For my first month or so, the optional Spainsh course provided by IE was the only item on my academic agenda. That automatically translated into a whole lot of fun and "networking" for an entire month. Discovering the nightlife in Madrid was certainly one of the many "culture shocks" I have experienced so far. Wrapping up a party at 5am equates to having an "early night" in Spain, bars dont get going till about 11-12 or so and the clubbing scene only starts at about 4am.
Along with the nightlife though, there was a lot of time spent discovering Madrid, it's snaking alleyways, regal museums and serene parks. Over the Easter holidays some friends and I managed to organise a road trip to the south of Spain. The experience there was stupendous .....Spain is a very Catholic country and festivals such as Easter are celebrated with gusto. Each city or town we visited had an extravagant parade composed of people dressed in what appeared to me as "KKK" costumes. Needless to say, the entire procession was completely peaceful and had no similarity to the aforementioned clan....
The MBA officially started on the 13th of April and by this time I had already been in Spain for a full 6 weeks. I was beginning to feel a great pang of guilt. I had been unproductive for far too long for my liking and I was eager to start challenging myself once again. For the first 2 weeks of the MBA, we had a program called LAUNCH. The LAUNCH program is basically a series of modules that foster Leadership, Teambuilding, Culutral Awareness and Creative Thinking. According to one of the professors at IE, other business schools dont really have a program similar to LAUNCH and LAUNCH is one of the things that differentiates IE. For the most part, I thought LAUNCH was useful, infact some of the classes were fascinating, but there were a couple of times when I could not really see the relevance of the exercise. The schedule for LANUCH though, was quite intense, usually starting at 9am and finishing at 8 or 9pm, and the whole thing made me feel somewhat productive again :).
Well at the moment, LAUNCH is finished and the grind has really begun. Many people who have done the MBA or are nearly finished with the MBA claim that this is the hardest they have ever worked in their life. I cant really make a comment on that right now, its still too early, but I am glad that I am challenging myself once again. I do expect that by the time the MBA is over, I would have redefined what my limits really are.
I am now about to make a resolution and announce it on this semi-public forum. One of the things they have told us here at IE is that if you announce your resolution, you are much more likely to stick to it. So, on that note, I resolve to blog once a week from here on until the end of the MBA....:).
Till next time - adios.
