Study Abroad Blog

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.

These last few days in particular have been interesting. I have gone out for dinner and drinks about every night since I took my last final. My body is ready to switch things up a bit and I really hope to be disciplined and stick to my word this summer. I want to get into “fighting shape” so I can head to Texas ready to rock-and-roll on the full-time job hunt. While doing my internship, I plan to box and do jiu-jitsu with friends as often as possible and ride my bike around when feasible to help save on gas (not looking forward to paying for that again!). We will see.

Ok, enough about that, it’s reflection time! So, what have I learned? Um…wow…well, more than I could ever put into words, that’s for sure. Regardless, let me try to see if I can’t share at least a few thoughts about my experiences after one year of being an international MBA student.

Living in a country different from your own is hard work!

This is true, but you should know that it gets easier over time. Also, once you realize why it is such hard work, you begin to see things in a new way. So, why is living in a country different from your own so hard? Well, of course there are going to be varying degrees of “difficulty” one would experience when throwing him or herself into a new country. Obviously if I were to have pursued my exchange in Canada it would have been a less intensive adaptation process. However, the reason things are so difficult really just boils down to the differences. Different norms, cultures, languages, etc. from what anyone is used to will naturally take time and effort to understand and cope with. The sooner these differences are accepted and resistance to adapt is realized as futile, the easier the transition will be. This is to say, as soon as I accepted that things are simply “done” differently in Spain than in the US, it became easier to not dwell on these things and waste energy resisting when that energy could be much better used elsewhere. Understanding this aspect of living abroad is absolutely key!

Intercultural communication is hard work!

Ok, it’s really not that hard, but we tend to make it hard with our own programming and preconceptions about what certain people should be like or how certain people should look and act. I know this is cliché, but an open mind is the best asset to have (in my opinion) in many of life’s situations, but in an international/inter-cultural setting, this is true even moreso. I could go on and on about different instances where my sarcasm fell on confused ears or where making sweeping generalizations has led to heated discussions, but again, I haven’t the time or space to do so. Just understand that sensitivity is vital and again, that open mind thing works wonders when in an international setting.

The first year of a top, global MBA program is hard work!!!

Come on, what kinda discussion would this be if I didn’t even mention the real reason I’m here – the school! This is very true, these last ten months have stretched me further and pushed me harder than I think anything ever has in my life. Regularly spending 12-15 hours a day at school only to come home and keep going for ten months straight makes you really take a new look at life and priorities. It was actually hard for me to snap myself out of “school mode” every day in an effort to pay attention to Blanca, which made me feel horrible regularly, but I like to think by the end of the year I began to improve on this and learned how to create school-free time when I got home – no matter how little time that was. I said before I got here that I’d never have been able to do this without Blanca, but now I can say with honesty that this is true – I could never have done this without her support. In the end, it was lots and lots of hard work, but it was all for a reason and I think that reason will continue to reveal itself to me more and more moving forward.

So in the end, I think this is a sufficiently brief summary of my findings at the end of year one. Although I will be spending the next few months state-side, I will certainly be making an effort (I say this, but have been so bad about keeping up, my apologies) to keep this updated and will hopefully have the chance to share my “re-entry” experience back into US culture. Until then, I guess I should get moving toward the boarding gate…

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.

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Back to school, I can say that overall the second term was a mixed bag and I don’t have any results yet, but I’m fairly confident I did not fail anything. The classes were not the most exciting ever, but in the end I think I developed an appreciation for the subject matter I hadn’t previously cared much for – such as International Taxation and Operations Management. International Taxation was every bit as complex as it sounds, but after the final I think I realized I actually found it interesting. Operations Management is something extremely important in business that I had previously zero exposure to, but that I developed a bit of an interest in by the end. The rest of my classes were all just fine and I really do not have much to share about them at this time.

Now, to Spring Break! When I finally completed my exam for Taxation last Wednesday afternoon, I was very ready to give my brain some much needed rest and come Thursday morning, Blanca and I headed anxiously to the airport to kick off our latest round of travels. First stop: Lisbon, Portugal.

