I can't really explain how happy I'm feeling these days. I'm working and having so much fun at the same time. This is probably the best job I have ever had. The internship is in Business Development and I'm working on two projects: the first one is finding new strategic products to be introduced next year the second one is product manager for a new service to be launched at the culmination of my internship.
Work is good and life it's beautiful. I am in Lisbon and I love it here. The weather is nice and the sun comes out every day!! Nothing like Portland!! The weekends are all mine to go to the beach and enjoy the summer! Nothing like Barcelona!! But as everything in life, the situation is not perfect as Rafael is working in Barça over the summer so we only spend time together over the weekends. I guess I will choose to be optimistic about it and say: "it could have been worse".
This year has treated me very nicely... After the second trimester at IESE things started to get better. In the third term I actually started to relax a bit, went out more and gave myself time to get to know my classmates. I've made wonderful friends from which I've learned something new everyday. I’ve learned that I have limits and there will always be someone better then me in a particular subject but that there are subjects in which I excel. I've learning that breaks are good and life can be better enjoyed when one slows down a bit. I've learned that a good discussion with a friend matters more than being prepared for next day's classes. Besides learning all this good stuff I discovered that I had more time to sleep and even started to enjoy a full night sleep every now and then. It’s amazing what a good night sleep can do to your life!! Now I'm back to 8 hrs of sleep and loving it!
I traveled this year too, which is one of my favorite things to do. We went to Andorra, France, Portugal and Morocco... plus the added bonus the trip to China for innovateChina 2008 Challenge!! That was awesome. I will add pictures from my travel later but you can always check out Wei Yin's blog for up to date information, photos and videos of our adventures in Shanghai.
So, things are going well and hope they will continue like this. Let the adventures continue!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Hey guys,
My good friend and superb leader Nuno Lopes Alves is participating in the selection Leader Quest 2008. This process sponsored by Harvard is aiming to recognize and promote the future leaders of Portugal. I have voted for Nuno and encourage all of you to vote for him at Leader Quest 2008
It will only take 2 seconds. Click on his name and then the gold medal on the bottom. It's that simple!!
It will mean the world to Nuno and all the people who love him! He is in 4th place right now and really, we know he should be at least in the top 3, if not the first!! Thanks for your help!
My good friend and superb leader Nuno Lopes Alves is participating in the selection Leader Quest 2008. This process sponsored by Harvard is aiming to recognize and promote the future leaders of Portugal. I have voted for Nuno and encourage all of you to vote for him at Leader Quest 2008
It will only take 2 seconds. Click on his name and then the gold medal on the bottom. It's that simple!!
It will mean the world to Nuno and all the people who love him! He is in 4th place right now and really, we know he should be at least in the top 3, if not the first!! Thanks for your help!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Internship Interviews
School has not even started yet and I've already been on campus since Thursday afternoon... On Thursday morning, after having a panic attack when I realized I only had 4 days left to prepare for summer internship interviews, I decided to go to IESE to do some mock interviews with my classmates. Some of them were going to the campus since the beginning of the year. IMAGINE THAT!!
Realizing I was behind with preparation was not a good feeling. I can swear I felt the stress going through my body like a hot rod, leaving behind cauterized flesh and smell of fear... Have I mentioned I don't feel prepared to start the school and even less prepared to meet with the consulting interviewers? After four days of intense preparation I don't think I feel much better... What can I do? Tomorrow is my first interview so I must show I'm prepare. I'll do my best and pray to my lucky star I'll nail the cases. Keep your fingers crossed!
Realizing I was behind with preparation was not a good feeling. I can swear I felt the stress going through my body like a hot rod, leaving behind cauterized flesh and smell of fear... Have I mentioned I don't feel prepared to start the school and even less prepared to meet with the consulting interviewers? After four days of intense preparation I don't think I feel much better... What can I do? Tomorrow is my first interview so I must show I'm prepare. I'll do my best and pray to my lucky star I'll nail the cases. Keep your fingers crossed!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Life in pictures
Studying for finals
Celebrating the end of the first semester
Christmas Ball with my teammates
Party, party, party...
Christmas Dinner for Orphans at Laura's
Surprise visit to see my family in Targu Mures, Romania
Downtown Targu Mures
In Bucharest with Steli, Lucian and Florin
New Year's Eve in Plaza Cataluna with Rafael...
