Last week(s?) have been great. We had a barbecue by the lake on Friday. On Saturday I went to Cyrilles's housefor another barbecue. It was awesome. He has a mediterranean style house in the suburbs, huge garden, pool...We drank fresh caipirinha, grilled great meat, watched the world cup, fooled around in the pool, ate some more...great day, it was very warm, and as always, getting out of campus is a treat in itself.
Oh, last week I passed two exams - Energy and Finance and Network Economy. They weren't too difficult, epsecially the former one as it was open book;-) We had yet another presentation on wednesday in EDS, it was alright but there was low turnout so it kinda missed the point. That is why they cancelled this week's final presentation, yeeeeehaaaaaaaw8-)
I just got back from my last exam, Management Instruments and Social Behaviour. I have no idea how I will be evaluated, the questions were quite general...but I'm sure I wrote enough to pass, especially since the test accounts for only 30% of the grade.
Now it's party time!!! Actually I need to pack stuff first, take care of a lot of paperwork etc...and then its party time!!!
As I said, last weeks were beautiful, sunny, warm...horrible weather to be sick. Yeah I am sick again, I can't bring myself to take it easy so it keeps coming back.
I'm going back to Prague on Friday, I don't know how though. Carpool hopefully;-)
K, i'm gonna end my random rants here, got a lot of things to do.
have a good 1
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Another LOL
Apple wil be giving every MBA at HEC an iPod with the school's logo.
About half of all lectures will be captured in digital video and saved in massive network servers, where students will be able to review them, in the form of video podcasts, as little as an hour later. The iPods also will be stuffed with a wealth of useful tools and information, such as campus maps, class schedules, RSS feeds of news stories, and language training courses.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Visited countries map
There's a LOT I haven't seen yet!!
You can create your own visited countries map here
P.S. Emil reminded me that I HAVE been in Spain, San Sebastian, so I updated the list
You can create your own visited countries map here
P.S. Emil reminded me that I HAVE been in Spain, San Sebastian, so I updated the list
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
LOL
I have heard comments from many of you saying what a great time I'm having here. Let me set the record straight. I am having a good time, I met great people, I'm in a great city (well, close to it:) and I will miss it. But it's not all party and laid-back time. Let me describe this week for example.
Yesterday I woke up early (9am), got the same shitty breakfast (baguette, butter, jam), prepared for the afternoon class of "Management Instruments and Social Behaviour", then spent 3 hours in that class. Had dinner and went back to my room to work on my business project presentation, watched an episode of the Daily Show before going to bed at 1:30am.
Today I woke up at 9am, had the same ol' breakfast, talked to Vierka a bit, now I'm gonna study for tomorrow's "Energy and Finance" exam and finish thee presentation with my group for the business project, we are presenting Wed. afternoon. Then I'll run back and study for my "Network Economy" exam.
As you may have noticed, I have not been posting for quite some time, this is solely due to the fact that nothing, nothing worth mentioning happened, I just stayed on campus, went to class and worked on BP, all the while being sick. Voila. My blog might make my stay here seem glorious, and thats great, because thats how I want to remember it. I dont' want to remember all the administrative problems, the horrible bureaucracy, bland food, the boring people, not to mention business project and bank problems! This post will be a thorn i the otherwise almost idyllic, fun and party filled picture of my semester here at HEC.
Yesterday I woke up early (9am), got the same shitty breakfast (baguette, butter, jam), prepared for the afternoon class of "Management Instruments and Social Behaviour", then spent 3 hours in that class. Had dinner and went back to my room to work on my business project presentation, watched an episode of the Daily Show before going to bed at 1:30am.
Today I woke up at 9am, had the same ol' breakfast, talked to Vierka a bit, now I'm gonna study for tomorrow's "Energy and Finance" exam and finish thee presentation with my group for the business project, we are presenting Wed. afternoon. Then I'll run back and study for my "Network Economy" exam.
