying to keep up with these guys. I forget their name so I will just bastardize their skill and significance by dubbing them, "the spinning fools."

With all the money and power you may wonder what an emperor does in his free time. Simple, he builds a ridiculously humongously gigantic palace. Named Tokapl Palace, Mehmet the Conquerer had this place built during the 1470s and a century later Suleyman the Magnificent made it his home and it remained the home of sultans for over 400 years. Below you see Jared the Fourhourdinneriffic wondering how to retrofit the Sultan's bedroom with a cactus garden. Shout out to AZ! And finally, what self respecting Sultan would build a palace without also erecting a vast living area for his "friends."

For a while I thought Istanbul didn't have that many people. I'm used to Barcelona where there are always a zillion people walking around for no apparent reason. Just to walk. I mean, can you imagine? Anyway, I told Ece that Istanbul didn't seem that populous and she couldn't believe I thought that way. The next day we walked between the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market and I realized that 10 million people actually did feel like 10 million people. Can you find Ewa in the photo below? I'll give you a hint, today she's 50% off. Seriously. Its a good deal my friend. Okay wait don't go, 60% off.

But unlike Barcelona where no one wants to talk to you...ever, the people in Istanbul spoke to us wherever we went. Almost always while they spoke there was a smile on their face and they were genuinley friendly. But what was most unexpected and wonderful was the fine man you see in the photo below. What makes this person so dang wonderful? Well take a close look, he's pouring delicious cherry juice for all the passers by. For reasons unknown the juice was free but even more surprising, it was made with 100% pure deliciousness.

I would love to continue this tour of Istanbul but I leave for Kenya in the morning. And by morning I mean the god forsaken hour of 5:30am. Really, no one should have to get up that early ever! When I am Sultan, no one will be allowed to wake up before 7:30. The punishment with be death or cherry juice to the Sultan. Am I not merciful?

Thanks to Ewa for being a great travel companion and to Ece for being a fantastic guide and a wonderful host. This was an awesome trip!

Done and Gone

2008-06-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

The first year of the MBA is over! I can't believe it. So trying, so demanding and so rewarding. Our last final was on Friday and a paper was due today. As of this morning the paper was sent from where I am staying in Istanbul which means I am free from the studies of the MBA until September. WoooooooooHooooooooooooo. Looking back, the time flew by amazingly fast. But to paraphrase one of my favorite bands, the weeks went fast but the days went so sloooooow.

Last week was a good week for a number of reasons. 1. Tessa and I were communicating very well and celebrated our 4 year anniversary. 2. Jeff, Tim and Jeff's sister were in town visiting. 3. Finished 1st year of MBA. 4. Tickets were booked to Kenya for my 3 1/2 week trip there for research/safari/trekking. 5. Left for Istanbul.

Which now puts me in Istanbul. I traveled here with a fellow survivor of the first year named Ewa from Poland. We're enjoying the hospitality of a really nice new first year named Ece. She has been showing us everything worth seeing in this city and has taken great care of us. Ewa and I have many questions about the Muslim religion/life and Ece has been extremely patient with us. At the same time, I have had a lot of explaining to do for American foreign policy.

Istanbul is a fantastic city. Straddling the Bosphorous River, it is partly in Europe and partly in Asia. Of course it is within Turkey which has a few neighbors known to get a little wild from time to time, namely, Syria, Iran and Iraq. Bulgaria and Greece are somewhat more tame.

Today we visited a church called Hagia Sofia which was a christian church from the 6th-14th century then converted to a mosque. The structure is immense and the dome is huge. The Statue of Liberty would fit inside with space to spare. This mosque is so interesting because its one of the only religious structures in the world to have so many christian and muslim symbols in the same place. Although very interesting, now it is more a museum rather than a place of worship which is what made our next destination so cool. We went to The Blue Mosque which is one of the finest designed and decorated mosques in the world. People still pray there but luckily tourists were allowed in. Everyone has to remove their shoes and then we just marvel at the structure, the design, the play of light, and the architectural elements.

Anyway, gotta cut this short. We're getting up early tomorrow to head to the Toptaki Palace and The Grand Bazaar. Its time to do some shopping.

Ups and downs

2008-05-27T04:35:00.000-07:00

So much can happen in such a short amount of time. In the last few weeks I enjoyed the chaos of Marrakech, the history of Portugal, and the warmth of north east Spain on the Costa Brava. My friends Jeff, Tim and Jeff´s sister Aimee are visiting right now for a week and my friend Kristin just left after spending two weeks in Spain. My summer plans have become more solid as I locked up an internship where I will research and write about social entrepreneurship. And with only two weeks left of school, I´m looking forward to take a break from this full-time job that is the MBA to spend more time enjoying life and working.

Despite professional, academic and world travel progress, my relationship with Tessa has rapidly diminished. Our ability to talk is hindered by a 9 hour time difference which means I can only speak with her at 8am, 9pm or 2am. And during these times, one of us is either heading to bed or on a lunch/dinner break which means many days we do not talk. The lack of communication is causing an expanding rift and I´m not sure what where things will go. I feel very sad about what is happening and the way it is happening but I am hopeful that everything will work out.

Although my thoughts are clouded with relationship concerns, I am looking forward to my 5 day trip to Istanbul in June, the three week stint in Kenya for the internship and the exchange to London Business School in September. I´ll try to post some pictures of recent adventures as they are starting to mount up.

Where to next?

2008-05-08T13:07:00.000-07:00

Whereas the vast majority of IESE students are on their way to France right now for the MBA Olympics I am about to leave for Marrakech in Morocco with 12 others who have decided for a cultural experience rather than competing against a bunch of other MBA programs to see which school has the best soccer, rugby, table tennis, chess players, etc.

We will spend four days down there and as its my first trip to Africa, I am very excited to see how the Muslim world compares. It should prove to be very different from Spain and a huge contrast to Amsterdam where I was for the 3 day weekend that just passed.

Amsterdam was a gorgeous city. I went with my classmate Charles who is/was an architect and his wife Laura who is also an architect. Did we look at architecture you may wonder? Why yes we did and it was great to hear about buildings from experts. Maybe you know this already but the modern architecture in the Netherlands is some of the most advanced in the world. Its amazing what they have been building there.

Just noticed I have to head for my plane. To be continued...after Morocco.

Last weekend was a

Internship Crushed

2008-04-29T14:47:00.000-07:00

Today I almost crushed a pedestrian on the way to my 2nd interview for an internship at a start-up company. I screeeeeeched to a halt about 12 inches (what's that in cm?) from stupid's back leg. He didn't even notice he had just walked in front of oncoming traffic until my horn notified him of the fact. Ah well, better me on a moto than a bus driver with one of those crazy accordion double buses which would have never exhibited anything close to my cat like reflexes. Although stupid was lucky, I did have to breath a sign of relief as the idea of wiping dead stupid skin off my beautiful blue moto just doesn't appeal to me.

