and term 1 (our lives with homework) begins

Since term 1 has started (this past Monday), I've slept a total of probably 17 hours in 4 nights. The excitement and newness is keeping me from getting stressed out, but adjusting to life again with school (vs. work) homework is a process! LOTS of reading.... for all seven of my term 1 core classes: Managerial Economics, Marketing Fundamentals, Entrepreneurial Management, Organizational Behavior, Information Systems, and the numbers classes as I'm calling them (even though all the classes involve numbers), Quantitative Analysis and Financial Accounting. 

I can't say which is my favorite yet (we just started!), but I'm pretty sure I will learn a great deal from all of them. I'm looking forward to getting to know my group mates better, to writing a business plan, to being able to develop strategy using tools I could never have understood before like income statements or human resources frameworks, and to learning - I like being smart!

I think where I'll have to concentrate on managing my stress, more so than with schoolwork, is the job search. It's hard not to compare yourself to others. And, even though Career Services and the students from the previous intakes make you feel positive, like the opportunities are out there and you just have to grab them, internship and job applications add a whole new layer of homework. My short-term strategy: 1. Keep meeting new people. They keep telling us to network for a reason - every day I feel like I meet someone new who worked for a consulting firm or company I'm interested in. 2. Get a million emails sent! This weekend. Now I need to follow up with these people I've met, and with all the Georgetown and IE alums available to me online via alumni databases. Another recurring piece of advice I've heard over and over again at my short time at IE is to ask good questions. If I ever get any of these informational interviews, they'll be my first chance to ask some of those excellent questions to figure out what company fits me...

The during-the-week partying has definitely died down, although tonight I attended a big, important party - Thanksgiving! Ingredient shopping, cooking, and ticket sales took up a bit of my reading time this first week, but I love this holiday, so it was definitely worth it. Two out of the three previous years I was living in Torino, I brought the Thanksgiving experience to my co-workers in Italy. That involved pie baking the weekend before, planning out each night what I could cook ahead of time and where I could store everything in the fridge, reserving at the local butcher shop a turkey (because they had to go out an hunt me one, not a typical thing to sell/buy whole Turkeys in Italy), and taking Thursday off work to complete the masterpiece. Last year in Torino and this year in Madrid I collaborated with a group effort - much more fun, and fewer dishes to cook! This year, I am thankful for many things - the health of everyone in my family, the support of my boyfriend, but most of all, for having had the sense to choose this great 13 month experience at IE and to have met some pretty cool people so far. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

networking

One of our LAUNCH seminars this week was a great presentation by Will Kintish about networking. Again, another very funny, but very instructional IE presentation... He taught us about the six groups you find in any business/social event and which ones we'd have the most success with in approaching. He taught us, seemingly obvious, but highly effective short phrases to "dump" the rambling, boring person or the ignorant, obnoxious person. He challenged us to never again be the wallflowers at a gathering, but rather to go and talk to them all. And of course, we were all instructed to Linkedin it up. 

I was lucky to have that night, and again the next night, two networking events to try out my new skills... The first was a classy dinner with the new U.S. Ambassador to Spain and Andorra Alan D. Solomont thrown jointly by the Georgetown Club of Madrid and the Yale Club. I pointed out to my friend the different groups and we surveyed the situation... At the end of the night, we both got a few business cards, rubbed elbows with the Ambassador, but most importantly, had a fun time talking politics.

The next night was the monthly meeting of Democrats Abroad of Madrid. I had an "ah-hah!" moment as Mr. Kintish would say, when one woman I was talking to mentioned that she was starting to do some independent consulting on corporate social responsibility issues with companies in Spain. Ah-hah! I want to do that! I offered my limited time and resources, and my business card, we'll see what comes of that... 

All in all, as I've said before, I think networking is really important. Sometimes it's fun, and sometimes it seems more like a chore. I'm glad IE helps us with these "soft skills." It's bed time! Two more days of LAUNCH to go!

the next big thing

This weekend IE Business School hosted it's annual Social Responsibility Forum. This year's theme was "Leading to the Next Big Thing," which alludes to the fact that social responsibility is the next big thing, but what it means to each of us individually, or to each company, organization, etc. is currently being designed and experimented with.  It's a two-day event put on by IE's Net Impact chapter. For those who don't know, Net Impact is an organization that promotes social responsibility in business. Nearly every business school, and many other types of university programs, have a local chapter. 

