vacation in Italy

I'm not quite over the jet lag yet, but I've had a few good days so far in my mini-Italian vacation. I'm staying in my boyfriend's new apartment in Alessandria, basically a mini-Torino. It's got that ex-industrial, northern Italian feel. And thank goodness for all those southern immigrants from FIAT's glory days in the 60s because all the good food I've been eating here so far is from the Bella Napoli restaurant down the road! How I do love frutti di mare (fruits of the sea, i.e. shellfish).

Besides putzing around this little town with my best friend visiting from Paris while the bf works during the day, I've also already had the chance to escape to the country a little. One of my other U.S. expat friends and her Italian husband bought a large cascina (farmhouse) this spring in the Piedmont countryside. I was with them when they signed the papers, and then also after when they sat a little shell shocked at a nearby restaurant drinking a celebratory glass of bubbly. I think they got a great deal - huge, already-possible-to-live-in house, vineyard, fruit trees, profitable hazelnut crop... At the same time one of my Italian co-workers bought a one bedroom apartment for the same price in the city!

Take a look at this backyard!

And take a look at the contents of the goody bag I got to take home!

What does all this have to do with my MBA? Well, just coming back to Italy makes me think about the same things I wrote two posts ago - where do I want to live and when? Do I want to make somewhere in Italy my permanent home? Or Spain? Shouldn't I probably be sending informational interview requests now to firms' offices in these places as a priority over China or Dubai? Yes and no. It's hard starting over in new cities, but I also love jumping into new experiences, languages, cultures... So I'll keep discussing and rehashing this subject for awhile until I figure out what's possible, what's the best for my career, what will allow me to pay off my loans and to have a good quality of living.

putting myself out there

I've been debating whether or not to put this blog out there in the world wide web of search engines. I didn't want this "diary" to be limited because I had to worry about what recruiters or the school would think. But then again, I think it would be interesting to see what comments my writing might provoke, they might even be helpful... So, for now, Google, Yahoo!, Bing I'm letting you loose on my blog diary!

I leave tomorrow for Italy, so I'm going to get back to doing things away from the computer before everyone else comes home. That involves taking in some sun on the hammock, making sure I don't forget how to play the piano, and maybe watching some TV :)

informational interviews and moving around the world

Today I started my draft email to send out to those lucky industry experts I will be requesting an informational interview with. Oh networking... I think it's actually a really good skill to cultivate, not just for business, but for life in general. Building up one's self confidence by reaching out to the seemingly unreachable, or learning to ask for what you want are not things most people can actually do. I ask myself so many times why I always have to decide on the most difficult and complicated paths... but in the end, I know it's the only way I feel challenged and happy with my life, because I've truly taken advantage of every opportunity I could, even if it's been lonely or demanding.

Within the various consulting firms I'm interested in, as I decide to who or to which country offices I want to make a contact with, I have to ask myself a lot of questions about my future. At first, the MBA seemed like a little breather - I'd have a bit of time to just learn and casually network before I had to decide my whole future. Au contraire! some of these internship applications for next summer are supposedly due before the IE November intake even begins! Even though I already started to outline some of these decisions in my b-school applications, I feel like I have to make so many decisions again too soon!

The first thing that comes to my mind is: I want to keep exploring! 

I am enthralled by China and its huge investments in solar energy and how its and other BRIC countries' development will affect the world economy, and natural environment... and so, how cool would it be to be where it's happening now, work a few years in China - yes please! I took a summer course in Chinese. While we only got through four basic chapters, it's a start! 

I also would love to re-learn Arabic... I was really good, I swear!!, at the end of undergrad. But then I decided to go work for an Italian NGO and I was paying more weekly for Arabic tutoring than for groceries and I had to give it up to survive my professional adventures in Italy. So what about working a few years in the Middle East? Where I could see how the energy industry is changing... But, will these offices even take me if my language skills need major work? 

Or will I want to stay in Spain? I'm afraid of falling in love like I did with Italy (although after actually living in Italy for awhile, and having to deal with their postal system and many other inconveniences, shall we say, I decided I'm only going back on a permanent basis with a much better salary). Spanish was the first foreign language I ever learned. And, I love siestas! My mother's family is from Sicily, and the last few years I've been able to go visit our cousins there in August, and nothing is more delightful than mare, mangiare, dormire, mare e mangiare di nuovo, e dormire di nuovo (translation: seaside, eat, sleep, seaside, eat again, sleep again). Taking a nap after lunch is truly a luxury everyone should experience. Spain's also a big investor in wind and solar energy. And speaking of energy, Madrid is just full of it! I can't wait!

So, I guess that I want to intern in places that I don't want to live in forever - I want to take advantage of the opportunity to move around the globe while I still don't have anything like a house or car to look after. But I do eventually want my own vegetable garden, and a library with room for a piano... in other words, to call a city home and maybe plant some long-term roots. I think ideally I'd like to work in a firm's offices in China, or Spain, or the Middle, or even South America for a few years, and then relocate to their San Fran office and travel out of there around the world. 

