Reflections on Spain

Well here I am, back in Canada after my semester abroad in Spain. So I thought I’d use this blog entry to write about some interesting things I noticed during my time over there:

I lived in the neighbourhood called Salamanca. This is the richest neighbourhood within the city (before you jump to conclusions about me, I lived there because my school was there, not because I am a spoiled fancy boy or anything!). As a result, I’d become accustomed to being surrounded by people dressed impeccably well. All the time. I remember one day I needed to go to the grocery store quickly to pick up some milk. It was a 5 minute trip and for such a trip in the past (in Canada), that meant a hoodie and flip flops. But now, I thought “wait a minute…I’m going to look like a bum compared to everyone else. I can’t have that! Better put on something nice.” My oh my had I become “pija”! (spanish for “posh”) I NEVER thought that would happen to me but there it was…

Cheeses and meats are MUCH cheaper in Europe than in North America. For example, a mozzarella ball in Spain: 55 cents. Here, $8.  Very unfortunate state of affairs here. I ate very, very well in Spain. 

Breakfast cereals in Spain are a bit different too. Here and in Spain, the “healthy” cereals are basically the same- Corn Flakes, Special K (although the Special K in Spain is SO much better than ours!! I love it so much I brought some home with me haha), etc. Our sweet cereals in North America have a pretty big range- honey, chocolate, cinnamon, frosted, fruit flavours (i.e. fruit loops), other (such as French toast crunch). However in Spain for some reason, sweet cereals are: honey, chocolate or frosted flakes. That is all. I can’t believe things like Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Sugar Crisp wouldn't sell in Spain. I wonder what the business reason is behind such a lack of variety?

One of the big reasons why I love Spain is how chilled out people are. For example, if I tell you I will do something, you can trust that it WILL get done, without a need to create a formal agreement stipulating every minute term or condition, etc. I noticed this on day one dealing with my landlord and found myself becoming this way as well by the time I left Spain. I really like the idea of being able to actually trust people’s word and not worrying that you are going to get screwed somehow.

Madrid has one of the best Metros in the world (in fact, that statement is part of their slogan).However until I lived here I never realized how crazy interchange stations were (that is, at a station, you switch from one line to another). The lines at every station are SO FAR apart!! It’s nuts. If you need to change lines, that instantly adds 5-7 minutes to your journey in walking from one train all the way to another. Also, most metros in the world have timers at each station telling you when the next train is due in the station. In Toronto, if it says “3 minutes” it always feels closer to 1. In Madrid, “3 minutes” really is 3 minutes. So prepare to wait!  That being said, Madrid’s metro is still pretty freaking awesome. I enjoyed riding it (and have the metro chime as my ring tone now!).

Pretty much everyone that knows me knows my time in Spain was probably the happiest 4 months of my entire life. I absolutely loved it there and sincerely hope I have a chance to return one day. But first, I have an MBA to finish in Toronto!!

Reflecting on my time at IE

This week is sadly my last week at Instituto de Empresa. L With that, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on my experience here. Hope you enjoy!

--Things that were awesome—

-Living in Madrid- IE is awesome if for no other reason than the fact that it is in Madrid. My favourite city in the world. As I alluded to in previous blog posts, the weather, food, culture, etc are all so phenomenal that having Madrid as a backdrop to your MBA studies automatically makes your MBA experience pretty great.

-The Profs- Among the profs I had anyways, almost all of them teach and work in the field in which they teach (rather than just doing research). I loved this. It made the profs seem very up-to-date on best practices so learning how to use those best practices in developing business strategies I feel has really helped prepare me for success in my post-MBA career.

-REAL diversity- Every MBA school seems to talk about how much it values diversity but for most, it is just talk, with the student body being dominated by 2-3 countries or regions of the globe. At IE, diversity actually exists. My classes included south americans, north americans, Europeans, Africans, Asians and Australians with no one region dominating over the others. This was a great way to open myself up to tons of different perspectives on life and business.

-The Campus- IE has several buildings spread out across a few blocks in the neighbourhood of Madrid called Salamanca. The buildings are NICE. I mean, really, really nice. It was pretty cool studying in such cool spaces!