On to the 2nd interview. This was basically a follow up to a position that was mine for the taking. But this was the negotiation interview. You may know that most start-ups don't have two euros to rub together, well this one is no different. The negotiation went something like this:

Me: Is it possible you can pay me more than I earned when I was 18?
Them: Nope.
Me: Would you like fries with that?

And that's about the gist of the meeting. The company has a good plan and nice management and certainly has the ability to turn a revenue in the near future. On the flip side, its a start-up that pays way below the average internship and doesn't offer any equity. I wish money wasn't an issue but with 19 months between real jobs and a currency that's dropped over 20% since I've been here, the internship is the only opportunity to make anything while doing the MBA and not a good time to work for peanuts. Besides, new opportunities are coming through every day and there are some very interesting internships that don't include slaving away for a soulless Investment Bank or living out of a hotel at one of the Consulting companies.

The search continues....

In the meantime, tomorrow is the 2nd day of mid-terms. I should be studying Operations but instead I've been working on my LinkedIn profile and reading through the Vault Guide to Venture Capital. I also downloaded the digital book reader from Adobe along with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn just to see how the program worked. The software is getting pretty good, I think the digital book is going to be huge in the next few years.

This weekend, I'm off to Amsterdam with Charles and his wife Laura for a 4 day trip. That makes the 5th country visited since coming to IESE. However, now that I'm heading the Adventure and Travel club along with one other student, its time to kick the trips up a notch, in the next 6 weeks, I will head to Morocco, Portugal and possibly Istanbul. Photos will follow.

Which do you prefer...Buda or Pest?

2008-04-27T08:13:00.001-07:00

I prefer Pest. A few weeks after our trip there I'm finally adding a bit of info about our great trip to Budapest, Hungary. Tessa and I went with two second year students; Nani and Eric. Eric is (was) at IESE on exchange from MIT and Nani is a good friend of Tessa's and a hellofa fanatic about Turkish Baths. Budapest is the capital of Hungary and was my first trip into Eastern Europe. Its different from Western Europe, not as commercial or touristy. Although we did go a little outside of the normal tourist season.Historically this was made up of two cities; Buda and Pest. They were split by a river that runs between them. There are several bridges that span the river including the Chain Bridge.Statue on the Pest side with his back to the castle on Buda hill.Chain Bridge

We stayed right in the center of the Pest side and could easily walk everywhere. These building s were across the street from where we stayed and give a good idea of how cool the architecture is when its taken care of. Quite a few buildings are simply allowed to fade and instead of the vibrant colors you see here, they are gray or dark. The main market in Budapest offered many of the most well known Hungarian food at a discount to the prices offered elsewhere. Here you see Nani enjoying a regular sausage whereas I couldn't help but like spicy horse sausage. I didn't want to like it and I never thought I would say this but holy cow, that was some good horse.The public thermal bath we went to was a bit too public for our tastes. Nani could hardly stand the place although she did enjoy the scenery (you'll see what I mean in a second). I think we'll remember those thermal baths long after the taste of sausage has washed away from our memories.
I admit that from afar, this looks like a beautiful way to spend your afternoon. But take a look at the person you're sharing your bath with and then tell me how long you're going to stick around? Although the majority of Hungarian's were fit, I think the baths were a stomping ground for the big and bigger. Easily the most fat people I've seen since leaving the states , however, still less fat than in the states.Bringing Sexy Back?
Here you see Eric blurring the distinction between big and HUGE.

The architecture was fantastic! So many refurbished extraordinary building set among old and crumbling buildings. Its not unusual to see the two buildings below on the same street. Although the green building is one of the coolest we saw in the city.Budapest also has the 2nd largest Synagogue in the world after the one in New York. The design was very similar to a church but of course all the religious symbols are different. The plight of Hungarian Jews during WWII is still very much remembered today. Out of every 10 Jews killed during the holocaust, 1 was Hungarian. One out of every 3 Jews killed in Auschwitz was Hungarian. Eric has family in Budapest and they took great care of us. One of the members of his family is an Auschwitz survivor. It was very interesting to hear about her trip back to Auschwitz with her entire family and how her parents didn't make it but she was able to survive and travel back to the place with all her offspring. This synagogue is also interesting because it is the only one in the world that has a cemetery on the premises. This was because the ghetto was right next to this Synagogue and the Jews didn't have much of a choice.Budapest was a great deal in comparison to anywhere in Western Europe. The hotels are a much better bargain and the food was half the price or less. The people were extremely nice but the overall temperament was a bit depressed. Kind of like when its raining so some external factor isn't allowing you to enjoy your day as much as you otherwise would. But as tourists we enjoyed every day and found the city to be enchanting and exciting.

Preparing to eat the best goulash ever! For 4 people, 3 appetizers, 4 main courses, 3 desserts and two bottles of wine we paid $60.Thanks to Eric for introducing us to his great Hungarian family and also for making sure that Nani washed everything that needed to be washed and thanks to Nani for making sure that Eric only ordered beers he could actually drink. hehehe. Great trip!

Home Stretch

2008-04-11T03:14:00.000-07:00

A lot is happening this week. Tessa is heading back to Arizona on Monday :(. We returned from a fantastic cultural experience in Budapest, Hungary last Monday. The second years are finishing school and will all be gone next week. Also, I received the results from the MBA exchange bidding and luckily I snagged a spot to LBS. I will be in London from mid/late Sept through beginning of December. Also, this is the week I take over the Adventure Club at IESE. I am already starting to get trips on the schedule.

Everyone asks if Tessa is leaving because of relationship problems but that is not the case at all. Several factors went into her decision: She has a great business opportunity at home and will start a catering company with her friend, the costs of living here have increased by 20% since we've arrived (because of the falling dollar) which means that the budget we had was really effected, the opportunities for an American to work here are limited to babysitting, teaching English, and giving tours. Not exactly the best options. This has been a very difficult and emotional decision and we hope that it will offer Tessa the opportunity to gain experience in her field and make her life less dependent what is going on with me and school. We are having a going away party tonight.

The third term of school is going pretty well. Classes are much less intense this term which is good because 40-50% of us still need to lock down summer internships and need to spend time applying. The weather is finally turning into what we expected when we moved here; sunny and clear. I thought it was always like that in Barcelona but it turns out that th winter is quite chilly and Spring and Fall offer many rainy/cold days. The nice weather means we can finally begin doing outdoor trips and head to the climbing area in town at Montjuic. I've only climbed three times since moving here which is way below expectations.

I expect to have some time next week to upload some of the pictures from our last couple trips and elaborate a bit more about Budapest and the fantastic time we had there.

Ooh La La

2008-03-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

This is the last night of our 7 night Paris trip. My sister and her friend Deni left yesterday morning and took all of Paris' consumer goods with them. What they do isn't even called shopping, its called buying. "Hey, what are you guys doing today?" I ask. "Well, we're looking high and low to see what's left and then we're going to buy it." "Really, how do you know you want it if you haven't seen it yet?" "Don't be stupid Jared, we don't want it, we need it and we're going to have it." In related news, the Eiffel Tower is being moved piece by piece to the marshy outlying area of Tampa, Florida. Get yourself a nice steak while you watch it twinkle.