Good luck to myself in making this work! The first step in achieving anything is wanting it as my boyfriend says!

vacation vs. prep time

One thing I am looking forward to when school starts is the non-procrastination option. With a million things to do, and less than a million moments to do them in, one thing a demanding work or school schedule does is force me to work. While I feel like I've been more than productive this summer, I still don't feel my productivity juices flowing at 100%. I am torn between sitting down like a good little girl and starting my applications to consulting firms for internships next summer, finishing my self-imposed online math camp at MBAmath.com, and just sitting around not doing much of anything... oh the luxury of time off.

Today's the first day back to high school for three of my younger siblings, so maybe we can do some homework together tonight...

i heart Facebook

Some very industrious future classmates of mine started earlier this year a group on Facebook called "IE MBA November 2010 Intake," and I cannot tell you what a resource it has already been. For example, this past Friday afternoon I posted a question on the group wall asking who else was signing up for the SANITAS health care plan. 21 comments and a new post later (all in a 4 day time frame, 2 if you don't count the weekend) we have helped each other to figure out what this service is exactly offering to IE students. 

Similar discussions on scholarship and visa application procedures have been hashed out on other threads. Since the school offices are sometimes overloaded with emails, this Facebook group has definitely become the fastest way to get information on our upcoming MBA program, in my opinion.

The only thing I'm going to be a little hesitant posting advice on is  regarding the apartment search (at least until my abode is secured). I feel like any edge I get on that with my budget is like finding gold! I am very excited to get the apartment hunt over with.

Now, off to read the new forum discussion on summer internships...

health insurance and moving vans

Every free moment I have in this last week at home is being spent with my family, but when they're off doing their own things, like this morning, I am doing more b-school preparations so that when I get to Italy I can vacation a little! This morning, I am almost done finalizing my health insurance through SANITAS. They have been great about replying right away, but everything takes more time right now with my seven hour time difference with Spain. 

Other emails to get out today are going to the moving company I'm contracting to move the stuff I accumulated living three years in Italy to Madrid. I was going to rent a car and do it myself, but according to ViaMichelin, I would spend around $300 USD just on gas and tolls one way! And I would of had to rent the car in Italy and return it there because one way rentals are ridiculously expensive. Plus, the drive is a long 15 hours, 30 round trip! So, for around the same expense, I'm paying someone else to drive it all there! I'm going with a company I found online - Speedy Movers S.r.l. It's hq-ed in Rome. I will be able to comment on the service in October. I hope it all goes well and that there will no surprise fees as there often are when contracting a service in Italy...

packing

I leave for Europe in 8 days! Before heading to Madrid mid-September to apartment hunt, I'll be visiting friends and old co-workers in the Piedmont region of Italy. While I'm excited to go back to the other side of the pond, which has been my home since May 2007, I'm going to miss my family a little more this time around! This is the first summer I've spent at home  (Omaha, Nebraska, USA) since I was 18. It was fun, especially since all seven of my younger siblings are now older and have developed very unique and independent personalities. The hardest part, however, about going back to Europe are the baggage restrictions! I am doing some major strategic planning to get all of my cute suits, new shoes, plus my "I can only buy this in the U.S." items (i.e. Tylenol PM, baking powder...) in to the two suitcases allowed...

summer reading

I just downloaded the IE optional reading list the other day. I had a few books from the list already picked out as pre-MBA must reads already. Not on the list, but I definitely recommend to anyone considering an MBA is Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School by Philip Delves Broughton. I stole The Tipping Point and The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell from my parents' bookshelves, picked up an audio copy of Good to Great by Jim Collins, and started The Lords of Strategy by Walter Kiechel  yesterday to get me ready for apps to consulting firms. I'll get through as many as I can before I leave for Europe, but I'm not buying anymore physical books. I'm sure my suitcases are already overweight! I'll definitely be searching for electronic versions...

So far this summer I've read two very entertaining books on China: China Road by Rob Gifford and Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost. I like the idea of working on clean energy technologies, or anything really, in China for a few years post-MBA...









Another good, albeit a bit old, book I read this summer was Girls Just Want to Have Funds by Susannah Blake Goodman. I'm trying to get business savvy in my personal life as well, and this was a good review of retirement and other basic financial planning instruments.

I also read a few fun books and caught up on my American TV shows this summer while in the States! Gotta enjoy my last summer "off".

first bureaucratic hurtle overcome! i have my visa!

Yesterday I picked up my passport with no problems from the Spanish Consulate in Chicago! First bureaucratic hurtle has been surpassed. I'm a little anxious about the immigration permit process once I arrive in Spain, just because it was such a nightmare in Italy... but it seems like IE has everything very organized with the local authorities. There's just going to be a little problem I should have foreseen - my Caja Madrid account (and therefore my Sallie Mae loan) will be blocked until I get my NIE (número de identificación de extranjeros - foreigner id number) number, which sounds like it will take about a month. So I'm going to have to raise some last minute cash to cover first month expenses, like a deposit on an apartment. All these little preparations are just part of the fun and learning process of moving to yet another new country!