Backpacking in Europe Part 1 - Madrid

Here is my travelogue on the backpacking trip in three parts. Since there is a lot to write and pictures tell a thousand words, I will make this a photo-blog, mainly narrating my travel through pictures. It so happens that this is also my 100th post and writing about my Europe trip seems an apt way to go about it. When I started this blog I never would have wondered that I would reach this milestone. Anyway, here goes. Hope you enjoy this 3 part series

First Look at Plaza Mayor. it was originally founded in 15th century

walking down calle mayor. One of the beautiful streets in central Madrid

Kids dressed up for Festival of San Isidro. The celebration marks the beginning of the bull fighting season

Traditional dance form I caught in Plaza Mayor

Cathedral Nuestra sra. de la Almudena. Right next to the the royal palace

Palacio Royal. view from the cathedral. Palace is magnificent and the luxury reflects the grandeur of Spain in medieval times

View of Madrid from the cathedral

Fuente de neptuno (Fountain of Neptune) on Paseo del Prado

Entrance to Museo del Prado. One of the most famous museums in Europe. Has a great collection from 14th century to modern times

Downstairs Bar at cats Hostel. Hostel I stayed at. It was a fun and exciting place to meet travelers from all over

Parque Del Retiro. A huge park near the center of Madrid. Houses 2 museums, a lake, rose garden and was the biggest park I have ever seen

Rose garden at the park

More from the Park

The magnificent entrance of the National Library

Goodbye Cats Hostel. I am Leaving Madrid for Barcelona

I did also manage to see Musuem Thyssen Bournemisza, Archaeological Museum and the Atocha station. Also of note is the fact that night life in Madrid goes from 12 am to 7am every night, yes 7 days a week. The flurry of tourist does help to keep it going but the lifestyle amongst city's younger population is pretty much of living life and partying. Not only did I enjoy the great sights and museums Madrid had to offer but also the exciting and energetic nightlife. I Definitely recommend a visit to anyone who hasn't been there yet.

Backpacking in Europe - Update from Barcelona

I got into Barcelona last night after a fun filled 3 days in Madrid. Madrid has a lot to offer from Mediviall streets, architecture, musuems to palaces and a great nightlife. I will give a more detailed update when I post my entire travelogue. I stayed at the Cat´s hostel which has maybe 15-20 rooms with option of male/female and mixed dorms. I met people from all over in particular lots of people from Canada, ireland, some from germany, australia, US, South Africa. I walked around sightseeing entire day and enjoyed the night life hitting bars and clubs till as late as 5 am. This was still not late enough fir the locals though. Madrid nightlife runs 7 days a week as tourist pour into the city every day. Now in Barcelona, I plan to head around to Seychelles, Baritz which is supposed to have great beaches. More updates later.

Here are some more tips I missed earlier
- carry a travel book
- carry adaptors for connecting to different power outlets
- roll up clothes into ziploc bags. they take less space
- stop at the tourist information center in the airport and get maps and guides
- ask local about things to do and places to eat. Ask your hostel
- try and pick up some spanish in spain or get familired before hand. It helps to know a few words and some grammar

Summer Travel - Backpacking in Europe

First year is over and I am off backpacking in Europe for two weeks. As some of you know I was in Barcelona earlier this year for a week on Barcelona GBE and absolutely loved the place. So I am going back for more. This time around I fly into Madrid on 14th May, travel to Barcelona and then off to Paris. I may be visiting other places in france and am also considering Munich or Amsterdam aa additional locations. Obviously I do not want to sacrifice quality for quantity.

Today I did some shopping bought backpack, travel kits, summer clothes and $1 version of all tolietaries, and printed of all travel documents. Tomorrow is the packing day and I hope I can get the stuff I need into the backpack.

Here are some backpaking travel wisdom I have gained so far

> Start by acking someone who has already done it.

> If you have time browse the travel forums for tips

> Get a travel book. They have everything from where to stay, what to see, how to get there etc

> Book hostels upfront. Try hostelworld.com (there are others) and don't go for the cheapest. Some hostels offer great experience

> Air travel in Europe is the cheapest. If you know someone ask whats the cheapest flights are then search online.

> Get help while making a packing list. Some of the stuff i didn't know about/think about - pasport holder, backpack cover, power adaptors, wet tissues, locks, chain etc

>Get a notebook to record your personal travel journeys

>Xerox your documents and keep copies separate

> Get to and fro directions from airports if you want to avoid using cabs

if I remmember more, i'll post them

As you can imagine I am very excited about my trip. I will try and keeo you updated as I g along but if not be assured I will like always post detail travelogue of my trip!

Bye for now!

Added 10:30 pm on may 13th

I bought Mountainsmith 3930 cu in. backpack and its amazing. Worked out perfectly for me. Another tip for packing that I got from my roomate was to roll up my t-shirts and whatever else I could and compact them to fit ziplock bags. Works well I must say!

I am also taking an smaller carry bag (like a college bag) for when I travel around in the city. it pretty much has a jacket, hand towel, documents, camera, water bottle, tickets and direction.