While not shopping the girls were on one of my self-imposed itineraries from hell. I believe we walked over 200 miles in just under 20 minutes. We went to the soon to be relocated Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Champs Elysees, Musee D'Orsay, Napolean's Tomb (closed), The Catacombs (closed), The deportation memorial (closed), The Arc de Triomphe, Touleries Garden, The Rue Cler area, Versailles, the Latin Quarter and all along the Seine River in only four days. After they left, Tessa and I went to the Rodin Museum, back to the deportation memorial (closed again), through the Jewish quarter, up and down the Rue Cler, over to Montmartre and down through the sex district, stopping off to take pictures of the Moulin Rouge, the Erotic Art Museum, the last vineyard in Paris and all the old haunts of Renoir and Picasso.

Today is the first time we basically just walked around with 'no particular place to go'. Unlike the rest of the trip which switched between luke warm and cold, today was fareeezzzzing cold and windy. Even so, there were still a zillion people enjoying a nice walk around town. With so much to see, you can't blame them.

We are staying in a great flat in a fantastic area of town. Less than 10 minutes walking to Notre Dame. I found the flat on Parisattitude.com and although they force you to wire your payment for the flat to the owner's bank account, its totally worth it. We can walk to absolutely everywhere from our flat #2191. The place is two stories, two bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen, a living and dining room, washer/dryer, and great big windows. Its a bit kooky as the upstairs is really meant for those 5'6" or less, so I duck as I walk through. But no pasa nada as the downstairs offers soaring ceilings and room to roam.

A somewhat funny observation is that after living in Barcelona for 8 months, I actually consider the French here to be very friendly. Maybe its just relative but every store we walk into, they say, "bonjour" (good day) and they always say thank you and good bye also. The city is remarkably clean and even though the guide book warns us repeatedly about pickpockets, the seedy element is not very strong at all.

The food has been very yum. These French know how to eat. Although if you ask the American stomachs, they would probably disagree. The bread is just fantastic and the cheese can't be beat. Seriously, with over two hundred choices of cheese at the neighborhood market, can you really go wrong? I think not. We did have a few so-so meals but that's what happens when you're trying to please everyone.

Ever since my first international trip to Paris way back in 2000, I've been dying to have a comparable quality French Onion soup. The first attempt was a terrible $15 failure washed down with a $9 cappuchino which was also a failure. But redemption came in the form of a $12 bowl filled with cheese, onions, bread and love. Its worth making the trip just for the soup.

Other observations; Tessa hates museums of every sort so if you take her to one, even if she says she wants to go, she really doesn't and will remind you of her desire to be absolutely anywhere else in the world in every room. Tessa's comment about the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, "I'm not impressed, can we go outside?". Rachel is always cold and upholds the Friedman female family tradition of talking like there's no tomorrow. Deni can't find a decent bite to eat in all of France and I follow THE BOOK (Rick Steve's Paris 2008-absolutely awesome) like its the holy grail. I also drag everyone to see everything that may be even minutely interesting then read to whoever will listen. But even with all that being said, I think all would agree, this was a fantastic trip!!!

Next up, Budapest in two weeks. Tessa and I are traveling with some IESE classmates, Eric (on exchange from MIT) and Nani (a second year at IESE who is graduating in May). Eric has family in Budapest and has promised us some home cooked Goulash. As long as its not just like mom used to make, I can't wait.

2nd term almost over

2008-03-11T02:43:00.000-07:00

The second trimester is almost over and I will shed no tears. While enjoying the time here, I'm looking forward to choosing my own classes in the 2nd year. The education really has been incredible and the perspectives among all the international students has been better than I expected. I still have no summer internship which we are pushed to secure from the time we arrive so things are basically up in the air for the summer.

My sister and her friend came to visit Tessa and I this week and on Saturday we are all heading to Paris. Next week is Easter/Spring break which means a 10 day vacation between 2nd and 3rd term.

Today I sent them to the tourist area of Las Ramblas, the Barrio Gotico and to one of the best markets in the world; La Boqeria. They are also heading to Parc Guell, one of Gaudi's most accessible creations and probably the most whimsical park anywhere.

Future travel plans include Amsterdam at the end of April, Portugal in May and most likely Morocco as well. Tessa will probably miss out on these events as she is planning to move back to the states to start a catering business with her friend. Currently she is attending language school at Esade and improving her Spanish daily. Last week she ran and completed the Barcelona marathon in 4'35. Amazing considering her training consisted of going to the gym no more than three times a week for about an hour each time.

Time to read a case for my next class. I'll try to post some pictures one of these days.

Making new friends

2008-01-20T14:15:00.001-08:00

I wish every day was as nice as yesterday. We had great weather and blue skies. I went to the beach, caught some sun whilst reading cases for class, then went to the Picasso museum where the his many years in Barcelona are on disply. The progression of his artistic abilities is very interesting and inspiring. After the museum, I walked the area named El Born. I stopped in to one of the best Gothic churces in the world, Santa Maria Del Mar. Then found something I'd been searching for since we arrived, a coffee shop offering beans from around the world. Until now, I've only found beans at Starbucks and the one type available at the grocery store. I purchased some nice Kenyan coffee beans then made my way to an unexpected surprise. I encountered two very friendly chaps, merry, smiling and having an altogether great time. I think they liked me as I was offered a smoke. Take a look.

Yes, those are real. And yes, they are smoking a cigarette. But don't worry, I don't think we have to worry about lung cancer.

In a related story, Apple has released a new product in Spain only as these Spaniards are just crazy for the taste of .... well I won't ruin the surprise. http://mail.iese.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://ijam.es/ Follow the link and click down below where it says: "Hacer la visita guiada." Operators are standing by.

Other updates: Tessa is still in AZ/CA and I am still missing her. Also, my sister is coming to visit with her friend in March. We're going to spend a week here then 5 days in Paris. Ooh la la.

New Year, New Semester

2008-01-14T09:18:00.000-08:00

Tessa and I returned from our 15 day trip to Italy last week although it feels like much longer than that. Did I really just have a 3 week break? Now that I've finished my first couple days of 2nd semester, it doesn't feel like it. Tess went to AZ last week and will be there thru the end of Jan, that means its a one man party here in BCN. Actually, its now a two man party. I took on a very nice Dutch roommate named Victor. He's a 2nd year student and only needs a place for 4 months until he graduates. He was in the same situation as the other students who went on exchange, they come back to the last semester and have to find living quarters for a very short term. He was a tax lawyer before school, not sure exactly what he'll do next. Originally, Tessa and I didn't want a roommate but as the dollar has decreased in value by nearly 15% since we've arrived, what used to be an expensive place to live became a ridiculously expensive place to live. And you know how I feel about getting ridiculous.The big trip to Italy was beautiful, fun, cold and pricy. It was surprising that even a low end place to stay was $90/night. However, the unbelievable pizza and calzones every 5 feet made up for the living quarters. We went to many of the highlights while we were there; Florence, Lucca, Siena, the Cinque Terra, Pisa, Tuscany, Assisi, Rome, Vatican City the Amalfi Coast and Pompei.View of the bridges of Florence from inside the Ufitzi Gallery.