I’d never been to Portugal, but had long wanted to visit. Blanca and I were blessed with beautiful weather and ample time to see the sights at an easygoing pace. The city itself felt much more like a busy little town and less like a Capital city, so I think this helped us to slow our pace a bit from life in Barcelona. The mosaic stones composing the walkways throughout town was what struck me first, as I found them to be among the most impressive things I have ever seen. The details in the patterns and designs are laid throughout the city and it is hard to appreciate it all while walking atop them all day. However, once you get to a point where you have an aerial view of some of the streets, you begin to see the artwork that are these walkways and you see just how incredible it all really is. Aside from this, the buildings were beautiful and, well, I’ll let some of my pictures do the rest of the talking.

After spending two days in Lisbon, we decided to take the advice of many folks and make a day-trip to Sintra to round out our stay in Portugal. Many Sintra tour packages were offered from Lisbon for as little as 35 euros per person…but we pulled off the trip for even cheaper. We walked into the train station and for a whopping 3.30 euros each, got round trip tickets to Sintra – the train leaves every ten minutes. After the 35 minute ride, we found ourselves in the quaint little town and began our tour with a quick snack and ventured our way through the historic centre. From here, we paid 4 euros each and got round trip tickets up the hill to the Moorish Castle overlooking town and spent a good three hours hiking the stairs and enjoying the views. Below are some of the pictures from our day in Sintra, which was well worth the journey and highly recommended!

Finally, we packed up and headed to Madrid for the last two days of our trip and hit the ground running once there. We navigated the subway from the airport and only spent 4 euros getting to our hotel – I’m certain the cab ride would have been at least 25 euros. Once checked in, we headed out and covered as much ground as we could and I took as many night shots as I could muster so we could take our last day easy as tourists. The end result was a pretty fast-paced visit, but since I had already visited back in 2003 I already kinda knew my way around. This helped a bit and although it was my second visit, the city was just as impressive this time around. Again, here are some pictures from our two-day flurry in Madrid.

Finally, we packed our bags and headed back home to Barcelona where we have essentially been recovering and planning how to spend the rest of our Spring Break. Overall it was a great trip and I’m looking forward to the next, as always. Hoping to visit Prague or Tenerife, but we will have to wait and see.

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

Sometimes it hits me unexpectedly. I could be riding the metro in the morning on my way to school, maybe making my way through some obscure streets in Born after an evening out with a group of friends, or even just while going for a walk with Blanca – I’m living in Barcelona. Yeah, sounds simple enough right? I mean, afterall, that’s one of the original things that appealed to me when I decided to study at ESADE. Either way, it is funny how once you’re here, you don’t really walk around saying “Hey, I’m living in Barcelona,” although, I admit to having done so during these particular instances when it sneaks up on me and I realize just how lucky I am.

So, just what is it like, living in a big, metropolitan city off the coast of the Mediterranean? Well, after coming from somewhere like Fresno, in Central California, I would have to say the differences are pretty significant. So, the point of this post is really to describe, from my personal experiences and perspective, just what it is like to live in Barcelona.

I’ve only been here for six months so far, but that is already longer than I spent in Sweden while on exchange there. What have been some of the biggest differences for me so far? I would have to say the language, the living conditions, and the people – this about sums it up. Now, let me explain in a little more detail what I mean.

The language (or should I say, languages)
I knew coming in that Spain is separated into regions, and Barcelona happens to be part of Catalonia. As such, the folks who live in this region are called Catalan. These people are quite proud of their language…also called Catalan. In addition to this, there is of course, Castilian Spanish – the reason I wanted to study in Spain. Well, Catalan is extremely widely used around town, and often even if you speak to people in Spanish, they will respond to you in Catalan…just because. I would describe Catalan as a mix between French, Spanish, and English, leaving it sounding a little like deranged Portuguese being spoken by a German derelict…if you can imagine that. In short, it is not a very sexy language, in my humble opinion (nor is English, by the way), but it is all over around here, so it’s something I have to live with. My focus, however, remains on learning Spanish, so I am making efforts to speak when I can and hopefully soon will more quickly be able to tell the difference when someone is speaking in Spanish or Catalan!

