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We are about halfway into the first term and I feel it’s time to write about the classes I have taken so far.

Including pre-term, I attended or am still attending the following classes: Accounting I and II, Finance, Economics I and II, Business Law, Marketing and Project Management. Being a business major, none of these subjects were completely new to me. However, and this is what I expected from an MBA, the way of teaching these subjects is new to me.

Professors make us apply what they teach us by providing us with cases, giving us homework (a little too much maybe…) and/or group assignments due end of term. Take economics, for example. I remember it being one of the dullest subjects I have ever taken when I was in university. Now we are working on a paper analyzing a company of our choice and all the macroeconomic and industry related factors that affect the performance of the company – finally applying the theoretical concepts in a real life context.

Another example: Marketing. A subject that I had pretty much no exposure to as a Corporate Finance consultant. All I remember from school are the 4Ps to be honest. Luckily marketing is more than that. Our professors do a great job painting a lively picture of the concepts supported by cases and by far the most fun performance of a professor I have ever experienced.

In short, although I have a strong business background, but coming from a traditional European university, the MBA gives me a chance to revisit certain concepts and see them in a new, way more interesting, light. And that’s one of the reasons I’m here.

Although I knew this was going to happen, it came as quite a shock to find myself applying for jobs again when you come to business school. For me it was not before I started working on my cover letters, CV etc. that I realized I actually gave up a job (Corporate Finance consulting based in Vienna) that was safe and that I had actually enjoyed and that there was no way back…

So I spent most of my time during the last two weeks getting ready to apply for consulting internship positions. Application deadlines are only three weeks away and many top-tier consulting companies will be at ESADE career days next week.

Career services stressed the importance of starting to work on our CVs and Cover Letters from the first workshop held during immersion week. That was almost eight weeks ago. It took a looming application deadline for me to finally wrap up my cover letter.

However, that was just the beginning. Case interviews and how to prepare for it has become the main issue by now. And this is where ESADE Consulting Club comes in.

As with most business schools, the consulting club at ESADE is one of the biggest (120 members) and most active clubs on campus. One of its goals is to prepare us for the dreaded consulting interview. Last week I attended three meetings / workshops organized by the Consulting Club. Besides the regular Wednesday meeting we have a case study methodology session Thursdays plus a very valuable “crack the case” workshop held by an ESADE alumni on the next five Saturdays. Of course all of this doesn’t make up for actually practicing the cases on your own or in mock interviews. I guess I’ll find out how good my preparation really was soon enough…

…in Barcelona, almost 4 weeks MBA – time to sum up my very own highlights. Please see below for my personal Barcelona Top 10 so far – not exhaustive and in completely random order…

Top 10 BCN:
- Finishing last in a race of rolling death traps built by 180 MBA students during immersion week
- The beach bar that has good music on
- Coming up with 27 things to do before I die for LEAD programme
- The way we get work done in our study group
- Plaza del Sol – does everything: meeting friends for a drink, study sessions or impromptu hula-hoop performances
- Having a coffee and catching up with classmates on ESADE’s roof terrace in the mornings
- Burying treasures in the sand of Bogatell beach
- Club activities ranging from Consulting Club to Rugby (and many others…)
- La Mercé fireworks at Plaza España
- Watching FC Barcelona play in Camp Nou.

After all, we are all here to learn something. These are some lessons learned living in Barcelona from the top of my head:
- Spanish time dictionary: 9.30 sharp = 9.45 / 9.30 = 10.00 / 9.30ish = don’t show up before 10.30 or you’ll be the first one there
- Opening hours are completely random and may change any minute – get used to it and call before hand, there’s no point complaining about it
- FC Barcelona members get tickets easier and cheaper (just register online it’s about €70 a year…)