Ok I am all set for tomorrow

The Darden Rigor

I got so many queries about the rigor of the Darden schedule during Darden days that I feel I must address some of the misconceptions. Firstly I do agree that Darden is a rigorous program, especially quarter one and two. Like our Dean says “we are a rigorous program and we do not apologise for it”. The breadth and depth of learning offered by the curriculum and additional team based learning opportunities are excellent. Looking back at my first year I am amazed not only at the number of topics we covered in the area of Finance, Accounting, Operations, Marketing, Strategy, Leadership, Organization, Decision Analysis and Communication but also at my understanding of the subject matter and its practicality. the best reference I have for the knowledge I gained is my experience interviewing for summer internships. During networking events and recruiting I got great feedback on my understanding of various business subjects and issues. Having said all this I intent of this post is to inform you about the Darden schedule. I will post my typical week during Quarter 1-2 and Quarter 3-4. In the spectrum of the Darden class I would consider myself to be somewhere in the middle in terms of effort put into class preparation and Darden related activities. So here it is for your reference

The Customised Learning Experience

I realised that I haven't really talked a lot about this quarter and our the elective format at Darden. To start off the quarter has been very different in terms of work load. To a great extent Q3 and Q4 you can choose as to how much effort you want to put in and what you want to get out of the courses you have taken. While some choose to spend 3-4 hours on 2-3 cases everyday and bewell prepared for the class others read the case, apply framaework and are more comfortable learning the rest in class. They utilise the time for other activities such as club roles, case competitions, business planning, entreprenurial ideas or just plain relaxed lifestyle. You definetly can choose your lifestyle based on what you think fit.

Another big element of Q4 are the electives. Most people pick Q4 electives based on what prepares most for their interships while also considering interests. Hopefully the two align. I picked Consulting Process, Entreprenurial Thinking and Data Analysis and Optimisation. Peronally I am very happy with the way Darden curriculum is structured with core courses thorugh first 3 quarters and electives starting in Q4. Even more so on the fact that it is well balanced to give a good general management persective that sets you up well for any career you may be pursuing. On the electives themselves I am very happy with 2 of 3 and reasonably satisfied with the third one.

Recently we also bid on second year courses which are all electives. This obviously means that our entire 2nd year experience including schedules are customised. I think I speak for everyone when I say that its great to be able to design such an experience. You might be wondering as to why we select the entire second year on one go. We had the same concern but realised that its for pure logistical reasons and there are plenty of oppurtunities to switch courses later. I am really excited about some of the courses that I have taken up. Some of the exciting ones I am taking are Bargaining and negotiations, Games and Auctions, Management decision models , Entrepreneurial Finance & Private Equity, Derivative Securities: Options & Futures, Managing International Trade & Investments, Leadership & Diversity through Literature.

I can't beleive that we are in our last week of our first year program. If the first year was anything to go by, next year should be very very exciting.

Life of B-School student in a small city

One of things I considered while applying to business school was where I would be living. At first it did not strike me an immensely important but later it did start playing on my mind a bit more. Now that I have lived in Charlottesville and think about advantages and disadvantages of living in a smaller city I realize that location has immense influence on your life at Business school. Not that you should decide where to go based on location but definitely feel you should consider it and think about how you are going to cope or adapt.

While a smaller city provides you an opportunity to be focused and immersed, living in a big city say New York can be distracting. Also it gives you opportunity to develop closer relationships as more often than not people stay closer to school, meet each other frequently and participate in many activities and events together. In a bigger city I can easily imagine people going out and living their own lives. Smaller city also afford a great environment for learning. I can think of better example than Darden in the bigger University of Virginia campus. Another great advantage I find is that it’s pretty easy to get around for any activity and you save lot of time in local commute.

On the other hand there are some disadvantages for B-school in smaller cities. First and foremost is accessibility. It’s hard to find flights to various destinations and you often have to drive to nearby airports. Also like in all small towns the choice of activities or places to go are limited and you get tired of running into the same people again and again. Small towns can never match the eating, dining and other entertainment options, sports and recreation facilities etc of a larger city.

Having said that I would counter that Charlottesville is in many ways unique. It combines the lifestyle, peace and other benefits of a small town with facilities and entertainment of a bigger city. Firstly UVA is a pretty big university which ensures that there are tons of bars with lot of activity in the downtown, also known as ‘corner’ area. There are a few clubs around as well. Charlottesville has quite a few restaurants for its small size and of pretty decent quality. Part of the reason for its dual nature is because it is considered a great retirement option for lot of wealthy individuals, and that brings along several other small businesses. In terms of commute, Charlottesville does have an airport but is limited is its flight options. You can drive down to Richmond (1.5 hrs) or DC (2 hrs) and catch flights from there. Having those bigger cities nearby is also useful is many other ways both for business and recreation.

This is by no means an in depth analysis but I hope I provided some insight into what a Business school in small city offers vs one in bigger city. Also hope that I shed some light on Charlottesville. I am going to follow up this post with few things Dardenites do outside school to provide you better insight on what your life might be life if you choose to come here.

