A bit of what I heard in Bristol

If I talk about going to a harmonica convention and having lots of fun there, I imagine that many people might think this is at least a bit curious.
To give a better impression of what I heard there, I am posting the following link to a sound clip.

• Brendan Power in Bristol

This is Brendan Power, one of my favourite harmonica players ever, playing a set accompanied by an accordion player. I found this file floating around in the internet, and, although its quality is not the best, it has captured the moment well and is fun to listen to. So be my guests, enjoy!

The whiteboard

Scribled during a syndicate group meeting. You like it?

Real life stories

Our own FTMBA07 blogosphere has become official: at the page "real life stories" from WBS recruitment team, my colleagues at the right and myself have been linked to show prospective students a bit of how life at WBS might be for different people.
Since one of the aims of this blog has always been to be a resource to folks thinking about doing an MBA, I really liked this. And Flo X seems to be a nice person.
Now it is back to economics.

Portuguese speaking break

I did talk for at least half an hour with my father in Portuguese yesterday, but it was really nice to chat for 5 minutes with the Brazilian cleaning lady here at my flat at Lakeside. She is friendly and young, really nice to talk to. From her I learnt the the Soccer World Cup will take place in Brazil in 2014. Maybe I'll be there?

Exam update

Marketing gone. I did manage to write a nice essay with introduction, development, conclusion and end, so I should be fine. I also mentioned key phrases like "customer value", "smart customer", "mutating market", "value definition" and "learning organization" in a sensible way, so this should put me in a better position still. I hope that the teacher grades the tests, cause I did try to emulate his discourse and even humour. But, with 82 people writing 2 to 4 pages essays, I don't believe that he will do it all by himself.

In the afternoon we have organizational behaviour, which I believe is the exam I am worst prepared for, and will do some last minute studying during lunch break. Just hope that I can take advantage of the beautiful, though cold, weather outside.

Midterm exams and a little bit more about Bristol

These are the two reasons I haven't been too active around here, besides the two thumb messages below.

On week 5 of the first term of the full time MBA we have the midterm exams. So it is a whole week with exams, accounting on Monday (gone!), marketing and organizational behaviour tomorrow, economics and operations management on Thursday. Lots of things to read and re-read, little time for e-mails and blog.
These exams account for only 20% of the final grades, but are a good way to measure your position in the course and, if you want distinction, every bit of the grade is important, so you do work hard.

But I tried not to get too stressed about all that and even did something which some of my colleagues considered academic suicide: I travelled during the weekend, departing on Friday to Bristol and coming back on Sunday night. Needless to say, my OB book travelled with me, but saw little use, if any.
In Bristol we had the annual convention of the National Harmonica League. I must admit that I love these harmonica gatherings and always have a good time. And this time it wasn't different. It was great to meet new and old friends and to hear great music all around.
There were a couple of things to learn from this experience:

• a scooter is quite handy, but keep your distance from drunken youngsters
• check in at your hostel early, don't leave it until 2:30 a.m.
• having good friends saves you in desperate situations like the one above
• be passionate about what you do and things will happen easily. I had a great time doing the workshops on harmonica maintenance, and got really flattering feedback
• there are good opportunities if you choose to work with the passion of people. I gotta figure out how to keep the harmonica business in my future plans

I will try to post some videos (the hotel lounge and bar full of harmonica players is hilarious!) or pictures soon, but the priority is low due to the exams. I also owe some material on the Spitz! punk blues festival, I know.

But now let's go to sleep. Tomorrow the day starts at 6:30 a.m.
And we have only 2 hours time difference between São Paulo and Coventry.

Thumb messages 2: Bristol - Coventry

Bristol Coventry, coach. Just found out that it would have been possible to book the trip to campus, instead Coventry. But this is not advertised, as it makes the trip longer. In fact, the driver asked not to tell anyone. Question: would it be too egotistical too book it anyway, knowing that you are making a whole busload of tired people get 20 min later at their destinations?