Yolanda Yusef was crazy scary during our final presentation. My group and I have been preparing our market research presentation for the past 6 weeks, all leading up to this 45 minute presentation we had to give in front of our class and another class of the same topic. 1. I hate public speaking 2. Public Speaking is harder in a different language 3. Answering sporadic questions throughout our presentation made it even worse.
Yolanda would stop us during our presentation and ask us questions about the history of the company. Luckily I knew this part and was able to chime in and adequately and articulately answer her questions. She would then ask us why we chose both a quantitative and qualitative approach to our research. I let my other group members handle this question. Finally she criticized how fast all my group members spoke, where we were looking (i.e. only at her and not at the entire class) and the layouts of our slides.
And then surprisingly, when we managed to finish the presentation she congratulated us and apparently...we had done the best thus far in the class? Not what it seemed like from where I was standing, but then again she had only pointed out really minor flaws in our presentation whereas the others, she had issues with their actual project, as opposed to the presentation.
I thought I'd add this in so that my mom knows I've actually been doing schoolwork / being stressed out about it. In twelve and a half hours I'll be taking the final for this Information Systems of Marketing class and from there, I will be packing away my Madrid life into two very full suitcases, having one last rage with my friends and catching a taxi to the airport to HOPEFULLY make it home in time for Christmas, my favorite of all holidays!
Perhaps I'll update from the airports, because apparently I have quite the adventure on my way home. Madrid to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to LaGuardia and finally LaGuardia to Buffalo International Airport!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Saturday, December 18, 2010
My Spanish Miracle
So as I mentioned, I've taken and finished three out of my four big final exams for this semester. Wednesday will be my Sistemas de Información de Marketing test with my favorite teacher, Yolanda Yusef. She really reminds me of my aunts from Mexico in that she's kinda loud and kinda nuts. Everytime I enter the class, generally early and before all my other classmates, she grabs my face and goes "Ay, Querida". I still haven't figured out why, but as I was telling my friend D, I believe it is because I'm pretty much the youngest and quietest person in the class. I have my suspicions that I am actually in a grad class, mainly because everyone in the class is around 23 years old, all my group members for instance, are 24. She also loves to make me talk about the United States, which is a little different, since none of my other professors have shown much interest in the topic.
Since the class is mainly focused on Market Research, she made me discuss with the class the concept of "door to door" surveys in the United States. Obviously I don't actually have much experience with this, but I can say it's plausible that these surveys are more accepted in suburban communities as opposed to city communities. From there we got into a topic of Jehovah's Witnesses. Yeah. Yolanda is pretty nuts but my class was amazed by the Jehovahs.
The other tests, were surprisingly short. The one I was most worried about was for my Historia Contemporanea de España class, which literally revolves around Franco. This is easily my most uninteresting class and honestly the one where I had slacked off the most. I even went as far to not read the book that was assigned. Although I had studied fervently the history in the week before the test, it was only the night before the test that I opted to finally pick up the book and skim through it. My eyes landed on the section "Milagro Española". I quickly read the section, actually finding it interesting, and then proceeded to pass out for the night, knowing that in about 6 short hours, I would have to wake up for the two exams of that day.
As it turns OUT...the Spanish Miracle, which I hadn't even heard about until I'd picked up the book, played a major part of the exam! I consider this a Spanish miracle in itself. Although since reading that one section of the book, I might consider actually reading the book, even if it is written in a Pro-Francoism stance.
Since the class is mainly focused on Market Research, she made me discuss with the class the concept of "door to door" surveys in the United States. Obviously I don't actually have much experience with this, but I can say it's plausible that these surveys are more accepted in suburban communities as opposed to city communities. From there we got into a topic of Jehovah's Witnesses. Yeah. Yolanda is pretty nuts but my class was amazed by the Jehovahs.
The other tests, were surprisingly short. The one I was most worried about was for my Historia Contemporanea de España class, which literally revolves around Franco. This is easily my most uninteresting class and honestly the one where I had slacked off the most. I even went as far to not read the book that was assigned. Although I had studied fervently the history in the week before the test, it was only the night before the test that I opted to finally pick up the book and skim through it. My eyes landed on the section "Milagro Española". I quickly read the section, actually finding it interesting, and then proceeded to pass out for the night, knowing that in about 6 short hours, I would have to wake up for the two exams of that day.
