I’m having 2 weeks of intensive classes, beginning last week with “STRATEGIC BUSINESS SIMULATOR” class which I found awesome! Yes it was quite hectic as we have been working with my group non stop from morning till late in the evening every day of the past week. However, the class was astonishingly interesting cause it was the first time we managed to put into practice almost all the learnings of our MBA so far. It consisted in running a “virtual” company, which would compete in a virtual market which included the companies of all the other groups in the class. The results were fun and taught us a lot regarding setting clear roles/goals/responsibilities and working as a team not only when things go well, but mainly when things go bad ( and believe me, at the beginning things were going reaaaally bad for our company but in the end we ended up among the best in the class ).
This week I have the “GLOBAL SALES” course with professor Kenneth Morse from MIT’s Entrepreneurship Institute. So far it seems very exciting however it’s too early to give a verdict.
As I will keep working as an intern throughout the year until graduation, it will be quite challenging to manage my time and split it between classes and office though I shouldn’t complain because this is what I signed up for and I consider it part of the MBA learning process.

Before closing, I would like to mention that it is impossible not to notice all the new faces around the school. Exactly… I mean the new class of 2012! I’ve had the chance to meet a few and I’m impressed by the various profiles and success stories they shared with me. They look very vibrant and eager to join student clubs and take charge of further improving ESADE from what we achieved. I’m looking forward to meeting more of them!

The process to get there has been a quite painful one and I wouldn’t have achieved it weren’t it for ESADE. I look back and feel grateful to all the people that helped me and kept pushing and encouraging me. From professors to career advisors to (of course) my classmates! Many times I get the question “Are you happy with your choice of ESADE?”, the answer is “ABSOLUTELY”. ESADE may not the world’s best or #1 ranked Business School , but that’s not what one should be asking. ESADE has definitely been THE BEST choice for me. The people I had the chance to meet and work with are amazing. I’ve never seen so much solidarity and willingness to help. I would walk around the school after class and would see my fellow classmates helping each other with anything from exams preparation to mock interviews. I did not just have a group of very competent career advisors to follow me and teach me how to improve and “calibrate” myself, but also a group of 180 amazing professionals always available to help with anything I might need.

After having spent a year at ESADE, I can tell with absolute certainty that it is the world’s most collaborative MBA. Great friendships have been crafted that I am sure will last a lifetime. ESADE is not just a professional investment. It has enriched me not just professionally but also personally. There is so much intrinsic value that it’s well worth the commitment. In September, year two begins. I’m looking forward to the new elective courses, and to meet and get to know the incoming class.

Would I do this all over again? I don’t think I need to answer…

In the elevator pitch competition, competitors will have 2 minutes to communicate their business idea. The three best ideas will share prizes which total in 4000 euros!

The panelists will discuss issues that concern growth firms, especially in the high tech sectors.

Last but not least, the career fair is meant to create new job opportunities for MBAs and bring growth companies in contact with top talent!

The entrepreneurship club board has worked very hard with a lot of passion for this event, aiming to help fellow classmates and boost ESADE’s reputation. There has been a lot of interest in this initiative, which allowed us to attract sponsors such as La Caixa and one of Barcelona’s most important business incubators, “Barcelona Activa”. For more information feel free to check entrepreneurship.esadembasa.com.

Schoolwise, the two new subjects I prefer are Finance II and Strategy. I believe that understanding the principles of finance and risk valuation is key to becoming successful managers regardless the sector. I am very impressed with professor Luisa Alemani. Today we had our Finance II mid-term exam and most of the class showed a good understanding of the principles taught so far. Strategy professor Luis Vives is equally engaging. In his class we analyze business cases, comment on business decisions while taking into consideration all the various forces surrounding corporations. I am working with an Irish, Canadian, German, Mexican / American and another student whose number of nationalities, I don’t remember exactly…three of them were American / Polish / Dutch. In this term, we are obviously more organized and structured in the way we approach our workload. We all have to fit in our schedule the individual job search, so our time management is much more efficient compared to the previous term and duties are better distributed.

Next week some of us ESADE students will be part of the GSMA Mobile World Congress, the biggest mobile expo in the world, which takes place in Barcelona on an annual basis. This has been achieved thanks to the effort of the ESADE Technology Club and its president, student Daniel Helmhold. I am very excited about this event. More GSMA and club related news on my next post.

Hasta pronto!

During the second half of our class, he joined us and we had the opportunity to briefly introduce ourselves and discuss with him about several of the world’s most important issues.

Mr. Solana will be the President of the Centre for Global Economics and Geopolitics of ESADE Business school. This great MBA experience, just got better!

