See you next month

I just noticed I'll be in Cambridge for Graduation in just one month. Time flies!

I was in Cambridge in May two years ago for the interview day, was there last year too, of course, enjoying the last month of the MBA and some running success, and will return this year for Graduation. Great.

I bought the plane tickets months ago and have already booked a room with views to Jesus Green in the Arundel House Hotel, just a few meters from my old flat in Chesterton Road.

Jesus Green and the riverside are great places for running and that's one of the the first things I'll do on friday when I get there, going running with my friends Giulio, Giacomo, Alessandro and Ben. I also hope to be able to find a race to do on the weekend, so I have an excuse not to get too drunk during the celebrations.

This is going to be a very special weekend for Miriam and me because we'll leave the kids at home with my parents. It will be the first time we go out by ourselves for such a long time since Diego was born three years ago.

I know some of my friends will miss Diego and Leo, but we are waiting for them in Sevilla whenever they want to come. We still haven't received any visit from MBA friends in Sevilla. Looks like Victor and Daniela from Chile are going to be the first ones.

Anyway, I just wanted to say I'm looking forward to go and see everyone in JBS.

We are alive

We said we were going to keep this blog alive but obviously we're struggling. Many things have happened in the last few months. Probably the one that is making the harder impact in our lives is the credit crunch, financial crisis, economic slowdown, recession or however you want to call it.

This crisis -that probably some MBA colleagues have contributed to create- has frustrated the expectations of many of my friends, my hopes too, and I guess is worrying some of the readers of this blog, people taking an MBA in Cambridge or somewhere else and MBA candidates around the world.

But the MBA is not the problem, the crisis is the problem, and without an MBA things will probably be even harder. Of course we all should lower our salary expectations, should forget about some companies -expecially about the ones that went bust-, but I believe I am better prepared to do any job after the MBA and if you are humble enough to take a job that you can do better than anyone else you'll be fine, you'll be promoted soon, you'll get a real MBA job soon.

Why do I say this? Well, I'm a live example of this. I had a low GMAT, not a quantitave background, little management experience, but was very much into entrepreneurship, diversity, internationalisation, marketing and communication, and about management. And somehow I managed to be admitted in Cambridge and that changed my life for life. I hope for the better.

I have a new job since the 1st of January. The 1st of September I returned to my previous employer in a sligthly different role, but first the mere fact of having a Cambridge University degree and second that, of course ;-) I'm a better manager, took me to a senior management position within three month and now I'm the youngest guy in that position ever. I'm still working in the same sector, almost the same employer, but in a compleletely different role and with plenty of opportunities ahead.

But I have to warn you about the upsides too. I have a better job, I got a 50% salary increase, but I work longer hours and as a consequence my quality of life is much worse. I like my job, I enjoy what I do, but I have to handle lots of pressure, fire people, say no, work long hours, and that affects your personal life, specially your family life. We are ok. Miriam is happy, I'm happy. I try to make the most of the time I spend with my kids. But to be honest I hardly can see them at all from monday to thursday. This is something to think about.

More news. I had a foot injury -a stress fracture in the second metatarsal head of my right foot- last december. Now I'm back but I'm out of shape and with the new job I hardly can train on weekdays.

Miriam is very well, working part time and spending time with the kids. Diego has switched to Spanish but can speak and understand English too. Leonardo is starting to say his first words.

This weekend Miriam and I went on holiday with friends for the first time without the kids. It's being fun. We are in the hills in Huelva -Sierra de Aracena- eating great food, drinking beer, wine and rhum, playing table games, playstation, karaoke, basketball and football. Tomorrow everyone awake at 9:30 to watch Nadal-Federer in Australia.

Bye Cambridge

This is Miriam, Diego and Leo at the bus stop about to leave Cambridge.

We'll be back soon. Graduation is in May 2009 but I probably won't wait that long. 

Last day at home

It's weird but for us "home" is not Sevilla anymore, is Cambridge. We are going to miss this city and our little flat. Somebody told me the other day that Cambridge is addictive, and I think it's true. It's a truly nice well-rounded city, especially for families. 

But tomorrow we are leaving for a week of holiday in Brittany (France) and then to our home in Spain, in Sevilla. 

Of course I'm looking forward to see some sun, family, friends, good food, and above all, I need to start working because unfortunately money doesn't grow on trees, not even in rainy Britain. 

Anyway, this is a picture of us at our porche. 

