University and Allocation

Hello!

It’s been a while since I’ve written and I had anticipated to write a new blog much sooner. Time however, is very limited when you are doing your Master’s. I really wish there were more than 24 hours in a day because I’m not quite able to get my 8 hours of sleep in. But I will make it work!

I will apologize ahead of time if my response to your e-mail or message is delayed! Life has been very busy and it will only continue to get busier each week.

Right now I’m in week 3 of this semester. In total there are 10 weeks of class and 2 weeks of specific projects that must be done. Along with the usual of class, we have to go to networking events and skill building seminars which are done outside of class time (for some of these seminars we get credits). Each class requires 2-5 readings of text, articles, or chapters per class. So, for 4 classes a week I average about 9 readings a week, which may not seem like a lot but unfortunately they are not a 2 page article, but rather 20-30 pages per reading. So that keeps me a little busy as well. I have four hours of class a day, plus group meetings/projects before and after class.

So as I had mentioned in the last blog, we were finally told where this program will take us next! I will do the next semester in Rotterdam, in The Netherlands, and the semester after that I will be going to Barcelona, Spain! Both these countries were in my top 5 choices out of 24 countries. I’m very lucky to have both countries out of my top 5 since the majority of the students only received 1 out of their top 5. I am very happy to be studying in The Netherlands since the Rotterdam School of Management is a high ranking, reputable university (with an even heavier workload... so I’ve heard). Furthermore, I’m very excited to live in The Netherlands again close to friends and family, and most importantly much closer to my Dad... I’m extremely glad that I can return to him sooner than anticipated.

The last semester of this program will be done in Barcelona. Although I already experienced two great cities in Spain in 2007, I only know a small fraction of Barcelona itself. I have heard great things about the university known as ESADE. This will also be another opportunity for me to use and improve my Spanish.

Interestingly all these schools keep me quite close to the ocean, which I quite like!

I reckon this blog will be a bit different than my Ecuador blog. Given that the workload and program is very intensive, I have little time to get myself into interesting, unpredictable, semi-dangerous, situations. As such, this blog will focus on a whole different journey. To keep you interested, I will try to throw in some random thoughts or facts. For example, English words that I was unfamiliar with before I arrived in Australia are: queue, fortnightly and bond. Which mean: line-up, bi-weekly, and damage deposit for a rental property.

Furthermore, the city of Sydney has been fantastic so far. It has many parks and sport amenities as well as many harbours of course. It is very easy to get around the city by means of bus and train... I prefer to walk however so that I may encounter interesting, unpredictable things. Additionally, the food is great! Every ethnic food is available, although I have yet to find the Dutch Pancake house (although once a month a lady comes to the university to sell Poffertjes!).

And just to recap or perhaps clarify, the semester I am doing now in Sydney will count towards my Master’s of Management. The semesters that I will do in Rotterdam and Barcelona will count towards my Master’s of International Management... hence why I will get two Master’s once I’m done.

I would also like to quickly thank everyone for the birthday wishes and cards! Thankfully my roommates retrieved my mail out of the mailbox which is home to a very large hairy spider. I celebrated my 24th birthday having dinner and drinks with friends in Circular Quay Harbour with a great view of the Opera House from our dinner table.

Returning to my point of not getting my 8 hours of sleep in ...I’m off to bed! For most of you, enjoy the whole of Tuesday yet, and for the others, enjoy whatever remainder of Tuesday is left! That’s worded awkwardly— sleep is calling me ...Goodnight!