-Support for your own entrepreneurial venture-IE has A TON of support for people looking to start their own companies- networking with venture capitalists, support on how to build your business, etc. If you want to use your MBA to start a company, IE is probably where you should study. Given I want to be a marketing director (which is akin to managing a business), it was really helpful for me to be a part of this environment, to be better equipped for becoming a marketing director one day!

--Things that were not so awesome—

-Student life- I could go on for a LONG time about the issues this school has with promoting and facilitating a cohesive student body,  creating a more enjoyable student experience, etc but will just leave it at this. Rotman is MILES ahead of IE in this respect.

-Networking clubs- I was a member of several clubs (marketing club, north American club, etc)  and in one semester, there was ONE event (a speaker event) across all of the clubs I am a member of. Why do these clubs even exist then?

Living in Madrid was a dream come true for me. I know I will miss it here and hope I can move back one day. However, I really miss my classmates at Rotman…I am excited to see them again soon!

Random Observations About Things in Madrid

Now that I have been here for just over a month, I’ve gotten a pretty good sense of the city, the country, etc. So I thought I’d share some interesting things that I’ve learned:

·         Despite the economic crisis, apparently MBAs are very much still in demand from employers. My classmates looking to work in spain or the EU generally, have had no issues getting job interviews or employment offers.

·         Given what I am used to in Canada (and from my summer in London, UK), coming to Madrid, everything seemed incredibly cheap by my standards. So I thought working here would be pretty awesome, thinking the cost of living would be lower. However, I learned that most conglomerates don’t pay very well. So madrileños purchasing power parity (yeah that’s right, I just said “purchasing power parity.” This IS an MBA blog after all!) ends up being about the same as residents of Toronto.

·         Because of the above, most middle-class madrileños live in the suburbs. I learned though that in spanish, the word “suburbio” (the literal translation) has a negative connotation. Think the suburban immigrant slums outside of Paris. To talk about a “normal” suburb, it’s just your “barrio,” meaning neighbourhood.

·         As you may know, contemporary Spaniards are a very secular and liberal bunch. Across Catholic and Jewish (not sure about muslim) people- especially those my age or younger- it is catholic or Jewish in family background only. “Madrid culture” supersedes religion by a landslide. So for example, a Jewish Madrileño and Christian madrileño are probably more similar to each other than a Christian Madrileño and a Christian Canadian.

·         In Madrid, when it rains, it pours, literally. It was sunny with more or less clear skies every single day since I arrived (so about 35 days in a row). Yesterday we got our 1^st rain. 24 hours non-stop POURING. Today it is cloudy and all next week, back to sun. What a city…

This coming week is “career week” for the IE student community. I am excited to see what IE has in store for us! I’ll tell you guys about in in my next post!

Mike’s Euro Adventure Part II: Madrid

Hello Guys!

After a short visit back to Canada, I am back in Europe, this time, Madrid for a semester on exchange at the Instituto de Empresa (http://www.ie.edu/business-school/degrees/international-mba). Everything so far has been totally amazing. Some observations since I arrived:

·         IE and my flat are located in the wealthiest part of Madrid. It is the Madrid equivalent of 5^th Avenue in NYC or Yorkville in Toronto. The neighbourhood looks pretty much the same as Yorkville except in Spanish instead of english.

·         When I arrived, I needed to buy various things for my flat and school supplies, etc. Spain has a store called El Corte Ingles which is the exact same as the Bay in Canada so you can get pretty much whatever you need. But for cheap stuff, I was curious to know if something like our Dollar Stores exist here. Instead of dollar stores, Madrileños call them Chinese Stores because it is always chinese people that run them. I thought that was hilarious.

·         After getting killed on cost of living challenges in London, it is so refreshing to be in Madrid where:

o   I am on the Euro, not the Pound and therefore have a much better exchange rate

o   Things are priced pretty much the exact same as what they would be in Canada, or cost even less. Huray!

·         The weather is unbelievable. Hot and sunny every single day! I am totally loving it.

·         Because I learned spanish from those who speak castellano (that is spain spanish-speakers), I can actually understand the spanish people are talking here, which is pretty great.

·         The food here is also fantastic.

The last 2 days we had our exchange student orientation, so I got to meet my exchange peers. Because we are all focusing in different specializations, it is unlikely many of us will be in the same classes but it was cool to meet everyone. What was especially nice was to see ACTUAL diversity in the exchange student class. Like, no one country or region dominates the exchange student body.

That's about it for now, I think. More to come!