Foggy London Town?

Its been two weeks since arriving in London for the exchange term at London Business School. During that time we started classes, I found a flat in a gorgeous part of town, bought a bike to ride 20 mins each way to school and started learning some proper English. For instance, over here mail is called post, pants are called trousers as pants refer to underpants, and sweaters are called jumpers. If you want to fire someone, you sack them. If you are laid off, you are made redundant. If something has taken a long time, its taken ages. If you have a lot of something, you have loads. When you have good luck or good things happen to you, you say, "happy days."

Above is a photo taken by Felix of our initial arrival to London Business School. LBS is an old school on beautiful grounds. The location is just across the street from Regent’s Park and the area is surrounded by mansions. They say LBS is more diverse than IESE with 60 backgrounds represented but I would argue that the classes are much less diverse. LBS has around 1,000 students in total whereas IESE has closer to 400 students with over 50 backgrounds. Many of the LBS students are British or American. Its also harder to meet people at LBS as people are not as friendly as IESE. The professors are excellent and the guest speakers far surpass what we get at IESE. CEOs of huge firms drop by regularly as their offices are located somewhere in London. Things are also much more organized in London as compared with Spain. Which is to be expected but I’ve also heard that many people who come to LBS from the States do not think things are very efficient. After arriving from Spain, I would argue that things are unbelievably efficient but maybe that also has to do with my ability to ask questions and understand answers here whereas in Spain I’m typically in a state of communication confusion.

Below is a photo of Felix and I standing on the great lawn in front of the school.
Because I only have class Monday-Wednesday, I spent about a week sleeping at my friend Nani’s place while looking for a great place to live. Thanks again Nani! The new flat is in a suburb-feeling area of town called Hampstead Heath. Close to everything but outside of the crazy and crowded city center, Hampstead Heath is filled with Yuppies, dogs, babies, bikes and nice shops and restaurants. There is also a huge natural area which my flat borders. The Heath, as its known, is what London looked like before it was developed. Similar to the Squaw Peak area in Phoenix, The Heath sits in the middle of this area and has ponds, old growth trees, grassy areas, views over the city, and trails for walking and biking. Below is a photo of some Londonites enjoying a sunny day in the grassy hill area of the Heath which overlooks the city.
I live with two Irish people, Padraic and Maurie who are in their 20s. They are both extremely nice and friendly. Almost every time we speak I ask them to explain the significance of words or things. For instance, last night Padraic came home with a steak pie. It looked like a regular pie but apparently it was filled with steak, gravy, and other items. He then explained that pies are a regular meal here. Half a pie is below.
The photo makes the pie look a lot less edible than it does in person. But before you go thinking that the Brits have disgusting eating habits, I would like to draw your attention to an amazing display of Americana: https://webmail.london.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_V-2NKUlzns You probably missed this event in the Olympics but I’m sure it will be right after the floor exercises in 2012.

Below are some photos of my flat.

The red brick building was built in the late 1800s or early 1900s and has a nice garden out front with roses, benches and trees. My room has a super comf bed and plenty of space for the 50 pounds of stuff the airline allowed me to bring.

The flat was redone recently and has a large kitchen which overlooks the front yard and is where I check my email and enjoy coffee and tea every day.
The living room has a couch bed, overlooks part of the Heath and doubles as a private room for any guests who might come to town. Hint hint.Our flat is located two floors above the book store you see below. The restaurant to the left has some fantastic indian food and behind the tree on the right is the cafe where I sometimes grab a coffee to go and a muffin.

Finally, below is a typical lane on the outside of the Heath. This gives you an idea of what the trees look like within the Heath but of course, there is also plenty of overgrowth everywhere.

Overall, the first two weeks here have been better than expected. There have been a few very cold days and its rained for part of three days but I've been told this is some of the best weather they've had in months. Mostly its been sunny but a little chilly. Would I live here? Not sure yet, if it was always like it is now, I would have no problem but the real test will be Nov & Dec when its freezing and rainy. Luckily I have already figured out how to cope with the loads of crap weather: I will simply wear my jumper, trousers and long pants, eat a meat pie, wash it down with afternoon tea and hope for the upcoming happy days.