View from the tower next to the Duomo in Florence.Tessa emitting fireworks out of her back on New Years EveUnlike Down AKA Kilo, we don't lean like cholos...we lean like Pisa's. If you don't know Down AKA Kilo, you are missing out of something...special. Elbows up!

Amalfi Coast. Not your typical Christmas.

Our favorite town was Florence, the best sight was the Sistene Chapel, the best view was in Ravello and our best meal was in Lucca...potato gnocci, YUM! The most beautiful countryside was Tuscanny, it was everything you'd expect. The Vatican was the church to end all churches, now I know where all the money goes. The best statue was David in Florence which only slightly beats out his La Pieta at The Vatican. The most picturesque village was Positano. The most beautiful gardens were in Ravello.Outside the Coliseum in Rome. The only time to get a shot without billions of tourists is at night.

The crumbling remains of what was the center of Rome.

Ravello. What a view!
Positano. Little town...Big New Years Party.

The biggest dump was Naples, what a hellhole! Trash was everywhere and the traffic was insane. The most touristy was Pisa, 5 million guys trying to sell you belts or leaning shot glasses. The biggest rip off was either the $27 we paid to park while at Pompei or the hotel with the "garden view" of concrete and construction workers. Actually, the airline that sold us return tickets then went out of business without returning the money was also a big ripoff.The trash lined streets of Naples.

The people in Italy were extremely welcoming and friendly. We had no problem getting around even though we had a rental car and drove everywhere. The hardest part about driving was not the roads or the other drivers, both were fine, it was the signs. Holy crap do they do a terrible job with signs. They have twice as many as they need in 1/4 of the proper locations. Does it really help to get a sign for a turnoff at the bend of the turnoff you are passing? No, I don't think so.
Last day in Italy at Pompeii. Mt. Vesuvius is in the background.

I'll load pics soon as I am heading to the gym. This semester I am going to get in shape. New Years resolutions #1.

En ten days

2007-12-10T13:30:00.000-08:00

To both of my fans, sorry that I suck so bad at blogging. Now you know how my mom feels about phone calls. In fact, now you know how everyone I know feels about phone calls. But I guess you already knew this about me didn't you?

Tess and I just returned from a beautimus four day weekend road trip. We spent two nights in Paradores and two nights in a little town on the coast named Llefranc. A Parador is basically a hotel that is run by the Spanish government and is located in a former home of a noble, a palace, a castle or some other extremely huge and cool building. Typically, they are located in the middle of nowhere so as not to compete against local businesses and instead bring business into the rural parts of the country. In the pic below, the parador is the big building near the end of the bluff. We began the trip north of Barcelona in the Pyrenees, then made our way to the northeast corner of Spain to the coast called The Costa Brava. We then went south down the craggy, rocky coast as it twisted and turned and revealed small beaches all over the place. We stayed in a cute little town named Llefranc and spent two days relaxing, hiking and sleeping. Luckily I was able to break up the peaceful atmosphere by slamming my thumb in the door to the hotel. OWWWWWWCH!

The nice thing about the Costa Brava in December is that no one is around. This town typically has 15 hotels open during the summer months and the beach is packed. While we were there only two spots were open and one cost over $300/night. Guess where we didn't stay? However, the restaurants were packed during the normal Spanish hours. Want to know a big difference between Spain and everywhere else? Eating habits. We tried to go to lunch at 2pm but the place was packed, we returned at 4pm, still packed. We waited until a table finally opened up and as everyone knows, we ordered a bottle of wine. Why? Because everyone else in the entire place was drinking wine. But lunch is nothing compared to dinner, the day before we were starving at 7pm, sorry, nothing open yet. 8pm things are open but no self respecting Spaniard would possibly eat so early. We waited until 8:30 to be on the safe side, the crooked looks we received from the wait staff told us everything we needed to know. We were the first in the restaurant, two 80 year old women arrived after us. Embarrassing? Yes, but they were some spry grandma's let me tell you. Luckily for us we were early because the waitress told us we could have a table but we would have to leave by 10pm as the place was booked. Of course we didn't believe it, in this tinny little town, how could the restaurant be booked so late? Guess who was heading out of a jam packed restaurant at 10pm? People were showing up with their babies in strollers like it was 5pm. We left the Grandma's behind to enjoy the beginning of what would apparently be a long night and walked around the little town. No pasa nada...
Now more about the road trip...We were envied by all as we flew past in probably the coolest pimpmobile you've ever seen. In fact, there were so many girls drooling over our wheels, we had to stack them in the back. Pimping ain't easy, son. Did you hear that? VROOOOOOOOOOOOOMsmart!

Believe it or not, we fit inside this baby with two rolling bags you would take on a plane, a back pack, a cooler, a few bags of food, water and 47 drooling girls. Not bad, eh? Once inside it feels no different from a big car except that there is no back seat. The smart was quick and the gas mileage fantastic.

Now I'm finishing my last regular week of the first semester. Finals are next week then Tess and I are going to the Christmas Ball at IESE then we're off to Italy for Xmas and New Years. 17 days in total for the trip. I expect to eat 300 pizzas. That's all for now, sorry for the crappy writing.

Another weekend

2007-11-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

The days blow by so fast. Last week Tessa's mom Jody returned home after staying with us for 3 weeks. The trip was a great success! Of course it was sad to see her go but now she can start planning her next trip.

The mid-term results are back and I'm not crying. I guess that means I did okay. Glad to get those out of the way.

This week we need to send in our cover letters and resumes to all the companies that come to campus to recruit in January. We need to be clear now where we want to go for our internship next summer which seems a bit crazy because we've only finished half a semester. But that's the process so if we want to get a job at any investment bank, top consulting company or major company in industry that's the way it works.

One of the great things about this school is that because of its reputation all the biggest companies recruit here; Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Google, GE, McKinsey, Bain, BP...It opens doors that are closed to all but a handful of schools. Meanwhile I find myself in the position of wondering if its worth the time to prepare for an interview with a company that I would have had to kill somebody 6 months ago just so their HR person would spit on me. A good position to be in no doubt.

Tessa is as wonderful as ever. She misses her family and the adjustment to living so far away is proving to be a challenge. But she really likes Barcelona and she's doing a good job putting up with all my school activities. She's playing on the Rugby and Futbol teams. She also continues her Spanish studies which have been a big let down. But now that we know how things work around here, she'll get into the best language school in town after her semester is over and then we'll see rapid improvement in her fluency.

Here are some pictures of where we went last weekend, Valencia. We went by train and enjoyed every second of riding in first class (thanks again Jody) and watching the countryside go by. Valencia is one of the largest cities in Spain but actually not all that large. They have some fantastic new architecture including an extrememly modern aquarium. Take a look.

