En Route To Barcelona

Today I am watching the sun rise in Frankfurt. There was no alcohol or crazy bets involved – I am doing a semester exchange program in Barcelona starting on January 6th and I am on my way there via Frankfurt.

I enjoy traveling, especially long-distance travel because it gives me time to catch up with my ever-growing list of must-read books. So, despite the little sleep I got the night before, the day I spent packing, the misery at the airport as I waited to board the airplane, I stayed awake the whole eight plus hours of my long-haul Washington DC-Frankfurt to read.

I got through a good quarter of Collapse by Jared Diamond. It’s a book that I’ve been meaning to read for long. It not only addresses the perils of our environmental exploitation but it also raise as an example my home country of Haiti (contrasting it with DR) as an example of what not to do. Preaching to the choir…

I was fortunate enough to sit by a distinguish Indian woman who wasn’t much about the chit-chat. We barely exchanged a dozen words the whole flight and the content of our conversation revolved mostly around apologies for elbowing each other and excuses (from my part) to go use the restroom as she had to move out of the row. Don’t get me wrong, it is not that I don’t enjoy meeting a complete stranger and finding some commonality with a random human being in this vast world. However, a non-interesting flight neighbor is tolerable on a two or three hour flight – eight hours of it can be a punishment.

As I am waiting for my connection to Barcelona, I can see the sun rise over the airfield. I will catch you up on my other experiences; among others I have the feeling the airline food is starting to disagree with my stomach…  I have to stop as they are about to call my flight.

- Rudolph

Back for Mod IV

Spring Break: No sand or sea, but a great party…

While everybody was getting a break from schoolwork and was either relaxing on the beach or trying to catch the last snow (some did), I was putting the last touches to my wedding preparation. My fiancée and I flew to Haiti just a week before the wedding. Although a good deal of the planning was already done, there was still a plenty of work to complete, even in order to have the small and simple ceremony we both wanted.

Between running from the priest to the decorator, from the caterer to the photograph, we had a car accident that could have been serious were we not lucky. The whole front end of our car was totaly destroyed; we were both unharmed, my fiancée hurt her leg and her nose – it barely showed under her makeup. This incident put in perspective all the drama about flowers and table arrangement and showed how insignificant they were in comparison to the miracle of escaping this accident virtually unscathed. We decided to embrace whatever silliness was to happen during this wedding and enjoy the moment.

It was a great wedding by all accounts. Most of the people I really care about were present: my mother, my twin brother, my sisters (one of them flew from Germany), other family members in Haiti (uncle, cousins, aunts, etc…), friends, my grandmother who already asking for babies, etc… I had two best men (unusual, I know), as my two best friends couldn’t decide between themselves. At that moment, business school was the furthest from my mind as you can imagine, this was my vacation. We partied until nightfall and everyone had a great time.

We didn’t get to hit the beaches, though…Next time.

Back to School

School started on all wheels; my wife (still getting use to the word) and I flew back to the US a couple of days after our wedding. My classes started two days later and I’m still trying to get adjusted from the non-vacation we just had. This module will be very interesting; I am taking a Sustainable Enterprise class; I also have the famous Joey B for Managerial Accounting, his classes are interesting or challenging and really put accounting in context – at least for me.

I also with my group will finish the STAR (Student Team Achieving Results) project with the local company we have been working since January. Based on the feedback we received from the company’s CEO and our faculty advisor we have been doing a great job. This set the standard (for us) to keep the bar high. We have about a month left to complete our work and produce a comprehensive proposal to help the company.

Time Management

One of my biggest challenges here at Kenan-Flagler is time management. If you’re anything like me, over-commitment may be your weakness. Between the activities that you like, the ones that you want to experience, the one you get invited to and the random social events you do not see where your time go.

Although this module seems light, I still have a lot to do in terms of extracurricular activities. I recently became a student ambassador and I really enjoy meeting prospective students and sharing my experience with them. I also enjoy the opportunity to write this blog, sharing some of my experience, like writing this paragraph at 2:50AM – I am a bit insomniac. The Star project by itself requires about 8 to 10 hours weekly and I have 4 other classes. I still do company research and send internship applications since I am still looking for a summer internship. Finally, in my spare time I join the regular bi-weekly MBA 1styear basketball pickup game at Wollen Gym.

Next year, I think I’m just going to class and take on golf. Maybe…