3 days in Andorra

Yesterday we returned from a big group trip to Andorra. There were 16 of us in total, 12 first year IESE students, 3 friends, and yours truly representing the second year. We rented a 16 bed chalet on the mountainside.

For those who don't know, Andorra is a tinny country squished between Spain and France. It has skiing in the winter, great hiking in the summer and is historically insignificant. We decided to use our four day holiday to drive the 3 hours up to Andorra and explore some of its surroundings.

Above you see the 16 of us who decided to hike for one of our days. There are 5 1/2 Americans, 5 Germans, 3 1/2 Indians, 1 Bulgarian and 1 Moroccan. There is also one Hungarian midget but he is hiding in the back. You will find out why very soon...




Our trek was to peak the highest moutain in Andorra. Not very high at just under 10,000 feet but if you consider we came from sea level in Barcelona to 6,000 feet elevation at the trail head and gained 4,000 feet in the 5 mile ascent to the peak, you realize, this was not an easy hike. In fact, the hike was so difficult, the midget didn't make it. Below you see Velio after finishing off the last of the midget. Lucky for him we came prepared with dental floss. Fact: Bulgarians love eating midgets. Its true, look it up on Wikipedia.

There were small lakes all over the mountain range. They are fed by the snow and rain that occur quite frequently in dem der hills. The day before our hike it was raining and lightning so we were quite lucky with the weather...or were we???
Party on the peak. Who brought the strobe light?




I guess no strobe light is needed when you have millions of pieces of hail coming down. In case you are wondering, this photo was taken with my new Canon 40D SLR camera using a Sigma 18-200mm lens. I bought the camera while in the states and couldn't be happier with the quality of the photos.

After enjoying the hail turned slush turned rain storm for about 2 hours of total awesomeness, the guys who finished the hike earlier (Zach, Gurveer, Steve, and Naresh) greeted us with cold beers. I mean, really, is there any better way to finish an 8 hour hike to the highest peak in the country after being pelted with hail, sleet and rain for hours??? Actually, yes there is, about an hour later we were all relaxing in the thermal pools located in the center of the city. Its not easy to be an MBA, but we do the best we can.

This final photo shows the hail/snow that was happening in the mountains while we were making our way down. This is the view from our chalet.

10 more days until I leave for London for the big exchange. Until then tengo mucho espanol. I also need to finish off a technical note on Social Entrepreneurship in Health Care that I'm doing for my internship.

BIB - Back In Barcelona

After a wonderful summer, I am back in Barcelona studying Spanish. The first part of my internship in Kenya was an amazing experience. My time back in the states was relaxing and fun and now I am finishing up the second part of my internship while concurrently taking Spanish and preparing for my exchange program in London. I leave in two weeks.

I will fill in some more details about the last few months in a future post but for now, I will discuss some good news and some bads news. The bad news first, yesterday I had my first real accident on my moto. I was driving to school as calmly as I have ever driven. I entered a roundabout with cars all around me. I needed to get over to the right so I was looking in my mirror and for no reason whatsoever, the car in front of me stopped. I noticed too late and although I hit my brakes, that didn't prevent me from smashing into the back of their SUV with my poor little blue moto. The noise was terrible. I was convinced my whole front end was destroyed. My initial reaction was shock, followed by, "oh crap, now I'm going to get run over." But the little moto that could didn't even stall. The SUV started to move and I noticed a great big dent in their back bumper. I followed the person as they moved out of the rotunda. Now I thought about dealing with the police and insurance, tickets, all the other crap that happens after an accident. I continued following the SUV until we hit a stop light. I noticed they didn't really seem like they intended to pull over. After the light, we drove as normal and next thing I knew, the SUV was passing another car. My insurance worries drove off into the distance with a dented bumper and I made my way to IESE. The good news is that I just scratched my knees a bit and basically broke the front of my moto but apart from that, this accident has a happy ending (remind you of anyone?). Hopefully that will be my one and only accident story while in Barcelona.

