Internship Crushed

Today I almost crushed a pedestrian on the way to my 2nd interview for an internship at a start-up company. I screeeeeeched to a halt about 12 inches (what's that in cm?) from stupid's back leg. He didn't even notice he had just walked in front of oncoming traffic until my horn notified him of the fact. Ah well, better me on a moto than a bus driver with one of those crazy accordion double buses which would have never exhibited anything close to my cat like reflexes. Although stupid was lucky, I did have to breath a sign of relief as the idea of wiping dead stupid skin off my beautiful blue moto just doesn't appeal to me.

On to the 2nd interview. This was basically a follow up to a position that was mine for the taking. But this was the negotiation interview. You may know that most start-ups don't have two euros to rub together, well this one is no different. The negotiation went something like this:

Me: Is it possible you can pay me more than I earned when I was 18?
Them: Nope.
Me: Would you like fries with that?

And that's about the gist of the meeting. The company has a good plan and nice management and certainly has the ability to turn a revenue in the near future. On the flip side, its a start-up that pays way below the average internship and doesn't offer any equity. I wish money wasn't an issue but with 19 months between real jobs and a currency that's dropped over 20% since I've been here, the internship is the only opportunity to make anything while doing the MBA and not a good time to work for peanuts. Besides, new opportunities are coming through every day and there are some very interesting internships that don't include slaving away for a soulless Investment Bank or living out of a hotel at one of the Consulting companies.

The search continues....

In the meantime, tomorrow is the 2nd day of mid-terms. I should be studying Operations but instead I've been working on my LinkedIn profile and reading through the Vault Guide to Venture Capital. I also downloaded the digital book reader from Adobe along with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn just to see how the program worked. The software is getting pretty good, I think the digital book is going to be huge in the next few years.

This weekend, I'm off to Amsterdam with Charles and his wife Laura for a 4 day trip. That makes the 5th country visited since coming to IESE. However, now that I'm heading the Adventure and Travel club along with one other student, its time to kick the trips up a notch, in the next 6 weeks, I will head to Morocco, Portugal and possibly Istanbul. Photos will follow.

Which do you prefer...Buda or Pest?

I prefer Pest. A few weeks after our trip there I'm finally adding a bit of info about our great trip to Budapest, Hungary. Tessa and I went with two second year students; Nani and Eric. Eric is (was) at IESE on exchange from MIT and Nani is a good friend of Tessa's and a hellofa fanatic about Turkish Baths. Budapest is the capital of Hungary and was my first trip into Eastern Europe. Its different from Western Europe, not as commercial or touristy. Although we did go a little outside of the normal tourist season.Historically this was made up of two cities; Buda and Pest. They were split by a river that runs between them. There are several bridges that span the river including the Chain Bridge.Statue on the Pest side with his back to the castle on Buda hill.Chain Bridge

We stayed right in the center of the Pest side and could easily walk everywhere. These building s were across the street from where we stayed and give a good idea of how cool the architecture is when its taken care of. Quite a few buildings are simply allowed to fade and instead of the vibrant colors you see here, they are gray or dark. The main market in Budapest offered many of the most well known Hungarian food at a discount to the prices offered elsewhere. Here you see Nani enjoying a regular sausage whereas I couldn't help but like spicy horse sausage. I didn't want to like it and I never thought I would say this but holy cow, that was some good horse.The public thermal bath we went to was a bit too public for our tastes. Nani could hardly stand the place although she did enjoy the scenery (you'll see what I mean in a second). I think we'll remember those thermal baths long after the taste of sausage has washed away from our memories.
I admit that from afar, this looks like a beautiful way to spend your afternoon. But take a look at the person you're sharing your bath with and then tell me how long you're going to stick around? Although the majority of Hungarian's were fit, I think the baths were a stomping ground for the big and bigger. Easily the most fat people I've seen since leaving the states , however, still less fat than in the states.Bringing Sexy Back?
Here you see Eric blurring the distinction between big and HUGE.

The architecture was fantastic! So many refurbished extraordinary building set among old and crumbling buildings. Its not unusual to see the two buildings below on the same street. Although the green building is one of the coolest we saw in the city.Budapest also has the 2nd largest Synagogue in the world after the one in New York. The design was very similar to a church but of course all the religious symbols are different. The plight of Hungarian Jews during WWII is still very much remembered today. Out of every 10 Jews killed during the holocaust, 1 was Hungarian. One out of every 3 Jews killed in Auschwitz was Hungarian. Eric has family in Budapest and they took great care of us. One of the members of his family is an Auschwitz survivor. It was very interesting to hear about her trip back to Auschwitz with her entire family and how her parents didn't make it but she was able to survive and travel back to the place with all her offspring. This synagogue is also interesting because it is the only one in the world that has a cemetery on the premises. This was because the ghetto was right next to this Synagogue and the Jews didn't have much of a choice.Budapest was a great deal in comparison to anywhere in Western Europe. The hotels are a much better bargain and the food was half the price or less. The people were extremely nice but the overall temperament was a bit depressed. Kind of like when its raining so some external factor isn't allowing you to enjoy your day as much as you otherwise would. But as tourists we enjoyed every day and found the city to be enchanting and exciting.

Preparing to eat the best goulash ever! For 4 people, 3 appetizers, 4 main courses, 3 desserts and two bottles of wine we paid $60.Thanks to Eric for introducing us to his great Hungarian family and also for making sure that Nani washed everything that needed to be washed and thanks to Nani for making sure that Eric only ordered beers he could actually drink. hehehe. Great trip!

Home Stretch

A lot is happening this week. Tessa is heading back to Arizona on Monday :(. We returned from a fantastic cultural experience in Budapest, Hungary last Monday. The second years are finishing school and will all be gone next week. Also, I received the results from the MBA exchange bidding and luckily I snagged a spot to LBS. I will be in London from mid/late Sept through beginning of December. Also, this is the week I take over the Adventure Club at IESE. I am already starting to get trips on the schedule.

Everyone asks if Tessa is leaving because of relationship problems but that is not the case at all. Several factors went into her decision: She has a great business opportunity at home and will start a catering company with her friend, the costs of living here have increased by 20% since we've arrived (because of the falling dollar) which means that the budget we had was really effected, the opportunities for an American to work here are limited to babysitting, teaching English, and giving tours. Not exactly the best options. This has been a very difficult and emotional decision and we hope that it will offer Tessa the opportunity to gain experience in her field and make her life less dependent what is going on with me and school. We are having a going away party tonight.

The third term of school is going pretty well. Classes are much less intense this term which is good because 40-50% of us still need to lock down summer internships and need to spend time applying. The weather is finally turning into what we expected when we moved here; sunny and clear. I thought it was always like that in Barcelona but it turns out that th winter is quite chilly and Spring and Fall offer many rainy/cold days. The nice weather means we can finally begin doing outdoor trips and head to the climbing area in town at Montjuic. I've only climbed three times since moving here which is way below expectations.

I expect to have some time next week to upload some of the pictures from our last couple trips and elaborate a bit more about Budapest and the fantastic time we had there.