The event started with a great party/fundraiser Thursday night. I had a lot of fun, which made getting up for Friday's LAUNCH program starting at 8:45 a bit of a challenge. Friday the conference started, after brief introductions from the IE community, with guest speaker Reverend Karen Tse. For me, the most important thing she said was in the first two minutes of her 40 minute talk: "May we be reminded of our highest aspirations." I think it's really easy to forget our "highest aspirations" here in business school as we are introduced to new and fascinating topics, career choices, and lifestyles. It was a powerful event for me because it was another reminder to me of my passions, my desire to really make a difference in this world, however cliché that sounds. I did question one thing she said, that a lack of resources is no excuse to not fight for justice and so her organization was able to organize a lot of pro bono volunteers. In my experience, very few NGOs or non-profits manage to do that without dealing with high rates of "NGO burn out" and unreliability in their service provision. I think it's a topic that could be addressed at a future Net Impact event - working for an NGO is a great experience, but I think it would be useful to talk about the realities of day-to-day NGO work and how stressful, tiring, and non-glamorous it can be...

I'm just going to mention a few other bits of wisdom I liked from other speakers Friday and Saturday: Sir Robert Charles Swan, arctic explorer and environmental activist, presented via video from China. I liked his message to be positive and to look for solutions, not problems. Mr. Hanz Reitz, owner of a sustainable farm (my dream!) in India and advisor to Muhammad Yunus, said "don't be afraid to start small" and quoting Yunus, a "charity dollar has one life, a social business dollar is recycled over and over again." 

In one of the panels I attended, there was a social entrepreneur who works against human trafficking in Cambodia. We exchanged information. Hopefully we can get a useful partnership going between her organization and the anti-human trafficking NGO (the Tampep Association) I used to work for in Italy. 

In another panel, Bain and Accenture, two of the consulting firms I have researched for internships, talked about their social responsibility and sustainability initiatives. This was a great opportunity to see beyond their websites and meet the people actually working on these programs. It seems like about half the people I talk to here from notable consulting firms whose website's have "sustainability services" don't think that their offices actually do anything in this field. 

The last panel session I attended of the conference was on this year's BP oil spill. The discussion had an unexpected effect on me, it gave me a reason to go back to the U.S. While I think I'd like to experience Dubai, or China, or go back to Africa or the Middle East, or stay around in Europe for a bit longer, the oil spill talk made me think "I should go back and help get my country on the right track...." I think I should do that eventually, voting is not enough I'm afraid...

a long weekend in Madrid and the first day of LAUNCH

I spent this past weekend in Madrid. Many travelled north and south, but to save my budget and my internship-preparedness I stayed in the city to get some stuff done. I managed to get a few emails out to current students in my intake that previously worked in consulting firms I'm interested in interning for... still have to work on my CV and cover letters, the time is already not sufficient, even with a four day weekend! But, it should be noted what a great resource my fellow IE students are already proving to be. Just hearing their experiences with the consulting firms I'm interested in is very helpful. So besides internship prep, I had a good night out dancing near Plaza del Sol and a great next day with fellow classmates wandering around Retiro Park and attending the free MTV European Music Awards Katy Perry concert Sunday. I feel like I'm starting to make some good friends, and that is always a good feeling!

Today was our first day of the LAUNCH program. The LAUNCH program is the first part of the Accelerate program. The Accelerate program goes on throughout the IE MBA program through mini-workshops on soft-skills but is composed of three two-week periods, one before each term of core classes. So this first Accelerate block, LAUNCH, is about the following elements: creativity and action learning, inspiration and leadership, soft skills, careers, and awareness. I won't go too into detail in order not to ruin the surprise for future intakes, but I think the workshops are fun, a great way to meet more classmates, and IE has brought in some really qualified people to instruct some non-traditional, but useful b-school skills.

the honeymoon phase

Today, our last day of orientation, our last "class" was a presentation given by a few of the November 2009 intake students. One of the students called this phase of our MBA the honeymoon phase - we're just getting to know everyone and everyone seems so nice and pleasant and interesting, the professors seem funny and ingenious, and the schedule is long but fun. The message we heard over and over again this week was that we will be working very hard, and teams are going to have crisis, and we're going to have to need some high quality time management and team building skills for when the "honeymoon phase" wears off. So enjoy the beginning because it's going to get crazy!