Life and Living Conditions
Fresno is a big, flat, grid. It is dry, and very hot in the summer, and pretty cold in the winter. Most people live in homes or moderately sized apartment buildings. The only tourists who ever come to Fresno are simply passing through on their way to Yosemite, and the population is approaching half a million. Barcelona is not so big, not entirely flat, and has streets that weave around and turn to narrow alleys very quickly. It is humid, and pretty warm in the summer and moderately cool in the winter. People live in decently tall apartment buildings, unless you have money and can afford a house on the hill. The tourists are aplenty and the population is over 1.6 million.

Personally, I used to live in a single level, decently sized apartment. Everything was pretty new. Blanca and I had our own cars, and no matter what we needed or where we needed to go, we knew how to get there. In Barcelona, we live on the sixth floor of a 100+ year old building in an also decently sized apartment. Everything is very old. Blanca and I have our own metro cards, and quite often if we need/want something, we don’t know where to go or if it even exists in this country.

The US has a service culture – good customer service is taken seriously. Banks, for instance, offer a great number of services and the possibilities of things you can do with your money are abound. Spain seems to have a “what do you want and why should I help you?” service culture – good customer service seems non-existent. Banks, for instance, take your money, charge fees for just about everything imaginable, and getting returns on your money seems pretty much impossible…unless you’re expecting negative returns, that is.

I could go on with the comparisons, but really, I think you get the point. Life is definitely different, and I don’t mean that in a good or bad way, I mean it as simply that – it is different. It has been difficult learning how to cope with the differences, but that is one of the reasons I’m here, and I wouldn’t take back choosing here for anything. If I, as an American, can learn anything about Spanish living, I’d say “relax,” because sometimes…actually most of the time…I get so caught up in the Now Now Now, Me Me Me that I lose sight of the big picture.

Finally, The People
The US is diverse…sorta. Sure, we have cultural variations from location to location, but for the most part we speak the same language, and the biggest cultural changes we see is through migrating from suburban to urban living and vice-versa. Europe is just different. Picture a smaller version of the US, with lots of history, languages, cultures, etc., all within a short distance from each other. Now, exaggerate that scenario, ad a few dashes of people from the rest of the world, and you’ve got Barcelona (and if you want an even more exaggerated and concentrated scenario, you would get ESADE!). I believe Barcelona is pretty well representative of a big, metropolitan European city, and as such, it is truly a melting pot of cultural diversity.

With such diversity comes a very unique living experience, and there is nothing like going to a Mexican restaurant, ordering from a Catalan speaking immigrant from Honduras who places your order with his Peruvian cooks. While the end product typically leaves much to be desired, the process itself is rather impressive.

In the end, I again must reiterate I am daily reminded why I chose ESADE. I am surrounded by so many interesting people with different backgrounds, cultures and languages, all of which has contributed to each individual’s unique personal story…perhaps more interesting is that despite all these differences, life has brought us all to this same place, at the same time. I am thankful for having the opportunity to study here and hope that throughout the rest of my time in Barcelona, I never stop having those moments…on the metro, walking through obscure alleys with friends, or simply while going for a walk with Blanca…where I get to think to myself, “Hey, I’m living in Barcelona!”

So we have this grade non-disclosure policy here at ESADE, which basically means I’m not supposed to disclose (or I have a choice to disclose, I believe) my grades on campus. I’ve never had this before, but still, every interview I’ve had thus far the interviewer has asked about grades. Well, up until yesterday, we hadn’t even received our first term grades, so I really couldn’t say either way. But, as of late in the afternoon yesterday, the numbers are in, and while I’m not going to specifically “disclose” all my grades, I will share a few things now.

