Recap for the week~

Given the busy week, I thought I'd post small tidbits of information that happened in the past few days. I feel it's still a good practice to write about what has happened (so that in the future, I'll have something fond to go back to). Anyway, here's a quick recap of some fascinating things that happened in the last 3 days:

No lights in our classroom~ maybe somebody didn't pay their tuition fees lol

Tuesday

Something strange happened in class last Tuesday~ the lights went out! And it wasn't a typical blackout at school, it was only inside our classroom. Knowing how power surges work, I decided to remove my laptop's battery charger from its plug. And true enough, the power went back on after something like 10 minutes. I decided to wait it out for a couple more minutes before plugging my charger back in.

And BAM!

Sparks flew and there was a large sound! I was mega shocked~ and so was everyone in the classroom. I noticed that my laptop wasn't charging... shoot. My laptop charger smelled like something burned out... yikes. But.. as it turns out, everything was fine. What apparently happened was that all plugs for my entire row / area went off. I told our floor coordinator about what happened... amazingly the following day they managed to address the situation right away!

Time to get fit! Hence~ the gym membership!

On Tuesday I actually started this habit of creating these TO DO lists (just as I did in my previous workplace). There were a number of things I had to do which weren't getting enough attention... so as all lists go, the more items you cross out, the better you feel (productivity man)!

So, on Tuesday, I finally signed up with the recently-opened gym in my neighborhood called Fit Up. The gym is literally 2 streets away from my house... so technically there mustn't be an excuse not to go at least 3x a week. Also, they had a pretty good rate for IE students~ which was 22 Euros per month. I'll likely start the workout this Saturday, after all the madness this week is over!

Construction, construction at MM36!

My building is currently undergoing maintenance... probably not because something is broken but because they're really maintaining the place. They've put up safety boards to secure passers-by as they make changes to the upper facade of the building.

Inside, plenty of repainting and fixing of cable lines are going on. I personally don't get bothered by such since I'm mostly in school or out of my house while all these things are happening.

Mega quick lunch at Las Tablas~

On Tuesday, after signing up for the gym I rushed over to General Oraa to grab some lunch. I was picking up some dumplings I had ordered from another IE student a week before.

I grabbed some lunch over at Las Tablas. I had a craving for pasta and meat~ so I tried their carbonara as well as grilled steak. It was okay~ but of course, I suddenly I got a message saying that they're waiting for me to pick up my dumplings. I had to rush eating and didn't get to enjoy my food that much. Oh well!

So why is this MacBook facing the opposite direction? 

Wednesday

On Wednesday I noticed that Luis was chatting with Shalabh on Skype. Apparently Shalabh flew over to India on some personal matters.

Luis and I approached our Economics professor to ask if it's okay if we can run Skype from Luis' computer so that Shalabh could still listen to the lecture. Our professor agreed~ and Shalabh "was seated" right next to Aditya in class. When the class new that Shalabh was joining the class via Skype, everyone made him feel as if he was still part of the class by saying hello... quite cool, I would say.

Joe playing his tunes~ totally disrupted Strategy class but provided ultimate comic relief to everyone!

Strategy class was supposed to go as normal... until Joe's laptop started playing loud jazz music. He tried to turn the volume down~ but was mainly unsuccessful. This probably lasted for a couple of minutes. It was really funny. He finally managed to solve the issue by borrowing KS' earplugs~

Beer Wednesdays at Bo Finn

As it turns out, Joe was watching a video on YouTube before Strategy and his battery ran out. When he plugged it back on, it resumed playing the music but his computer was on the lock screen. Anyway, it was totally funny! :D

Every Wednesday I practice "Beer Wednesdays". Beer Wednesdays is a plan to grab a chat with someone from school. Beer Wednesdays does not necessarily need to involve plenty of beer... more like 1 or 2 in reality~ since it's midweek and there are still classes the following day.

Last Wednesday, I hung out with Basil (from Saudi Arabia) from A3. We had quite a good chat about our perceptions on ethics~ and about our families, etc. I appreciated the time we spent as it allowed me to get to know him better as a person.

Reviewing each group's Business Model Canvas~

Thursday

On Thursday we resumed our Entrepreneurial Management classes at IE once more (After something like a 3-week break). We held our class along Serrano 110~ at the same venue where the info session for the long exchange was held before.

Before class we were asked to fill up a Business Model Canvas (BMC) for our entrepreneurial idea. Our group filled up this sheet a week before... and we generally found it helpful as it provided us a clearer picture about our business and factor into consideration other important aspects. For our workshop session, we were tasked to exchange BMCs with another group and to critique their BMC. It was an interesting process~ as it allowed us to think of possible challenges a plan might face as well as other "What if" scenarios.

From the group who reviewed our BMC, they uncovered a crucial piece of information for us~ that we apparently were not marketing to the right people! Our idea revolved around providing a service to students who study overseas. All the while we were targeting the students themselves and their universities. What the other group shared with us was that it may be worth our while to market it to the parents... as they are the ones who are actually funding the overseas studies. Opinions count~ so it's true when they say that you should bounce off ideas to others. You may get good feedback that will help you improve your business!

Asian food buffet! I wish we didn't have classes at 130pm~ could've eaten wayyyyyy more!

For lunch, my work group decided to eat at this Asian buffet restaurant near Carolina's place (which was near Ortega y Gasset). I personally believe that it's good to share a meal with a group~ as it establishes a form of trust among members. Our group has managed to share a number of meals throughout this term~ which is possibly why we get along well with each other. This lunch-out~ however, was going to be the last as we'll likely (more like 100% sure) be assigned new work groups next term.

Take your pick... any 3 at a time~

It was an interesting concept. You basically sit down and the waiter gives you a menu of things to choose from. You can basically select any 3 items on the menu. Once you're done eating, you can order another 3... and another... and another~ all for a fixed price of $17 (not bad).

I personally liked the stuff I ordered... and I would've loved to be able to stay there longer to eat more stuff. Unfortunately, we had Organizational Behavior class at 130pm~ and we could only manage to order 3x.

Fortunately, the dishes I ate (see photo above) were pretty filling. Luckily as well, some of my work group mates couldn't finish their sushi. Guess who ate 'em? lol

I noticed though that the service was quite slow at that restaurant. It could possibly be intentional... as having gaps in between dishes ultimately makes you full faster. True enough, I was full and so were the others.

Ulrich and Philipp share their knowledge on Financial Accounting to the class~ thank you so much guys!

Last weekend, I had a chat with Lydia regarding some ethics stuff we thought of for our intake. One of which was that we were concerned that people might resort to "shortcuts" if pressured with the demands of school. As a result, we decided to conduct an Accounting review session to help people prepare better (and when people are more prepared, they would find less incentive to do something they're not supposed to). We asked the IMBA team to allocate us a classroom in the building~ we were given room 502 from 5-7pm for this review session.

Around 22 students from my class went to this review session. The more talented members of our class came to the session (Ulrich, Philipp, Nalin and Stefano) to provide support to others who needed some help. Ulrich must have spent 1.5hrs going through trading securities, available-for-sale assets, held-to-maturity accounts, consolidation as well as valuation. I really appreciated this gesture~ and I'm certain so did my other classmates. Rachel (Wilson) brought some snacks to the session (yum)~ which we completely gobbled up after the session was done.

A classmate of mine approached me a day later (today) to share that he really found the session helpful.. and that learning from our other classmates made thing much much more clearer. Well, I'm glad it helped. Anyway, the exam is a week away~ time to study once again (goodbye weekend)!