Upcoming Admitted students weekend - Darden Days 2008

I just signed up for couple of events for this year’s ‘Darden days’. I remember what a great time I had as an admitted student last year. Read all about it here

The event provided me useful information about curriculum, case method, ‘learning teams’, career opportunities and in general the overall life at Darden. You would also get an opportunity to interact both with first and second year students and learn from their experiences. This was particularly useful as I not only got most of my questions answered but also got great tips on what to prepare upfront and things to focus on while I am at Darden. For those who have not yet accepted their offers, it will be a great opportunity to see what the Darden life and community is all about. What I found was all students, faculty and administration openly shared their opinion about the school, what’s good, what needs to be changed and elaborated on the core values by the Darden community. This year we had a primer event called the “Day at Darden” where almost 80 admitted students got to sit in a Student discussion with the Dean on Darden’s strategy and long term goals. I think this vouches for the point I was making about frankness with which Darden presents itself to the outside world. Overall, I think Darden Days is an excellent source of information for admitted students.

If you have already decided to matriculate at Darden this a great chance to get to meet some of your future classmates to start building your network and relationships. You will find that Darden is very close knit, team based community and your experiences to a great extent are defined by the relationships you build while you are here.

Finally and most importantly, Darden Days is about meeting people, socializing and having fun. There are lots of activities planned including Dinner and Lunches with first and second years and you will get to meet some interesting people and have some interesting conversations. I am not sure what the grand finale is yet but if last year is anything to go by, it should be exciting stuff!

Barcelona GBE - Part two

In the interest of brevity I am structuring part2 differently. There are numerous sources to find more details on each of these historic sites. I will focus on the places we visited and my Impressions. If you like Barcelona, definitely read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona

Wednesday March 12th 2008: Olympic village, Palau Nacional, cathedral, Picasso museum

We covered the following culture sites today
Olympic Village: Home of the 1992 Olympic games. If you remember the Archer lighting the Olympic torch and the diving platforms where you could see entire Barcelona, it should bring back the memories of the games.
Palau Nacional: Which is the national art museum of Cataluña was a palace originally built for 1929 world’s fair. The building’s architecture looks impressive but Catalans don’t consider it so. It was actually a replica of many famous buildings of the time and hence lacks in originality. Santa Maria del Mar: A church built around the 13th and 14th century looks very Dark and gloomy from exterior but interiors stand in sharp contrast. It is a good example of gothic architecture. Palau de la Música Cataluña – is a concert hall built in modernistic style in early 20th century very similar to the works of Gaudi. It has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site. Some of us would come back later in the week to get tours and even see concerts. Picasso Museum: If you haven’t seen or don’t know much about Picasso this is a good place to visit to learn more about him. It is housed in adjoining medieval houses and has extensive collection of his art but not necessarily his most popular works.
Check out some of his art work
http://www.art.com/asp/display_artist-asp/_/crid--16/pg--5/Pablo_Picasso.htm
It was almost 9:30 Pm when we got back from the Picasso museum and most of crashed in our hotel beds. I spent some time keeping my Journal up to date. As part of the course we were required to maintain a journal and I took particular interest in not just noting and observing my interests but also attempting to draw and depict art and architecture

Thursday march 13th 2008: Figueres and Pubol

Today we headed to figures and Pubol for a day trip. Figueres was the home town of Dali, the famous artist who pioneered the technique of surrealism. I didn’t know much about Dali before my visit and was totally astonished by his creativity and imagination. Most of his paintings had so much depth, symbolisms and hidden meanings that one could analyze them for hours. He also experimented with other forms of art and in fact the Museum in figures was designed and decorated by him. He put in various forms of art and creations, 3-Dimensional art that were especially intriguing. Though this place is Hour and half from Barcelona it’s a must visit for any modern art fan.
Learn more about Dali
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Dal%C3%AD
Check out some of his paintings
http://www.dali-gallery.com/html/paintings.htm

Pubol is about half an hour away from Figueres and houses the castle that Gala, Dali’s wife, lived in. Dali and gala had a very interesting relationship and lived apart most of the time. Gala’s residence at Pubol is a great sight in its own right and is well decorated with Dali’s artwork. I also managed to sneak around the village which gave me a good glimpse of rural ‘Catalan’ scene in modern times. I found it an interesting mix of cultures.

We got back from Pubol by 7 pm and rested for some time. Since we did not have an early class tomorrow it was great opportunity for us to check out Barcelona’s night life. Barcelona, and I assume the most of Europe, has an interesting lifestyle where people go out very late first for Dinner from 9pm to 12pm and then drinks at bar till about 2am. Then they hit the clubs and stay out till about 7am and if you are still not done there are still some after hours to go to.
We started out with dinner at a Tapas place which was excellent and then heading to a friend’s friend apartment for some drinks. Our first stop was a local Bar which seems like a college hangout and drew a pretty young crowd. Unlike in US the drinking age in Europe is 18 years and no one ever seems to check Ids. I forget the place’s name but it translates to “Black Sheep” We later headed out to club “Opium” I was back home by 5 am. Obviously everyone said that I left early.

