Biarritz

A little seaside stopover between a wedding outside of Toulouse (number 6 of the summer) and a couple of days in the Basque country in Spain.... can't beat Biarritz!

Viva Calatrava!

It was three years ago this morning that I first set foot in Calatrava. I remember being at the entrance with my sister and alllll my stuff, and seeing George for the first time as he opened the door and said, "BUT WHY YOU HAVE SO MUCH STUFF?!?!" The first trip up the fabled (and often broken) elevator, my first glimpses of the apartment... quiet on a late August morning because Marco wasn't up yet and Alex was in Costa Brava with Natalia.

A few hours later Marco woke up, sleepy from a night in his then-home-away-from-home, Danzatoria, which sadly no longer exists. Never mind, we replaced it with our second home Sutton Club during the second year anyway. I remember setting up my bed and desk with Nicole, wandering around the city, which seemed far emptier than it does now (don't get me wrong, it's still tumbleweed central around here), meeting all my new and soon-to-be good friends, taking in the view from the roof of Calatrava, and of course one barbecue after the next.

I saw Marco last week for dinner in London, and I talk to George regularly on Skype. But it's still not the same as waking up every morning in Calatrava, stumbling around in our underpants as we struggle to make coffee and burn toast and get to class on time. I don't miss the cases or the exams or the projects, but I do miss meeting up with friends and classmates to work on them. Mostly I just miss being able to see my friends whenever I want to. Now Alex has a baby, so does Pierre who moved in after him, and Atsh, who lived in Calatrava during the second year, has moved back to Tokyo.

I'm fortunate enough to have been able to see a lot of my IESE friends through travel for work or for fun, and Barcelona isn't a bad place to return to, so people roll through town from time to time. But on this morning of August 22, even though I'm getting ready to head out with Frenchy for a road trip adventure in southern France and northern Spain, having just dropped off my moto at that Calatrava garage for safekeeping, I'm certainly feeling a little something in the pit of my stomach.

And I realize it won't be that hard to leave Barcelona for Paris next month. In fact, it'll probably be easier than ever to see my friends (especially the London-based ones), and I won't have to worry about getting choked up when I pass by Calatrava and think of my Calatrava guapos. I MISS YOU GUYS!!!

A Barcelona summer weekend

After four jam-packed days out of town (well three relatively chill days in Paris because very few people were working) and then one action-packed day in London giving presentations and leading meetings, I was delighted to get back home to Barcelona.

But quiet and restful it wasn't... exactly. Frenchy and I managed to fit in two big bike rides, two tennis matches, a couple of jogs, and several hours at the beach. And it also happened to be the opening weekend of the Fiestas de Gracia, the annual party in the neighborhood of Gracia which starts right across the street from my apartment.

So of course we went to check it out, and it was pretty impressive. The residents of various streets and plazas had banded together to create cool little worlds, complete with stages for bands and DJs, street bars, and food stands. Everything was handmade (well, aside from the stages, of course) and really impressive... and sometimes downright bizarre. It's good that we decided not to go to bed early Friday night because we wouldn't have been able to anyway: one of the main attractions of the Fiesta is the fireworks. And the drumming groups.

One of the streets (yes, they created a makeshift roof covering the whole street to give it an under-the-sea vibe) filled with homemade fishes. Everything was created from garbage - plastic water bottles, yogurt jars, etc.

Crazy fireworks celebration
With really loud firecrackers... ok I was a little startled, but look at the woman behind me!
That is indeed a copy of the lizard from Parc Guell, with fireworks shooting out!!
Another little plaza, which was filled with huge Smurfs. (Pitufos in Spanish.) All made out of papier-mache... they even had houses and Gargamel!!!! I told you it was a little weird...

And here's what happens when you decide to go for sushi in the middle of the biggest party of the year:


On Saturday night we headed to Camp Nou to see Barcelona play a friendly match Boca Juniors from Buenos Aires. In a strange turn of events, an inexplicable 5 minutes of extra time were added at the end, giving Barcelona the opportunity to score a second goal and beat Boca 2-1.

We managed to get seats in the mega-rowdy Boca section, which went awfully quiet in the last minute of the match. But a perfect ambience for Frenchy's first Camp Nou experience. Add to that a full lunar eclipse, and it was pretty spectacular all around. (Though when I first noticed it, Frenchy tried to convince me it was just a cloud.... Hmph!)

18 short months ago....