First off, I’m not used to the European grading system. In my mind, anything less than 90% means I did something wrong. Over here, I’ve heard some of my European classmates say “average” is around a 5 or a 6 on a 10 point scale, so based on this, here is how I interpret my grades for term one:

Applied Quantitative Models, Economics, Leadership Assessment and Development, and Managerial Accounting (four classes) I scored in the 8s. Again, to me this is like “What? 80%?!” But this isn’t really the case, as I understand 8s are very solid scores, so hurray for my performance in these classes, I guess it was pretty decent.

Geopolitics, Society and Culture and Marketing I (two classes), I dipped just into the 7s. I must say these grades disappointed me, as I felt my group did extremely well in Marketing and received nothing but praise from the professor throughout the term. I believe the final exam (which was based on text that simply did not get read given time constraints) is where I went array. While I disagree that Marketing should be taught out of a textbook, there is really little I can do about the matter now. As for Geopolitics, I felt folks with backgrounds in NGOs or with less “businessy” backgrounds had an advantage in here, so I’m just happy I did much better than a 5!

Now, the outliers.

Organizational Behavior was a psychology class, basically. We were given hundreds of pages of reading throughout the term, never really discussed them, the professor had his own topics to discuss every time we had class, and there were zero assignments, quizzes, etc. The whole grade was based on the final, which was very theoretical and involved a great deal of writing. Many of my classmates spent around 3 hours on the exam, and many did not pass. I finished in just over a half hour, as I didn’t feel dedicating more time would help me in any way, and this was my only grade in the 6s – at least I passed!

Finally, my bread and butter, Financial Analysis. I was disappointed throughout the course, as I felt the weekly quizzes were ambiguous and ill-communicated. So, going into the final I was quite unsure how I’d end up doing, despite having my undergrad been in Finance and my work experience, also in Finance. Well, I must have done quite well on the final, as I ended up with a very high 9, which satisfied me nicely and gave a slight rejuvenation to my confidence in the subject.

So if you count, those were the results of eight courses. In addition to that, there was a week-long Strategy course where I was simply given a “Pass” because it is Pass/Fail, and we have our Spanish final next week. Do the math, and at one point I was juggling ten classes…this is yet again why I’ve been so busy!

All that said, looking back now I am truly amazed at everything I accomplished over the last few months. Now, the cycle is starting over again, but hopefully this time around the load will allow a little more breathing room (and time to post!) – We shall see.

I know, this is a sorry excuse for a post, but it has just been so long since I wrote that I feel like I at least need to write something! The quick and dirty is that after Malta was finals, after finals kicked my butt my mother and “little” sister visited Barcelona for three days, from there we went to Paris to bring in the New Year and after that we spent three days in Rome. As soon as we returned I had one day to catch my breath and it was back to the school grind with an intensive one-week class on Strategy, which we have the final for in two days, and I had an interview with Goldman Sachs, as well as a brief phone interview with Citi. I was waiting until all this interview stuff transpired so I could share my experiences, but it just took too long! So, I do plan to make another post soon with more details on my quest for an internship, but for now this is all I’m going to share.

And now, I leave you with a couple slideshows of some pictures I took in Paris and Rome over winter break. I know there is some redundancy, but like I said, I was just in a rush to get something up here so I don’t feel as much like a slacker! Enjoy!

I know I just posted, and my last post was all about how little time I have, and now I’m posting again after one day, but I guess that’s what happens when you’re on a four-day weekend and don’t feel like doing work the whole time! So, here is another slideshow of pictures I took while visiting Malta the past two days. Enjoy.

P.S. – I feel that it is actually better to view my photo albums by going
here as it gives you slightly better images and more navigational power…if you’re into that sorta thing…and yes, my name is slow79ford on slide.com, long story.