As you may have noticed, I have not been posting for quite some time, this is solely due to the fact that nothing, nothing worth mentioning happened, I just stayed on campus, went to class and worked on BP, all the while being sick. Voila. My blog might make my stay here seem glorious, and thats great, because thats how I want to remember it. I dont' want to remember all the administrative problems, the horrible bureaucracy, bland food, the boring people, not to mention business project and bank problems! This post will be a thorn i the otherwise almost idyllic, fun and party filled picture of my semester here at HEC.
Monday, June 05, 2006
A great read
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17726
Summary of three books dealing with differences between Europe and USA. Very sober, doesn't take a preference, rather points out strong and weak points in both.
Summary of three books dealing with differences between Europe and USA. Very sober, doesn't take a preference, rather points out strong and weak points in both.
Consider a mug of American coffee. It is found everywhere. It can be made by anyone. It is cheap—and refills are free. Being largely without flavor it can be diluted to taste. What it lacks in allure it makes up in size. It is the most democratic method ever devised for introducing caffeine into human beings. Now take a cup of Italian espresso. It requires expensive equipment. Price-to-volume ratio is outrageous, suggesting indifference to the consumer and ignorance of the market. The aesthetic satisfaction accessory to the beverage far outweighs its metabolic impact. It is not a drink; it is an artifact.
This contrast can stand for the differences between America and Europe —differences nowadays asserted with increased frequency and not a little acrimony on both sides of the Atlantic. The mutual criticisms are familiar. To American commentators Europe is "stagnant." Its workers, employers, and regulations lack the flexibility and adaptability of their US counterparts. The costs of European social welfare payments and public services are "unsustainable." Europe's aging and "cosseted" populations are underproductive and self-satisfied. In a globalized world, the "European social model" is a doomed mirage. This conclusion is typically drawn even by "liberal" American observers, who differ from conservative (and neoconservative) critics only in deriving no pleasure from it.
To a growing number of Europeans, however, it is America that is in trouble and the "American way of life" that cannot be sustained. The American pursuit of wealth, size, and abundance —as material surrogates for happiness —is aesthetically unpleasing and ecologically catastrophic. The American economy is built on sand (or, more precisely, other people's money). For many Americans the promise of a better future is a fading hope. Contemporary mass culture in the US is squalid and meretricious. No wonder so many Americans turn to the church for solace...
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Gerrup outta that
It's been a while again since my last post, so here's a rundown of what happened, or at least what I remember happened.
First of all, I had Edo visit me here in Paris for a week, it was nice. I was a terrible host though, I was really sick (almost pneumonia) so I stayed in bed for days and couldn't show him around Paris. I even forgot about my birthday until my folks phoned and congratulated me. LOL.
Not being able to organize any party, my friends showed up in my room suddenly and we had some fun, but kept it mellow. It was nice to see they remembered even if I didn't;-)
What else...yeah we had to present our work to the CEO of EDS Consulting on Wednesday. I admit I was very nervous, presenting in French for the first time. In the end it went rather well, i.e. we weren't the worst:-) No, I have to give some credit to our group, we did a good job.
Edo was leaving that day, so after presenting I went to meet up with him in the Tuileries, walked around a bit, and went to his friend's flat near Montparnasse to pick up his luggage before leaving. Things turned out differently though, I saw Edo off and then stayed with his friends in the flat. We ended up drinking Ricard and having a dinner, and in the end I slept there.
Came morning, I helped clean a little, put on my suit that I was wearing all the day before, and headed back to the campus.
My friends found it quite amusing to se me walk into the canteen, after not having seen me for a day, in my suit and my briefcase, with the tired look on my face;-)
Did some work in the afternoon, and then it was time for the infamous Thursday party. It was a good one, Pepa (a CEMS guy who studied in Dublin last semester) visited, great guy, had a lot of fun.
Friday morning we presented our "project" for the Network Economy class, which did not go too well, I have to make the presentation more coherent before submitting it...But the effort was there;-)
Evening was celebration time again, as it was Eamons birthday (he's the Irish guy who we crashed at before going to Dublin). It took place in a small bar in the 11th arrondisement. It was absolutely packed, and we loved it! It was incredibly refreshing not to see the same old HEC faces at a party. The thing about the bars and clubs in Paris is that they have a lot more bouncers, and they make their presence felt. The bouncer in this tiny bar threw out 3 or 4 people while we were there, for such things as bringing a can of beer inside etc. Funny thing is, the guy who got thrown out tried to fight back (he was thin, almost transparent) and kicked the bouncer, resulting in having his face smeared on the sidewalk. I mean, how dumb can u get, picking a fight with someone who's biceps is thicker tah your leg?