It was a year and a half ago tonight that Frenchy and I finally stopped pining for each other across the IESE campus and during our band rehearsals and stole a secret (or so we thought) kiss behind a curtain at Otto Zutz. And since that moment, I've enjoyed the best 18 months of my life. An initial whirlwind turned into a dream.

Every day he makes me feel like a queen, and every day I think about how lucky I am to be with the most wonderful guy on earth. Earss, if you're French. Never in my wildest dreams did I think my time at IESE would lead to me finding the perfect guy, but hey I guess it was somehow worth the agony of accounting and the hell of corporate finance to end up with the greatest gift I could ever hope for.

Frenchy, you rock my world. Tu roques mon monde!

Back on the Spanish Ranch

So yeah, traveling around to European capitals is fun and all, but there's really nothing like coming home. Especially when home is Barcelona. And ESPECIALLY when you have a really cute French guy waiting for you upon arrival... with a "veggie explosion" in the fridge.

And of course no trip of mine would be complete without some travel issues, namely:

1. After a very easy (too easy) train ride on the EuroStar from Paris to London, all I had to do was jump on the Victoria line at King's Cross station and get off at Pimlico, where my friend Lisa lives. But upon arrival, after waiting in a tube ticket line for a while, the announcement on the loudspeaker went, "Please be advised that trains are not running on the Victoria Line between King's Cross and Victoria due to a person under the train."

I'm not kidding. Apparently this is part of a "transparency initiative" to keep people fully abreast of such situations so they don't freak out over terrorism or something similar. As I approached the entrance, I asked a transit worker if there might be an alternate route. She was standing next to a whiteboard that repeated, in cute curvy writing, that a person was under a train on the Victoria line, and she told me to take the Circle line and switch at Victoria. Great!

I waited for the Circle line for about 30 minutes, only to finally go back to my starting point and learn that, "oh, the Circle line is experiencing severe delays. You can go to some other place I can't remember and then get a bus...." I left and took a taxi, 4 pounds poorer.

But hey, I got to have dinner with Marco! And that made it all okay.

2. In other news... I fell asleep on my flight back to Barcelona this evening after a long, tiring day of meetings and presentations. I woke up as the flight attendant said in Spanish (and repeated in English) that we'd be landing soon in Madrid. MADRID??? I thought for a few minutes that I'd missed an important announcement or gotten on the wrong plane somehow two hours earlier. No. She was just confused. Whew!

3. When we landed at Barcelona, we had to go through security after getting off the plane and before going through immigration. WHO GOES THROUGH SECURITY TO GET OUT OF THE AIRPORT???? It was truly bizarre and also quite useless, as every single person who walked through the metal detector and beeped (myself included) was just waved through. Very secure!

4. One last point.... does anyone else find the music that they force you to listen to on airplanes really annoying? This is a phenomenon I only noticed a few years ago. While you're waiting to take off, they pipe in music over the plane's loudspeakers, which are usually such poor quality that the "music" just comes out sounding like grating twinkly noises. The worst was when "Beautiful" by James Blunt was one of the featured songs on loop all the time... ugh! They don't turn off the music until the captain gives the all-clear to the flight attendants about 15 minutes after takeoff. And you're literally forced to listen to it, because that is the exact period of time you're not allowed to drown it out with your ipod. Does anyone else not see the point of this added in-flight irritation? Just curious.

Euro Mini-Tour

After a handful of relatively restful days in Barcelona, I´ve now spent the past three days working in the Paris office, where I´ll be more permanently come September (exact date still TBD). I guess I brought some decent weather with me from Spain, because none of the forecasted rain has materialized since my arrival, though there are some pretty ominous-looking clouds gathering over the office here in Suresnes.

I find I´m getting jerked around by cab drivers less and getting to know my way around a bit more, but it´s still difficult when you´re only in a place for a few days every couple of weeks, and then mostly in an office outside of town. Today before I head to London for meetings I´ll even check out an apartment... my first attempt at a flat search in Paris so far. Fingers crossed that it works out, because it could be a pretty ideal situation.

And while my four days away from Barcelona are kind of nice, I´m really looking forward to getting back home to Frenchy tomorrow night, and to enjoying the beach on this long holiday weekend starting Friday!

MadBid... Awesome New IESE Class of 2007 Venture!

So get this... You all surely remember two of my favorite pals from IESE, who have appeared in many a blog post, many a photo, and even a video or two... or more. Well now they deserve yet another.

Madhur and Juha have just launched their first venture, MadBid.com. Basically, it's an online auction site where you bid to get cool schwag at super low prices. But I'll let their PR team tell it better....