Istanbul

Some pics from the recent trip made to Istanbul with fellow completed first year Ewa. We were welcomed by an incoming first year named Ece (her name is pronounced like saying the letters "H" "A") who's generosity and hospitality were unbelievable. She picked us up at the airport and took care of us until she dropped us back at the airport. It was fantastic. I don't do that for my best friends and she did that for basically complete strangers. No wonder Turkey is supposed to have some of the best hospitality in the world. I mean how many places do store owners bring you tea while you're searching their wares? The trip was 5 days and our time was packed with things to do. The weather was very nice and aside from a bit of a drizzle one day, we had nice days.

The food was a huge highlight. I had no idea that Turkish food would be so good. It helped that Ece took us to great places but I was amazed at the quality and quantity of food. A normal meal consisted of cold appetizers, hot appetizers, several main dishes followed by desert. The best thing about it was even our most expensive meal cost less than an average meal in Spain. How much did we enjoy the food? Our average dinner was almost 3 hours. How can that be you ask? I'm happy to say that the scales were tipped by what is certainly my all time record for a dinner: 4 hours! No joke. We were really in a restaurant for 4 hours. Sure we were the last to leave and enjoyed a few drinks but believe me we were eating for a ridiculously large portion of the time. I suppose the view from our table helped. We dined while the sun set as you can see below.

What do Turks do for fun you may wonder? Well Turkey is a Muslim country. But in contrast to all the countries you associate with the Muslim religion, Turkey is modern and they separate religion from politics. Sure many of the people are religious but that doesn't mean they don't know how to have fun. This is where many people go in the evening and where we went after our 4 hour dinner; a Backgammon & hooka bar. For the record I was going to win the second game against Ewa. What happened during the first game was lost in a cloud of apple flavored tobacco smoke.
There are many landmarks that define a city. In most Islamic countries you will see Mosques everywhere. Just like there is a church every 5 inches in the states, Istanbul has Mosques. The difference is that many of the most spectacular Mosques in Istanbul were created during the Ottoman Empire from the 14th-17th century. During this time the Ottoman Empire encompassed not just Turkey but many of the surrounding countries. You may remember hearing the name Constantinople during your history classes, Istanbul used to be Constantinople. It was incredibly rich and powerful and as you can see they found no better way to spend their money than on creating spectacular Mosques.

Below you can see Hagia Sofia in the background. It may be hard to tell but the statue of liberty could fit inside. So could Notre Dame. The place is friggin huge. What's really cool about this mosque is that it was actually a church built in 532. It stayed a church until the Ottomans took over Constantinople in 1453 then was converted into a mosque. All the crosses, jesuses, marys, madonna's with child, etc. were painted over. In a Mosque's its not allowed to have depictions of people. However, it was converted to a museum in the 1930s and over the years the paint has faded and now some of the Christian symbols show through the paint and some of the mosaics of Jesus and others have been uncovered. Its the only mosque in the world where Christian and Muslim symbols and art is presented.

The photo above gives you an idea of how large this place is and the photo below shows the 20 story tower inside which they are using to make restorations.

Next on the agenda was the Blue Mosque. Why is it call the Blue Mosque you may wonder? Well because its blue and its a mosque. Actually its named for the "brightly colored tiles that line the interior" that's how Rick Steves describes it in his guide book and if you don't know Rick Steves yet, you don't know Jack! Throw away your piece of crap Lonely Planets and buy Rick Steves' guides for whichever countries they are available. You won't believe how good they are. Anyway enough ranting, here is the interior. Its mandatory that shoes are taken off and all women must cover their hair. Kind of how all men must take off hats in churches or all men must wear yamuka's in temple. Does anyone know how to spell yamuka?
If you can just look at the photo above for one more second you will notice that someone brought his own book of a higher power to the mosque. Assalamu 'Alaikum Rick.