Kedington 5k

One more race in the UK. It's a pity I only found training partners and the right contacts to go to races so late in the year. But the training paid off and today I won the Kedington 5k. 

This is a very amateur race, with only about 100 runners, but in a very demanding course and with a few good runners. I think I did a good race, clocking 16:20 for the very hilly 5k in the outskirts of Kedinton, Haverhill, Suffolk, not too far from Cambridge. 

I went with Giulio, a running partner from Cambrige. Also Alessandro, another Italian, came to the race. Giacomo and Ben, the other running partners I found this summer were both on holiday. 

I don't have the results or pictures from the race, but as I wanted to test myself I wore my GPS-HRM-sport watch and here you can see all the data about my race. Below the graph showing heart rate, speed and elevation. 

The bin guitar player

This is one of the Cambridge legends. The guy playing the guitar inside a bin. And it's real. 

The picture above is mine, taken today. 

The video below is from Youtube. 

Imperial War Museum - Duxford

We received another visit from the Pedrali family, my brother and sister in law and their three daughters from Italy. It was a good opportunity to do something together and we decided to go to the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, very near Cambridge, on the way to Stansted Airport. 

My brother in law had already been there and it was a good idea to go again all together. It's a massive museum full of planes, tanks and other war vehicles. You can learn about the D-Day and Second World War, but also about commercial planes and the history of aviation. 

They also have historic planes still in working condition, and you can actually fly on them if you want. We didn't do it, but there were plenty of visitors and many did. 

The MBA year is almost over, and I'm quite busy finishing my IP, but we are trying to make the most of our time and taking some time off is always nice. 

Too much stuff

The removal company came today to take our stuff back to Sevilla. It was way too much: 16 boxes, some of them as big as to fit my bike.

Here you can see some, not all of them.



It was the only feasible way to take all the kid's toys and all my books back home. I think there were like three or four boxes just of toys. And the same number for books and notes.

I don't know where are we going to put all this, so we'll probably take the opportunity to get rid of some stuff when we get home.

By the way, we are leaving Cambridge on the 11th of August. I can't believe it.

Visita de Fernando y Laura

Estos días hemos recibido la visita de Fernando (Martí) y Laura. Yo llevaba mucho tiempo insistiéndole al Martí que viniesen a vernos y por fin se decidieron.


Nos lo hemos pasado bien. Llegaron el domingo de madrudaga y yo por la mañana me fui al St. Ives 10k. Llegué directamente al pub, al Fort St. George, para un buen Sunday roast y una pinta de Peroni. Le di a probar al Martí una cerveza local y no le gustó. Decía que sabía a café.

Además de ver algunos colleges en Cambridge fuimos a Londres a echar un día. Intenté llevarlos a ver las cosas más típicas y más o menos lo conseguimos. Incluso vimos el reloj de Willy Fog, como llama el hermano de Laura al Big Ben.

Vimos el Tower Bridge y la Torre de Londres, la catedral de St. Paul, Trafalgar Square, Downing Street, el Parlamento y el Big Ben, St. James' Park, Hyde Park, Picadilly, el Palacio de Buckingham, Campden Town, Harrods, el Barrio Chino. No sé si me olvido algo.

También estuvimos en un Garden Party en un college. Basicamente una fiesta-picnic en Magdalene College, que está justo en frente de nuestra casa. Además echamos una pachanguita de fútbol muy apañada. Jugamos descalzos aprovechando el cesped increible que crece en Inglaterra.

Los tres días pasaron rápido. Diego hizo pronto amistad con Laura y Fernando y todavía pregunta por ellos. Leo, que se encargaba de despertarlos cada mañana, también. Los veremos de nuevo pronto en Sevilla.

St Ives 10k

Yesterday I run the St. Ives 10k and I was second!

Last week I met Giacomo, an Italian taxi driver that has been living in Cambridge for 19 years and who took me to the station once a few months ago. He's a runner too and we talked about running. But I never saw him again till last week. Then we talked about running (of course) and we went training together the next day.

He usually trains with Giulio, another Italian, born in Cambridge.

The thing is that we went together to the St. Ives 10k and run. It was not such a massive race as the London 10k, of course, but there were a few good runners. The winner was way better than me and won easily. I had a good fight with three other runners for the second place and had to push really hard for the last two kilometers, but it was good to be runner up and specially running half a minute faster than in London.

I finished in 33:20. You can see the results here.

And a picture of the podium below.

