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.