Summer is here

Hello everyone!

I know, I must apologize for being away for so long. As you can imagine I have been kind of busy lately, without much time or energy left for blogging.

What have I been doing since February?

Well, first of all, I finished my Residency in Hospital Pharmacy. The last few months were quite intense, as I had to finish some pending tasks and also put an end to my partitipation in several projects. Besides, I was on-call on 7 of my last 10 days. It was a proper farewell to what has been a second home for the past 4 years.

Then, of course, I have been loaded with paperwork, and making the necessary arrangements for our arrival in Hanover.

The good news is my TP17 and I will get to live where we wanted, as we have been granted housing at Sachem Village, thus we did not have to spend that much time in searching for a place. In fact, by the time we were notified of which house was going to be our home, we had already made arrangements to buy furniture and car from a graduating T15. This is a common thing at Tuck (and, I imagine, at every other school), and it is a good way of getting what you need at a reasonable price. Indeed, there exist great resources for buying and selling stuff from/to other tuckies and members of Dartmouth, such as Dartlist or a Yapp-based application called Sello.

I can say we are truly excited about living in Sachem. This is a neighbourhood in West Lebanon, about 2 miles away from Tuck, where most Tuck students who come to Hanover with their families live, and  it makes for a very close and supportive community. We chose to live here as we feel it will make the adaptation process easier for us, and will be a more supportive environment for my wife, who is going to spend a lot fo time on her own at the beginning of the first year. Besides, we have met many other tuckies living there, all of whom have spoken highly of the neighbourhood and of the quality of the houses.

Sachem Circle

Now we just have to get used to not living in the middle of a huge city…

On the other hand, I thought this could be a great time to learn a little bit more about what I want to do after the MBA and about the companies I am be interested in. As a matter of fact, there are several Pre-MBA internships or programs available for those entering the first year of the MBA this summer, although most of them are hosted in the US, which makes it difficult for internationals sometimes.

However, after looking for some local opportunities, I have signed up for open days McKinsey and BCG will host at their Madrid offices in July. Moreover, I also applied to McKinsey Emerging Scholars Program, which allows students entering some of the top US schools to introduce themselves to the Firm and provides the m with the opportunity to meet with recruiters and consultants even before setting foot on campus. Beisdes, they offer mentonrship and a schoarship to those selected. I have been lucky enough to have made it to the interviews phase, and in the last couple weeks I´ve interviewed with the principal recruiter for Tuck and two alumni working at the Firm.

The interviews have been very conversational, focusing on past experiences and also including a mini business case. And, of course, I have been able to get answers to many questions about the company, the kind of projects they do, the recruiting process… And they all were really willing to share their stories. Therefore, I have gotten much of what I expected when I applied. Now, let´s hope they liked what they saw. I sure did.

After all this talk about work, my progresses towards my MBA life… I have to say that, yes, there has been room for some fun, and I have visited the beach some times already. In fact, I was invited by a friend to his house in Denia, South Eastern Spain, and during that long weekend of eating, sunbathing and lazyness, I discovered this beautiful beach:

Cala de Ambolo, Jávea

Feel like going, right?

Well, I am glad to be back! However, as I still have plenty to do I…and besides it´s like 33ºC outside today (yes, this is one of the advantages of living in Spain), and I intend to make the most I can of this summer. Swimming pool, here I come!

Have a great weekend!