Siestas, not power naps

To be honest I have not done much over the past couple of days. I have just been enjoying the warm humid Mediterranean air that encourages you to just hang around in shorts and flip-flops and keep yourself in a vertical position to the extent possible. I have swapped power naps with siestas. Same concept, but very different execution! I am trying to fall into the rhythm of my little pueblo here. As they say in Spain, there are more people on the streets at 3 in the morning than at 3 in the afternoon. All the shops close during the middle of the day, so why not siesta your way through those hours. Great concept.

I went for a run today at 8pm when the temperature had dropped sufficiently for a Scandinavian to venture out. I went down to the river bed that runs at the outskirts of the town. It is completely dried out at this time of the year, so it is a great place to run. It took me out under the highway and into mountains on the other side. 'Mountains' may be a relative word here. The locals would probably just call them 'hills', but being from Denmark I insist that they indeed are mountains. I found a dirt trail that took me up-hill (because you cannot say 'up-mountain') and after about 20 minutes I found myself standing on a ridge looking into the next valley. Here was another little pueblo with white houses and what from the distance appeared to be a church. The sun was setting and it looked so quiet and peaceful. I had not met anyone on my way and there was not a single person to be seen anywhere. It became one of those few quiet moments, where you remind yourself that life is more than the fast lane on the information-superhighway. Next time I will make sure I bring a camera.

Exams approaching

I went for a run along the lake when I came home today. I just had to get some fresh air to the brain after another intense day. On the way out I met my classmate Marco Simons [Dutch] who came running in the opposite direction. I was apparently not the only one in need of fresh air.

The sun sets around 7 in Lausanne these days and the view is just spectacular when you at that hour run on the small path between the lake and the huge villas with their boats and high fences. No doubt that this is an area with a lot of money. You can't help thinking that all this must belong to all the big bankers and insurance companies that have made this country so wealthy.

Everybody's minds are on the exams these days. Tomorrow is the last day of tuition before the exams. We get Thursday and Friday off to study. Accounting is the first thing that hits us. That is Saturday. Monday is Finance, Tuesday is 'Leading People for Performance' and Wednesday is Operations. And then we are off for an extended weekend! For the first time since we got here! That is the light at the end of the tunnel that keeps us going at the moment.

The accounting exam is my biggest concern. I actually thought that I had a good grasp of the general accounting principles, but another few layers of complexity have been added that has thrown me off a bit. A big part of it is about understanding the 'language' of accounting, which at times can seem like it has been encrypted. A number of us are very grateful to our classmate Eva Hubsman [Israeli] who has been using her lunch breaks the past days to teach us (again) about the wonders of T-accounts and the meaning of 'capitalizing a financial lease'. Moreover, she has set up one-on-one sessions with a dozen of us over the next couple of days. Thanks, Eva!

Thorsten


Fadi Sbaiti [Lebanese/American] and Simon Sundboell [Danish] enjoying a moment in the sun.


Chuks and Arturas in the auditorium.