Study Abroad Blog

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.

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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.

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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”:

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I believe the digital camera is one of my favorite inventions in recent history, as it allows me to take as many pictures as I please and quickly share them with people all over. Well, after receiving various compliments lately, including in my last post, I decided to throw you two more photo albums / slideshows where you can take a look at a few of the beautiful things I have been so lucky to see during my time in Barcelona. There are many, many more where these came from, and certainly many, many more to come. Enjoy!

So, I’m finally a legal Spanish resident…even have the card to prove it! I must say it was a long and often frustrating process, but it is over now (for the first year) and I’m happy about that. I said before that I would describe the process I had to undergo in order to get this student resident card, so that is what this post is about.

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Hola todos! Today I turned 26 years old and I figured it would be a nice gift for myself to set some time aside to finally make a new post! ‘Tis true, I really do enjoy posting, so here I go.

I can assure you I’ve been thinking about posting just about every day since my last post, however, finding time is quite another thing! But enough about that, lets move on to what is on most of my ESADE classmates’ minds – Career Week! I cannot say how many times I have heard various individuals make a complete 180 in the direction they want to head in their career, and I feel with Career Week starting Monday, there will only be even more of it to come.

Confusion is a pretty common feeling among my classmates, but I like to think it is a good type of confusion. We all want to make a good choice in our next career move and try to get into something that we are truly passionate about. Many people who pursue an MBA are doing so in order to make a career change. The problem often is, I don’t think any of us were prepared for the vast number of possibilities we would be confronted with! That said, I see the whole confusion thing as a good thing of sorts. I mean realistically, the “problem” is the amount of opportunity we are all being exposed to, so it can’t really be all that bad.

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I’m posting bit later than I had expected, but hey, I’ve been a little busy. As of right now I’ve been in Barcelona for just over a month, so bear in mind as I discuss the El Montanya retreat that this happened three weeks ago.

Day three of introduction week felt a lot like my senior trip during high school when our whole class (and many, many other senior classes from all around) boarded a bus toward Disneyland for our last hurrah together. Only difference this time was the older and wiser (I hope) company, the destination, and the purpose. Yeah, so this trip was exactly the same…only completely different!

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