Friday march 14th 2008: Casa Mila/La Pedrara

We had the day off to visit any site we choose and I like most others decided to visit Casa Mila, also known as La Pedrara. Another Gaudi’s masterpiece, this is apartment complex that was actually completed and is still in habited. This truly shows the genius of Gaudi’s engineering skills as well as aesthetic qualities. The displays and exhibits inside, as well as the entire building provides a great insight into gaudi’s philosophy and vision. This is a must visit and preferably this should be the First Gaudi you see in Barcelona.

Later I visited a friend who lived in Av. Tibidabo. Barcelona is an easy place to get around using the metro and you can get anywhere cheaply without knowing a bit of Spanish. The visit provided me a glimpse of other parts of the city and city life that I had missed so far.
Later that evening I went down to see the musical fountains at the Palace. I haven’t seen many musical fountains before and found this one very interesting and entertaining. In talking with friends later they said it was too touristy and reminded them of Disneyland. I still think the Muscial fountains are quite a sight and you should put this in your calendar if you can.

March 15th and 16th

After a short class on Saturday where we wrapped up our course and tried to relate design to strategy, we had the rest of weekend free. I caught up with my friend who showed me around some shopping , La Rambalas, some bars and good dinner places. I was getting more of the Barcelona city experience. On Sunday we went to place called “Parc de Laberint’ which was beautiful Duke’s castle with a garden and labyrinth. This is a very romantic place and I definitely recommend it for couples. We also stopped by Parc de la Cuitedala, caught a glimpse of the ‘Arc de triumph’ and did some boating. If anyone is interested the zoo is at this park.

Overall this had been a very exciting and enriching trip to Barcelona and my post and pictures do not do justice to this experience. Though, I hope I encouraged you enough to go and visit this amazing city.

Barcelona GBE - Part One

GBE - Global Business Experience - One week spring break course at Darden

Sunday March 9th 2008: Arrive at Barcelona

We had caught a connecting flight from Atlanta on route to Barcelona and arrived late morning on Sunday. For me the trip was as much about exploring Barcelona, Spanish and Catalan culture as the course on ‘Strategy as design’ which seemed equally interesting. In fact lot of what we were planning to do as part of the course i.e. see Barcelona’s architecture, culture, observe and understand paintings of Picasso and Dali was very much what I wanted to do. After getting to our hotel, we caught up on sleep and got lunch at a nearby place. Later one of the groups headed down to the ‘La Rambalas’ area to explore, while I joined the group that was more keen to explore things nearby. At first glimpse Barcelona appeared a dynamic, vibrant city with amazing history and culture and I was very enthused to explore more in the coming days.

Monday March 10th 2008: Pavellon Guell, Colonial Guell, Park Guell, La Rambalas

After a hearty breakfast at the hotel, we headed down to IESE School. Both our hotel and the school were in the Pedrables (meaning white stone) area which is predominantly a residential area. It was interesting to note even the residential houses had distinct identity and architecture. We spent some time at the class discussing Gaudi, design, and our expectations for the course. We had lunch at IESE cafeteria which I must remark is exceptionally in its offering of gourmet food.

After lunch it was time to head to Colonial Guell. We did however make a quick stop at Pavellon Guell, one of the early creations of Gaudi and noted some distinct elements such as use or arches, complexity of design and use of ceramic tiles in decoration. Colonial Guell was about an hour away from Barcelona. It was created in mid 19th century to escape Barcelona’s appalling labor conditions and environment. Residential buildings in the colony were built by Gaudi’s assistants in his style. The only Gaudi building was the incomplete church. The base of the church was pretty typical Gaudi with undulations, textured exterior, no straight lines and ceramic decorations. Lots of my friends remarked that it seemed too dark for a church but it still looked very intriguing. The interior of the church was darker still, but we were surprised by attention to detail of both aesthetics and functionality. Even the chairs, skylights, seating and lighting were all well thought about for both aspects.

Park Guell was build on the idea of creating large extravagant park with residential quarters but the idea never came to fruition in the way Gaudi imagined. Once we got there it was evident why that was the case. The front of entrance had two small houses which looked like picked out of a fairly tale, fully decorated with ceramic and painted in vibrant colors. There were steps leading up to the market place which was a structure supported numerous pillars. On the steps were some exotic engravings and the roof of the markets had similar ceramic patterns. The park though beautiful in appearance may have appeared to extreme at the time, especially for people to like in it and hence did not succeed.

Later that day we explored ‘La Rambalas’ on our own. The area is a pedestrian area surrounded by shops and vendors on either side. Street performers are an interesting attraction here. This is definitely a ‘touristy’ place but very enjoyable and a must visit area. Also there are numerous other small streets that emanate from here that are very interesting to explore. There are many cafes, restaurants and bars around for quick bite, ‘tapas’ or drink but it’s better to go into one of the inner streets to get more of the local feel and flavor.