Running for others

Sunday I'm taking part in the British 10k London Run 2008 to raise money for the charity New Foundations.

Almost everyone at JBS knows about it and support so far has been amazing, but according to Google Analytics there are a few others around the world who visit this blog regularly, maybe because they find it useful, informative, entertaining...

If you are one of those and you want to help, you can sponsor me here: http://www.justgiving.com/paco

To spice things up a little bit I donated 25 pounds and I bet that if I don't make it to the top 25 in the race (out of 25.000 entrants!) I'll double my donation. If I make it, you can double your donation. Many of my friends have taken me on this bet. But it's up to you.

Any contribution is welcome. New Foundations runs medical projects in the Niger Delta where £5 will pay for:

• seven patients to be treated
• 10 children to be vaccinated against measles, tetanus, polio and given Vitamin A
• over twelve months 3 people will receive sight
• three treated mosquito nets for children
• Just 80p can provide an antimalarial injection that saves a childs life

Many thanks. I'll let you know how I did as soon as I can, probably Sunday night.

Grantchester

Today we finally made it to the Orchard!

I had walked to Grantchester with mum and dad when Paco was in Paris for his MBAT but after stopping to see friends on the way it was too late to make it to the Tea Rooms. This time I went with the MBA ladies.

Well, we didn't have the same glorious weather we had when my parents were here, but it didn't rain, we got some sunshine and we certainly had lots of fun and ate en excellent tea!

Meanwhile the kids loved climbing up the trees, including Diego who decided that the best way to do it was barefoot!

Here go a few pictures:

MBA Ball

For me a ball has always been a sphere you can kick around. Here a ball is also a mega-party every college hold in Spring to celebrate the end of the academic year. As there are many colleges and to prevent clashes, they run from April to June.

This year, for the first time, the MBA class organised its own ball. It was another great job from the CBSC, a perfectly organised event. It was held at the University Arms Hotel, and it was a very strange feeling returning there after the Alumni Gala Dinner I went to in October. It felt like if it was a month ago. Time flies.

The party started at the school with drinks and prizes for the students that have contributed the most to the Cambridge MBA experience. Prizes went to Natalie from France and Janine from South Africa. What was the prize? A return ticket to anywhere in the USA with American Airlines.

Before leaving for the hotel we had an unofficial graduation picture, everyone in their tuxedos, rock star or dinner dresses. Actually Oliver missed the picture because he was watching a Germany match in the nearby Browns pub and I forgot to call him, Ofor from Nigeria was late and Dorji from Bhutan was in London. Probaly also a few others missed it. I managed to put Oli back in the picture with Photoshop. Where is Oli?

I was a good party but though there is still one more week of lectures people started to feel sad about the MBA being almost over. Many of us are going to stay over the summer, either in Cambridge or London, on holiday, working on assignments and IP, doing an internship or looking for jobs. But also many of us are going to leave soon and you never know when, if ever, are you going to see them again. It's a strange feeling.

Just in case we got a nice picture taken with our Chilean friends. From left to right, Andrés and Paula, Rodrigo and Blanca, us, and Victor and Daniela. Good friends I'm sure we are going to keep in touch with.

Once in the hotel we had dinner, Oscar Awards Ceremony and dancing.

In order to reduce costs we opted for a buffet dinner and that caused a massive traffic jam, but we all managed to eat and food was not bad for English standards.

The Oscar Ceremony was funny and very well run by David Sabel. I was voted by the rest of the class as Most Valuable Player, and there were many other funny prizes to Andrés as the most likely to be a CEO, Roupen as the best dancer, Juan and Natalia as the most likely to be models, and I can't remember more.

Finally, the dancing with Roupen, Vassily, Ileana and other superstars performing at their best. Music was provided by Cambiando, a salsa band where Oliver Campbell plays. Really good music.

How to contact me

In the last few weeks I have received comments from people who wanted to contact me, but they never left their email in the comments so I couldn't write them back.

I don't have my email on the blog to prevent spam, but if you leave me a comment with your email I will contact you. Don't worry, I won't publish that comment.

This post is especially for changho, chile trademark, dodo and sole.

The Oxbridge Challenge

The event is still running, but as I have good news and some spare time I take the opportunity to write a quick post on the Oxford vs Cambridge MBA Challenge.

First, we won the football match 3-1. We played probably the best match of the season, especially in defense, and that made things easier. Gaylord, Rui and Juan scored. I'm quite happy with my performance as I took part in all three goal plays even if I didn't score.


