… and a valuable one, indeed. More than ever counts the saying “Time is money”. Actually, it is even worth more than that. But the last weeks, it did not appear to me as if time was a constant. Recapitulating the last one and a half months since I last made an entry in the blog, and the 5 months I am in Barcelona so far, time went by in no time. So many events had taken place, all of them with lots of new and interesting experiences, sometimes not too nice ones.
ESADE Career Week, for example, a great opportunity to get to know companies and their representatives, coming from an industry, finance and consulting background. Be it Nike, JP Morgan, BCG or Roland Berger, they and many other companies had the chance to meet us, let us know about potential internship opportunities, held first interview rounds and took away CVs with interesting profiles to start their search for the best.
Be it also the trip to a vineyard, together with and organized by our friends from IESE, where we were able to see how CAVA, the famous Catalan beverage, is made. A great opportunity to network with our friends from IESE while having lots of fun and enjoying the afternoon with an excellent and huge lunch, including salads, barbecue, and a wine tasting.
Or all the group works I had to do together with the six people I was assigned to at the beginning of the MBA. Especially funny was the Marketing project we had to do where we had to develop a new product. Me and my group were assigned to develop a new Yogurt for the Spanish market during the Marketing class, very interesting and stimulating. And we really managed to do so, coming up with a very interesting idea and concept. We will continue to further develop it during the next trimester in the Marketing II class. Therefore, I won´t say more at this moment 
!
And of course, there was the LEAD program, as already mentioned in the blogs before. Very good to learn more about oneself, one’s own strengths and weaknesses, and how to best evaluate and approach them. Unfortunately, due to a very weird circumstances (the majority of the class wanted to delay the course due to a test for Managerial Accounting that was set for the next day and find a new time slot for the LEAD as fast as possible), the usual schedule for the program was delayed more than one month, leaving myself a bit disappointed for it is one of the classes I am most eager to have to learn new things. As said, I wasn´t happy with that for I knew that it would be almost impossible to find another time slot soon and fast due to the very compact schedule we already had. And so, LEAD was rescheduled from the beginning of November to the end of December. In my opinion, we, the students, as well as ESADE can be more professional with such situations. I do not see it as too much professional to “beg” for a delay of a fixed and long time planned program just because of one small (30% of overall grade) test and get it approved. The good thing about it is, that we are already in talks of optimizing such situations, with ESADE more than willing to learn and get even better. This is what I indeed call professional and forward thinking!
One of the private highlights has been the visit of the ORISHAS concert. Orishas, a Cuban music band (more infos www.orishasthebest.com), and one of my most favorite ones, played recently in Barcelona, presenting songs from their new album. Very energetic, great rhythm, astounding live performance, fascinating not only me but the whole audience. That really wowed me! If you ever have the chance to see them live, DO SO!!!
And there were the final exams we had to write during the whole last week. Two exams every day, each one 2-3 hours long, with little time to prepare beforehand due to other projects and assignments that had to be finalized. But finally, the first term is over and everything went all right, leaving us with 3 weeks of holidays and time to wait for the results of the exam.
Time went by faster than expected. Five months in a glimpse of a moment. With great moments indeed, but on the other hand, fewer time to care about relationships with friends and family as originally planned. Each one of us has to deal to balance his personal triangle of economic, social and cultural situation in order to avoid a personal corrosion of his character. And seeing the economic one as being to get the most out of a scarce resource, with time being the scarcest resource for all of us, it is crucial to focus on this one even more intense. Relationship, the right ones, should always come before business, as one of the professors of our class told us, in order to avoid this corrosion of ones character, in order not to dedicate ones precious values for something driven mostly on a short term basis, to live and be happy at the very end of the day! This is what I didn´t enjoy at all, being “trapped” in the “MBA realm”, endangered of the corrosion of my own character. I want, I must and I will change this.
As for now, I am eager to enjoy some nice and relaxing days with my family in Bavaria and go back to Frankfurt to see some friends before going back to Barcelona to celebrate the beginning of the new year there. I look forward to experiencing a great time in 2009 as well and will try to continue with those short comments here.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you!
Best
Dieter