Two a day

2007-11-07T06:52:00.001-08:00

I just finally read the comments left by some of my loyal readers. I actually never saw these before so I am sorry if you felt that I was ignoring your comments on purpose. In fact, I was ignoring out of sheer ignorance. Which as we know is much different and easier to forgive.

Yes, midterms are here. I have one tomorrow and one on Friday. Decision Analysis where we have to decide what to do given that one decision has a 50% probability of occuring, one has a 20% chance of occuring and one has a 30% chance of occuring. Given that these probabilities correlate with gaining $1mil, gaining $2mil or losing $3m, what would you choose? This class is supposed to help us take emotion out of our decisions and base them rather on rational thought. A novel concept, but if you're like me and Mr George W. you also like "going with your gut."

One of the interesting concepts to come from this class is that people were given a test and with each answer they gave they had to put a % certainty that they were correct. For instance, if the question was, "What year was Einstein born?" And you are given two answers, you would choose one of the answers and put that you are 50%, 60%, 70%....100% sure. What do the results show? That when people say they are 100% certain, where there is absolutely no chance of being incorrect, they are actually only right 89% of the time. Even more drastic, when people are 90% sure, they are correct only 67% of the time. This shows that people are overconfident about what they know and that even those who seem to be certain are still suspect. Interesting, no?

The other midterm will cover the most dreaded and downright godawful subject known to business, accounting. I wonder if my classic equation will get me any points on the exam; Accouting = Sucks. I think I will put this at the bottom of the balance sheet and see if my professor (who literally wrote the book) will be amused. I think he will debit my accrued hatred of accounting and credit my grade expense. A little accounting humor....can you hate it?

Here are some pics for your amusement.

Look kids, Big Ben.

Top of 2nd highest peak in Catalonia with the adventure club.
The HAWG!

Mid-terms are here!

2007-11-06T23:39:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged in a while now. Why? Because I suck at life. Actually I'm just really good at prioritizing which means the week is spent on school, school, school. All day long. And the weekends...the focus has been on having fun. We went hiking in the Pyrennes a few weeks ago. London about a month ago. One weekend was spent working on a paper for school. Jody is in town visiting so we spent last weekend going to all the cool places around town.

A few days ago I booked the holiday trip Tessa and I will take to Italy. The plan is to fly into Florence, travel in Tuscany including Siena and Pisa, then to walk the Cinque Terre. South to Rome, further on to Naples where we will eat about 5 million pizzas. Finishing up on the Amalfi coast with a quick aside to Capri. Sounds fun, right. Life is good. The dollar keeps dropping which means each day my money is worth less. Tess and I are getting along well and eating plenty of cheese and bread. The essentials for happiness!

A real day?

2007-10-03T22:38:00.000-07:00

After a few days in class, its time to reflect on how things are going. I wake up at 7am, leave by 7:45, drive my moto like a madman to arrive at school at 8:10, then its into the computer lab to print the results of my cases, a quick stop in the bathroom to gel my hair and I make the morning meeting by 8:15. Mas or menos 5 minutes. The group meeting is every morning from 8:15-9:15. This is where we discuss our three cases for 20 minutes each so we understand what's going on and don't need to ask stupid questions in class. 9:30 is the first class, it lets out at 10:45, the second class is 11-12:15, lunch is from 12:15-2pm, this is when you can work on a case or study, the third class is 2-3:15 and Spanish is from 3:30-5pm. Every evening we need to go home and prepare at least 1 case but this week the average has been two. Soon it will be three a night. You may ask yourself, what is a case and why do I care. To answer the first part last, you don't care and you shouldn't. I have to care, so I do. A case is simply a write up of a business situation where there is a problem and its up to us to figure out the problem and how to fix it. Some cases are very vague and we spend time figuring out what's happening and other cases give us tons of numbers to crunch. Each case is expected to take 1-3 hours to prepare thoroughly. Yesterday at lunch I asked a few classmates if they thought classes/professors were what they expected. Everyone said no. I admit that classes do not seem very structured but that is part of the case method. Its just like with a business, a million things are happening and you need to figure out what is important and why. You have to learn to cut through all the crap. At 5pm I usually head straight off campus, hop on the moto and arrive home around 5:30. That gives me enough time to check emails, make a call or two, spend time with Tessa, and do homework. I already learned that sleep is the most important thing so I'm trying to get 6-7 hours a night. I think this is way above the average.

The beginning

2007-09-30T22:13:00.000-07:00

Today is the first official day of school. Thus we arrive at 8:15 to meet with an assigned group of 8 people, attend classes from 9:30 - 3:00, then Spanish from 3:30 until 5pm and then we're done. Each night we complete a case analysis for all three classes and work on our Spanish. I met with the group last week. I think I am a lucky guy, the other members are very interesting and I think we will work together very well. There is a Canadian, Brazilian, Chilean, German, American, Indian, Spaniard, and a Polish girl. Can you determine who is who? All come from great backgrounds and have a unique perspective to add as we discuss our cases.

Last week we had our intro courses along with a lot of information about our personality types and we spent a vast amount of time thinking about our career paths and working on our CVs (Europeans call a resume a CV - basically they're the same thing).

I bought a moto two weeks ago and it has been running very well. Its a Honda Lead 100. Look up the reviews if you'd like. Its not super fancy but it is cool, quick, and agile allowing me to weave in and around just about everything on the road. On a given day, I break at least 500 American traffic laws. That translates into bending about 3 Spanish traffic laws. Apparently moto drivers can do just about whatever they want so long as we just keep moving forward. Too bad life doesn't work the same way.

More info on my personality test later, I was shocked at the accuracy. Tessa thought she might have written the same thing. But now time to prepare for classes.

By the way, we did go to Oktoberfest only 10 days ago. It was quite simply the largest drunkfest ever. Wow wow wow, did we have fun. It was all about beer, singing, pretzels, and fun.

Spanish Beginning

2007-09-02T10:16:00.000-07:00

Yes Ikea finally arrived and delivered our goods but only after they forced us to pay for a redelivery! Those rotten bastards said we had missed the delivery and that if we didn't want to pay, they would just take the items back to Ikea and we could go pick everything up. I told the person, "thanks for nothing." She said, "you're welcome." I signed the form "Go2Hell". As if they need me to tell them where they're going. Now everything is assembled and looking good.

During our long wait for IKEA, Tessa and I painted the front of our building, it looks so much better now.

We did some other shopping and purchased a nice tv and home stereo. We rented a scooter for a month to make sure we want to make the purchase. After 10 days of riding the HOG I don't know why anyone would choose not to have so much fun everyday.

Intensive Spanish classes began on Friday. We took 8 hours of classes. Saturday was a half day. Tomorrow begins a full week of spanish. I'm in class with 7 others that tested at my level. Which level is that you may wonder? The level just above absolute beginner. Glad to see three years of high school Spanish paid off. Tessa also begins classes tomorrow. She is in the beginner classes and will easily be fluent way before me.