Below is the rather borringly named New Mosque which sits in the perfect position to watch the Bosphorous flow by. The Bosphorous Straight cuts Istanbul in half which puts half in Europe and the other half in Asia.
Aside from 4 hour dinners, we took in some of the entertainment. The guys below have an amazing capacity to spin in circles without falling over. The Turkish band plays, these guys start spinning and some crazy trance takes hold. Seriously, your 5 year old would fall over 100 times trying to keep up with these guys. I forget their name so I will just bastardize their skill and significance by dubbing them, "the spinning fools."

With all the money and power you may wonder what an emperor does in his free time. Simple, he builds a ridiculously humongously gigantic palace. Named Tokapl Palace, Mehmet the Conquerer had this place built during the 1470s and a century later Suleyman the Magnificent made it his home and it remained the home of sultans for over 400 years. Below you see Jared the Fourhourdinneriffic wondering how to retrofit the Sultan's bedroom with a cactus garden. Shout out to AZ! And finally, what self respecting Sultan would build a palace without also erecting a vast living area for his "friends."

For a while I thought Istanbul didn't have that many people. I'm used to Barcelona where there are always a zillion people walking around for no apparent reason. Just to walk. I mean, can you imagine? Anyway, I told Ece that Istanbul didn't seem that populous and she couldn't believe I thought that way. The next day we walked between the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market and I realized that 10 million people actually did feel like 10 million people. Can you find Ewa in the photo below? I'll give you a hint, today she's 50% off. Seriously. Its a good deal my friend. Okay wait don't go, 60% off.

But unlike Barcelona where no one wants to talk to you...ever, the people in Istanbul spoke to us wherever we went. Almost always while they spoke there was a smile on their face and they were genuinley friendly. But what was most unexpected and wonderful was the fine man you see in the photo below. What makes this person so dang wonderful? Well take a close look, he's pouring delicious cherry juice for all the passers by. For reasons unknown the juice was free but even more surprising, it was made with 100% pure deliciousness.

I would love to continue this tour of Istanbul but I leave for Kenya in the morning. And by morning I mean the god forsaken hour of 5:30am. Really, no one should have to get up that early ever! When I am Sultan, no one will be allowed to wake up before 7:30. The punishment with be death or cherry juice to the Sultan. Am I not merciful?

Thanks to Ewa for being a great travel companion and to Ece for being a fantastic guide and a wonderful host. This was an awesome trip!

Done and Gone

The first year of the MBA is over! I can't believe it. So trying, so demanding and so rewarding. Our last final was on Friday and a paper was due today. As of this morning the paper was sent from where I am staying in Istanbul which means I am free from the studies of the MBA until September. WoooooooooHooooooooooooo. Looking back, the time flew by amazingly fast. But to paraphrase one of my favorite bands, the weeks went fast but the days went so sloooooow.

Last week was a good week for a number of reasons. 1. Tessa and I were communicating very well and celebrated our 4 year anniversary. 2. Jeff, Tim and Jeff's sister were in town visiting. 3. Finished 1st year of MBA. 4. Tickets were booked to Kenya for my 3 1/2 week trip there for research/safari/trekking. 5. Left for Istanbul.

Which now puts me in Istanbul. I traveled here with a fellow survivor of the first year named Ewa from Poland. We're enjoying the hospitality of a really nice new first year named Ece. She has been showing us everything worth seeing in this city and has taken great care of us. Ewa and I have many questions about the Muslim religion/life and Ece has been extremely patient with us. At the same time, I have had a lot of explaining to do for American foreign policy.

Istanbul is a fantastic city. Straddling the Bosphorous River, it is partly in Europe and partly in Asia. Of course it is within Turkey which has a few neighbors known to get a little wild from time to time, namely, Syria, Iran and Iraq. Bulgaria and Greece are somewhat more tame.

Today we visited a church called Hagia Sofia which was a christian church from the 6th-14th century then converted to a mosque. The structure is immense and the dome is huge. The Statue of Liberty would fit inside with space to spare. This mosque is so interesting because its one of the only religious structures in the world to have so many christian and muslim symbols in the same place. Although very interesting, now it is more a museum rather than a place of worship which is what made our next destination so cool. We went to The Blue Mosque which is one of the finest designed and decorated mosques in the world. People still pray there but luckily tourists were allowed in. Everyone has to remove their shoes and then we just marvel at the structure, the design, the play of light, and the architectural elements.