MadBid.com, a new Internet-based auction platform that allows consumers to bag a bargain on new retail goods, today announced their official launch in the UK.

MadBid.com’s new online auction offers users the opportunity to snag premium retail products – ranging from gadgets such as iPods, mobile phones and laptops to lifestyle products such as holidays, games consoles, petrol vouchers and even cars and motorbikes – at a fraction of the cost.

Open to all residents of the UK over the age of 16, MadBid.com uses “bids” instead of direct cash to auction off the latest and greatest gifts and goodies in a fun, game-like environment. Getting started is easy: customers sign up to use the service in a few clicks and, once registered, can return to bid on as many items, as many times as they like. Bidding can take place online or through a registered account via a mobile phone. MadBid.com’s daily auctions are live and allow users to watch the progress of their bids in real time on their computer screens, making the process suspenseful down to the last few seconds of each bidding session.

“Internet based auctions can be an entertaining and fun way to save money on new purchases. Buy your bids to be in with a chance of winning new, cool products at Mad Prices!” said Juha Koski, Managing Director at MadBid.com.

King Homer?

(photo REUTERS/Eloy Alonso)

How cool is this? You're counting the change in the register at your candy store in small-town Spain, and you come across one of those very rare and highly-coveted "Homer Euros" that were produced in a small, secret batch back in 1998 to test possible looks for the Spanish version of the coin. Some guys have all the luck!

(Special thanks to my friend John, who sent me this story.)

You Make My Dreams Come True

What I want, you've got
And it might be hard to handle
But like the flame that burns the candle
The candle feeds the flame
What I've got's full stock of thoughts and dreams that scatter
You pull them all together
And how, I can't explain
But you make my dreams come true
On a night when bad dreams become a screamer
When they're messin' with the dreamer
I can laugh it in the face
Twist and shout my way out
And wrap yourself around me
'cause I ain't the way that you found me
I'll never be the same
'cause you make my dreams come true
I'm down on the daydream
That sleepwalk should be over by now
I know that you make my dreams come true
(Lyrics: Hall & Oates)

Where Do I Begin?

Well we've crossed from July into August while I was away... And in that time Frenchy and I hit three states and two countries, spent time with my parents, uncle, sister, and grandparents (all in different locations), saw loads of old friends, confused ourselves with time zones on more than one occasion, had a fire drill in the hotel, took six planes, three rental cars, and a bus (but not one where anyone was decapitated, thank goodness), and... of course... rounded it all out with A WEDDING!

Not just any wedding. One of my best friends from back in my old Miramax days, Michael, whom we never thought would tie the knot. And I'm so happy for him that he has. Congrats Michael and Sarah, even though I know you'll never read this since you're both technophobes!

Oh yeah, and I spoke on the panel at the OMMA Gaming conference, which went fine and resulted in lots of exchanged business cards and plenty of follow-up emails, which I spent a good chunk of my day replying to today.

I'm not sure that I could possibly pinpoint a true highlight of the trip, since there were many, but one thing that will always stay with me is my visit to LucasArts, where my friend David now works. He and I worked together at Rockstar Games, and he's been over in San Francisco for a few years now. He took us on a tour of the ILM studios.... and I totally geeked out. I mean, the painting of Vigo the Carpathian from GHOSTBUSTERS II was just hanging on the wall in a hallway! And ET was just chilling there too. In an ideal world I would have taken like one million pictures, but I didn't want to (a) embarrass David or (b) make him lose his job. So I will just have to retain the memories. Bear in mind that I saw ET and Return of the Jedi in the theater and decided right there and then that I was destined to work in "the biz." Maybe I should get back to that....

Slow on the uptake

Apologies once again for my lackluster blogging display of late. The fact is, I've barely been home in Barcelona in the past month. Between the move to Paris (which is supposedly happening Sept 1, but seems to have already sort of happened, since I seem to be expected there weekly) and my regular work travels, well I think I've been home for 8 days out of the last 30.

In the meantime, I'm overwhelmed with uncertainty. We've been waiting for all of this to be official since Frenchy graduated in early May, and it didn't really become official until nearly two months later. And in fact, in my opinion, nothing is official at all, since I haven't received the slightest bit of information about how this move is going to occur, financially, logistically, time-wise... zip.

