That's All, Folks!

How fitting that my 300th post would be about graduation...


Ladies and gentlemen, it's true. I have officially graduated from IESE Business School. No more cases, no more exams, no more classes, no more BOWs (wellll.... maybe). All that's left is the Olympics and then it's really and truly over. I didn't want to write any of this until I actually had documented proof that I had indeed graduated and now, with diploma in hand, I can call myself an IESE Alum.

Here we are getting ready for our class photo in the (luckily) scorching sun. It rained at noon, but by 3pm the sun was out again. Our priestly robes were incredibly heavy and warm, so we all got a bit ripe during the photo session...
After the photo but before the ceremony, we were ushered into the auditorium of the new building, where we were given our extremely complicated instructions. We had one partner to enter with, a different one to collect our diplomas with, and another to supposedly exit with. We had to know which pair was collecting ahead of us so we'd stand up at the right time. And each row had a particular person at each end so we'd know whether we were supposed to go down the center or outside aisles.

Chris studied the chart very carefully.

There was even a fancy powerpoint presentation to explain everything. And still, we were confused.

Except David. He seemed to get it.

Finally we all knew what we were doing more or less and it was just a matter of waiting our turn to go outside.

Chris & Ian

Chris, Ian, and Francis. (There was plenty of time for photos while we waited.)

Me with Francis

Unfortunately something went wrong. Unlike the charts we were given, which showed we were to sit in 6 rows of chairs, there were only 4 rows. If your last name started with R thru Z, you were kind of out of luck. So those of us at the end of the alphabet stood in the aisle for a while, then we stood behind the last row, and then some chairs magically appeared (taken from guests... whoops!). No matter, the rest of the celebration went so smoothly that few of us remembered what had happened at the beginning.

Especially because cava was served afterward....

George, Me, Marco, and Huy



With Marco, Atsh, Jill, and George

With Lamberto

With Marco, Chris, Jan-Kees, Hein, George, and Lamberto

"Blue Steel" with George and Huy

The Calatrava Guapos: Marco, Atsh, me, George

Ceylan and AndersThe Dining Room

Before dinner with Lamberto, George, Abanis, and Paul


With Ceylan

And with George!

My beloved A6 team leader and paella chef extraordinaire, Fede.


And, of course, my family, who traveled all the way from California!