Anyway, gotta cut this short. We're getting up early tomorrow to head to the Toptaki Palace and The Grand Bazaar. Its time to do some shopping.

Ups and downs

So much can happen in such a short amount of time. In the last few weeks I enjoyed the chaos of Marrakech, the history of Portugal, and the warmth of north east Spain on the Costa Brava. My friends Jeff, Tim and Jeff´s sister Aimee are visiting right now for a week and my friend Kristin just left after spending two weeks in Spain. My summer plans have become more solid as I locked up an internship where I will research and write about social entrepreneurship. And with only two weeks left of school, I´m looking forward to take a break from this full-time job that is the MBA to spend more time enjoying life and working.

Despite professional, academic and world travel progress, my relationship with Tessa has rapidly diminished. Our ability to talk is hindered by a 9 hour time difference which means I can only speak with her at 8am, 9pm or 2am. And during these times, one of us is either heading to bed or on a lunch/dinner break which means many days we do not talk. The lack of communication is causing an expanding rift and I´m not sure what where things will go. I feel very sad about what is happening and the way it is happening but I am hopeful that everything will work out.

Although my thoughts are clouded with relationship concerns, I am looking forward to my 5 day trip to Istanbul in June, the three week stint in Kenya for the internship and the exchange to London Business School in September. I´ll try to post some pictures of recent adventures as they are starting to mount up.

Where to next?

Whereas the vast majority of IESE students are on their way to France right now for the MBA Olympics I am about to leave for Marrakech in Morocco with 12 others who have decided for a cultural experience rather than competing against a bunch of other MBA programs to see which school has the best soccer, rugby, table tennis, chess players, etc.

We will spend four days down there and as its my first trip to Africa, I am very excited to see how the Muslim world compares. It should prove to be very different from Spain and a huge contrast to Amsterdam where I was for the 3 day weekend that just passed.

Amsterdam was a gorgeous city. I went with my classmate Charles who is/was an architect and his wife Laura who is also an architect. Did we look at architecture you may wonder? Why yes we did and it was great to hear about buildings from experts. Maybe you know this already but the modern architecture in the Netherlands is some of the most advanced in the world. Its amazing what they have been building there.

Just noticed I have to head for my plane. To be continued...after Morocco.

Last weekend was a

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.

Ooh La La

This is the last night of our 7 night Paris trip. My sister and her friend Deni left yesterday morning and took all of Paris' consumer goods with them. What they do isn't even called shopping, its called buying. "Hey, what are you guys doing today?" I ask. "Well, we're looking high and low to see what's left and then we're going to buy it." "Really, how do you know you want it if you haven't seen it yet?" "Don't be stupid Jared, we don't want it, we need it and we're going to have it." In related news, the Eiffel Tower is being moved piece by piece to the marshy outlying area of Tampa, Florida. Get yourself a nice steak while you watch it twinkle.

While not shopping the girls were on one of my self-imposed itineraries from hell. I believe we walked over 200 miles in just under 20 minutes. We went to the soon to be relocated Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Champs Elysees, Musee D'Orsay, Napolean's Tomb (closed), The Catacombs (closed), The deportation memorial (closed), The Arc de Triomphe, Touleries Garden, The Rue Cler area, Versailles, the Latin Quarter and all along the Seine River in only four days. After they left, Tessa and I went to the Rodin Museum, back to the deportation memorial (closed again), through the Jewish quarter, up and down the Rue Cler, over to Montmartre and down through the sex district, stopping off to take pictures of the Moulin Rouge, the Erotic Art Museum, the last vineyard in Paris and all the old haunts of Renoir and Picasso.

Today is the first time we basically just walked around with 'no particular place to go'. Unlike the rest of the trip which switched between luke warm and cold, today was fareeezzzzing cold and windy. Even so, there were still a zillion people enjoying a nice walk around town. With so much to see, you can't blame them.