Tomorrow we are headed to San Francisco. I mean, I've been home for four whole days, so it seems like the right thing to do. No, in all seriousness, I've been asked to speak on a panel about video games and advertising for the OMMA Gaming Conference. Pretty cool, huh? While I'm there I'll round out the week with some gaming-related meetings, catch up with old friends, and then stick around the US the following week for... VACATION. It's about time! Far too long coming, which is probably contributing to my frayed nerves. Just a week, but I'll manage to see my entire family all in one go.

And that's something else I really need right about now. In the last few weeks, I've noticed I suddenly feel really far from my family. Maybe it's simply because we haven't seen as much of each other as we usually do, or maybe I'm starting to feel ready to head back to the States again. Who knows. But hopefully a week of family time will be just the ticket to help get me through the coming weeks and months of stress, lack of security, frustration, and uncertainty for which I'm fully preparing.

Next stop, my home state of California!! (And I promise that I will fill this space in with all the past month's adventures, from Finland to Belgium and everything in between, on the looooooong flight tomorrow.)

Hall & Oates

When I was 4 or 5, my favorite songs were Maneater by Hall & Oates, Our House by Madness (a song my mother still hates to this day), Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, and Every Breath You Take by The Police. In fact, I still list these among my all-time favorite songs, despite having listened to them all way too much.

Anyway, lately Hall & Oates have come back into my life in a major way. I can't explain it. That smooth cheesy goodness goes so well with the view from my living room window and the balmy Spanish heat. And then tonight I had the best idea. I told Frenchy, the next incarnation of our band should be as a HALL & OATES COVER BAND!!!

And then I had an even better thought. I know Halloween is still nearly four months away, but you can never start preparing too early. Don't you think we can pull it off?

The question is... will all the Frenchies get it? Highly dubious... Might have to celebrate Halloween in the gaytastic West Village.

Back to Normal

Today I'm feeling much better. Better than I have in a while, actually. Things are starting to fall into place, as they always seem to do. Of course there will be plenty of challenges and hurdles in the coming weeks and months, but probably nothing I haven't dealt with before. Well... okay they will be in French this time, but whatever. Details.

I've also had time to get some exercise again, which I hadn't managed much of during my hectic travels of the past couple of weeks. Nothing like a few kilometers in a swimming pool or on a road bike to get me back to my regular old happy self. And the beautiful weather here doesn't hurt a bit either. Most people are complaining that it's too hot - and it's certainly warm - but I'm reveling in it, after spending the majority of last summer south of the equator and thus in winter.

This weekend we are off to Paris again. I'm there for work all week, and we have bookend wedding weekends. Three weddings in three days in three cities ... I should make a documentary. The first is Saturday in Belgium for my old IESE teammate Juanra. Then a friend of Frenchy's gets married Sunday in Paris, and the following weekend his cousin in Strasbourg. Confused yet? Don't worry, so am I. But isn't that all part of the fun?

Freaking Out (Just A Little)

I'm not really one to admit when I have anxiety. Very few people are privy to my nerves and my concerns about the future, and the rest of my friends and acquaintances (so I've come to learn) seem to view me as someone who goes through life, carefree and without worry, landing in one adventure after the next, and laughing about it all the way. Which is true, for the most part. I do seem to get myself into an awful lot of "adventures." But that's also the way I tend to look at it... and tell others about it. One person's lost luggage (or twelve) is my "haha that'll be a funny blog post." But it's also REALLY ANNOYING sometimes.

The point is, I'm stressed. Really stressed. I admit it. It's July 1. I will be in Barcelona a total of 8 days during the month of July, and not in a row. Two months from now I am meant to be officially working in Paris. In other words, another city, another country, wherein I'm STILL a foreigner. Another language. Another work visa, another social security system, tax system, metro system, social system. Another apartment, another mobile phone, another bank account. Another way of life that isn't the one I grew up with. Another time to uproot myself and what I've come to know and start over again.

So basically, I freak out every day. Some days I freak out a lot, some days just a little. Some days people know about it, most days I keep it for myself... which probably makes it worse. Yesterday was one of those days I broke down and filled Frenchy in, and I admit I felt much better afterward. But that is one of the things that scares me the most about all of this - now there are two of us involved. It's one thing for me to move to another country, uproot myself, change everything, go with the flow. It's another thing altogether to ask someone else to do the same, particularly when they never particularly planned to go back to that country in the first place.

