My Ending

Hello,

For those loyal followers of this blog, I've started a new chapter in my life. So this one is closing. Thank you for joining me in my 1st 2 years abroad in business school. May you all have happy and prosperous lives.

Cheers
-MujerDivina

My Trip to Montserrat

Daniel and I had planned to go to the Montserrat the day after my interview in Murcia, but when the morning came, we both realized that we were beat from a long night. I had arrived home late from the interview after midnight, and he had stayed up until 2AM finishing a project. So we decided on the next Saturday.

We took the train from Plaza Espanya to Montserrat Aeri and took the cable cars up to the mountain. The views were wonderful. So we hiked up the trails towards Sant Jeroni and Sant Joan, trying not to get too dirty. As we were walking on the particularly beautiful side of the mountain, he said, “You’re getting too close to the edge over there.”

I looked over. “Not really.”

“Don’t want you to fall over,” he teased.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Think about it. Who really knows you’re up here?”

“Yeah right. My away message says ‘Montserrat.’”

Then he smiled that mischievous smile that I love. “But it doesn’t say ‘Montserrat with Daniel.” Then he full-on tackled me.

*****

After 4 hours of hiking, we grabbed lunch and visited the Monastery. Then we took the last cable car and train back to Barcelona as the sun was setting. When we got home, we showered and he took me to a Tex Mex place for dinner. It was the perfect day.

My Interview in Murcia

One July afternoon, I received a call from the Spanish branch of Hero, a Swiss condiment company. I would have an interview with them in Murcia via Alicante.
That morning, I woke up and flew to my first completely Spanish interview. This was a lucid indicator of how far I had come from my stay in Spain. Not only with my Spanish, but with my life.

The interview would last all day, and consist with a few interviews with Marketing Directors, and HR personnel, and hours of IQ and Psychological tests. Everything was in Spanish, and I although I found the personality tests interesting, it took a while to fully understand each of the 80 mini situations written in colloquial Spanish. The timed IQ tests consisted of Spanish word jumbles and spatial puzzles which I found mostly ridiculous and sometimes infuriating.

At the end of the interview, the driver took me on a tour of the city, but I had already made my decision. I would not be taking the job. Although the people were nice, and the company was respectful, it was not what I wanted. I learned that I would spend 1 year in a small Spanish town for an internship before moving to a permanent position in Albany, New York. And to be honest, I didn’t want to put another year of my life on hold. As I said before, I want roots. Neither Murcia nor Albany fit the bill. And I didn’t complete an MBA for the prospect of a fulltime offer after a 1 year internship. I wanted a commitment to a full time offer; I wanted security. I might even want a job back in Securities.

My Unattainable UK Work Permit

It took a few weeks of research and preparation to gather all the documents I needed to submit to the British Consulate in Madrid to get my UK Tier 1 Highly Skilled General Migrant work permit so that I could move to London and look for a job. I got up at 4AM to go to the train station, my bags packed the night before. It was completely dark in Barcelona. Michael Jackson’s “In the Closet” playing on my Ipod.

I arrived in Madrid roughly 4 hours latjavascript:void(0)er, had breakfast, and walked to the Consulate. I stood in line with my papers, waiting for my 11AM appointment, but something didn’t feel right. I saw a classmate of mine also waiting in line for a work permit, but I couldn’t bring myself to say hello, because she represented everything I have ever wanted in life. She was living my dream, a dream that was shattered the previous day. So I couldn’t bring myself to say hello. When I got to the window for my appointment, I handed the representative my papers and answered his questions. When I gave him my passport, the funniest thing happened.

“Wait,” I said, as he took my papers and prepared to stamp them. “This feels wrong.”

“You don’t want to get your permit processed?” he said.

“Yeah, I should just do it.” After all, it would open me up to another market besides the US. I handed over my papers again.

But then I realized that I really don’t want to live in London. “Wait,” I stopped him again.

“Miss are you meant to be in the UK or not?” he said.

“I guess not.” The answer was deafening. “I’m sorry for wasting your time.” I took my passport and MBA diploma and documents and left. When I got outside the building, I called Sebastian. Then I talked to Daniel. Then I came home.

Coming to think about it, for the whole trip, I secretly wished something would go wrong, that I didn’t have all my papers, or there would be a complication, and I could go home saying that I tried. The most important thing I realized was that I really didn’t want to work in London. I guess it’s kind of like what Daniel said: I wanted someplace I can put my roots down. I was tired of living a transitory life. I wanted the real thing.

The MBA Oath

Doctors have the Hippocratic Oath, now, MBAs have the MBA Oath. Lawyers, what've you got?

