P2 is almost over!!!!! Who can believe???

I feel that in life time passes fast, but here in the MBA the time just flies!!!

Maybe it's the fact that we have so many events and trips, but I feel that I started the MBA few weeks ago and now I'm almost done with P2 and going on holidays during Xmas break.

I have some friends in P5 and for them the end is very, very close. By tomorrow most of them should be in Sri Lanka, enjoying their graduation trip!! They told me to enjoy and take the most out of the MBA, because before I realize it's over and it's time to go back to work!

P2

P2 is going very fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We started the period with the champagne party. Then we had the Desi Week, now the African week. And together with this goes also all the course polls. I don't know why, but the professors found the polls a good way to keep us busy and they have been almost in a daily basis!!
Weekends so far were as follows: Olympics, Monsoon Ball, Trip to Portugal and Bangkok.

Today, I just came from the Moroccan dinner, tomorrow is the South  African BBQ and Thursday it's the African party.

P1 Exams

Tomorrow I will have the first exams of the MBA. In the last days we could see the school library always full, the people always talking about the exams and all the big parties being postponed for next Wednesday.
We are having 5 exams in 3 days, but as I exempted P&M I will have 4 exams what is already enough to make me feel stressed. I believe the Z-curve will help all of us to pass the exams, but I somehow don't feel comfortable with the fact that I am not in the full command of all the subjects. OB is the one where I really have no idea where I will score, in this case, it impacts all my team as it is a group exam.
The best part of all this is that after the 3 days of exams I will go to Phuket and do a 4 days sailing trip... can't wait!!

J or P

Am I a J or a P? I couldn't care less, but it seems now I'm not ahead of things... I'm sited in an amphitheater room, because I'm in hurry and as the accounting class finished I still have to do several things, like print my flight tickets to Kota Kinabalu(Malaysia) this weekend (will climb the mount Kinabalu), send details to the charter company of the sailing trip I will be doing in Phuket end of the month, reply to an interview invitation that for some reason indicates a interview room in the Fonty campus, and some other to do's that will be procrastinated until they are redundant...

Yesterday, we had an amazing Benelux night... we started by a Heineken drink event that was a lot of fun... we song, we drink, I hold a big guy on my shoulders, we drink, we song again, we drink again... and we drink.
Then, we went to Movida, a club where I was never before... and it was AWESOOOOOME!!!
At Movida, we danced, we drink, we song, we danced with the band, we drink, we song with the band, we drink... and we danced!!!

INSEAD MBA - So far, so GOOD!!!!

I'm already in the 3rd week of the MBA and it has been amazing so far!
INSEAD: I knew it was one of the top business schools and the quality and diversity of the students really make it an outstanding school!!! All events are well organized, the alumni of the school are in every top corporation and around the leading institutions in the world. I'm very proud to be part of a world top business school.
Professors: Statistics (UDJ) professor is a very good one, she is able to make us understand the importance of statistics in our day-to-day activities and always keeps the class with maximum attention because she is able to bring creative exercises and discussions to the class.

Finance (FMV) professor is a french guy that loves to speak english in a French way. He is also very funny and dedicated. A good thing I find on him that maybe annoys some people is that he repeat everything at least once, so that paying attention to the class should be enough to perform well in the exam.
Financial Accounting (FA) professor is a good professor in the sense that he is aware of the fact that accounting can be boring, so he also likes to say a joke from time to time to wake up more tired people and to keep the good environment. The only thing I wonder is what will he says in his jokes once his wife goes back to the States, because so far she is the target of the jokes. Regarding content, he shows the difference between the several methods used in accounting and is always able to bring new examples to make points clear.
Organizational Behaviour (OB) is a professor that I still have to discover better... as in the first 2 sessions we were working more time with the group than actually in the class (and yes, I was so tired that can't almost remember anything).

Ready?

Faltam apenas alguns dias para embarcar para Singapura, desta vez com a mala preparada para ficar pelo menos 6 meses lá a viver e estudar. Os nervos já começam a apertar, especialmente ao nível da saudade que já estou a ter da minha família e namorada. Serão 4 meses fora até ao regresso pelo Natal... eu sei que por lá vou estar muito ocupado, mas sei que quem cá fica, fica sempre preocupado e com muitas saudades também.