I'm currently fighting the cold Tessa had last week. Its making me tired and a whole lot less fun than normal. I hope to get over it soon as I need to speak all week and the sore throat makes that difficult. I'm taking lots of naps and drinking way too much water. I feel like I go to the bathroom every 5 minutes. Tessa is taking great care of me though. She's been making some wonderful teas and the meals have been unbelievable lately. She's also forcing me to take vitamins and other medicines which isn't easy because I'm very stubborn about that sort of thing. If you get sick, hopefully you're lucky enough to have someone like Tessa around to nurse you back to good health.

We have two roommates in our flat right now. We took on a few of my classmates just to make a little extra money while they are searching for a place to live. Miguel is from Lisbon, Portugal and Rai is from Tokyo, Japan. They are both very nice guys. I think Miguel is moving out on Monday and Rai on Wednesday. We are looking forward to having the place all to ourselves again. Even good roommates are still roommates. As a single person it would be fine but for a couple, its no good sharing a place.

Tess and I are doing well, we miss our friends at home and every baby we see reminds us of all the cute babies at home. Thank goodness for Skype.

If you haven't seen this clip of Miss Teen South Carolina yet, prepare to be shocked:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

The place is here, the time is manana

2007-08-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

Plenty of time on our hands. Do you have to ask why? Waiting for the blue devil’s posse.

After spending part of the morning prepping the exterior of our building to paint, we combed through some youtube highlights to bring you these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsNFxOOnjgw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nojWJ6-XmeQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP3qL4UG1TI

The joke is on us, no IKEA today but don’t worry because tomorrow they’ll be here between 10-2. Just go ahead and wait around.

We watched the roast of Flavor Flav last night, if you haven’t seen it yet then its probably because you’re a little pimp in a thimble. I hope you enjoying beating all your bitches with a daffodil stem.

We also watched The Simpsons Movie. I would write about the parts I like but we’re too busy playing with our Spider Pig.

Who doesn't love a party?

2007-08-15T09:23:00.000-07:00

And the Buddha said, "You are patience personified."

The IKEA saga continues. After finally reaching the devil's lair via telephone, my pathetic attempt at Spanish coupled with Satan's helper's valiant attempt at English resulted in massive strides forward for the delivery of our kitchen table.

After hearing that we missed the delivery and explaining how that couldn't happen because we waited for it ALL DAY LONG, I asked when the items could be redelivered. After confering with Lucifer, the helper responded, "un otro dia" (some other day). I said, "manana". She said "no es posible, manana fiesta" (its not possible, tomorrow fiesta).

And the Buddha laughed.

And so did I. Of course no deliveries can occur on a Wednesday because anyone with a brain realizes that Wednesday is a party. Thanks anyway stupid. See you on Thursday.

And the Buddha rubbed his belly and said, "What's to eat up in this bitch?"

And we said, "enchiladas."

And the Buddha said, "hook a brother up."

And we said, "chill Buddha, we'll start getting things ready."

If you haven't watched it yet, check out this youtube clip of Stephen Colbert roasting George Bush last year.
Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa-4E8ZDj9s&mode=related&search=

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOYZF3It848&mode=related&search=

Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAvFM4TYQKU&mode=related&search=

And if you want to see brilliance in comedy, check out Colbert on the show of his arch nemesis, Bill O'Reilly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJvY_RftA4I&mode=related&search=

Hell has been renamed

2007-08-14T07:16:00.000-07:00

What karmic holocaust have I perpetrated to deserve this? Was it the great bee mud wars of 1986 where all bees were systematically destroyed through crushing mud balls? Was it the wronging of those friendly and likeable "butt brothers" whose video games seemed to constantly disappear? Or was it the period of despair between Jr. High & High School that force me to admit that whatever happens to me is "well deserved?"

There are two great stampede's in Spain. One is well publicized, occurs every year in July and for an unlucky few, includes being trampeled or gorged. The other happens in a giant blue building, a happy fascade, a mazelike interior and has crushed more than one couple. Pamplona has nothing on Big Blue. Why so blue you ask, ever seen a really hot flame? Hell looks at IKEA and grins at its genius. After our first IKEA experience, I vowed never to return. In my book never means 6 days. Thus it was that yesterday Tessa and I, desperate but hopeful returned to face the masses of hell-spawn. They are not of this world. We went in with smiles, we left with tears. Mission partially accomplished. Purchases made, price paid, souls gone. Delivery time is today between 10-2. No problem we'll be here. But wait, its 5:30pm, the devil's delivery service sure takes its sweet ass time now that its got our souls. Hurry up you bastards (imagine shaking fist) hurry up!

Damn you devil, damn you straght to...um...IKEA!

Cats & Dogs

2007-08-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

Its 11pm in Barcelona, the rain is dropping like my pants to relieve myself after enjoying an evening of revelry at Oktoberfest which by the way we booked our tickets to today and will witness in person the 21st through 24th of Sept ought 7. Terrible writing structure and style you say??? Who are you anyway? Leave a comment, otherwise I feel as though I am writing for myself and my self is not too concerned about grammar at this stage in the game. I'll just keep listening to the crooning of Van and Astral Weeks while watching the darkness flash to light amid millions of drops of the wet stuff. Our friend Magnum wishes you a good eve.

If you have the time, perhaps you can pass some of it while playing the simple yet excruciatingly intoxicating game at the site below. I have not beat 26 seconds but expect to soon.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~pontipak/redsquare.html

The story behind the game is:

The object of the game is to move the red block around without getting hit by the blue blocks or touching the black walls. If you can go longer than 18 seconds you are phenomenal. It's been said that the US Air Force uses this for fighter pilots. They are expected to go for at least 2 minutes.

I don't believe for a second an Air Force pilot can go for 2 minutes but hey I'm just a guy heading to Oktoberfest, what do I know?

Trip to Montserrat

2007-08-12T05:04:00.000-07:00

As Tessa is once again immersed in the last Harry Potter book and I find myself completely ignored, now is a great time to add a post. Two days ago my classmate Charles and his wife Laura went with Tessa and I on a gorgeous day trip 50km outside of Barcelona to the Monastery at Montserrat. Originally founded in 1050 and with an incredible history, Montserrat was carved into a narrow valley high above the surrounding plains.

The views from the monastery were good but a few hours of hiking took us to the highest peak in the area and into the depths of some great rock formations from where the view was spectacular.

Charles and Laura are both architects from New York but Laura is originally from Peurto Rico. They were both very interesting and have an appreciation for things that allows us to see a completely different perspective from our own.

This trip also served for info gathering as our climbing guide notes close to 200 climbs in the area. The pic below shows two climbers on seperate sides of the same huge rock. Can you see them?

Back at the Monastery, the main draw is the Black Madonna aka La Moreneta, or Black Virgin, she has a baby Jesus seated on her lap. The chambers leading to the statue are adorned with marble engravings, carvings and statues. For many reaching the Madonna is very special and a huge highlight religiously. I can see why, the time and effort required to build this structure and the beautiful condition of everything shows an attention to detail that one would expect of a monk.
Exterior of cathedral is shown above, note the exterior of the stained glass.