THE MBA OATH

As a manager, my purpose is to serve the greater good by bringing people and resources together to create value that no single individual can create alone. Therefore I will seek a course that enhances the value my enterprise can create for society over the long term. I recognize my decisions can have far-reaching consequences that affect the well-being of individuals inside and outside my enterprise, today and in the future. As I reconcile the interests of different constituencies, I will face choices that are not easy for me and others.

Therefore I promise:

* I will act with utmost integrity and pursue my work in an ethical manner.
* I will safeguard the interests of my shareholders, co-workers, customers and the society in which we operate.
* I will manage my enterprise in good faith, guarding against decisions and behavior that advance my own narrow ambitions but harm the enterprise and the societies it serves.
* I will understand and uphold, both in letter and in spirit, the laws and contracts governing my own conduct and that of my enterprise.
* I will take responsibility for my actions, and I will represent the performance and risks of my enterprise accurately and honestly.
* I will develop both myself and other managers under my supervision so that the profession continues to grow and contribute to the well-being of society.
* I will strive to create sustainable economic, social, and environmental prosperity worldwide.
* I will be accountable to my peers and they will be accountable to me for living by this oath.

This oath I make freely, and upon my honor.

http://mbaoath.org
A Harvard Business School Alumni initiative

Graduation

Whenever I think of graduation, that Journey song comes to mind....

"Just a small town girl. Livin' in a lonely world. She took the midnight train going aaaany-wheeere!"

In a way, a lot of us are taking this train (going aaaany-wheere!), in probably the worst economic climate since the Great Depression. And me, graduating with a bilingual MBA from Spain. The next few months will be anyone's guess what will happen.

Graduation was strange. Emotional for some, unemotional for me. I guess it's because the future is so uncertain. I came to the MBA partly to "change the world" but right now it seems like I'm solely living in this world. I don't know if that makes much sense. I also came abroad to figure out who I am, but sometimes I feel that I'll be going back to the States more confused than ever. But I know I'm ready for a new job, and a new life in a new city.

Anyways, the night before graduation, I went to probably the last Calatrava BBQ hosted by David P I might ever go to. It was a classic. Sun, beer, food, good IESE company. I spent the night before graduation salsa dancing with Prisque. It was a strange feeling, because I knew Prisque would be leaving to Paris soon.

@Calatrava

I woke up April 30 feeling it was a regular day, but at the ceremony, it felt good to get the diploma in hand and hear the wonderful speeches. Alan's speech was hilarious. He made us all laugh (so hard!), which was exactly what we needed.

Some pictures of after the ceremony:





I met Daniel in the atrium of the aula magna for cocktails. We ran into some Professors and chatted a bit. It was nice. Nazish came later and we all went to dinner. And then we went to club Elephant:

My 2 first year flatmates.

The actor that plays Ted Mosby says something on "How I Met Your Mother" that I truly believe in:

"I think for the most part, if you're really honest about what you want out of life, life gives it to you."

I now know what I really want out of life. So I'm going to go out there and get it. And it's going to be Legen... wait for it... dary.

Doll Face

A video about the illusions in life that try to change you and what happens when you take great risks to become a different person. A challenge for every trader. You have to be humble. You have to accept that you can't control the market. You can't take things personally. You have to make your decision and get out of it never looking back... it costs too much to worry. Trading is immensely psychological, not many realize.

"Pursue your life with integrity. Find what you're good at: that which so fits your values and interests that it expresses the depths of who you are. Out of that you'll find a career and a calling--whether it's trading or something else.

Everything else is illusion."

-Brett Steenbarger

By The Way, Hilarious

Five Things You Never Hear Traders Say When They're Making Money (People's frustrations make for some of the best contrary indicators.):

Taken from the TraderFeed blog.

Number Five: "Just wait 'til the bubble bursts" - Translation: I'm not long and the market is ripping higher. Coach's comment: The market doesn't give a rat's posterior about your economic and political views. Trade what the market is doing, not what you'd like it to do in your nihilistic fantasies.

Number Four: "It's a slow market" - Translation: My timing is off and I'm not making money. Coach's comment: Volume is down and volatility is down and you're trading like it was October. Someone's slow here, and it's not the market.

Number Three: "This market is manipulated!" - Translation: It can't be my fault that I'm not making money! Coach's comment: Who manipulates the market on your winning trades?

Number Two: "I was early" - Translation: My timing sucks and my trade is under water. Coach's comment: Being early is no more consolation in markets than in the bedroom.

Number One: "That had to be the PPT (government Plunge Protection Team)" - Translation: I was short and the market is ripping higher. Coach's comment: Very subtle of that PPT to turn market indicators bullish prior to the breakout of financial stocks and lead the breakout with moves in emerging markets.