Christmas in Madrid and New Year in Lausanne

It has been a busy couple of weeks. After celebrating christmas in Denmark on 24 December, we got up at 4.00 the next morning to catch a flight to Madrid, so we could celebrate the Spanish christmas with Susanas family on the afternoon of the 25th. Actually Christmas is not that big of a deal in Spanish. They make a lot more out of the 'Three Kings' celebrations on 6 January, which also is where they give each other presents.

It was the first time for me to meet Susanas family and friends for real. Despite some differences in languages I got an impression of the warm and welcoming Spanish mentality. It doesn't take long to feel at home there. Susanas sister, Mar, had gotten us all tickets for Cirque du Soleil. A fantastic show with absolutely amazing acrobats. I have never seen anything like it!

On 29 December I went to Lausanne, where I took over my new apartment. On 30 January my three Indonesian friends Anya, Binky and Adi came to visit for 4 days. In that very short period of time they managed to go as far away as Chamonix, Jungfraujoch and Zürich. They really utilized their Swiss railway-pass to the max!

They also joined for the New Years party that was held together with almost 60 of the new MBA students, partners, friends and children. The whole thing was arranged by Albert, one of my new German class mates. It felt a bit like being a MISE trainee again with all the new people from many nationalities meeting for the first time, but the atmosphere was great!

On 1 January Susana arrived from Spain. The next day we said goodbye to Anya, Binky and Adi over a great Swiss fondue. A love fondue, but it is a dangerous invention that definitely is going to cost me some kilos this year.On 3 and 4 January a skiing trip had been arranged by fellow student Ruslana in Champery, about 2 hours away by train. We had fantastic weather and great snow! We stayed in a small, hotel run by a British couple. We (20 people) filled the hotel, so we got an excellent service and really enjoyed ourselves.

5 and 6 January was information sessions, where we had to get a lot of practical things done before the school officially kicked off yesterday, the 7th of January! Busy days!