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.