Tuesday March 11th 2008: Sagrada Familia, Casa battlo, Barri gottic area

After discussing our insights and observations from the previous day we were keen to see gaudi’s master piece ‘Sagraga Familia’

My first reaction after stopping right in front of Sagraga familia was that of awe. The structure was immense the engravings so complex. I was just amazed at the complexity while other raised questions on its aesthetic appeal. It does invoke different reactions from different people but commonality is that those reactions are extreme. Interesting aspect of Sagrada familia is its still in construction and it was designed way beyond what was possible in his time. It speaks to Gaudi’s visionary approach while the design is further validation of his engineering prowess. The church is controversial in many ways as the original designs were destroyed and other architects chose to deliberately deviate while constructing other facads (walls). The interior was also very well thought of with pillars shaped as trees and branches, ceiling depicting leaves and skylight give an impression of a waterfall. Inspiration Gaudi draws from nature is very evident. I could talk about Sagrada Familia endlessly but I will suggest that you pull out certain articles or wikipedia as they would more accurately represent all facts about its history.

Casa Battlo, one of the Gaudi’s masterpiece is a house he redesigned for the Battlo family. It is considered very modernistic design and is one project he actually did complete. The front wall of the house is striking and distinct with balconies resembling eyes of a serpent and there is an oceanic feel to the decoration. In fact the whole house and its interiors are built on this theme. The interiors were very aesthetically appealing and looked very spacious. What was remarkable was focus on both aesthetic and design at the same time. For example in designing the ventilation between rooms Gaudi even decorated the ports to fit to the theme. The arches both supported the structure while also creating more space. The terrace chimneys were decorated to look more like from a fantasy story and the front roof was made to appear as if it were the back of the dragon. It is a recurring theme in Barcelona to pay respect to Patron St. George’s slaying of the dragon.

Later that evening we went down to the port to see the sunset and later walked around the ‘Barri gottic’ area. Exploring the narrow streets and shops in this area are an experience in its own. Every few blocks you would encounter a plaza and maybe couple of cafes, bars and restaurants. I also walked by the Government legislative building, Barcelona cathedral, remains of the Roman wall. Walking around this area and exploring new things is an adventure in itself.

To be continued....

Darden Exam Prep Dilemma

Of persistence, opportunity and chance

I spent most of my winter break writing cover letters and applying for various positions with different firms. I did, however, get to spend a very exciting New Year with friends in New York. After a fun ‘New years’ I was back to the grind putting in more applications, customizing my resume and cover letter every time to ensure that I brought forward my interest and fit. First 2 weeks of January were also spent practicing 2-3 cases, frameworks, doing company research and behavioral interviews for a total of 6-7 hours a day. I also believe that my colleagues (at least those with consulting focus with whom I had ample interactions) spend about the same effort if not more. News was not nearly as good. I had a few consulting interviews but acceptance rate from application to interviews was about 10%. Having worked hard and practiced tons of case and behavioral interviews I was confident as I went into the first week of recruiting. As far as I can tell I did well but I couldn’t make it to any second rounds. After 3 weeks of recruiting I was left with just one more interview after which I had to focus my efforts to more off-grounds search which I had already begun in earnest. I attributed part of the results to the fact that we have stellar Darden candidates and as you expect recruiting for top firms is very competitive. The other part I attributed to ‘Chance factors’, a claim that may be contestable. I found it hard to really fault any of my performances and felt I just needed to persevere. Most of my friends looking for consulting were in the same boat albeit they still had one or two interviews with top consulting firm off-grounds. So did I and that too with my top choice!

The process started exactly the way I didn’t want it to. My flights were delayed constantly and though I kept recruiters in loop I ended up an hour late for interview. I had to rush into my first interview and I struggled a little bit with numbers. In between the interview I remember thinking that my chances were pretty much over as great performances in previous interviews hadn’t got me anywhere and with mistakes I probably wouldn’t get too far. However, I quickly shook myself of the negativity and focused on the task at hand to end the interview strongly. I kept thinking positively, smiled and even joked with the recruiters about the situation and airline industry. My second interview was much better and did my best to show my interest in the firm, my positive attitude, enthusiasm as well as my adeptness at tackling complex problems. It paid off! I got the second round and I really felt fortunate because I found myself less deserving that with my other interviews. Later on I felt it had more to do with attitude and adeptness at handling the situation that the just the case. I was extremely motivated as I went into my second rounds and did exceptionally well.

Result – I got the offer

Moral – hard work, positive outlook and persistence pays dividends

Opportunity – though I did not elaborate earlier I took my opportunities to get this interview and though I could have sulked about my current situation I saw it as an opportunity to create an impression. Many might not agree with my conclusion but I feel that made a huge difference

Chance –mitigate what you can and forget what you can’t

As I got back into town and over the course of the weekend I found that many of my classmates had some exciting offers. Well deserved, I may add. This seems to have been an excellent week for Darden students on the recruiting front . We also seem to be doing better than comparable schools. (For more factual data and comparisons please wait for updates on career websites of each School, my claims are based on hearsay and perceptions)

At the same time I do know that many of my deserving classmates are still looking for jobs. Mostly because they have opted to do something close to their hearts or do something different. I hope you can take some confidence of my story. Also I know for sure that you will get what you want because for one you are at Darden and I have seen what you are capable of. I know from my life that I have come this far not because of easy successes, but because of failures and obstacles that challenged me and my audacity to continue to dream big and explore uncharted waters.

