Barca 3 - Celta 1

I have now been officially baptized in Spain! Just got back from my first FC Barcelona game...Great match, with 90 000 people and 4 goals in total (2 of which were penalty shots). I was expecting tappas and wine during half-time, but to my surprise they actually had hot-dogs and beer!

I managed to tape the penalty kick taken by Ronaldinho, nothing great but still better than nothing (the camera was shaking quite a bit, so sorry if you throw-up watching it): click me!

Since we're on the topic, as a side note, we had a presentation from the Director of marketing for FC Barcelona in my "Sports Marketing" class. Although the whole presentation was interesting, what really got to me was when he said that FC Barcelona (like Madrid) is a non for profit organization. The whole freakin' team is NON FOR PROFIT!?!?! They are making 300 million in revenue, but the team is non for profit. Am I missing something here? So basically, you make a net income, and you just reinvest it in the team...there's nobody at the end of the line that collects, because there's 150,000 members. Incredible...sorry, I had to let it out. I guess my brain just got corrupted over the years with all those management courses, cause I really don't get it. That might also explains why they have UNICEF on their jersey. That spot is worth 20 million/year; they are giving it to them for free, for 5 years. 20 million? That's the salary of another superstar player...Ah well, good for them. It's very honorable...but non-for-profit? common...Maybe I did a smart move by taking Social Entrepreneurship this semester!

Just finished a hectic week and week-end having to work on a bunch of papers to submit for Monday. At least the next few days should be more easy going.

Looking forward to Thursday, as some of the guys and I will be heading to Prague until Sunday! The only bad news is the weather, but hopefully it'll have time to change by the time we get there.

Careful with the newspapers!

One initiative following another, I decided to practice my Spanish by reading the local newspaper. After a full day of reading and surprisingly understanding quite a bit considering the beginner that I am, I decided to put to use the learned words next morning in my Spanish class. Surprise surprise...I picked up Catalan! The reason I even understood some of the Catalan words is not because my Spanish was good but rather because of my French! Yes, Catalan is quite similar to french (to some extent). Not knowing either language that well, I now need a trick to differentiate both languages in the newspapers; as apparently in the same newspaper some pages are in Catalan and others in Spanish. Anything to make it harder...

Back to square one,

JP

Valencia, land of the Paella...and more!

Ahhh Valencia...wow!

A few students from the ESADE MBA exchange program and myself decided to put all academic responsibilities on the side and go for a little 3-4 hours road trip to Valencia. We were initially going to be 12 but we lost 2 soldiers Friday night (if you know what I mean) as they couldn't make it for the Saturday morning meeting point. So we rented 3 Opel cars from pepecar with pepecar.com stickers. Let me tell you we were THE touristic attraction in Valencia with those stickers. Good times...

What I thought to be a small city turned out to be the 3rd largest in Spain, so it was quite big. Valencia is somewhat divided in 2 parts, between the historical and modern architectures. Both very beautiful in their respective ways. Unfortunately pictures cannot capture the beauty of this city. Not trying to sound poetic, but honestly it's one of those things where you have to be there to be able to fully contemplate and appreciate.

The city also happens to be the host of the 32nd America's Cup, which is basically the biggest yachting event. Although we got to see one of the yachts, we weren't allowed to take pictures. Close to there, on the beach, we went to a paella restaurant as it is Valencia's specialty, and although I said earlier I wasn't a fan of this dish, I'm starting to like it. At night we visited the downtown area with some of the old architecture, which blends very well with the street lighting; some of the old churches are very nice! And we ate at a restaurant that literally changed my perception about tappas, as I had the best tappas ever. So I guess we can say this trip really changed my initial perception about Spanish dishes.

Finally, just before heading back home we stopped by the "modern" art complex of museums designed by the Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava; which is simply incredible, and probably even more appreciated by architects. The complex is a mix of many different museums from an aquarium to the museum of arts and science, etc. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to go inside as it would have taken at least 4 hours just to visit the aquarium alone, according to an employee over there. But the good news is that I plan on going back in March for some big festival, so hopefully then I will get the chance to visit the museums!

As a side note, Valencians are very very friendly and more than willing to help lost tourists...not that we needed directions or anything...cough cough. But definitely friendlier than Barcelonians.

Now I have a crazy week ahead; probably the busiest of the semester: 2 presentation, 2 papers (including an exam), and a lot of reading to do!!! I guess that's the price to pay when you decide to take the week-end off...ah well...

Here are some pictures. More to come later as I am waiting for my friends to upload theirs.

JP

You see what happens when I leave!?!

I barely had time to leave the country and already 2 things happen:
1- Montreal Canadiens can't win a game (except for the last one)!!!
2- The weather goes ballistic!!!

