The ESADE MBA Blog · ESADE Business School · Barcelona

Archive for the ‘Barcelona’ Category

After having spent the summer in beautiful barcelona, working for my internship and enjoying the sun and beach, it is time to get back to class!

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!

Infinite group projects, lots of individual studying, countless student club organized events, non-stop partying, a lot of success stories witnessed, one of the most beautiful cities….and year one is over….Wow…time has flown by so fast. I arrived in Barcelona a little less than a year ago, and it still feels like yesterday. Today I look back to where I was last September and feel very satisfied and excited. I begun the MBA, not being sure about what kind of career I wanted to pursue afterwards. However I was positive for several reasons, that I wanted this career to bloom in the Health Care sector. Everything looked like a huge and menacing mountain to me. As I was coming from an entrepreneurial background, I had no experience or whatsoever in job hunting, job applications, recruitment processes and the very dreaded recruitment interviews. I didn’t know where to begin from. After a lot of hard work, I managed to secure my internship in one of the world’s most important global players in the pharmaceuticals sector, and will have the great opportunity to learn and to develop myself professionally.

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…

Although it is raining today, I have to write something about the “Barcelona advantage” here. Apart from cultural and culinary highlights the weather definitely contributes to this advantage. An example:

• Sunday, 7^th FEBRUARY, 11.30 a.m., breakfast on a friend’s terrace at about 20 centigrade!
• Sunday, 7^th FEBRUARY, 2.30 p.m., starting to go through my readings on the beach …

About the readings or classes in general this term: while the first term leveled the playing field (basic finance, accounting, marketing, etc) this term goes more into depth. Sunday’s readings for example were for Global Context of Management. A class I really enjoy because topics are discussed that I think every MBA student should think about. Today’s GCM class is about income distribution, last week we discussed corruption and next week we’ll find out more about international law when we look at Pinochet’s extradition. I really enjoy discussing these topics with my classmates, which is working out well in this class being split up into three groups (20 each).

And that’s it for this post. There are midterms going on and interviews are happening or are just around the corner …

A little far into the year already for this heading, but I wasn’t able to post any sooner. This term started last Monday and it did so quite abruptly. 5 new subjects plus 1 elective (I’m in the 15 months program) plus the “Doing Business in the Middle East seminar” that makes 7 new teachers and 5 readers in the mailbox. I am really enthusiastic about this term because classes promise to be very interesting. In “Global Context of Management” we split up into 3 groups for most part of the class to discuss different topics that influence long-term management decisions globally. Last week we had a heated discussion about who was responsible and what to do about the financial/economic crisis. I’m guessing climate change tomorrow will be no less interesting …

So after one week I can say, it will be quite a busy term but definitely worth it. Plus, Barcelona keeps on proving to me what a great place it is to live in:

• 2,5 hrs to go skiing in Andorra
• First BBQ of the year on the terrace mid-January
• Lunch on ESADE terrace every day of last week

I can definitely get used to that!