Orientation Week

After a fully packed summer, which included a U2 concert in Dublin while having lots of Pints of Guinness; 2.5 weeks of just doing nothing in one of the hottest (in terms of temperature) cities in the world: my hometown Maracaibo, which is by the way the cradle of unhealthy, LDL cholesterol-ful, greasy and delicious fast/junk food in South America; a week on an incredible cruise ship with my family through caribbean destinations such as San Juan, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Croix and Antigua, while eating four times a week as if the were no tomorrow (the motto was "I eat, then eat again, then feel excessively full and then I exist); a great Coldplay concert in the Olympic Stadium of Barcelona; incredible amounts of walking and crazy picture taking in London; amazing strolls around the rainy but unbeatable New York City, while losing a US Open ticket due to "inclement weather" ...; and biking around the streets of astonishing Chicago while having TWICE in four days the most wonderful pizza in history of humankind (stuffed pizza), and attending a second U2 360 Tour show this summer; I am back to Barcelona to write about "Galán in Catalán".

September 21st marked the beginning of an era. First day of Orientation Week at IESE Business School.

Since I arrived from the US on friday evening and I forgot to send my suit to clean before, I wouldn't have it ready for monday morning ... like Jack Bauer would say: "Damn it!" ...

However, I was lucky enough to have an emergency suit stored in my closet which did not look as unclean as the main suit.

The problem? ... I had three years without wearing it!!! ... and of course, according to Murphy's Law, I had gained quite some weight since and the pants were QUITE tight ... and so I spent the whole morning speaking like Marlon Brando in the Godfather (breathless) and wearing a smile in distress (while suffering on the inside).

There are three sections: A, B and C. The two first taught in English, and the last one half English and half Spanish. I am in section A. There are 75 people per section.

My team is A4. We are supposed to meet every morning before classes to discuss the "cases" that will be discussed in class. We come from Russia/Canada, US (Illinois), US (California), Portugal, Brazil, Italy, Philippines and Venezuela/Spain.

During this week we also had several lectures by Career Services (the guys helping us find a job) and even a cocktail with one of the potential employers.

Not to forget is the weekly BOW (Bar Of the Week). Every thursday evening there is a place to go to have a drink (at student prices) with your classmates.

The week ended with an "80s Aerobics" party. Almost everyone in very funny Aerobics outfits from the 80s ...

So far so good :)

That's all for now folks.

Cheers (Adeu)!