Sleepless in Andorra II

I never finished the story of our midterm exams. We got through Exam Thursday, yes, but there also was a second day, Exam Friday - which was outright surreal. Our main focus the night before Exam Friday was to pack our bags for SKIESE, the annual ski weekend in Andorra with over 200 IESE students and partners. And even though we had to spend 150 minutes analyzing competitive strategies for wedding dresses and another 180 minutes calculating contribution margins for airlines and machine manufacturers, all we could truly think about on that Friday were the hours left before the buses would finally leave in the afternoon. And when that moment approached at last, all hell broke lose. Pure excitement and joy...

... as can be seen on Diana's and Tarik's faces


Or with Davide, Mareike and Thorsten


And with Rahul, Neil and Varun


So we filled four big buses and left for Andorra. Won't write much about the trip except that it was extremely funny - and very long. Once our destination reached, we occupied our hotel rooms and attacked one of the weekend's two agenda items - partying. Kept it relatively reasonable though as we wanted to enjoy the fresh snow on Saturday, which we did extensively.

On the slopes with perfect powder and wonderful sunshine


The ladies - Bruna, Katherine, Mareike and Valérie


Valérie and Bruna


Mareike and Katherine


Yours truly


On the chairlift with Mareike, Katherine and Núria


At the lodge



Jared and Ece


Noah


Slavka, Tim and Ammar


After a fabulous day on the slopes, Saturday night was dedicated to more partying - the real thing this time. We took the cabin uphill again to have dinner at a restaurant near the mountain station, and a night of debauchery began. Later on, we headed downhill to a night club and had some serious after-dinner dance action until our bodies screamed rest. Despite all sleep deprivation, a brave few of us hit the slopes again early on Sunday morning to continue enjoying the impeccable sun and snow - an amazing two days and exactly what I needed after the midterms.

Unfortunately, reality set in pretty soon - last Monday was a torture as I was so tired that I could barely follow classes. Tuesday got a little better, just to see Wednesday arrive with tons of work; especially two big group projects. So the rest of the post Andorra week was a mix of cases, project work, Student Council tasks and a lack of sleep piling up. Yet there were three highlights as well: Wednesday saw the resurrection of the women's football team (eh oui, we haven't been training in a while but finally got enough girls together and even recruited two fantastic trainers!), Thursday a Handball match between the 2nd and the 1st years, and Friday the arrival of my friend Lismarys from New York! Lis came to check out Barcelona and IESE, and maybe also a bit to see old friends - at least that's what Thorsten and I hope :-) Anyway, it was great to have her here and we tried to get the most out of our time together! Even though most of us had to spend our weekends on campus in order to write exciting marketing plans and sexy competitive strategy projects...

And now a new MBA week is underway, we have handed in our marketing project this morning and should try to get organized for the next days' cases and group work. Meanwhile this is what our classroom looks like during the 11 a.m. break...


Thanks to my friend Fish for this shot!