As it turns OUT...the Spanish Miracle, which I hadn't even heard about until I'd picked up the book, played a major part of the exam! I consider this a Spanish miracle in itself. Although since reading that one section of the book, I might consider actually reading the book, even if it is written in a Pro-Francoism stance.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Porto, Lisbon, Barcelona, and My Greatest Disappointment
Since I went on a giant and epic adventure over my long break, its hard to summarize it all into a compact little blog post. For those of you who know me, feel free to ask me more questions and details, no doubt I will tell you all about it when I go home ( 9 DAYS! ), and for those of you from Alaska who are my fervent readers, well...I guess I won't have the opportunity to tell you as I won't be going to Alaska anytime soon.
Porto and Lisbon were amazing and SO affordable. Other than the hostels where we stayed, we virtually spent NO money. Barcelona sort of made up for that, but really, Portugal is amazing, beautiful and cheap. Early morning the day we were in Porto, we went on a wine tour and tasting for 4 euros! Port wine is very very sweet and really made for desserts fruits and cheeses. It was totally worth it though, and we got to see the giant vats where they let the wine "mature". After wards we headed to this cute little restaurant right on the waterfront that serves Francesinha and its LITERALLY so so good that every time I remember it, I crave it. It's only made correctly in Porto, and incorrectly in a few other places of Portugal. Here is a picture that you can all drool over.
From Porto, we headed to Lisbon, which although they didn't have a food as amazing as the Francesinha, they did have cheap food and upon arrival at our hostel (which actually had the nicest staff in the world) we ran two doors down the street to the Tofa Restaurant where we proceeded to a plate of meat and fish respectivly, mine being accompanied by a piece of sausage, their version of french fries (flat and circular), what looked like pork (not a big pork eater so I skipped that part) pickled vegetables and an egg. We each had sangria as well as coffee, and the bill came to 13 euros!!!!!!!!!!!! We literally feasted for under 7 euros. That would never have happened in Spain, let me just tell you. The next morning we went and climbed up a giant ass hill to see the old Castle in Lisbon, and it has a really pretty view of the city. It would have been better, but it was really cloudy when we left that morning and at the Lisbon Airport, it had started to torrential downpour. Luckily we missed it all and managed to leave on time. Our friend Roofie and Di had actually come in that day, and taken a tour around the city. Evidently not too long ago, Portugal was hit with a massive earthquake and fire that burnt almost the entire city down. When they rebuilt, the King wasn't very creative and he wanted all the houses to be built the exact same to save on time. Here's what it looks like from the Castle.
And finally Barcelona!! We had such a wonderful time in Barcelona, other than that fact that everything was back to being expensive and we spent probably a full day waiting in various lines. Apparently we went at the wrong time to Sagrada Familia and stood in line for an hour and a half (again, sorry Tita) but it was worth it to see Gaudi's architecture at its finest. From the outside, the Sagrada Familia is really really ugly, and looks like a space ship dropped it off in the middle of Barcelona. Its all dark and black and kinda looks like something Ursula from The Little Mermaid would live in but when we finally got in, it was amazing. It was all white and for some reason really cold, but lit up so beautifully. The stained glass behind the altar was gorgeous but the most amazing thing was probably the ceiling. It was really intricately done and it seemed to go on forever.
And now I know everyone knows how much I've been obsessing over Puyol. To be fair, my uncle warned me he might not be playing...but December 7th, we ventured to Camp Nou to watch FC Barcelona play Rubin Kazan which is a Russian team from the city of Kazan from the Republic of Tartarstan (yea where?), but to my extreme disappointment, Puyol did not play. I got to stare at the giant that is Piqué for most of the time, and Messi was sent out in the second half...but no Carles Puyol. My disappointment surpassed the time I couldn't see the inside of the Colosseum, as I don't actually have any emotional attachment to that ancient building. Stoically I remained in my seat and accepted my fate. Bah.
On a brightnote, the people we met at our hostel were some of the funniest, nicest, and most interesting people we've ever come across. Its just so amazing how some european kids our age live. One was there in Barcelona just "living", no plan for the future and it was apparent that he wasn't all that upset about not knowing where his life was going.