I must admit, week-days have been much busier than anticipated with the classes and school work. But at least the week-end looks very promising; we rented 3 cars and will be heading towards Valencia for 2 days. Apparently it's a beautiful city and the drive along the east coast is interesting. I'll update you with some pictures once back...

Alright, so to answer some of the questions I've been getting, let me throw in some informal stuff...

Food
I hope no Spanish person will read the following, but I found out I'm not a big fan of their main dishes: paella and tappas; so I guess that makes me a Spanish food hater...However, I must say that on the other hand their Italian restaurants are very good! ;-) But in general most of the restaurants here are pretty good, with tasty food, extensive menus and very nice interior designs all this at affordable prices. Although I've mainly been to the ones in the "downtown" area (so Plaza Catalunya on La Ramblas and Ferran streets) I've tried some in the non-touristic neighborhoods, and the same applies, the food is even better!

Transportation
Plain and simple: very good! It's very easy to get anywhere. As good (if not better) than in Montreal, New York, and London; pretty much the only cities to which I can compare it too. But definitely better than Athens (sorry Jimmy). Taking a cab can also be a convenient and very affordable alternative!

Shopping
I must say I am disappointed thus far. Nothing special in the selection and prices are pretty much like in Montreal. However, the selection is there...there are many stores in the downtown area from the most normal brands to the most exclusive ones. Didn't get the chance to do some real shopping yet though...

So that's it for now, gotta go do some reading and get ready for the night!

JP

Interesting week-end!

Today (Monday) I had my first presentation, and I think my team kicked ass! It was definitely the best one...then again, I might be biased...but you can ask my teammates!

On Saturday I went to visit one of the main touristic attractions in Barcelona, it's the big church under construction since 1882 called Sagrada Familia (the Holy Family). It is definitely one of the most impressive infrastructures I have ever seen. It takes hours to fully enjoy and observe all the sculptures engraved on it; it's almost tiring for the eyes. You have to see it to understand, but it's really mind blowing and incredible how someone can not only design but build such a thing.

Also on Saturday (at night), Barcelona's 2 soccer teams (FC and Espanyol) were facing each other. It's always an interesting match-up when two local teams play one another. Unfortunately and surprisingly FC lost, leaving a lot of sad supporters as FC is the favored club in Barcelona. We went to watch the game at an Irish pub (cough cough) and then went out clubbing to try to forget about the heart breaking loss of course.

Sunday the battery was on charge ;-)

Finally, I would like to inform you that I've uploaded some pictures: click here
Here's a video I took of a Spanish Michael Jackson (you be the judge): click here
And here's some Spanish break dancers...pfff: click here

Alright, gotta go get some studyin' done!

Finally settled in!

Hola!

Sorry for not writing earlier, it has been a very busy week with school and finding an apartment...

I arrived the 4th and met with my friends from Montreal who actually left yesterday. We pretty much visited the whole city for the past few days. Also with my heavy school schedule and my search for an apartment I barely had time to reply to emails or update this blog.

Friday (yesterday) I finally moved in a room shared with another student and the owner. The greatest thing about this place is that I don't have to do laundry!! Some lady takes care of that every Saturday ;-)

The city is very beautiful, the architectural design of the buildings is incredible with a lot of details but yet blends very well with the scenery while remaining somewhat subtle. If you need to impress someone with your art knowledge it's pretty simple here...just answer "Gaudi" to everything and you'll have a 90% success rate!

As for the school and the other students, it's all great. ESADE has a very nice building apparently built by the Opus Dei. I don't know if still have ties with that group, but regardless it's pretty nice. There are lots of international students, comparable to McGill and probably even more. They are pretty much from everywhere around the globe, but obviously mainly from Europe. Because the building is also shared with undergrad students learning language, there are more girls than guys, which makes studying that much more pleasant...concentrating can be challenging.

We went to a nightclub last night, called Loft; which was pretty good. Unlike in Montreal, in Spain you start eating at 11PM, go to the clubs at 2AM and they close at around 6AM.

Finally, Barcelona might not be the best destination to learn Spanish, as you never know if they are speaking to you in Catalan or Spanish. But I am taking a Spanish course which will become very handy because there are very few people here that speak English; which makes it very hard for someone like me! You soon find how important a map of the city is, and you better become very familiar with it, I always keep it with me! I just hope I won't start having a Spanish accent when I speak English after my stay here...

OK, that's it for now...I'll try to post a link to some pictures later on.

Juan Pablo

About this blog...

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd create this blog to keep family and friends updated with news, pictures, and perhaps videos (if you're lucky). And saving me the trouble of writing emails... ;-)

I guess this could also be useful to anyone out there considering an MBA at ESADE and living in Barcelona. So I'll try to keep it informal as well.

So now, assuming I don't get lazy, you'll have something to fill your 10 minutes with every morning before you really start working, while having your coffee!

Leaving in a few hours...next blog will be from Spain! May the adventure begin...

JP