Anyway, Alex, his girlfriend, and two other friends came from Holland at around 2:30 am, picked us up, and after some searching we got our bearings right and drove to the campus.
Saturday was work day. Alex and his friends went to Paris to do the tourist. I stayed and pretended to work, but it was soo nice out, warm and sunny, that I didn't get much done. Instead, I went to the campus lake to watch a horse-jumping competition, a very chic event indeed.
In the evening we went to Paris again, and I've seen it like never before. It was warm and people were everywhere, having drinks and enjoying themselves, music everywhere, just a great atmosphere. We ended up going to the Bastille area, which I've never been to before and which is absolutely amazing at night. Bars everywhere!, I mean everywhere!, lights and colors, music and happy people all around, nobody stressed out. It's probably time to define we, I've noticed I haven't been doing a good job at describing this crucial variable. We on the 3rd June meant: Tom, Eamon, Taylor, Richard (all Irish or British), Mallory (an American girl doing an internship at a law firm here, earning copious amounts of money), Tomas (Czech guy here at HEC) and his girlfriend, Vasek (architecture student in Paris), Pepa, Stepan (VSE CEMS guy studying in Belgium now), Sonia and Christoph (French and German CEMS).
After some bar hopping (about 5 hours of it), we decide to take a taxi to Eamons and crash there, and this is when a surreal thing happened. We flagged a taxi, it stopped, and we were explaining where we wanted to be dropped off, when this black guy with a white girl jumps into the taxi and basically tells us to piss off. We objected, it was our taxi and was hard to find one there, the taxi driver objected, and this is when the most ridiculous threat I ever heard was uttered. He(the black guy) said, in an angry voice, that he was gonna call the cops because this is an act of racism. Flabbergasted, we stared in amazement, didn't know whether to laugh or what, when Mallory said he was full of shit and told him to get out of the car. He got even more aggressive, "You're saying my people are shit, you say my brothers are shit????!!", he gets out of the car and tries to come on to Mallory, a girl for chrissake!!! What a loser. He starts threatening us, a group of 5 much taller guys. At this point I just started laughing in his face and we let him go, even if the taxidriver didn't want him. He just repeated his racist argument, poor bastard. It was like from some Hollywood comedy where a black guy blames everything on everyone else being racist...;-) Long story short, we came to Eamons place, talked for some time, and took the first train back to Paris. Unfortunately we fell asleep on it, got off a couple of stations later, so we ended up missing breakfast at HEC.
Today I'm staying here, Alex and co. are in Paris sightseeing, coming back later in the evening. I need to prepare for a painful class tomorrow, very boring and obvious stuff described in an unnecessarily complicated terms...
That's about it I guess. This next week is crucial, I have 2 exams and have to present to all the managers of EDS on Wednesday.
First of all, I had Edo visit me here in Paris for a week, it was nice. I was a terrible host though, I was really sick (almost pneumonia) so I stayed in bed for days and couldn't show him around Paris. I even forgot about my birthday until my folks phoned and congratulated me. LOL.
Not being able to organize any party, my friends showed up in my room suddenly and we had some fun, but kept it mellow. It was nice to see they remembered even if I didn't;-)
What else...yeah we had to present our work to the CEO of EDS Consulting on Wednesday. I admit I was very nervous, presenting in French for the first time. In the end it went rather well, i.e. we weren't the worst:-) No, I have to give some credit to our group, we did a good job.
Edo was leaving that day, so after presenting I went to meet up with him in the Tuileries, walked around a bit, and went to his friend's flat near Montparnasse to pick up his luggage before leaving. Things turned out differently though, I saw Edo off and then stayed with his friends in the flat. We ended up drinking Ricard and having a dinner, and in the end I slept there.