Second, I won the 5km race. Ok, I was expected to do that, but you never know. And in this case the race was straight after the football match. I just had time to change my shoes and my shirt, less than 10 minutes.


We also won at Cricket, Rowing, Tennis and a few other sports.

Weather was almost perfect and my collegues did a great job organising the event. Everthing worked just perfect.

In the afternoon I played some petanque and we also won!

Then we went back to the school to have some drinks and then to St. John's college for dinner. Miriam, Diego and Leonardo came too, so it was very nice.

Before leaving the college grounds two guys, one from each university, jumped from a bridge into the river Cam. Too much wine...

The party finished at The Anchor, as usual.

Weekend with Colby and Rebekah

Our friends Colby and Rebekah came to visit us over the weekend and it was a very nice break from MBA life. It was pretty intense too.

Friday we went to a Formal Hall at Magdalene College, courtesy of my colleagues Carlo and Amane. It was the first formal for Miriam too and the first time Diego and Leo stayed with a babysitter. Everything went well and we all really ejoyed it. Colby and Rebekah were quite impressed by the scenary and the college master saying grace in latin, among other things.

Saturday we enjoyed the best weather of the year, a true spring day. I played football in the morning at Parker's Piece while other MBAs practiced ultimate frisby for the MBAT. For lunch we decided to improvise a picnic in the park and got massive and delicious burgers from GBK. They make probably the best burgers I've ever eaten.




In the afternoon we went punting. The river was packed and it was quite funny because we had a few crashes with other boats and also saw a couple of people falling into the water. It was the first time I went punting this year and I did pretty badly. I was going from one side to the other of the river. Colby was doing it for the first time and did actually quite well.

Sunday the weather changed and it poured rain most of the morning. After church we went for lunch to a pub and finally decided to stick to our plan and take a train to Ely. We were lucky because entry to the Cathedral was free and we even managed to see the kids choir singing. Finally we took a tea at almost five in a very nice courtyard just behind the cathedral.

I love having friends at home. It's the only way I actually unwind.

First week of the Easter Term

The first impression is that the Easter Term is quite different from the previous two terms. People are more relaxed -and tired- and courses don't run evenly during the term but just for a few days over a week or a few weeks.

We have five core courses, four electives to choose from a pool of 25 and a few seminars and workshops. Inevitably the class is much more streamed and in some electives we are only 10-15 students.

This week we have started -and finished- Cost Accounting and Negotiation Skills.

Cost Accounting was taught by Dennis Oswald, an American who has an impressive CV and used to teach at London Business School. The Negotiation Skills course was run by David Venter, a South African who teaches in Belgium and assisted Mandela and de Klerk in the negotiations to dismantle apartheid.

Lent Term and GCP are over

Time is really flying. I can't believe that in less than two months lectures will be over and my colleagues will start to go back to their home countries and/or their new jobs. But that's the essence of the Cambridge MBA, one year that will last you a lifetime.

Yesterday we did the GCP presentation and both the client and our tutor seemed quite impressed. We as a team also felt everything went quite well. At least we celebrated afterwards as if it was a success. We went to the nearby Hotel du Vin and then had dinner at Fitzbillies. I was so tired at the end that I missed the end of term pub night.

But there is no time to rest. Monday the Easter Term starts with the first Cost Accounting and Negotiation Skills lectures. And of course, there are already pre-readings to do.

Jo left JBS

Jo Grantham - the MBA Admissions Coordinator - has left the school after 21 years. She's going to work elsewhere within the University of Cambridge.

All the MBAs from this and previous years love her. She was almost our only contact with the school since since we applied till we started the program. She was ever so helpful answering all of our emails, allocating us to colleges and helping us in all ways.

There have been a couple of interview days after she left and though everything went well it didn't look the same. It was amazing how she would know all our names since the very first time.

When the sun shines

One of the funniest things of Cambridge in particular and the UK and other "cold" countries in general is that as soon as the sun shines everyones goes out and sits in the sun.

That has always been a quite funny thing for somebody like me who comes from Sevilla, where the sun shines over 300 days a year and people actually runs away from sun.

But now I live in Cambridge, I endured snow the day Spring begun, and now I also act like a leezard and go out as soon as I spot some sunshine.

That's exactly what we did the other day. It was still cold and the grass in the park was wet, but we decided to have a picnic.