And so here I am. The countdown has started. After nearly three years, only two months remain in my Barcelona life. Finally, the sun is out here. It's hot. UNBEARABLY hot for most people. But I haven't complained because I'm just so delighted summer is finally here. Life is good. The city is clean, small, easy to manage and get around. I see the Mediterranean from my bedroom window. The beach is 5 minutes away on my moto... I probably won't even be able to bring my moto to France. I love my moto. Some of my old IESE friends are even moving back to town... right around the time I leave. This isn't going to be easy.

And yet every time I worry, my typical Noelle voice chimes in: "It could be worse. You could have no legs." Or "It could be worse. You could be jobless in a bad economic climate." "It could be worse. You could be forging ahead alone."

All true. And all of these things remind me of just how lucky I am. And yet, it's there... that nagging feeling that I've built a sand castle and now I'm jumping on it, mixing it all around, ruining it. That I'm taking someone along for this ridiculous ride... Someone who has been so flexible, so kind, so understanding, so supportive... What if he gets sick of all this "adventure?" So here I am at 1am, where I often find myself late at night these days. Awake. Thinking too much. Wondering how it's all going to turn out and yet knowing that in the past everything always turned out fine. One voice competes with another inside my head. And then another voice, his voice, telling me it's all going to be fine. Geez, I hope so.

Just a typical day in my weird life

I bought Frenchy a 4th-hand road bike for his birthday (previous owner: Ian, prior to that, our IESE professor Franz, who had already bought it used) and we've been psyched about getting out for a long weekend ride. Unfortunately, due to either weather or travel, that has been impossible since his birthday. So our road bikes sit patiently and wait.

But last night we agreed that today would be the day. Despite the heat, we would go out and ride, no matter what.

Of course, when we woke up this morning it took a while to actually get moving, but soon we had donned our really sexy bike shorts and were ready to roll. Then my cycling shoes started making weird noises. I kid you not. We unscrewed the clip plates, couldn't figure out what was rattling or why, and put them back together and were again ready to go. Then I noticed my tires were soft. I called down to Frenchy, who was already downstairs waiting for the elevator. (Mine does not, figuratively or literally, go to the top floor.) He confirmed that he could use some air too.

So we went about pumping the tires. Mine took about 3 minutes. For whatever reason, Frenchy's took about 40 minutes and a lot of sweat. So by the time we were actually ready and outside, it was already 12:15. And we were supposed to be at Moncho's Marina for a paella with Nani and several others at 1:30.

Never mind, we headed off north along the water and got all the way to Badalona, where we realized that if we stopped at home before lunch we'd most certainly be very late. So I called Nani and informed her that we'd be arriving with our bikes (and no locks for them) and in our really sexy outfits. I figured we'd be eating on the terrace as we usually do and thought no one would really mind.

So when we arrived and found out we were actually upstairs in the dining room, where people were dressed quite normally (and in some cases very nicely) for their Sunday lunch... well, I sat down as quickly as possible. We stashed our bikes in the employee bathroom so they wouldn't be stolen (nicest waiters in all of Barcelona, clearly) and stuffed ourselves with paella.

The ride back home was a bit... slow. But we made it nonetheless and proceeded to pass out in a post-paella siesta until it was time to head over to Kris and Gemma's to watch the match. And... YAY ESPANYA!

So now it's 12:30... It's still mega hot outside. And, incidentally, inside. And sleep isn't likely tonight. Everyone in town seems to be outside, yelling, honking car horns, shooting off firecrackers.... Tomorrow should be a national holiday anyway!

Breaking News: Noelle Goes to Paris

Just a day before Frenchy's graduation, I was asked if I'd like to move to Paris with the company. And just the day before that, Frenchy and I had discussed that very possibility as we pondered whether Barcelona would be the place for us for the coming years. We had decided probably not... The weather is nice and all (well, normally) but weather isn't everything.

So when I was asked that question, I said, "Sure." The next day Frenchy graduated. That was May 9. I finally got the official news two weeks ago while I was in Madrid and the even more official phone call a week ago Monday. So as you can guess, we've been in a bit of limbo for a while now, and it hasn't always been the easiest thing, but we've managed alright.

This morning I took a 6am flight to Paris, which is where I am now. I think I slept two hours last night and didn't manage to sleep at all on the plane because the guy behind me was using my seat back as a sort of punching bag. Now it's after midnight and I should really be in bed. But the reality is starting to set in. We are moving to Paris. In two months.

After spending the day in the office and getting to know my future colleagues, I'm looking forward to this next phase in my life and my career, even though I know it's going to be filled with plenty of challenges. From the language (which I guess I'm decent at) to the new office, new work, new colleagues, to the typical administrative headaches that always accompany a move, and finally to the very special administrative headaches that are reserved for Americans working abroad... well it's certainly going to be an adventure.