I remind you once again of Robert frost’s lines

Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

So go ahead, dream big, and get what you want!

Success is counted sweetest

Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple Host
Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of Victory

As he defeated -- dying --
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!

- Emily Dickinson

Some words of encouragement for most of us who are still going through the recruiting process. Past couple of weeks have been very hard for me and I am sure it has been for most of us. This week was a 5 day 15 case week, with added burden of recruiting and interviewing. Despite the work load I really enjoyed this week, the cases and the class discussions. In particular our Management communications class where we all narrated beautiful stories that conveyed a deeper meaning. One of stories related a personal experience to current process and delivered a message left a significant impression on me. It was about how we have got so involved in the process and are 'Looking to do what we think we have to do rather than doing what we want to do'. So I think we really need to figure out what we are really passionate about and go fo it. Also, it is very easy for us to take high paying corporate jobs and be indifferent to so many causes that need attention. Its upon us to go out and make a difference. I leave you with a poem by Robert Frost offering some words of wisdom.

The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

"Buying the War"

A great documentary on the IRAQ war and role of US media in the propaganda. I usually stick to the MBA and life theme on this blog but this time around I couldn't really resist sharing such an excellent piece of work.

Home Page
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html

Directly to the video
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/video_popups/pop_vid_btw1-1.html


Enjoy!

Games we play - Recruiting for Summer Jobs

Its that time of the year where more than anything you need confidence and self-belief. We dropped our resumes and cover letters to several companies for Summer intern positions over the winter break. They are now coming out with close lists for interviews. Everyday we hear about the lists we made it on and ones we didn't. With 320 excellent candidates, this is where the quality of Darden students makes this process very competitive. Though at a personal level I don't feel any tension or competition with my classmates as I know them very well, respect them for their abilities and have an equal stake in their success. Reality at the end of the day is that we need to make the close lists to get interviews and if one does, other does not.

There are about 250 job postings for 320 students with over 50% open to internationals. Needless to say that everyone would walk away with an offer, most people with more than one. The question really is about fit and whether you managed to get exactly what you want.

Its not the same across the board. Some areas are more competitive than others e.g. management consulting which has the most interests. Most consulting companies had over 100 students apply for 25-30 interview spots. Investment banking is also competitive but (too my surprise) Darden is very strong in this field and attracts lots of Investment Banks. Marketing and general management can be equally competitive depending on the companies and specific positions. Darden having a general management and case based curriculum develops skills that appeal to wide variety of industries and functions. Hence there is a great breadth of opportunities available.

The full process from the start present itself like a game - competitive yet organised and sporting. So as I head back to my preparation drill, I say to myself "Let the games begin"

Quarter that was – Summary of Second quarter at Darden

The second quarter at Darden is dreaded for its heavy work load with the November month infamously referred to as the ‘Black November’. It certainly did live up to expectations but I will add that end of the day, everyone in our class is alive, well and kicking.

We had hardly recovered from our 1st quarter exams when we received bundle of new case materials in our mailbox. With Finance, Economics, Accounting, Operations and Marketing as our subjects we were in for a quantitative treat! Company briefings and networking events definetly added to our busy schedule.

Typical day was something like this

7:15 – Get up
8:00 – First class
9:25 – First coffee (Some people relaxed and got heir dose of caffeine, others setup meetings with 2nd year/Career coaches for advice on job search/networking/courses etc
10:00 – Second Class
11:25 – Second coffee
11:40 – Third class
1:15 – Done with classes
1:30 – 2:30 Company Briefings
3:30 – 6:30 – Case preparation for next day
6:30 – 7:30 Company Briefings
8:00 – 10:00 (or 11:00) learning team

Games we played

This quarter was as much about simulations as it was about case discussions. First, we had a 2 day long marketing simulation game where we got together in our learning teams to manage companies manufacturing cars. We had to come up with our product portfolio, strategic position for each product and compete with other teams to sell our cars over 6 periods. Team with best stock price and profitability won. We also had a ‘Beer game’, a combined marketing and operations game about supply chain and another operations game about strategic souring. Games were well designed and enjoyable and really added to this quarter’s fun.

Darden cup – real games!

Darden cup continued with soccer, “Darden cares 5k run” and blood drive with sections competing for points gained not only by winning but also extent of participation. Darden also had it own football and soccer teams play in the intra-mural leagues.

Events and competitions

Lots of us for some reason decided that it would be fun and challenging to go out and participate in various case competitions and events. We had several contests that Dardenites participated in such as the Deloitte case challenge, Pepsi case competition, Coke case competition, IPO challenge, Innovation challenge and couple of other names I cannot recall. Darden came in third in Coke case completion final and had team go out to final of IPO challenge, 2 teams in the Innovation challenge finals and other competitions too. I am sure the Darden website has a more accurate report on these events, mine are just from memory.

Cover letter and resume drops

This was when we put the results of our soul searching, career search and networking to test. Condense all these into 3 paragraphs on the cover letter; add your resume and you are ready to apply for a summer internship position. The only catch is that you have to repeat it 5 to 10 times varying on the number of companies you may wish to apply. The resume drop deadline in the first week of December is what makes our November, ‘Black November’.