In addition to the multiple statues on the area leading into the cathedral, everything is painted beautifully and the floor is simply too nice to eat off. Not many can say that.

Can you say "Lord have mercy...Jesus have mercy?" If so, now's the time to say it. Don't forget to cross your heart at the right nanosecond or you will spend an eternity with some not very pleasant people.

The view of a virgin. Haven't seen that for a while have you? You hopeless sinners!

Is there really something up there? Tessa seeks the answer. Stay tuned.

So that's what they're for...

2007-08-08T05:26:00.000-07:00

These Europeans have very crazy ideas about transportation. They use big metal boxes that are underground to transport people from one area of the city to another. They refer to this as "taking the metro". They also have very big metal boxes above ground that they call "buses". No one is afraid to ride these buses as the typical customers are usually completely without mental instability and free of a "shady" character. To be fair, the typical customer falls on the "not stinky" to "walking cadaver stench" spectrum closer to not stinky although we have had the unfortunate encounter on several occasions with specimens of walking cadaver stench.

We were further puzzled by the Europeans' use of things called "Legs". Apparently people use these legs to travel from one place to another. At first I thought they were playing a joke on me but after using my own legs for transport for an ENTIRE DAY, I knew there was no joke. I actually use MY OWN BODY for transportation. In fact, there is a direct correlation between using legs and eating cheese. The more legs one uses, the more cheese one eats. After visiting the grocery store's cheese section - which easily would take up a whole isle of an American grocery store - I see that there is very compelling rationale for utilizing my own legs. Blue cheese, I will see you soon.

In case you missed the moral of the story as you salivate over the cheese gamut, make sure you bring some good walking shoes as we walk everywhere out here. Especially if you're doing the tourist stuff, expect to be on your feet for hours and easily walk 5 miles a day. Good preparation is to go to the gym and walk on the treadmill until you can do at least 2 hours, make sure you include an incline as Europeans are big fans of steps. To give you an idea of how much they like steps, I had to walk up a step just to post this message.

Coming To Visit

2007-08-07T10:50:00.001-07:00

For those considering a visit. You'll just need to tell us when you want to come and we'll make sure no one else has reserved the room. Don't even think about coming from the US for less than 7 days, it won't be worth it. The flight is almost 18 hours from Arizona but maybe around 12 from the East coast. 7-10 days is a good time frame. Just keep in mind that both Tessa and I will be in class during the week and I probably won't see you at all until Friday rolls around. But no matter, there are millions of things to do in this city and it is so easy to get around. You can take the metro everywhere you want to go.

For those interested in temperatures, follow the link below:
http://www.world66.com/europe/spain/catalonia/barcelona/lib/climate

July & August are supposedly the "hot" months but anyone coming from Arizona or Florida would kill to get weather like this. Yes it is a bit humid here but shorts in the summertime are fine. You'll get sweaty walking around but at least you can go outside without being incinerated. At night I wear jeans and a short sleeve shirt. How many in Arizona can say that? May is supposed to be lovely and the best beach months are May through October. That is also the peak tourist season and there are somewhere around 3 skillion people here. Those wanting to see the Bulls Run in Pamplona should come the first week of July.

But really just plan your trip around when you have time because there are festivities and events going on year round here and there is always something to do. And now its off for la cena (dinner) with some IESE class mates.

Put the cool in School

2007-08-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

Many have shown an interest in the specifics of our schools. Hence I will give a synopsis of both programs.

Tessa is going to attend the University of Barcelona (UB) and study Spanish. She is going to take a full course load and all credits are transferable. She is enrolled for the entire year and classes begin around the end of August. She has never taken a Spanish course before but has been told that one year of studying Spanish all day should get her pretty fluent. The plan is to take Spanish courses the first year then do a masters degree while we are here our second year. Almost all masters degrees here are taught in Spanish. UB has 70,000 students and was founded in 1450. It commemorated its official foundation 555 years ago in 2005. The school has been moved several times but has been housed in the same buidling for over 135 years. Pictures of the building are below and a history follows if you're interested.

History of the Building
In the 1860s work began on Elies Rogent's splendid new building and 20 years later the building which houses the University today was completed. The first lectures were given in 1871. The clock and the iron bell housed in the tower in the Pati de Lletres - the Arts Court - were installed in 1881. Parallel to the building work, sculptures and paintings were commissioned either directly from artists of repute or awarded in open competition. The architectural work and the quality of the building's works of art meant that it was declared a national monument of historic and artistic interest in 1970. Yes it pales in comparison to Scottsdale Community College but its nice...if you like that sort of thing.

IESE: University of Navarra

Only one picture as we were not at the school long and the campus is actually quite small. Unlike UB's size of 70,000, IESE (pronounced like saying the letters "E" "S" "A") has only 440 students. Our campus could fit under one of UB's big arches. Our class is made up of 220 first year students and the same amount of second years. IESE is a Master's of Business Administration (MBA) school. No other degrees are offered.

Classes are given in Spanish if one is fluent, those not fluent take courses in English during the first year with Spanish language classes everyday from 3:30 to 5pm. Each month we are tested in Spanish to see if we should move up to the next level. Level 1 is for absolute beginners and those who complete level 12 can test to receive a bilingual degree. I've been told that if level 12 is completed by the end of year 1, I will be able to take courses during 2nd year in Spanish, if not, I will continue taking Spanish language courses every afternoon. The benefit of finishing the Spanish requirement is more free time every day + a number of our elective classes 2nd year are taught in Spanish. Only those fluent in Spanish may enroll in the classes.

Our schedule is quite intense as we have a group meeting every morning at 8:30 where we discuss the day's cases. Classes from 9:30 to 3:00, Spanish from 3:30 to 5pm, then we have to prepare 3 cases each night. A case is actually a case analysis where we study a 10-20 page synopsis of a business and what is occuring at the business then put together a summary of what we would do in that situation, why we would do it and have to back up our rationale with financial justification.

IESE is ranked the #16 MBA program in the world by The Financial Times (The international competitor to The Wall Street Journal). Outside the US, only 6 schools rank higher. In the US only 9 schools rank higher.

Here is the profile of last year's class:

Number of students 216
Average age 27 (Age Range, middle 80%: 25 - 31)
Average years of previous 4
work experience
Average GMAT 670 (GMAT Range, middle 80%: 620 - 750)
Percentage of women 25%
Percentage of international students 77%
Number of countries represented in student body 55
Countries most represented Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Spain, UK, USA
Average number of languages spoken by a student 3.8

Spanish courses start at the beginning of September. Academic courses begin in October.

Classmates arrive everyday and Tessa and I have been joining them for dinner, drinks or at the beach. Some very interesting people so far.

Found a flat

2007-08-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

After a solid week of checking Loquo.com and the plethora of websites attempting to help renters and rentees meet, Tessa and I have found a supercool and oh-so-hip flat. Yes it took longer than saying Peupty poopty pants but it was worth the wait. Great success! High-five. Worry not as there is plenty of space for guests and guests's guests. If you need to remember the address you can simply click on the link below and know that us finding this place is quite auspicious.

