As strange as it might sound, to use a slightly modified line out of the fictional Star Trek universe, it is the best way I can currently think of how to describe what happened to me during the last two months and will continue to happen for the next eighteen months during the rest of the ESADE MBA program.
Its Sunday, the 05th of October 2008, I´m sitting in the living room of my flat, listening to the sounds of Juanes “La camisa negra”, enjoying the first few days of spare time. Pre-Term at ESADE has ended and all firstyear MBA students have four days off to use as the want before Term 1 starts on Monday the 06th. All of my colleagues in the first year can enjoy those days indeed for they have passed the Pre-Term exams, some astonishingly good, others glad to have reached the minimum requirements, but all with lots of effort and team spirit they have put into during the past month. Some have left town towards Oktoberfest in Munich, others went to San Sebastian to enjoy more of the Spanish flair outside of Barcelona, and some just stayed in town – such as me. I really welcome the possibility to have some time to reflect about the things happened – to have the chance to think and write about my personal goals and vision in combination with my unique learning style I learned to have during Pre-Term – to finish the required description of that vision my coach, to whom I was assigned to in the Leadership development program, needs before our first one to one session in the middle of October. To simply live …
…my first weeks in Barcelona have been really exciting. Not as one would expect it from a person being there for the first time. No. Actually, the first time I had been to the Sagrada Familia was in the end of September, and to some other famous sightseeing places I still haven´t been yet. Honestly, I wasn´t in the mood to go for a sightseeing. I usually like to do this, with my camera being my best friend during that time. But it was different this time. As I think about the why, I can think of three reasons:
First, I had to find myself a place to live. And whoever had been to Barcelona before and tried to find a proper place to stay knows that this is quite a difficult task, assuming that you do not want to pay some 600 Euros or more for a 20 square meter apartment. One of the really good things about ESADE is that they really care about their students right away from the beginning. They try to help new students offering the possibility to have a housing agency to help you find a flat in Barcelona. Really nice, but in my case a bit like worthless. They weren´t able to find an adequate flat for me. Trying to continue the search on my own, I figured out once again that the internet is a marvelous invention. It was quite easy, considering my previous knowledge of the Spanish language, to surf through some Spanish housing sites to find offers of already existing flat sharing communities looking for a new flat mate. After having seen five apartments, I decided to go into a flat in Les Corts, a residential area of Barcelona, 15 minutes away from the famous Camp Nou where the F.C. Barcelona is located. I would be living together with a Mexican girl, a boy from Chile and another one from Spain. Nice combo to enhance the Spanish again. Quite a small room, but for a price of 330 Euros and 40 Euros of additional costs each month. I moved in there on the 01st of August.
Second, I needed a break from all the administrative things I had to take care of the last weeks, such as the dissolving of my flat in Frankfurt in which I had lived for more than six years or the termination of my work with Commerz Business Consulting (CBC) / Commerzbank where I had worked for six years, doing Inhouse Consulting at a Consultant level with (CBC) for the last three years. I just wanted to relax and enjoy the beautiful weather by going to the city beaches of Barcelona. And Barcelona offers some nice possibilities to do so. So I just did it and my skin got colored.
And third, I wanted to get to know my future classmates, wanted to experience new cultures and meet new people as soon as possible, best before the start of the MBA program. And again, the internet, and especially Facebook, offered a great possibility to get in contact with my future classmates. The ones, who were already in town regularly met to have dinner, go out together and get to know each other better. I even got to know a lot of students from IESE, another really well know University for its MBA program here in Barcelona. It was amazingly refreshing getting to know new people, all with the most different backgrounds, and every single one with his/her unique character and the characteristics of the respective country, having conversations either in English or in Spanish.
This was one major reason I took the MBA, to gain personal experience, to grow personally by getting to know more cultures, different kinds of backgrounds.
I was curious and excited to meet all the other students as soon as the MBA program was about to start. To explore more of this NEW, this world of Barcelona and the MBA, this life as a full time student, this different cultures and characters involved!