And adventures are always better with a partner in crime anyway, aren't they?

Back in BCN, and naked again

Well considering I have to be back at the airport in less than 6 hours, I will have to keep this one short and hit the sack. Amazing week in Finland, with a little overnight in Estonia (Tallinn is cooool! Will definitely go back when it's not a national holiday) and today we had the travel day from hell. Would you expect anything less?

We were to take a 12:55 ferry back to Helsinki from Tallinn, which would have gotten us to our destination by 2:45 in plenty of time to get to the airport for our 5:20 flight to Barcelona. But when we got to the ferry terminal (very pleased with myself, I might add, for having just rearranged all my travel to Paris tomorrow - another story altogether) and found no one was really there.... we became a bit suspicious.

And rightly so, because our ferry was cancelled. Silly us! National holiday! Reminds me of when my flight from Bucharest to Barcelona was cancelled because it was EASTER. I mean, you knew it was going to be Easter that day for at LEAST a year. Why put the flight on the schedule? Same goes for Juhannus (not to be confused with the unmentionables of a dear Finnish friend of ours) in Estonia. I mean really. When you make a reservation for a ferry, you'd expect there TO BE A FERRY!

But never mind. They were kind enough to let us switch from Nordic Jet Line to SuperSeaCat without charge, but the catch was that the next ferry didn't leave until 2pm. So we waited an hour and a half and finally boarded and I kept telling myself that everything would be fine, that we'd make it... despite the fact that we'd now only arrive at 3:40 and we'd need to be checking in for our flight at 4:25.

I didn't factor in the boat being late. We arrived at 4 and thanks to some graceful running off the ship and through the terminal with our huge backpacks, we were in a taxi by 4:04. According to our very specific taxi driver. We miraculously made it to the airport despite rain, bad traffic, and the start of rush hour, in time to check in without any problems. And just before doing so, I had the foresight to take all my overnight stuff (makeup, contact lens solution, toothbrush, etc) out of my checked bag... just in case.

And good thing I did, too. Because we made it to Barcelona. But our bags didn't. And you know when we will finally get them? THURSDAY! Today is Tuesday! Ugh. Forget the fact that I now have not much to wear for my three days of meetings in Paris starting tomorrow morning at 9:30. Which reminds me... it's late and I have to get up at 4am. Time for some shuteye. More Finnish adventure stories to come. And believe me, there are many!

Global Chilling

The weather in BCN has been pretty terrible for 6 weeks now. We had two fantastic weeks at the end of April, and since then just clouds and rain. What is going on here? Where is all this global warming everyone promised us? I'm moving to the Arctic, where it´s supposedly getting warmer, because this is getting really depressing. Or else I need some more climate change. Because the climate here needs changing!

In other news, we are off to Helsinki tomorrow morning because I have a conference there with the folks who are behind Habbo Hotel, and then we´ll stick around for the long weekend (Monday and Tuesday are holidays here in Barcelona) to enjoy the annual Midsummer festival. Wouldn´t you know it, the days we're in Finland it looks like it'll finally be beach weather here. But hey, I'll just work on my skin cancer next year I guess.

International Relations

Just got back from a 2 day training session in Madrid with about 30 people from all over Europe (Spain, France, UK, Poland, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and Lithuania) and it reminded me that I really love working in such an international environment. Before IESE, I spent nearly a decade in New York, which is already an international place to be, and I was lucky enough to work in companies that had strong international ties. But even that didn´t compare to the IESE experience or my current job.

For instance, I share a work space with a Belgian and two Catalans. At the next work space are another Catalan, a Portuguese, and two French. And our office count obviously doesn´t include the people who waltz in and out from all over the place for mega-committee meetings.

Hmmm usually there´s a point to my ramblings... I guess it would be that I´m not quite ready to go back to the US just yet! I think I´ll continue my European sojourn as long as possible.

Et Maintenant Quelque Chose Completement Different

I'm cheating on my blog! Frenchy and I have started a new one, aptly titled Pardon Mon Français. The idea is to bore you with the ridiculous things that happen to a French guy and an American girl living in Spain. Or wherever.

If for whatever reason the link doesn't work, just plug in http://moronsinlove.blogspot.com .

Frenchy will be writing in français and moi en anglais. Until we get bored and try to change it up a bit. Enjoy!