A 1 mês de começar o MBA...

Falta exactamente 1 mês para começar o meu MBA no INSEAD, que começa no dia 30 de Agosto.
O MBA para mim começa no campus de Singapura, onde já estive de visita. O campus é novo e moderno, bastante mais pequeno que o de Fontainebleau, mas com todas as condições para o estudo do MBA e para a vida dos estudantes no dia-a-dia. A cantina pareceu-me ser boa, mas se algum dia me fartar, tenho sempre como alternativa o food court no edifício ao lado, um centro comercial chamado Fusionopolis.

Decidi dedicar este mês para estar com a minha família em Leiria. Já fiz algumas (demasiadas) viagens a Lisboa para tratar de alguns assuntos que ainda tinha pendentes. Mas conto estar a maioria do tempo por Leiria, a descansar com a família e a ganhar energias para um intenso e fantástico ano que tenho pela frente!

Asia

I travelled for 3 months in Asia. It was my first time in this continent and I can say that I really enjoyed it!
It was a very positive surprise in terms of the development in all the countries compared to other parts of the world. In terms of culture, my idea is different from country to country, in some countries their good values are still so strong that one can find himself in a idealistic world while in some other countries I was counting the days to leave it and go to the next one. All in all, it was a very interesting experience, because now I can say where I want to go again and where I don't intend to go again at all!
I could (maybe should) expose my impressions in every of the countries I visited, but I will keep that to me. It's a very personal impression that might not be welcome to all my readers.

So, after being in Dubai, Hong Kong, Macau, China, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Laos, Indonesia and Malaysia for 3 months, now I look forward for the time at INSEAD and all the trips I'm sure people will organize! Thailand, Cambodja, Vietnam and so on are waiting for us!!!

Hello from Japan!!

Ola amigos!!
Estou neste momento no Japao, mais precisamente em Takayama, uma pequena cidade historica no centro do Japao.
Aproveito o facto de estar a chover la fora para colocar mais um artigo no blog..
Estive 4 dias em Tokyo e gostei muito da cidade. A experiencia de ir de manha no metro onde nao cabe mais ninguem (talvez com mais uns empurroezinhos, caiba mais 1 pessoa), a experiencia de estar descansado a jantar e ver a tasca ser invadida por executivos que acabaram de chegar no ultimo comboio, a experiencia de fazer um tour e um grupo de miudos me chamar para me ir sentar e apesar de eu recusar eles manterem o lugar disponivel para mim (aqui respeitar os mais velhos e um valor muito forte), a experiencia de passar metade do dia descalco.... um mar (por falar em mar, ontem vi o mar junto a Odawara) imenso de experiencias que estao a ser interessantes e que sabem tao bem, neste pais tao organizado e com um povo muito respeitador.

After China, and 4 days in South Korea, now I am in Japan.
South Korea was a good stop for 4 days, I enjoyed a lot Seoul. Seoul, in contrast with chinese big cities seems to be a city where I could live. It has also its big buildings, but also gets parks and people there is much closer to japanese style than to chinese.
Gyeong-Ju was a good place to walk around, visit its historic center and some more temples.
Busan was great to go to the beach and touch sea water again. Also there, I went out to have dinner in a typical korean barbecue with an american teaching english near Seoul and then went out with a french traveling in asia for several months.
From Busan I flied all the way to Tokyo where I spent 4 excellent days. Tokyo is a unique city, though a very big one, but one where we can feel local culture in every corner.
I should develop more on Tokyo, but will leave it to when I meet you guys, as now I am heading out for dinner. By the way, after Tokyo and before Takayama, I was in Nikko and Hakone region, also two good travel destinations.

Hello from Beijing!

Here I am in the capital of China, already 3 weeks after leaving home.
The internet connection is not the fastest, but it works fine. More difficult is to access blocked sites in China, like Facebook, Youtube and Blogger. This means that my blog is also blocked in China and now I am accessing it through a special site that changes my ip or something similar (I am not a tech specialist).