Anyway, its go time for exams and presentations now. I've actually had to sit down and study every day this week! First one is this thursday, but hopefully it won't be too bad! Friday the 17th, is doomsday, two exams in four hours. Then the following tuesday I have a presentation in Spanish with my marketing group and then that Wednesday I'll be taking the Marketing final a month and a half before everyone else in my class does. AND THEN THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23rd, I WILL BE ON A PLANE HEADED HOME!
Porto and Lisbon were amazing and SO affordable. Other than the hostels where we stayed, we virtually spent NO money. Barcelona sort of made up for that, but really, Portugal is amazing, beautiful and cheap. Early morning the day we were in Porto, we went on a wine tour and tasting for 4 euros! Port wine is very very sweet and really made for desserts fruits and cheeses. It was totally worth it though, and we got to see the giant vats where they let the wine "mature". After wards we headed to this cute little restaurant right on the waterfront that serves Francesinha and its LITERALLY so so good that every time I remember it, I crave it. It's only made correctly in Porto, and incorrectly in a few other places of Portugal. Here is a picture that you can all drool over.
From Porto, we headed to Lisbon, which although they didn't have a food as amazing as the Francesinha, they did have cheap food and upon arrival at our hostel (which actually had the nicest staff in the world) we ran two doors down the street to the Tofa Restaurant where we proceeded to a plate of meat and fish respectivly, mine being accompanied by a piece of sausage, their version of french fries (flat and circular), what looked like pork (not a big pork eater so I skipped that part) pickled vegetables and an egg. We each had sangria as well as coffee, and the bill came to 13 euros!!!!!!!!!!!! We literally feasted for under 7 euros. That would never have happened in Spain, let me just tell you. The next morning we went and climbed up a giant ass hill to see the old Castle in Lisbon, and it has a really pretty view of the city. It would have been better, but it was really cloudy when we left that morning and at the Lisbon Airport, it had started to torrential downpour. Luckily we missed it all and managed to leave on time. Our friend Roofie and Di had actually come in that day, and taken a tour around the city. Evidently not too long ago, Portugal was hit with a massive earthquake and fire that burnt almost the entire city down. When they rebuilt, the King wasn't very creative and he wanted all the houses to be built the exact same to save on time. Here's what it looks like from the Castle.
And finally Barcelona!! We had such a wonderful time in Barcelona, other than that fact that everything was back to being expensive and we spent probably a full day waiting in various lines. Apparently we went at the wrong time to Sagrada Familia and stood in line for an hour and a half (again, sorry Tita) but it was worth it to see Gaudi's architecture at its finest. From the outside, the Sagrada Familia is really really ugly, and looks like a space ship dropped it off in the middle of Barcelona. Its all dark and black and kinda looks like something Ursula from The Little Mermaid would live in but when we finally got in, it was amazing. It was all white and for some reason really cold, but lit up so beautifully. The stained glass behind the altar was gorgeous but the most amazing thing was probably the ceiling. It was really intricately done and it seemed to go on forever.
And now I know everyone knows how much I've been obsessing over Puyol. To be fair, my uncle warned me he might not be playing...but December 7th, we ventured to Camp Nou to watch FC Barcelona play Rubin Kazan which is a Russian team from the city of Kazan from the Republic of Tartarstan (yea where?), but to my extreme disappointment, Puyol did not play. I got to stare at the giant that is Piqué for most of the time, and Messi was sent out in the second half...but no Carles Puyol. My disappointment surpassed the time I couldn't see the inside of the Colosseum, as I don't actually have any emotional attachment to that ancient building. Stoically I remained in my seat and accepted my fate. Bah.
On a brightnote, the people we met at our hostel were some of the funniest, nicest, and most interesting people we've ever come across. Its just so amazing how some european kids our age live. One was there in Barcelona just "living", no plan for the future and it was apparent that he wasn't all that upset about not knowing where his life was going.
Anyway, its go time for exams and presentations now. I've actually had to sit down and study every day this week! First one is this thursday, but hopefully it won't be too bad! Friday the 17th, is doomsday, two exams in four hours. Then the following tuesday I have a presentation in Spanish with my marketing group and then that Wednesday I'll be taking the Marketing final a month and a half before everyone else in my class does. AND THEN THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23rd, I WILL BE ON A PLANE HEADED HOME!
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