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/schfiftyfive

Our street is Septimania, our flat is number...you guessed it: schfifty five. Shout out to Matt's big head for sharing the movie - we knew before even entering that it had good things about it. What you say? Good things about it. Matt, your feet can stay in our flat but your head will need to stay out on the terrace.

Moving was easy as we simply moved 600 pounds of stuff down three flights of the narrowest staircase you ever saw. Want to live as our Barcelona cab driver for a second? See pic below.

Each bag weighed at least 40 pounds and represented one trip down (and up) the stairway from hell.

What is hip & super cool you ask? Come visit and see for yourself or else take the 5 cent tour below.

The flat is 3 bed / 2 bath & a loft + terrace. You will notice our kitchen is below the loft and is (read in a high pitched voice) very very tiny. But it is actually bigger in person than it looks in the picture. Also notice that our washing machine is in the kitchen. That is how they do it over here. No dryer as clothes are dried on a line. Also the way they do it.

Today we did our best to get moved in, we spent the morning at the huge market only 10 minutes by foot from our place, then we went to every broke college student's dream; IKEA. After 6 1/2 hours we were asked to pay rent for the building and instead decided to check out. We have all the candles, pillows, sheets, etc we will need for the duration of our lives. That is until next week when everything disintegrates as is known to happen with IKEA products. And now it is time to count fourteen teen Z's as its past midnight and time for bed. Hope everyone enjoys their evening as we know you like to do the sax.

The tears of Ben & Jerry

2007-07-31T15:02:00.000-07:00

There is an ice cream taste explosion in Spain so potent Ben is reduced to tears and Jerry can only mop up the liquid base of his companion. Of course I'm speaking of the black eye to Ben, the hazzard to Haagen Dazs, the Jesus crying to Jerry and the Death of Dryers; Magnum Double Chocolate. Dark chocolate ice cream covered by a crispy dark chocolate smothered with a layer of fudge covered in yet more dark chocolate all conveniently placed on one popsicle stick. I believe my snack size snack was 3.2 billion calories. Worth every one.

Peoples Peoples Peoples

2007-07-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

Today we walked to the beach. It is amazing how many people walk around here. Everyone walks or takes public transportation. This is a given in most parts of the world but coming from Phoenix where everything is spread out, everyone drives a car and the only people that walk end up bursting into flames, seeing so many people on the streets is still very strange for me.

I hadn't mentioned it yet, but the juice here is outstanding. I've tried 6 different types of juice so far and Pear is at the top of the list. Banana which I had this afternoon comes in second. Time for dinner. Its just past 9pm. Only tourists go to dinner before 9 in Barcelona.

Sitges & first IESE student meeting

2007-07-29T05:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Tessa, our roommate Emily & her friend Tove took a train south of BCN to the "sleepy beach town" of Sitges. There were close to 5 zillion people on the beach. Europeans sure don't mind being in close proximity to one another. Sitges is known for its nice beaches and large gay population. I'm not sure about the gay population although really buff guys in speedo's walked past us unceasingly throughout the day. Another observation about Europeans is they do not have the same inhibitions as Americans. As with most if not all beaches in Europe, this one was topless and as Tessa mentioned "we are surrounded by boobies." Well, when in Rome...I am proud to say both Tessa and I went topless.

After returning home and enjoying a nice Siesta Tess & I went to have dinner with some IESE classmates. This was our first meeting with any of the other students and I was very happy with the outcome. We were told very important things about school (intense), workload (overwhelming) and nightlife. The comments about nightlife were very welcome..."Thursday night - Party! Friday night - Party! Saturday night - Party!" Such high expectations. I am 30 now, three nights of partying may be a bit much, but I will give it the old college try.

Prices here are higher than expected, at the bar we went to after dinner we paid 15 euros ($24) for a vodka/soda, water, and heineken. Then we bought another heineken & a water for 8 euros ($11.25). At this rate I will be out of money after one more night out which apparently means I better really enjoy heineken's.

Other comments about the classmates; diverse, interesting, intelligent, well-traveled, friendly, fun and open.

Hi From Barcelona!

2007-07-28T01:25:00.000-07:00

Hello from BCN,

Following the lead of several other IESE students, I decided to start a blog. Hopefully I'll do a good job keeping this updated as I found the blog of a former IESEan (Anupam) quite helpful in my preparations for Spain and IESE.

Most of you will know that I moved here with my girlfriend of just over 3 years; Tessa. The move was stressful to say the least as we had a fully furnished house, two cars, and an endless supply of "stuff". Tess & I did not get along very well during this time period. Obviously we are here so we got things done, but without the help of Chad, Anna, both moms & dads, some very good friends & Craigslist, there is no way everything would have been completed. But as Tessa's dad said, "moving is one of the most stressful things you can do." He is right. The stress of moving did not subside until day 2 in Spain.

Tess & I have been here for 5 days now. We're staying in party central...the Barri Gotic. Holy crap do these guys know how to have fun and make noise! The place we're staying is on the third floor of a building off a super narrow street with a girl from Mississippi named Emily. She drops "y'alls" all the time. As with most southerners, Emily is very nice and accomodating.

The bell just rang twice which means its 30 after. There is a chuch bell located possibly 4 inches outside our window. It rings once, twice, three times during the hour and of course every hour. The first day we almost went nuts and woke up several times to the ringing. By the third day I wondered if the bell stopped ringing. Nope, just our natural ability to filter out influences.

Our home search has been steady. We have yet to find a place but are getting to know the areas around this wonderful city. I found a fantastic site this morning that offers virtual tours of Barcelona along with many other Spanish cities. For everyone back home who wondered why anyone would want to move to Spain or Barcelona, your questions will be answered by clicking below:

http://www.virtourist.com/europe/barcelona/index.html

If you have not done so yet, you need to download Skype. http://www.skype.com/ This is a way to make free phone calls from your computer to another computer. Downloading is a easy as clicking a button and making a phone call means you have to do a search for a friend and then click call. Could it be any easier? No it could not. Within the last week, Tessa's parents, sister, and Chad all got Skype along with webcams and now we make free video phone calls, the sound quality is the same as a phone, the video quality is good and depends on your webcam. If you don't have a webcam yet, you need to buy one. They cost as little as $30. Check the reviews by Cowboy Frank to help you decide which to buy:
http://cowboyfrank.net/webcams/index.htm#revews

I've been telling people they ought to buy the Logitech USB Silver QuickCam Ultra Vision because its supposed to be a very good camera and Buy.com had it for a very good price plus a nice rebate. Plus you save another $10 by using Google Checkout. Just go to buy.com and see which good webcams are for sale and buy one. Then start making phone calls for free. I now get to see Chad and his family every day and Tessa can see her entire family. Believe me, this has made this move easier for Tessa.

The bell just rang which means I better start preparing for the day. We may head to a beach south of Barcelona in a town called Sitges. If we make it we'll send some pics.