Showtime again!

Ladies and gentlemen, it is... exam time again! I know, this is getting boring and I should probably start looking for new topics, but that's simply what life in Barcelona currently has to offer...

Our second term is coming to an end, and all those weeks filled with balance sheets, cash, activity based costing, performance measurement systems, logos speeches and globalization strategies will be over soon. All that separates us from the third term is another day of class, two days of final exams and a short weekend. And maybe that's not too bad. People are starting to touch alarmingly low energy levels again and everyone seems a bit worn out. These past weeks have been exhausting and not very helpful in keeping a normal sleeping pattern (or a normal life, as a matter of fact), but we have also done and seen a lot - and we still have the illusion that things will become so much better next term...

This past week, for example, has seen the completion of my team's strategy project for Havaianas, the Brazilian flip flop company. Probably just about time as we have been spending way too much time thinking about flip flops and distribution strategies for Europe lately! We also heard guest speaker Baldomero Falcones, the CEO and Chairman of FCC, talk about leading in times of crises and his personal recommendations on how to develop leadership potential. We had Multi Culti, the best party at IESE so far - with over 500 people dressed up in their national colors or costumes eating and drinking their way through every country's stand. Crazy night - will post pictures soon. And finally Mareike and Shweta organized a little surprise party for my birthday and we had midnight cake and drinks with a nice group of people - thanks again!

And now we have another day before we will again enter IESE's Aula Magna, take out our pens and calculators and give away our sound half knowledge of Managerial Accounting, Operations Management and Marketing Planning & Implementation. Fortunately we'll have only three exams this time, but already that feels more than enough... I guess I better get started with some prep work - happy exam week to everyone!