Fin, fini, finito, the end...

Perhaps this could be a good occassion to post - I'm officially done with the MBA! We just had the final SMAP presentation to the professor, which means no more classes, cases, group meetings, powerpoint presentations, spreadsheets --- till I start working.

But that doesn't happen well until July, so that leaves me a couple of months to unwind, travel, forget everything I learnt (well, almost everything) and start all over again.

Perhaps this is also a good time to bring this blog to a close. Just a parting note - someone who recently got an admit to IESE asked me if I had a good time. Lets just say, if I had to do the MBA again, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

¡Hasta siempre!

The Countdown Begins

I know how ominous that title sounds, but it's true. We recently had the most awaited party of the entire year, a.k.a the Multi-Culti 2008. Anyone who has been there will tell you about the madness and debauchery that is the MC. This year was no different. I lack the superlatives so I'll take the easy way out and post pics so you can decide for yourself.

The Calçots-eating competition, courtesy Cataluña.


55+ countries represented..


The Indian performance


But nothing beat the Japanese, they were way too cool!


And that's how it ended... for some.



Anyways back to the countdown bit. The Multi-Culti's over, so is SKIESE. Next up is Doing Good and Doing Well, followed by Spring Fling -



And before you know it's time to graduate, and start a new chapter. Shudder. I'm not sure if I'm ready to go back to the real world.

A first..

From as long as I can remember, we at the Asian Business Club (ABC) at IESE have been trying to organize an informal get-together... the objective being meeting all the members outside of school, to get to know people rather than purely network.

Last Friday we finally managed to achieve that, with a premature celebration of the Chinese New Year, a.k.a. the year of the rat. About 30 of us including a couple of professors gathered at Shanghai 1930 (which despite being a pretty good restaurant, is not my favourite - that honour goes to Sichuan Mitsui Sichuan .. bah I can't decide).

Unfortunately, it was Friday, also the day I play Badminton, so by the time I got home, showered and left for the restaurant, I was ready to bite my fingers off due to hunger. Lesson learnt - even 2 glasses of wine on an empty stomach *will* make you tipsy. Thankfully they brought out the food before I passed out.

I'll leave you with some pictures. And thank god, I didn't karaoke that night. Once is enough!

Back!

Right, so after a number of complaints from people that I didn't know read my blog, I promise to get back to posting regularly.

Last time I checked, I was done with the 1st semester of the 2nd year, and was on my way for the Winter Break. What's changed?

a) We have results from the previous semester, and I did okay.

b) We started with the 2nd and last semester of the MBA... and man, I'm swamped with work. Since I'm interested in consulting, I chose the following courses -
- MADEM (Managerial Decision Models) a.k.a. my favourite class this term. It's a lot of excel modelling, crystal balling and optimizing, but I love this stuff, so I'm enjoying it a lot. It's a *LOT* of work, might I add.

- ENFI2 (Financing Entrepreneurial Opportunities): Perhaps the most heavily subscribed class in the MBA.. or perhaps 2nd most (the first being INTEC which I took last term). Focusses on .. well, financing entrepreneurial opportunities. Good base for someone looking to go into Venture Capital.

- DRIMA (Information Driven Marketing): This class is essentially the MarkStrat game, where teams of marketers have to compete in 2 markets to gain market share and $$$. Lots of fun!

- EMECO (Emerging Economies): After taking INTEC the last term I wondered if another Economics class would interest me (INTEC was my favourite class last term).. and I was pleasantly surprised. The Professor, apart from being the ex-Dean of CEIBS, is very experienced and extremely engaging. Totally worth getting up at 06h30 on a Friday morning... I know!

- SISCI (Management Control): Talks about topics such as budgeting, evaluations (not HR related!), aligning incentives of the employees to the objectives of the company, Transfer pricing etc.

- SMAP (Strategic Marketing Planning): Or in other words, writing an actual marketing plan. Practically every course this term has teamwork, and so does this. We're coming up with a marketing plan to introduce a luxury car by a manufacturer traditionally known for mid-range family cars. Can't talk about the company incase they ask us to sign confidentiality agreements.

c) I accepted an offer from a consulting firm, which means (i) I officially have a job! and (ii) I'm gonna stay in Barcelona atleast for the short to medium term. And on days like today (open terrace barbeque in January!), I kinda feel glad about making that choice.

Goodbye 2007!

So the last term of 2007 and the second last term of the MBA ended with a bang last night with the Xmas Ball. But before I go into the details of that, a quick recap of what this term has been like.

The way it worked out for me, thanks to the electives, was I only had 1 final exam... which I thought was a good thing. Wrong. The other five courses had group projects, and you invariably end up working with different people on different projects. And trying to manage schedules of everyone do finish one project is a logistical nightmare. But hey, it was fun while it lasted.

Right, back to the Xmas Ball. I almost didn't make it this year - coz the last year's ball was *horrible* and that's putting it lightly. So I'd decided to have a quiet dinner with friends instead. The organiser's last-minute plea made me change my opinion and boy, was I glad! Although, too much booze and too many friends (is there such a thing as too many friends?) is never a good combination, and what ensued was.. in the words of Barney (from How I Met Your Mother -- you have to watch it, its insanely hilarious) "Legen...wait for it....dary!". Enough incriminating pictures were taken to ensure that I'll never be able to run for President, ever.

I'll leave you with some memories from last night -

Second Year Blues

You're right. I haven't posted in a loooooooong time, and there's a very good reason for that. If the 1st year was full of academics, the 2nd year is only slightly (really, very slightly) easier in terms of workload - purely because you get to choose what classes you want, and there's a couple of hours free each day due to flexible schedules.

But what makes this year crazy is all the time that goes into organizing activities for clubs (I co-run the Asian Business Club), job search, projects etc. Specially the projects. Most courses that I've selected this term dont have exams, instead they have projects. With different teams. Imagine trying to match the schedules of, on an average, 6*5 = 30 people in order to complete your projects on time. Of course, all of them have to be due the same week.

Anyways, did I mention we had the chance to talk to Conchita Martinez? One of my courses this term is Marketing of Experiences, Innovative Concepts and Media (MECMI) .. and there was this case on how Maria Sharapova's image was marketed to companies in order to differentiate her from compatriot (and equally hot!) Anna Kournikova. In order to get a first-person view of the situation, the professor invited Conchita Martinez and her agent, where we grilled her on everything, from how it was to beat Navratilova at the Wimbledon, to her present day assignments. Awesome.

Finally, I'm kinda annoyed that there's now COW (Comment of the Week) in the 2nd year.. so many good comments going to waste! Tsk tsk.

The Daily Grind

You know, I just realised the advantage of courses in the 2nd year ... no mid-term exams!! They used to be right painful throughout the 1st year. Barely 2-3 weeks of classes and bam! there's the mid-term.

Come to think of it, there're hardly any final exams too. Most of the classes I've chosen have projects to be done, but no "exam" as such. Weird as it may sound, I prefer to have exams over projects. It's a day of torture but then you're done. With projects, no matter how much you work, there's always a little bit more that you can perfect.

Anyways, the first years should be off on their annual London Banking Tour. I distinctly remember last year's when about a 100 of us paraded in London in our suits, all carrying bright red umbrellas that one of the banks gave out. Now that's a sight you dont see every day!