Throwing darts at a map....

I would say ‘fly by the seat of my pants’ is not necessarily applicable to my life. Unplanned, certainly, but there is an element of control that flirts with every decision I make….at least subconsciously. But then there is Barcelona.

Going back to school has always been in the plan, but I never bothered to think about when and where. Then, as the grasp of subprime mortgages loosened its chokehold, the future suddenly snapped into focus; MBA. There was a bit of a problem. I did not have the forethought to plan the finances appropriately for attending business school nor had I considered that after April 30^th 2010, most of the top programs shut their doors to new applicants.

It was April 1^st. Damn. A GMAT study regimen and an unhealthy number of essays that wouldn’t write themselves did not bode well for an April 30^th deadline, plus I had that job thing to juggle too. So Plan B. Isn’t Plan B always more appealing anyway? I never really liked the idea of staying in the United States for school. It seemed boring, more of the same.

So Europe it is, specifically Barcelona. After a quick attempt to study for said test and throwing together a few essays on the trials and tribulations of being me for the admissions committee, I stepped off the airplane and drank the air. This was going to be fun. Mind you I found Barcelona on a map about three weeks before actually coming here. I figured that was probably a necessary detail. In my research however I neglected to investigate the temperatures of this city….and more importantly the humidity.

Here I was-in a country I had never visited with my life in four bags of what I had whittled down to as being the true essentials. Barcelona. My new home. Who forgot to turn on the air conditioning? I thought thinking was tough after last month’s concussion, but this heat is making me a bit delusional. I definitely did not think this one through.

So the adventure begins. I am enrolled in business school at ESADE in Barcelona, Spain. I have never been here or met any of the people I will surround myself with for at least the next eighteen months. I need to find a home, the school, establish residency, frequent the bars and beaches and find a new footing in this beautiful city by the sea.

Did I mention I don’t speak Spanish?