I’m sitting in my hotel room in Malta for the long weekend before finals and I decided it’s simply been too long, so I need to make a new post. I know I’ve said in the past that I haven’t had a lot of free time lately, but this time instead of simply repeating myself, I’m going to do my best to document just what it is that has been keeping me so busy lately. I want to put into context what I do on a daily basis here while taking on Term 1 of my MBA at ESADE. So without further adieu, here is my version of “A Day In The Life Of A First-Year ESADE MBA Student”:

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

5:45am
“Buenos Dias!!” comes on the radio…my favorite thing to wake up to every morning…at least it’s better than an actual alarm sound, I can’t stand those. Slowly roll out of bed, grab my phone off the charger, turn off the alarm, walk out the room and close door behind me – don’t want to disturb my wife’s sleep.

Stagger to the shower, take a quick one, jump out, put my contacts in and now I’m about ready to rock and roll.

6:10am
Made it to the kitchen, take my vitamins, put the water on for coffee, pour me some cereal and eat quickly while the water begins to boil. By the time the water is ready, my cereal is done, pour the water in the French press and wait for my first dose of caffiene to help jump-start my day.

6:20am
Bring my nice, warm coffee into the living area, sit down at the table and fire up my laptop. Begin checking emails, send responses to two classmates who sent messages around 1:00am. Begin reading requirements for this week’s marketing PowerPoint presentation and report. Receive a few emails from team mates filling in parts of the report…look at the clock and wonder how it is already 7:00am!

7:15am
Drop my dishes off into the sink and scurry into the computer room to change. Quickly suit up in my business casual attire (what I normally wear, why not?) and survey the room to ensure I haven’t forgotten anything. Brush my teeth, kiss my wife good bye and head out into the daily unknown.

7:35am
Walking down into the subway, I fiddle with my mp3 player and pass the accordian playing hooligan and give him a nod. Hear the train as I’m inputting my pass and jam down the stairs just in time to see the tail of the train taking off into the tunnel – next train in 3minutes 43seconds…I can wait.

7:55am
Subway arrives at the Maria Cristina stop and it’s a mad dash to the ground level. I reach the cold Barcelona air and see it is still dark outside and the Christmas lights at el Corte Ingles are still on. I walk across the street to my bus stop and wait while nodding my head to the Jason Mraz tunes in my headphones. 63 bus arrives after an 8 minute wait and I squeeze on amidst the morning mob.

8:15am
Arrive at ESADE, made decent time, and immediately head down to Planta A to get my morning café con leche y un agua grande. Remember there is a quiz in finance, so head back in the building to meet with the secret finance study society for some last minute cramming.

8:55am
Head still spinning after trying to get to the bottom of what is expected to be prepared for the quiz, but it seemed somewhat unanimous that we needed to determine the cause of the financial need of our customer based on their pro forma financial statements – no biggie.

9:05am
Sitting in class, realize we are in the wrong room for the morning session and half of us have to pack up our things and move one room down the hall. Relocate to the other room and begin some new financial discussion…taking notes…sorta…also sorta taking a look at my marketing while IM’ing my wife about the light bulb we need to replace in the kitchen.

10:30am
Much needed coffee break, step outside, order another café con leche and chat with classmates for about three minutes. Head back into the class where we are finally given our quiz. It was a true or false plus explanation in reference to what caused the financial need in company XYZ…I think I got it. Were given five minutes to write our answers, then we jumped right back into class where we worked on quite a few new problems.

1:00pm
Lunch time! Walk outside to the Carpa and jump in line to order my bocadillo de pollo con queso. Pay for my meal and sit down with some classmates to chat and relax for a few minutes. One of the finance professors approaches me and asks to speak with me after I finish eating…interesting.

1:15pm
Sit down with finance teacher and discuss a comment I made during class. Basically in order to determine the total cost of taking on new debt, we were shown in class to multiply the total initial principle balance by the interest rate, then divide the principle by the number of years the loan will be repaid over, then add that product to the interest calculation to get the total one year cost of taking this new loan. After covering this, I had pointed out that if you actually work this out using an amortization schedule, the application of principle and interest isn’t so simple. When I didn’t push my statement, out of fear I was just confusing people and helping no one, she explained she was disappointed and had wanted me to help her explain the concept to the class. I guess I missed the que, so for future reference I was encouraged to participate more – I can do that.