For this term’s class of Finance, we were assigned a group project where we were asked to analyze the financial status of two companies.  Later we had to prepare a presentation, and a random group member would have to present in front of the class! Apart from the finance related learnings, seeing my group working together to make sure everyone was up to speed and ready to present if picked, added to this being a great experience. Even though this has been the hardest project so far, I’d say it is the one I liked the most.

No time to rest though, Economics project presentations are due early next week, plus term finals, plus Spanish language exams…oh lord!

Thankfully Christmas, the nicest period of the year, is just around the corner and it will be perfect to refill our batteries and face Term 2 and the Winter Career Week!!

07:57 am – After a proper breakfast while checking emails and the latest news on the net, I grab my stuff and head to school.

08:12 am – Daily coffee meeting with group and other classmates in the cafeteria up on floor 2 to catch up while skimming through the daily newspaper.

08:45 am – Head down into the classroom and get ready for the Marketing lecture! Our professor sure knows how to make the class interesting with his humour.

10:37 pm – 20 minutes of break. Second coffee of the day plus yummy “bocadillo”.

10:51 am – Back in class for the second half of the lecture. Discussion of the case study analysis we needed to prepare for the class.

01:05 pm – Class is over, got less than an hour to have lunch before spanish language class begins!

01:55 pm – Spanish class. We get the “unfortunate” news that we need to prepare a 15 minute individual presentation of a company for next class…IN SPANISH! PANIC!

03:30 pm – 15 minutes break during which we practice our “spanish skills” together with my classmates. The result doesn’t sound that spanish, but we perfectly manage to understand each other.

05:00 pm – Language class lecture over. Quick 10 minute meeting with my career advisor to go through my cover letter for the application I need to submit and then rush to group’s study room to discuss the accounting assignment for the next day.

05:25 pm – Haven’t reached an agreement yet on what the next step for our hypothetical company will be.

05:50 pm – Still no agreement. Everyone is so involved in using their persuasion skills to convince the rest of the group.

06:25 pm – After having analyzed about a million different situations, guess what, still haven’t agreed.

06:55 pm – ..and 30 seconds (we have a german in the group), we finally manage to agree, after totally changing what we agreed 20 min back, and to finalize our paper. A group mate tried to express a last minute opinion but didn’t get to finish his idea…his life was at risk.

07:00 pm – Consulting Club meeting. Today the two candidates for the Consulting Club President position are pitching in front of the club.

07:20 pm – The two candidates made it very hard for us to make a choice. They were both so passionate and serious about it. Case interview simulations follow for the rest of the meeting.

08:16 pm – Just got home. Eat a snack and hit the gym!

09:30 pm – Back from the gym, dead tired and starving, dinner time.

09:58 pm – Need to read the emails accumulated during the day and work on the Economics project for tomorrow’s group meeting

00:25 am – I’m crashing here… goodnight Barcelona.

The latter is also organizing a marketing competition, the Novartis Masterminds Challenge, open to several of the top European business schools. Teams from each school will have to come up with a strategic marketing plan for a specific product. The best teams will be given the opportunity to present their project in front of Novartis’ executive board, and the winners of the contest will have chances to join Novartis for an internship. Forming a new team for the contest is exciting, but also challenging, because the number of different teams I work with goes up to three and each one is so different than the other.

Time to suit up and head to the first presentation! Stay tuned for more career week related news!

Fortunately, right when one begins to panic there come the fellow students that are in the exact same situation. Instead of running around like headless chickens, it’s probably better to work together and help each other they say. This spirit is what makes me feel so lucky and privileged to be working with my classmates.

Career week is just two weeks away. Top tier companies such as Barclays, Novartis, Accenture, and others, will be coming on campus to meet us. This is when internship fever will begin to rise, and while this means additional workload, I am very curious and excited.

This MBA experience has been surprising to say the least. What impact it has had on me so far? Prior to the MBA, I thought I was organized…. well now I know I was wrong Firstly, it taught me how important prioritizing and time management are. Secondly it further stressed the importance of relationships with my colleagues. I never thought I’d say this but yes, it has begun to change me as a person.

Right… I’d better get back to my “companies research”. Stay tuned!

Lectures and assignments became hectic so fast. Professors’ high expectations further stressed the importance of working together with our workgroups in order to achieve the best possible results in a timely manner (and that going out 5 nights a week like we used to was incompatible with the MBA!).

My workgroup consists of a German, a Brazilian, an Italian/Spanish, a Greek/Italian, a Lebanese and a Taiwanese. I guess ESADE wasn’t using the word diversity just for marketing purposes! This academic experience is completely different from what I had experienced during my undergrad in Rome.

And now, just a week away from PRE-TERM’s end and the exams just around the corner the tension is rising….what to expect? I guess we will soon find out!