From what I visited so far, I liked more Guilin than any other place. The tour in the river between small mountains is just breathtaking. The city is prepared to be the tourist number 1 destination in China, a place that chinese people are very proud of. Also the polution there is not so high as in bigger cities.
Today I walked The Great Wall of China from Jinshanling to Simatai. It was a great challenge that went well and the view of the wall there is awesome.

Depois de ter parado no Dubai para uma "escala tecnica", comecei a minha visita a China por Hong Kong. Depois visitei o nosso saudoso Macau (porque o entregamos? na imensidao da China nao vale nada e para nos era um marco no Oriente). Macau e ainda um ponto de orgulho para Portugal, mas sente-se que a nossa patria sera, infelizmente, cada vez mais esquecida.
Depois de Macau, voltei a Hong Kong mais um dia e no dia seguinte segui para Guilin. Guilin e uma cidade ja grande, mas o patrimonio mais importante esta no rio que a liga a Yangshuo. O rio esta rodeado de pequenos montes uns depois dos outros que no ambiente verde que rodeia o rio tornam a paisagem simplesmente inesquecivel. A nota de 20 yuan(um pouco mais de 2 euros) tem este esta paisagem como desenho de um dos lados, por isso guardei uma nota de 20 nova, apesar de a melhor memoria deste paraiso natural ficar comigo.
Guilin tem tambem um lago muito bem arranjado com as margens preparadas para uma espectacular iluminacao nocturna. Existem ainda 3 pagodas (especie de torre onde normalmente estao alguns budas) ao longo do lago.
Depois de Guilin, segui para Shanghai onde visitei a cidade durante 2 dias e num outro dia estive na exposicao mundial, onde entre outros pavilhoes visitei o pavilhao de Portugal. Sinceramente, o conteudo do pavilhao fez-me pensar que estava a ver o slogan publicitario da EDP quando abriu uma barragem no norte.
Depois segui para Xian cuja principal atraccao sao os homens da Terracota, um conjunto de mais de 6 mil soldados feitos de barro a retratar um exercito.
Neste momento estou em Pequim, onde ja visitei a muralha da China.
A parte final deste post esta a ser muito resumida, porque parece-me que a net caiu no pc ao lado e eu quero que este post fique!

On my way to the MBA

I'm officially on holidays! I still need to send 2 documents to finish my work at MoneyGPS, but I already said goodbye to the people there and to my family. Today I start a trip that will take me around few places until the MBA.
So now, I'm at the airport writing this text while I wait for the flight to Brussels. My planned next stop is to visit Fonty campus tomorrow!
Começo hoje uma nova fase antes do MBA no INSEAD. Planeio viajar por alguns locais interessantes até Agosto. Estou agora no aeroporto para seguir viagem para Bruxelas e amanhã estou a pensar ir ao campus do INSEAD em Fontainebleau. Espero gostar de visitar a floresta e o palácio também!

Housing in Singapore

Neste momento encontro-me à procura de casa em Singapura, onde conto passar os primeiros 6 meses do MBA. Pelos contactos que já fiz com actuais alunos e mesmo alguns agentes, ainda é cedo para conseguir casa, mas convém estar atento às oportunidades. Uma coisa chata é que os agentes tentam até agora que o período de arrendamento seja de pelo menos 1 ano, havendo inclusivamente agentes que falam em contratos de arrendamento de 2 anos.

Quando falo com anteriores e actuais alunos sobre o alojamento em Singapura, todos me recomendam que vá para um dos condomínios fechados que existem perto do campus, nomeadamente o Heritage View e o Dover Parkview. Existe ainda o One North Residences que abriu em 2009 e está com uma popularidade crescente entre os alunos do INSEAD. Eu tendo em conta apenas as fotografias que vi, gosto mais do One North, mas parece-me que é mais difícil conseguir obter um apartamento totalmente mobilado lá.

Em princípio vou partilhar o apartamento com mais 2 alunos do INSEAD, com quem fiz já um acordo de partilha de casa. Um é alemão e outro italiano, espero que consigamos encontrar de facto uma casa que todos gostemos e que depois corra tudo bem por lá. É uma sensação um bocado estranha “escolher” os roommates através de contactos na internet, mas não havia grande alternativa.