... and Nitesh, Kanika, Vinod and Gautam (he was taking the picture)
I'm still alive
Dear friends and random blog readers,
It's been a long time since I last wrote. For the last months I've been busy surviving the MBA. Can't lie and tell you it's all honey and roses because it's not. After the midterms I started to freak out, more or less questioning my decision to be in the program all together. Truly I did not expect it to be so challenging and demanding. Working was a breeze compared to school. So, after sleeping less then six hours per night and realizing all my time was spent at school or involved in school related activities, I started to think about taking a break from all the madness. I was under the impression that I was the only one going through the tough times but after talking to more people I realized many of my colleagues were sharing the pain.
By talking and listening to others I started to build back some confidence and hope for the future. In the process I also built some great friendships, which I hope to keep for the rest of my life. The best way I can describe my first semester at IESE is boot camp. I hope that the second semester will be much better, even though before we went on Christmas break we were handed a huge package with next semester's cases. Believe me I did not smile when I saw what expects me in the near future.
In the mean time I'm on vacation, enjoying every day as much as I can. I spent Christmas in Barcelona, then went to Romania for five days, returned to Barca just in time for New Year celebration and now I’m enjoying being a tourist in the city that never sleeps. Today, while visiting the Castle on Monjuic, I found myself smiling and thinking "Life is beautiful!" I hope this euphoric moment will less for a while because school is scheduled to start in less than a week and I expect life will go back to being unpleasant. Well, at least this time I know what to expect!
It's been a long time since I last wrote. For the last months I've been busy surviving the MBA. Can't lie and tell you it's all honey and roses because it's not. After the midterms I started to freak out, more or less questioning my decision to be in the program all together. Truly I did not expect it to be so challenging and demanding. Working was a breeze compared to school. So, after sleeping less then six hours per night and realizing all my time was spent at school or involved in school related activities, I started to think about taking a break from all the madness. I was under the impression that I was the only one going through the tough times but after talking to more people I realized many of my colleagues were sharing the pain.
By talking and listening to others I started to build back some confidence and hope for the future. In the process I also built some great friendships, which I hope to keep for the rest of my life. The best way I can describe my first semester at IESE is boot camp. I hope that the second semester will be much better, even though before we went on Christmas break we were handed a huge package with next semester's cases. Believe me I did not smile when I saw what expects me in the near future.
In the mean time I'm on vacation, enjoying every day as much as I can. I spent Christmas in Barcelona, then went to Romania for five days, returned to Barca just in time for New Year celebration and now I’m enjoying being a tourist in the city that never sleeps. Today, while visiting the Castle on Monjuic, I found myself smiling and thinking "Life is beautiful!" I hope this euphoric moment will less for a while because school is scheduled to start in less than a week and I expect life will go back to being unpleasant. Well, at least this time I know what to expect!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Blogosphere
I guess there are many things that happen in the blogosphere which are better left unquestioned. This will be the case with the next request passed on to me with the warning that if I don't post it in my blog, "awful things will happen to you and Humanity"... I'm not afraid for myself because I already can tell you awful things will happen to me on Thursday and Friday during the mid-terms... but I definitely don't want bad things to happen to Humanity. So here is the request/demand!
...pick up the nearest book, open it on page 161, write on the blog the first complete sentence. And then pass this challenge on to five other bloggers.
The closest book to me is our dearest Corporate Financial Accounting book, but someone already used the quote on his blog. Then, when I decide to pick another book I realized I don't have any! Oh wait, the IKEA catalog!! Gush...it sucks being an expatriate! Ufff, the catalog is in Spanish... the sentence is: "¿Cuál es el secreto para poder guardar todas tus cosas en un espacio pequeño? Los cajones (a no se confundir con cojones ;) See what happeneds to you if you study too much accounting!!!
I'm passing this challenge to my friends and fellow blogers Noelle, Gonzalo, Wei Yin, Jared and Gautam!
...pick up the nearest book, open it on page 161, write on the blog the first complete sentence. And then pass this challenge on to five other bloggers.
The closest book to me is our dearest Corporate Financial Accounting book, but someone already used the quote on his blog. Then, when I decide to pick another book I realized I don't have any! Oh wait, the IKEA catalog!! Gush...it sucks being an expatriate! Ufff, the catalog is in Spanish... the sentence is: "¿Cuál es el secreto para poder guardar todas tus cosas en un espacio pequeño? Los cajones (a no se confundir con cojones ;) See what happeneds to you if you study too much accounting!!!
I'm passing this challenge to my friends and fellow blogers Noelle, Gonzalo, Wei Yin, Jared and Gautam!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Complainer!
Someone has been complaining that I have not posted a picture with him/her on the blog! So to stop the baby from crying here it is! Find the complainer in this picture! :D
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