Fun times continue

Whatever the workload, people were always out for TNDC. (Thursday night drinking club). We might have got our cases the very day exams ended but for the next few days only cases we picked up, let’s just say had a liquid with fantastic healing power. This quarter saw some big parties such as the 80’s theme party, Halloween, karaoke night and the Darden Ball. The cold call weekly family events continued with my favorite one being “Screen on the Green” an outdoor movie showing on our very own Darden lawn.

Some Charitable work

Between all these we all found some time for charitable work. Lot of classmate contributed several hours to ‘habitat for humanity’ and other efforts. Towards the end of the quarter we had auction event for to raise money for “Building goodness in april” . Read more here. We managed to raise over $50,000 for this cause

All in all a crazy quarter! Glad I’m done and looking forward to my vacation.

Drink Management

Once you get to a Business school its hard to communicate anything without excel. Tomorrow is the last day of our second quarter exams and we have a "bar-golf" game planned soon after. In planning for the event, this is what's floating around in our mailboxes today.

The details of text on the right

I can't wait for exams to get over. Party on dudes!!

Dardenomics

We have been learning macroeconomics this quarter and I was able to apply my knowledge to understand real-life behavoir.
Note: familarity with IS-LM model, income identity and macroeconomics in general are pre-requisites to understanding the discussion below.
__________________________________________________________________

Your steady state equilibrium prior to coming to Darden can be presented by


















Where
r = real interest in pursuing B-school education
and
D = Darden Identity = C + I + S + P + NX

C – Case method
I –Invested effort
S –Sleep – ‘lack of’
L– Liquidity
M – money supply
NX – Net exchange of ideas

In addition, we assume that G - grades are held constant at 'B' and as it is not on the axis would act as shifter of the curves.

When you enter Darden and your disposable income goes down, you take loans and hence
Liquidity ↓ Money supply↓
Hence your motivation level decreases reflected in decrease of ‘r’ ;



LM curve must shift down to the right
















Moving ahead in time through Q1 and Q2,
C- Case method hours move from ‘0’ to ‘4.5’ hrs daily

Invested effort ↑ and Sleep – lack off ↑




Hence the IS curve shifts down to the left














The intersection of IS and LM is the new equilibrium state of Darden student. How this identity translates to behavoiral espects is beyond the scope of this discussion

Disclaimer:
1. Like all economic theories, the above model has no relevance to reality
2. Disclaimer on disclaimer 1 is that I am not an economist nor plan to be one!

Darden FY reports for Fox Business

Watch my classmate Alex video blog his darden experiences for Fox Business website.





If the video doesn't work here is the link

Quarter: One asked - One given

This modified quote is so apt for the culmination of first quarter at Darden. In fact we are already into the first week of second quarter. We made it! The first quarter is supposedly very tough at Darden and I can give first hand confirmation that it was every bit as hard as they said it would be. But of course we came here knowing that very well. No quarter was asked, none given!
Let me give you some updates on the our progress

Classroom experience
We continued our daily grind of preparing cases, learning team meetings and the class discussions. I use the word grind to represent the effort we put each day and not necessarily the experience. My learning team has been very flexible making my overall experience even more enjoyable. The classes have been fun, discussions engaging. Quite often we have had people from the industry come to class and narrate their experience as they went through the real life case. They were either right in the middle of action or somewhat related to the problems we were discussing in the case. We got real-time feedback on our class discussion and how we went on tackling the problem as compared to what they did and how things panned out.

We have had some fun in the classroom too. We have played some games or ran simulations in the class to drive home a point. In the operations class we also happened to call up an 1-800 number related to the case to evaluate the queue wait times and service. Couple of days back we setup our Google ‘adwords’ account to measure advertising effectiveness as we were going through the case. It’s all very practical education.

We had added our own bit of fun by coming up with some creative class norms. Our section has a combination “2 truths and a lie” and a “physical challenge” as introduction for classroom visitors. The latter is basically a spoof but at the same time hilarious.

Career:
Many companies have been on grounds and lot of our time was dedicated to attending company briefings and events. We also spent a significant portion of our time networking with potential recruiters, especially true for our classmates looking at Investment banking career. In parallel we have taken career development modules that educated us on the art and science of resume writing, cover letters, networking etc. We have also covered other important topics such as Self awareness , understanding our your life themes, defining your career objectives and pitch, understanding recruiter needs, industries, functions, company research etc. All in all a packed schedule and lot of work.

Exams:
We had a day off to prepare for our exams which may seem an awfully short time but it’s not. Having gone through the course so rigorously there is not a lot to prepare. I was very skeptical when the second years mentioned that exam time would be the most relaxed time but later came to agree with that. I am sure that not everyone in the class agrees with me but I think there is a significant number who would. Ask my roommate with whom I spent hours playing on the x-box during exam time.

