Study Abroad Blog

I have accepted the fact that I was never able to get a grip, much less a firm grip on time throughout most of the MBA, and this was especially true during the final term. I knew time was going to fly, but seriously, is this a joke? I began writing this post months ago and know it’s a little silly to post it now, but what the heck, why not? I’ve got free time now so I can actually try to provide all the updates I feel are necessary before officially signing off, so here goes.
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online casino netmach-zehnderGoing on exchange, in retrospect, has turned out to not only be the best decision I made during my undergrad, but also while here in Barcelona. It was a much more difficult decision to make this time, however, knowing that I would be leaving such an incredible city behind for about six months. Yet, considering my post-MBA goals, I knew it was the best thing for me to do. Now, I have finally found my way back to my dear Barcelona and, all things considered, I’m very happy to be back!

For a post after such a long break from posting this may be a disappointment (assuming anyone cares), but my time in Austin is quickly coming to an end and I wouldn’t even know where to begin to talk about everything that has happened over the past few months.  I will say in summary that this whole trip was quite worth it.  I have a job lined up for after graduation - which is really why I came here - and I had a good (but stressful) time throughout.  I will be heading back to California in a week and when I arrive, I have some writing to do and certainly look forward to sharing in more detail about my experiences as an American exchange student in the US.

I finally made it. I’ve been saying it for years now – that I wanted to move to Texas. Had never actually been, only heard real estate was cheap and jobs seemed aplenty. Well, here I am, I finally got my wish. We made our way here, as I mentioned in my last post, via a long road trip. The days leading up to the trip led me to believe someone was encouraging us not to make the voyage, as we had multiple, consecutive, uncharacteristic car problems – one after the other – but we persisted.

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It is becoming borderline disturbing how quickly time has been moving. Have I really been home for a month? Have I really been away from all my new friends and classmates in Barcelona for a month!? Wow, I guess time really has flown, and I’m sure how unexpectedly busy I’ve been hasn’t helped much to slow things down. Well, at least I found time to write a little and share some updates on my happenings. So here goes.

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Well here I am, sitting at BCN International Airport waiting for my flight to Frankfurt to begin boarding, which is the first leg of my 20-some-odd hour journey back home. It is amazing to think about everything that has happened over the past ten months…has it really been ten months? Seems like just yesterday I had a job and was only beginning to talk to Blanca about my crazy idea of pursuing my MBA abroad. Now, I’m a second year heading home to do an internship with one of my favorite people in the world. I’m a lucky man – really, I am.

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I’m in the heat of all sorts of things at the moment, but decided to pop my head up for some air right now while I have a few minutes of sweet procrastination in me between studying. Last week we had our final presentation for Corporate Finance in which we had to perform a valuation of Pfizer. It was actually an exciting project once we started really getting into it, but hard work at the same time. Anyway, the presentation was Thursday and I felt like my group did very well. After this, it was straight to studying for the Operations Strategy final, which was yesterday (Friday). Now that these two obstacles have been cleared, the ball is rolling on toward finals week, or next week, and it is sure to be rough, but I’ll survive.

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I don’t know where the months go anymore, let alone the days. I had been putting off this post with the hope that the longer I waited, the more likely I would finally have an internship offer or at least some more interviews lined up to share with everyone. Not so, I’m afraid. One company I have been anxiously waiting to hear from pushed back their response time from a firm “within two weeks” to “by the end of the month.” Together, this has added over a month to my wait time. I’m not the most patient man when it comes to things like these, but I’m doing my best to sit tight and keep hope. Some of my classmates were just made offers nearly four months after their interviews, so yes, all is not lost.

During this waiting time I’ve begun to try to flex my creative muscle to conjure up ways in which I will most productively utilize my time over the summer if something more formal doesn’t work out. I have a few companies in mind that I am going to approach to pitch projects to, and if this yields no fruit I may very likely focus on my Spanish while working on a business plan for future use. In short, the summer is still very much on my mind and when I finally know what it is I will be doing, I’ll gleefully return to share the good news.

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Term two has come and gone, and Spring Break has finally arrived! I cannot believe how quickly the second term flew by, but it didn’t pass without its fair share of stress. We had a slightly lower workload than with the first term, but the lingering stress of finding an internship has added enough pressure to make the total load feel pretty much comparable. As it stands now, I have a number of outstanding applications, a few rejections, and at least one interview lined up in the upcoming week. It has been a rough road to say the least and I just hope that soon things will start happening (ie, more interviews and eventually offers!) so I can focus more fully on school. It is a hard situation to be in, but I know I am not alone and that the state of the economy is not helping things much. I don’t want to give any specifics to my hunt until later, but I will just say the world of banking isn’t looking to welcoming these days and I am anticipating possibly taking a stab at industry for the summer…but we will really just have to wait and see.

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I’m not perfect - I’ve never claimed to be. I am proud to be an American - I would never deny to be. Nevertheless, I am getting tired of the apparent lack of respect, and I would say pride, many of my fellow, typically youthful, Americans seem to have when traveling abroad. Without fail, on every single trip I have taken within Europe it seems a regular occurrence to run into at least a few groups of young-adult Americans acting foolish. It saddens me to think that these individuals seem to take their behavior so lightly, and that they feel being in another country somehow obligates them to give everyone around them a show on just how ill mannered Americans “really” are. So, here’s to you, my dear Ugly American friends:

When you’re walking around an Iberian capital city on St. Patrick’s Day toting a 3 foot tall, green top-hat and Guinness T-Shirt pretending to know the words of an Irish drinking song – I’ve seen you. When you’re with a small group of friends taking a tour of a historic European landmark, speaking loudly about how much of your parent’s money you’ve spent on alcohol during your trip – I’ve heard you. When you begin speaking loudly to your friends about how cultured you are, and in the same breath begin to explain how the last city you visited “was like, a completely different city” from the one you are in now – I’ve tweaked my brow trying to understand your point. When you talk about how your American driver’s license makes you God’s gift to the world of personal travel and go on to explain how badly everyone else drives because you “like to speed” – I shake my head in wonder. When you don’t even make an inkling of an effort to learn basic phrases like “hola” or “cuanto cuesta?” and resort to speaking louder and slower English in an attempt to communicate with the locals – I sigh. When you just never seem to learn and continue to perform the aforementioned acts repeatedly in every single city I’ve visited – I’m baffled, perplexed, embarrassed and resort to writing posts dedicated to you.

My recommendation is simple:  Have some pride when you travel abroad. Recognize the opportunity you have to leave a positive impression of Americans to these people “you’re never going to see again.” And lastly, remember, you can still have fun and not act a fool. So please, next time you’re lucky enough to have the opportunity to visit a new country, behave yourself. Because you never know who is watching, or listening, or cringing as a result of your actions. Thank you.

Warmest Regards,

Your Friend Abroad, Matt