2:00pm
Run back upstairs and settle in for back to back Organizational Behavior sessions to compensate for cancelled classes earlier in the term. We had an excellent guest speaker from the Harvard Business Review who told us about his experiences working with the UN. The second leg had us watching a video about unique working environments designed to assist employees in expressing their creativity, looked fun.

5:30pm
Class is now over, and since Spanish was cancelled due to the marathon OB sessions it’s straight to work with my marketing team to bust out our report and presentation. One member had to leave for a meeting at 6, so we had to work fast to get the most out of her.

6:00pm
Get up to shake my legs and grab a snack after the intense 30 minute dash to get things in line so that we can finish up marketing as quickly as possible. Settle back down five minutes later and begin working on the PowerPoint while my lone remaining teammate works on our report.

7:30pm
I have the template built for the presentation and our lost member returns for a quick look over on our progress and gives feedback on the PowerPoint. I take note of the recommendations and bid her farewell, as she had a flight to catch to NY in the morning, so we opted to let her go on her way to get ready. Have some quick discussions about the report and stick it on my flash drive to take home and polish up.

7:45pm
We are tired, so we decide to head our separate ways and my teammate agrees to forward his slides to me as soon as he’s done. We head out and I catch a bus around 8pm…got out very early today, so I’m excited! Catch the subway and make my way up to the apartment around 8:30pm – quite early indeed!

8:30pm
In more comfortable clothes, I quickly go to work on replacing the light in the kitchen. Easier said than done, I put it off until after dinner, as Blanca had it just about ready by the time I arrived (she’s so super!). Sit down for another excellent meal and enjoy some conversation while we catch up with eachother on our days.

8:50pm
Head back in the kitchen to tackle the busted flourscent bulb and completely disassemble the unit, see the problem was with a connector, correct the issue, reinstall the new bulb and walla! We have light again! Content with my work, Blanca and I celebrate with a glass of cava as I settle in for a long night with marketing.

9:00pm
I decide to take on the report first, as this is the basis for the presentation. Having to cope with correcting non-native English spelling and grammar issues takes time, but the content is quite good, so I do my best to utilize everything we have. Formatting takes some time, but it will all be worth it in the end. Received my team mate’s slides via email, take a look, and try to pick up the pace so I can add my part to the package.

10:30pm
Finally, the report looks good, so I’m ready to move on to the presentation. I’ve learned a lot about PowerPoint this term (did I mention these reports and presentations are weekly events in marketing? Yeah…they are…and this is just one of my eight classes, so I was lucky this was all I had for the day to complete!). I start transferring content, but decide I don’t like some of the designs I had created, so I changed it. After working this out, I have all the content down and decide to give it a test run…still lots to do…

11:30pm
I realized that when I changed the template, my team mate still had the old one, so I had to transfer and edit his content for continuity. From here, I now start to add the bells and whistles to the presentation, so I get creative with the first slide and realize I have 14 more to edit, so I cut it out after I realize my vision is a little beyond my means at this point. Blanca is now getting ready for bed, so I’m trying to get things wrapped up quickly. Finally, after much more tweaking, proofing, and previewing, I have what I feel is a solid package and do a last run-through, show it to Blanca, and make my final tweeks.

12:15am
Final drafts complete, I finally send it off to my team mates at a quarter past midnight. Even though it was sent, I open the sent email and view attachments just to make double sure I was ok with what I sent. Content with the end result, I construct a to-do list for the morning which includes the following:

• Add finishing touches on marketing paper and presentation before class at 9am
• Write 150 word essay for Spanish about the movie “Volver”
• Run through Investment Banking flash cards to prep for interviews next month
• Read and write summaries for OB articles
• Edit group paper for Econ
• Write final thread for Geopolitics

12:35am
Flip the top down on my laptop and call it a day. Go brush my teeth, put on something more comfortable and finally hit the hay. Talk with Blanca about meeting for lunch the next day to get her paperwork so she can apply for her residence card and finally dose off around 1am.

5:45am
“Buenos dias!”