We are staying in a great flat in a fantastic area of town. Less than 10 minutes walking to Notre Dame. I found the flat on Parisattitude.com and although they force you to wire your payment for the flat to the owner's bank account, its totally worth it. We can walk to absolutely everywhere from our flat #2191. The place is two stories, two bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen, a living and dining room, washer/dryer, and great big windows. Its a bit kooky as the upstairs is really meant for those 5'6" or less, so I duck as I walk through. But no pasa nada as the downstairs offers soaring ceilings and room to roam.

A somewhat funny observation is that after living in Barcelona for 8 months, I actually consider the French here to be very friendly. Maybe its just relative but every store we walk into, they say, "bonjour" (good day) and they always say thank you and good bye also. The city is remarkably clean and even though the guide book warns us repeatedly about pickpockets, the seedy element is not very strong at all.

The food has been very yum. These French know how to eat. Although if you ask the American stomachs, they would probably disagree. The bread is just fantastic and the cheese can't be beat. Seriously, with over two hundred choices of cheese at the neighborhood market, can you really go wrong? I think not. We did have a few so-so meals but that's what happens when you're trying to please everyone.

Ever since my first international trip to Paris way back in 2000, I've been dying to have a comparable quality French Onion soup. The first attempt was a terrible $15 failure washed down with a $9 cappuchino which was also a failure. But redemption came in the form of a $12 bowl filled with cheese, onions, bread and love. Its worth making the trip just for the soup.

Other observations; Tessa hates museums of every sort so if you take her to one, even if she says she wants to go, she really doesn't and will remind you of her desire to be absolutely anywhere else in the world in every room. Tessa's comment about the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, "I'm not impressed, can we go outside?". Rachel is always cold and upholds the Friedman female family tradition of talking like there's no tomorrow. Deni can't find a decent bite to eat in all of France and I follow THE BOOK (Rick Steve's Paris 2008-absolutely awesome) like its the holy grail. I also drag everyone to see everything that may be even minutely interesting then read to whoever will listen. But even with all that being said, I think all would agree, this was a fantastic trip!!!

Next up, Budapest in two weeks. Tessa and I are traveling with some IESE classmates, Eric (on exchange from MIT) and Nani (a second year at IESE who is graduating in May). Eric has family in Budapest and has promised us some home cooked Goulash. As long as its not just like mom used to make, I can't wait.

2nd term almost over

The second trimester is almost over and I will shed no tears. While enjoying the time here, I'm looking forward to choosing my own classes in the 2nd year. The education really has been incredible and the perspectives among all the international students has been better than I expected. I still have no summer internship which we are pushed to secure from the time we arrive so things are basically up in the air for the summer.

My sister and her friend came to visit Tessa and I this week and on Saturday we are all heading to Paris. Next week is Easter/Spring break which means a 10 day vacation between 2nd and 3rd term.

Today I sent them to the tourist area of Las Ramblas, the Barrio Gotico and to one of the best markets in the world; La Boqeria. They are also heading to Parc Guell, one of Gaudi's most accessible creations and probably the most whimsical park anywhere.

Future travel plans include Amsterdam at the end of April, Portugal in May and most likely Morocco as well. Tessa will probably miss out on these events as she is planning to move back to the states to start a catering business with her friend. Currently she is attending language school at Esade and improving her Spanish daily. Last week she ran and completed the Barcelona marathon in 4'35. Amazing considering her training consisted of going to the gym no more than three times a week for about an hour each time.

Time to read a case for my next class. I'll try to post some pictures one of these days.

Making new friends

I wish every day was as nice as yesterday. We had great weather and blue skies. I went to the beach, caught some sun whilst reading cases for class, then went to the Picasso museum where the his many years in Barcelona are on disply. The progression of his artistic abilities is very interesting and inspiring. After the museum, I walked the area named El Born. I stopped in to one of the best Gothic churces in the world, Santa Maria Del Mar. Then found something I'd been searching for since we arrived, a coffee shop offering beans from around the world. Until now, I've only found beans at Starbucks and the one type available at the grocery store. I purchased some nice Kenyan coffee beans then made my way to an unexpected surprise. I encountered two very friendly chaps, merry, smiling and having an altogether great time. I think they liked me as I was offered a smoke. Take a look.