Social activities:
The school organizes more social activities that you can ever imagine attending. From International food festival, Screen on the green (movie screening), weekly cold call (happy hour on Darden lawns) and numerous other events and parties. They have a lot of events for the partners which I wouldn’t know a lot about, being single. At the end of the first quarter we had the much hyped ‘100 case party’ with the 80s dress theme that really was a blast. If you know anything about Darden you would know about TNDC – Thursday night drinking club. The primer mails we get for this are absolutely out this world hilarious but unfortunately I cannot share any of those here. Seeing the trend and for all I know we might have an unofficial every day drinking club. The Charlottesville scene is great with plenty of bars around the corner area which where all the undergrads hang out too :)

Well that’s a sweet way to wind up these posts. I can’t believe all the things that we have managed to get done in such a short span of time. I skipped through the real meat to give you an overview of some areas but hopefully I can dive into some specifics in my later posts. Feel free to leave a comment or drop me mail regarding what you want me to write about.

Sequence of randomness

I plan to make this to be as abstract as the title. This is as abstract as I can write. If you really deciphered this, you are such a geek. Just kiddin!

Beauty and the beast – Case method

So what has transpired that past 2 weeks. Well, we have mainly focused on classes and cases(not beer). Everyday we spend about 2-3 hours preparing cases on our own before we discuss them with our learning teams for 2-3 more hours. We take our learnings to class, discuss, agree, disagree and hash out all different perspectives of looking at the same problem. It is such a thrilling experience! Many a times I end the class with a ‘wow, I learned something today and I thought I knew how to do this’. So, what's so exciting about this? Imagine taking up a problem relating to xyz industries. You have some information on the problem and some data to work with. You run the numbers, think of possible scenarios and pros and cons. You get some great insights from your learning team and other ways to look at the problem and you are ready for the class. Now the fun begins. You start hearing about a different approach you disagree, you are challenged to reason your stand and listen to opposing viewpoints. You listen 20 different ways to look at the problem and understand it in its entirety. This is just the beginning. Add to that personal insights of people who have been in that situation worked in that industry or understand that function. Even more interesting is when you here from someone whose experiences are completely unrelated and looks at quantitative problem qualitatively or vice-versa. The professors run the class in very well planned and choreographed fashion. If you read carefully you would have found the beast as well. What can be exciting and thought provoking can also be little frustrating.

Caught somewhere in time

All the time classes and cases take, they are only part of our learning. To explore our interests we have joined various professional and affinity clubs. On average we are enrolled to 4-5 clubs. As club meetings start they take time off our calendar it becomes increasingly challenging to keep pace with all that is happening. We are also alerted on stuff we need to start working on and this starts eating into our 5 hours sleep. Drinking and partying 4 days a week doesn't help either.

One of the excellent opportunities ‘Darden’ provides is the ‘leadership speaker series’. Within a month of our first year we have already hosted top executives from companies such as Lehman brothers (Gary Weinstein) and Wachovia (CEO - Ken Thompson). The insights such top leaders provide from their experience are truly invaluable.

High hopes

Now to the career stuff which has been the real storm most of us. I remember being asked this question recently –

Q: So what do you want to do when you grow up?
Me: I guess I’ll only find out if and when I grow up!

We are in midst of deciding what career path to pursue after the Darden MBA. Our career development center has a very well planned approach to the problem– Understand yourself (through many self assessment exercises) list down skills, strength and interests, explore opportunities and see how they fit your life themes. Narrow down the function and industry before getting down to the actual job. Use resources available to explore jobs and skill sets required. Complete the picture and start preparing for how to target the same. Obviously it is lot more comprehensive than what I describe here and we have spent a lot of time at every step. I think this a great approach and is helping us a great deal to define our career paths. Oh did I mention we have Career discovery forums where alumni come to campus to talk about industry, functions and their everyday lives.

However, before all this started I found for myself that I get stuck on a more philosophical question.

‘What do I want to do with my life’

I can and have come up with many answers to this but if you test it further with a ‘why’ then it becomes little more difficult. In fact if you ask enough ‘whys’ to a question you can almost reason that nothing you do matters in the end. The question then is ‘why’ should you do it? Viscous circle, isn’t it?

I hear a song, I remember a prose

And no-one showed us to the land
And no-one knows the where or whys
But something stirs and something tries
And starts to climb towards the light

Why does everything have to be justified to be done? May some action precede reason? What if some instinct is a source of your action? Hmmm. That seems reasonable.
Okay, fair enough. I decide to pick a cause, choose a path and refine it as I go along. But why choose one thing over another? This is where pink Floyd saved me. At least kind of; Listening to ‘High Hopes’ I reflected on my childhood dreams, limitless boundaries of thinking; dreams lost in real world and I reflected

Beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young
In a world of magnets and miracles
Our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary

Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some inner tide

Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
There's a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
Though down this road we've been so many times

Apologies for the anti-climax but after all this I have decided to pursue ‘consulting’. I think it’s a great fit. Honestly it has come out after 3-4 months of soul searching, asking tough questions and looking blankly at stars in the sky (not exaggerating)

If you are looking for a good conclusion, let me tell you that in the end all this doesn’t matter. What matters is the Mexican party starting in 15 minutes and I got to be there for my friend and for the tequila shots. So let me buzz from here. My friend who is teaching me spanish will be proud when I say ‘bamos o tomar unos tragos’