Came morning, I helped clean a little, put on my suit that I was wearing all the day before, and headed back to the campus.
My friends found it quite amusing to se me walk into the canteen, after not having seen me for a day, in my suit and my briefcase, with the tired look on my face;-)
Did some work in the afternoon, and then it was time for the infamous Thursday party. It was a good one, Pepa (a CEMS guy who studied in Dublin last semester) visited, great guy, had a lot of fun.
Friday morning we presented our "project" for the Network Economy class, which did not go too well, I have to make the presentation more coherent before submitting it...But the effort was there;-)
Evening was celebration time again, as it was Eamons birthday (he's the Irish guy who we crashed at before going to Dublin). It took place in a small bar in the 11th arrondisement. It was absolutely packed, and we loved it! It was incredibly refreshing not to see the same old HEC faces at a party. The thing about the bars and clubs in Paris is that they have a lot more bouncers, and they make their presence felt. The bouncer in this tiny bar threw out 3 or 4 people while we were there, for such things as bringing a can of beer inside etc. Funny thing is, the guy who got thrown out tried to fight back (he was thin, almost transparent) and kicked the bouncer, resulting in having his face smeared on the sidewalk. I mean, how dumb can u get, picking a fight with someone who's biceps is thicker tah your leg?
Anyway, Alex, his girlfriend, and two other friends came from Holland at around 2:30 am, picked us up, and after some searching we got our bearings right and drove to the campus.
Saturday was work day. Alex and his friends went to Paris to do the tourist. I stayed and pretended to work, but it was soo nice out, warm and sunny, that I didn't get much done. Instead, I went to the campus lake to watch a horse-jumping competition, a very chic event indeed.
In the evening we went to Paris again, and I've seen it like never before. It was warm and people were everywhere, having drinks and enjoying themselves, music everywhere, just a great atmosphere. We ended up going to the Bastille area, which I've never been to before and which is absolutely amazing at night. Bars everywhere!, I mean everywhere!, lights and colors, music and happy people all around, nobody stressed out. It's probably time to define we, I've noticed I haven't been doing a good job at describing this crucial variable. We on the 3rd June meant: Tom, Eamon, Taylor, Richard (all Irish or British), Mallory (an American girl doing an internship at a law firm here, earning copious amounts of money), Tomas (Czech guy here at HEC) and his girlfriend, Vasek (architecture student in Paris), Pepa, Stepan (VSE CEMS guy studying in Belgium now), Sonia and Christoph (French and German CEMS).
After some bar hopping (about 5 hours of it), we decide to take a taxi to Eamons and crash there, and this is when a surreal thing happened. We flagged a taxi, it stopped, and we were explaining where we wanted to be dropped off, when this black guy with a white girl jumps into the taxi and basically tells us to piss off. We objected, it was our taxi and was hard to find one there, the taxi driver objected, and this is when the most ridiculous threat I ever heard was uttered. He(the black guy) said, in an angry voice, that he was gonna call the cops because this is an act of racism. Flabbergasted, we stared in amazement, didn't know whether to laugh or what, when Mallory said he was full of shit and told him to get out of the car. He got even more aggressive, "You're saying my people are shit, you say my brothers are shit????!!", he gets out of the car and tries to come on to Mallory, a girl for chrissake!!! What a loser. He starts threatening us, a group of 5 much taller guys. At this point I just started laughing in his face and we let him go, even if the taxidriver didn't want him. He just repeated his racist argument, poor bastard. It was like from some Hollywood comedy where a black guy blames everything on everyone else being racist...;-) Long story short, we came to Eamons place, talked for some time, and took the first train back to Paris. Unfortunately we fell asleep on it, got off a couple of stations later, so we ended up missing breakfast at HEC.
Today I'm staying here, Alex and co. are in Paris sightseeing, coming back later in the evening. I need to prepare for a painful class tomorrow, very boring and obvious stuff described in an unnecessarily complicated terms...
That's about it I guess. This next week is crucial, I have 2 exams and have to present to all the managers of EDS on Wednesday.
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