Yes, those are real. And yes, they are smoking a cigarette. But don't worry, I don't think we have to worry about lung cancer.

In a related story, Apple has released a new product in Spain only as these Spaniards are just crazy for the taste of .... well I won't ruin the surprise. http://mail.iese.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://ijam.es/ Follow the link and click down below where it says: "Hacer la visita guiada." Operators are standing by.

Other updates: Tessa is still in AZ/CA and I am still missing her. Also, my sister is coming to visit with her friend in March. We're going to spend a week here then 5 days in Paris. Ooh la la.

New Year, New Semester

Tessa and I returned from our 15 day trip to Italy last week although it feels like much longer than that. Did I really just have a 3 week break? Now that I've finished my first couple days of 2nd semester, it doesn't feel like it. Tess went to AZ last week and will be there thru the end of Jan, that means its a one man party here in BCN. Actually, its now a two man party. I took on a very nice Dutch roommate named Victor. He's a 2nd year student and only needs a place for 4 months until he graduates. He was in the same situation as the other students who went on exchange, they come back to the last semester and have to find living quarters for a very short term. He was a tax lawyer before school, not sure exactly what he'll do next. Originally, Tessa and I didn't want a roommate but as the dollar has decreased in value by nearly 15% since we've arrived, what used to be an expensive place to live became a ridiculously expensive place to live. And you know how I feel about getting ridiculous.The big trip to Italy was beautiful, fun, cold and pricy. It was surprising that even a low end place to stay was $90/night. However, the unbelievable pizza and calzones every 5 feet made up for the living quarters. We went to many of the highlights while we were there; Florence, Lucca, Siena, the Cinque Terra, Pisa, Tuscany, Assisi, Rome, Vatican City the Amalfi Coast and Pompei.View of the bridges of Florence from inside the Ufitzi Gallery.

View from the tower next to the Duomo in Florence.Tessa emitting fireworks out of her back on New Years EveUnlike Down AKA Kilo, we don't lean like cholos...we lean like Pisa's. If you don't know Down AKA Kilo, you are missing out of something...special. Elbows up!

Amalfi Coast. Not your typical Christmas.

Our favorite town was Florence, the best sight was the Sistene Chapel, the best view was in Ravello and our best meal was in Lucca...potato gnocci, YUM! The most beautiful countryside was Tuscanny, it was everything you'd expect. The Vatican was the church to end all churches, now I know where all the money goes. The best statue was David in Florence which only slightly beats out his La Pieta at The Vatican. The most picturesque village was Positano. The most beautiful gardens were in Ravello.Outside the Coliseum in Rome. The only time to get a shot without billions of tourists is at night.

The crumbling remains of what was the center of Rome.

Ravello. What a view!
Positano. Little town...Big New Years Party.

The biggest dump was Naples, what a hellhole! Trash was everywhere and the traffic was insane. The most touristy was Pisa, 5 million guys trying to sell you belts or leaning shot glasses. The biggest rip off was either the $27 we paid to park while at Pompei or the hotel with the "garden view" of concrete and construction workers. Actually, the airline that sold us return tickets then went out of business without returning the money was also a big ripoff.The trash lined streets of Naples.

The people in Italy were extremely welcoming and friendly. We had no problem getting around even though we had a rental car and drove everywhere. The hardest part about driving was not the roads or the other drivers, both were fine, it was the signs. Holy crap do they do a terrible job with signs. They have twice as many as they need in 1/4 of the proper locations. Does it really help to get a sign for a turnoff at the bend of the turnoff you are passing? No, I don't think so.
Last day in Italy at Pompeii. Mt. Vesuvius is in the background.

I'll load pics soon as I am heading to the gym. This semester I am going to get in shape. New Years resolutions #1.