Orientation topics have included an introduction to the case management method, an "action learning" exercise on teamwork, a review of the IE ethics code, and a first encounter with the career services department. The whole week has made me very excited for the year to come. I'm most excited about using the learning experience, including both the "hard" and "soft" skills we'll be learning, to figure out how my future career can be compatible with the kind of person I want to be.

They have already started to impress upon us the importance of networking... they even organized an open bar to lubricate social interaction with all 500 or so of our Nov. 2010 peers Wednesday night! I went home "early" at 1a.m. because I had a cold I didn't want to get any worse. An MBA in Madrid specifically is also about enjoying the Madrileña nightlife (which means it's completely normal to return home on the weekends, or even weekdays, at 7a.m.), and the school really encourages us to do so! It's all about balance... So far, it is resulting in a down-to-earth party hard, play hard atmosphere. 

Tonight I went to my first student club event. The Indian Club put on a great party with food and dancing to celebrate Diwali. 

yes

Yes. Yes, I'm very happy I'm at IE. Yes, I have already met a lot of cool people. Yes, I think it's going to be a great year. And yes, I think I'm going to find a great job at the end. Yes, the first day of school was good! Yes! 

First of all, the "new" Segovia campus is gorgeous. It might be new to IE, but the buildings date back to 1218! 

After a much needed coffee hour, the welcome speeches started with Santiago Iñiguez, President of IE University and Dean of IE Business School telling us to be persistent like Christopher Columbus was when he sought financing to sail west because it's a good entrepreneurial skill. He had to leave before the day was over to go back to Madrid because IE was organizing an event to try and find business solutions to the on-going troubles in Haiti. 

Then David Bach, Dean of Programs, gave not only a great speech on many topics, but also a great looking powerpoint. I'm sure I will see many great powerpoints during my year at IE to develop some great photo, color-matching skills :) One thing he noted was the challenge of living between and working with the contradictions of the modern world, for example, increasing globalization but increasing local focus on marketing, consumption, etc. Just what my "glocal eating" website tried to address...  

I don't have time to write about what everyone said, but one thing I wanted to say generally is that I really like how down to earth IE feels. There is no pompous attitude I felt visiting other highly ranked b-schools. I feel like it's going to be a really practical program that's really focused on creating savvy and creative leaders. 

The last presentation of the day was by a 2005 alumni Giovanni Lo Faro. He talked about his experience working for the Modo eyewear company. It was really great to see half of his presentation dedicated to the new eco-friendly line of eyeglasses they have. I feel like corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability issues, what I would like to focus on in my future career, are really also going to be a focus at IE. 

I'm very happy with the first day. I met dozens of new people. I just hope I actually see most of them again! It's going to be a challenging, but fun first year! I'm off to eat and then sleep early - tomorrow we have orientation stuff scheduled from 9am to after midnight! 

being the tour guide in Madrid and Segovia

This weekend my boyfriend visited me for the first time since I have moved to Madrid. A few friends from Torino decided to join him here for the weekend to experience Spain for the first time. I planned a great weekend of activities for them all. I have to say, I'm really good at vacation planning. As soon as I have tickets for somewhere, I buy the guidebook (or if I'm short on cash or decide the whole book isn't necessary, print out the Wikitravel guide), and read it cover to cover at least once. I decide what sights are must-sees, what food I want to eat (this is always a very important part of traveling for me... if you've notice, a lot of the pictures I post are of food!), and what needs to be reserved ahead of time. I don't plan every last minute, otherwise you take out the improvisation and need for laziness in vacations. I just know when museums, etc. are closed, and at what hours to visit to hopefully avoid too much tourist frenzy. I take pleasure in watching my friends enjoy their vacation, love the experience. 

The first place we went that was also new for me was Segovia. I'll be going there again tomorrow for the first "real" day of school, but the schedule is full, and not with sightseeing. Here's the view of the city from the Alcázar (castle):

View of the castle, from the castle:

And a view of the Roman aqueduct and the restaurant Mesón Cándido, where we ate lunch. [picture] This restaurant opened in the 1780s! Each room is gorgeous, full of photos and reliques, wood finishing and tapestried walls. This is a photo of the owner with painter Salvador Dali. Their specialty is cuchinillo,  tender, roast baby pig. 

It is late and I need to put my best foot forward tomorrow. Tomorrow the IE international MBA really starts. Tomorrow I begin the course I started preparing for over two years ago... All the GMAT preparation, emailing of current students, interview nerves... all for a year of MBA that starts tomorrow! Congrats and good luck to myself in taking advantage of every moment!