Tugas no INSEAD

O INSEAD, como escola de âmbito mundial, tem alunos de todo o mundo, estando tipicamente representadas mais de 100 nacionalidades diferentes. Portugal está também representado e até ao momento somos já 5 os portugueses que vão começar o MBA em Setembro. Ainda faltam mais alguns portugueses entrarem nos próximos 2 rounds para a nossa “delegação” ficar completa. Portugal, face à sua dimensão até está sempre muito bem representado no INSEAD, portanto este ano não será excepção!

Today, there was a meeting with a marketing assistant from INSEAD, Melissa Jones, and the 5 portuguese students that are now admitted to the MBA, starting next September. I knew one of the persons from university, other I knew his face and the other two were new at all (one I knew from FB if that counts) :)

The event was very helpful mainly to get to know each other. We talked about some important issues related to the MBA, maybe we missed some important things, but over the next weeks until the MBA we will talk more and get our doubts answered until the great experience starts. One thing we will only be able to answer after the MBA is about recruiting… people want to be positive and say that everything is now recovering, but it will take time until all the things recover properly.

MBA Rankings

Financial Times published its MBA ranking yesterday. This year LBS is alone in the first place followed by Wharton, Harvard, Stanford and INSEAD in the top 5.

There are other MBA Rankings and all are different. People tend to say that rankings do not mean anything and that they are just marketing. I agree that they are more important as branding than as value adding, but I also think that rankings are good as guidelines when is the time to choose a MBA. If you target to do an MBA at a top Business School it's important that your BS is in the top 10 at least in more than one ranking. After that, the value of the MBA is much more dependent on your particular profile than in the program ranking position.

http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings

Ontem o Financial Times publicou o ranking dos MBAs e a LBS está em primeiro este ano isolada, depois de o ano passado ter partilhado a liderança com Wharton. Os 5 melhores MBAs para o FT são a LBS, Wharton, Harvard, Stanford e o INSEAD. Do top 10, fazem ainda parte, entre outros, Columbia, o MIT e Chicago Booth. Eu acho que qualquer destas escolas é uma boa escola, tendo cada uma os seus pontos fortes e fracos, mas estão todas a um nível tão elevado que as diferenças entre elas estão relacionadas com pequenos detalhes, como a rede de alumni, as áreas mais focadas no programa, a localização, o tempo de MBA, etc.

Os rankings de MBA são normalmente considerados como uma ferramenta de marketing facilmente influenciada pelas escolas, no entanto eu acho que são importantes para quem pretende escolher um MBA e também para as empresas saberem quais são os MBAs que estão mais "valorizados". Apesar disso, o valor real que cada pessoa pode tirar do MBA depende mais de si própria do que da posição da sua escola no ranking.

Non-refundable deposit of €5,000

This is the first step to confirm my attendance to INSEAD MBA. I will pay the deposit this week.
As almost all my money is invested in stocks, funds and deposits, it took me time to get everything ready to make the first payment to INSEAD.
The tuition fees will be €52,000. By the begining of the MBA 70% of the tuition fees must be paid to INSEAD. The next payment is due in July, so until then I hope that the stock market goes up and I will be able to sell my stocks with a good return.

Pensar que cada mês de INSEAD me vai custar só de propinas 5.200 euros é um bocado agressivo... Mas ainda será quando fizer as contas ao custo de cada aula... Mas a verdade é que o valor do MBA vai muito para além das aulas e não se mede por mês, mas sim pelo todo, pelas experiências que estão para vir e pelo que se espera que aconteça depois.
Desde já aceitam-se benfeitores que estejam dispostos a financiar-me... Neste momento estou à procura de alternativas no mercado bancário para cobrir cerca de 40% do custo global do MBA, o resto virá tudo das acções e fundos que progressivamente vou tendo que vender. O pior dos bancos é que obrigam a um grande esforço de análise... dado que mesmo quando apresentam a taxa efectiva, falta ter em conta muitos outros custos relevantes (processo, seguro, contrato, etc) que variam de banco para banco.