Spring is in the air

This morning we had the much anticipated economics test on the material that we have been through so far. Some of our classmates had made some excellent summaries which they shared with the rest of the glass. That was a great help, thank you! It is hard to gauge how we have done on the test, but it was nevertheless nice to actually see a test so we can get a feel for what they will be looking for at the exams.

The economics class continued with Economic Policy, which in Ralf Boscheck's usual fast-paced style covered the fundamentals of classic liberalism, Keynes, Fiscal versus Monetary policies and political communication in no amount of time. We were then split in groups representing the advisors and different stakeholders around Obama; each with there own agenda and with plenty of good advise to the new president on how he should run his country. Jodie Roussell [American] impressed everyone with a very well articulated speech. Perhaps we have a future politician in the class!

Accounting professor Stewart Hamilton finished off the 'Profit & Loss' and took us straight into the 'Cash Flow Statement'. I don't know what it is with accounting. It is the most simple, structured and straight forward subject we have, but for some reason it never adds up the first time.

It is a beautiful day in Lausanne today! It may be a bit too early to talk about spring (it snowed yesterday morning), but the light is definitely coming back and you can feel that the air is changing. This weekend we have a bit of breathing space for the first time in a long time. Everything is relative, of course, and 'breathing space' in IMD terms means no hard deliverables in the next few days. There is, of course, still class all day tomorrow, several projects going on and a ton of reading for next week, but I guess we are learning to appreciate the little time we occasionally have for doing other things. Some of that time will be spent celebrating the birthdays of Wouter Naessens [Belgian] and Coralie Leresche [French/Swiss] at the White Horse tonight.

Thorsten