Packing, Printing, Preparing :-)

Well, tomorrow I have a trip planned, so today, most of the day was spent in printing out the tickets, doing the necessary shopping, preparing the travel bag, packing the things I need including my Camera of course and yes eating and sleeping :-)

Sometimes I think, whether I should really be writing these 2-3 liners everyday anymore, considering that all my classes are done and I will go back to school only in about a weeks time for final exam related work, but then, I think every day spent in Madrid, is in itself bringing new things for me, so why not :-)

A walk down the memory lane

While I did some minor job browsing and a couple of cases, spent most of the day reading past blog posts I have written here and getting nostalgic.

Past one year went by so fast, and now, this last month in which I chose no classes, has been so very slow in its pace.
Also went to the Circulo de Bellas Artes rooftop and spent a couple of evening hours, watching the skyline of this beautiful city Madrid, trying to figure out different places from the buildings seen, and trying to run down the memory lane about those areas.
While my classes were done on 9th April itself, as many people are finishing theirs today and tomorrow, there is a race on facebook among those who want to update their status of MBA last class done, and that race is making me drive through these memories even more !!

Hope to get back in action with some activity or other real soon :)

Chores

It has been a while that I had cleaned around my house, and so today was the day spent for doing all the chores from cleaning to shopping to laundry.

And also, now that I have caught up with the most recent episode of the Game of a Thrones, I finally had no reason to NOT do some cases :)

Today passed by really quick as there was some or other thing coming up one after other and I was busy doing many different things and yes, I did wish happy birthday to one of my childhood friends, and welcomed a couple of tourists to Madrid today :-)

Shooting Guapas :)

Today, I had booked my time for outdoor photoshoot of models, yes models showcasing the besabijou jewellery. So, from 11 AM in the morning until 4:30 PM, I was busy taking pictures of three beautiful girls or Guapas as they say in Madrid. And then spent the remaining day with my IE family, enjoying a pizza, some sangria, the amazing Spider-Man and some chitchat.

A good Sunday :)

Case Solving Prep

Spent the day browsing the case study prep material and watching season three of the game of thrones. Yepp, by the end of tonight, I will be catching up with the latest episode that was aired :)

I mean if all that there is to do is case prep and job applications, there is plenty of time for things like television series. I like the pace of this all :)

Another round of the job hunt

All those job hunting sites, they take a couple of days to have a fresh lot of jobs published. So, last couple of days, I had to just sit back, as most of the jobs available were already seen by me.

Today, I found a couple of new ones though, and did the necessary applications. Also practiced some cases and created profiles in a couple of places.

All in all, a day well spent. Now planning to watch the game of thrones in the night :)

The Game of Thrones

I have to say that in these past few years, moving around from one place to another, with different local languages, my habit of watching TV series has been long lost. Add to it, there is enough entertainment and engagement online these days from social networks to the movie streamings.

But then, there are a few series that I am hearing about so many times, that I finally gave in and decided to watch at least one of them - the Game of Thrones. One of my friends had DVDs of season one and two, so borrowed them from her, and starting watching the series at around 11am. I must say the series is addictive, as by the time, I went out for a Korean dinner at 8:30 pm, I hardly moved away from my PC and till then had already watched all of season one and first two episodes of season two.

After returning from a good Korean dinner at restaurant Maru, I am already too exhausted to continue with the series, so time to publish the post of the day and sleep :)

Sit-in .. And that changes the last class

Well, my Nigerian friends were going to make a presentation about Nigeria in their Africa, Poverty and Development class. They had been talking about it so many times, that I got tempted to attend this one class and be an audience to their presentation.

So, today at 4 pm, I went to the classroom, asked Gayle if I can sit-in in this one class, even though I have not taken her class as an elective and she said yes.

And this is how, today between 4 pm to 7 pm, I attended the Africa class, and this class is now officially the last class I took in IE, instead of the Corporate Governance class that I attended long back on the 9th of April.

Enjoyed being a spectator in a class and being a part of MBA learning yet another time :)

Back to School

Well, this morning as I was walking towards MM31, it felt a little different - As if I am doing this after a real long time, although its been only 10 days of vacation in between.

Spent the whole day in launch pad, browsing job postings, preparing job applications, solving a couple of cases, all-in-all the day has been spent well - as per the plan, so I can relax and have a peaceful sleep tonight :-D

Indian Food Fiesta :-)

Today being the last day of our Easter vacation, we all got together to have a good time, at my place. Me and Hitesh cooked a few of varieties of Chicken recipes and it was a day spent having loads of fun. Also went to a long walk around central Madrid in the evening and enjoyed the great Madrid weather.

Tomorrow the school re-opens and I need to get my act together and start applying for jobs again. Going to bed early tonight to start fresh tomorrow :-)

Happy Easter :-)

Well, a friend of mine Jeanine, said this morning, considering that I have attended all the processions that take place in the Easter week anyways, it would be a good idea for me to also attend the Easter Mass, to know the entire set of rituals and ceremonies that take place for Easter. So it was that today I went with her to the 'Our lady of Mercy' church in Madrid - the only church with English-speaking services and attended the Easter day Mass.

Another first, and it was a good experience - the whole atmosphere was full with hope, happiness and delight and the vibe was positive.

Spent the rest of today partying at her place with couple of other friends - the Easter celebration, if you want to call it :-D

Anyways, to all my readers out there, Happy Easter :-)

El Escorial and the Valley of the Fallen

Spent the day today in a beautiful small town of El Escorial and its surroundings. This place is famous for its Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo, which was both a palace and a monastery in its early days - and is now a collection of museums and a monastery. The collection of paintings and tapestries in this place is too good - but more than all of this, what I enjoyed was the time I spent outside, in a small restaurant terraza as they call it here - there was a peaceful calmness in the atmosphere, a couple singing and playing soft music on the street, good Sangria and some finger food to go along, and we didn't realize how two hours passed by.
Next up was the valley of the fallen - another great scenic marvel - a giant cross constructed here on top of the hill can be seen from as far as 30 miles [in fact, I have seen it before while going to Toledo] and the monument constructed here is a marvel for its architecture, its design and the way it has been created in a tunnel of the hill.

Returned to Madrid around 8 PM, uploaded the pictures in FB and will go to sleep now in some time :-) A good day today :-)

Viernes Santo

These days are so much dominated by the fact that it is the Easter Holiday going on, that I cannot help myself write names of the same days here in the subject line. I mean all that I did today was to watch some movies, browse the internet, check facebook and then attend one of today's processions :-)
Not like I am complaining, but I can see that pretty soon, all this leisurely vacation time will need to be covered for, in kind :-)

More of the Processions

The highlight of today - went to the Plaza Mayor neighborhood for watching a couple of yearly Easter week processions, with a group of friends and ended up having a good time until past mid-night. Took some great pictures to add to the collection that I have started on Sunday. All of them are in my Facebook :-)

Vacation mood .. Yaawn !!

It's hard to get rid of the vacation mood when you know that there is no work to be done for next 5 days. Today, I fell prey to this mood completely. Spent the day watching movies on Youtube, even the ones that I had prevented to watch for last 2-3 years, just because I had so much time today. Also read a book about MBA of today. The only time I did something was when I cooked some pasta for lunch today :-)
Happy Holidays everyone :-)