First Classes and the Matrix

Yesterday capped the first day of classes with pre-courses in Financial Accounting and Quantitative Analysis. It's helpful for me, since I haven't taken any of these classes at all or in years, so some of the material is quite intimidating. The pre-courses focus more on fundamentals and background. Further into this week of pre-course and official coursework, we'll get more into the practical aspects and how these concepts apply to every day business.

The puzzling matrix.

"Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."

Landing in Madrid

It's been 9 days since we've landed in Madrid and theres been no stopping. However, on the plane trip here, I thought we were literally about to turn back to New York. Just as we could see the Madrid horizon, a couple of thousand feet up and away from the runway, our plane started to ascent and hover around the airport. It was surprising at the moment, but the pilot assured us there was just runway traffic below. (Something that you think would be cleared at least 20,000 feet before landing.)

Since finally landing it's been running around communicating with broken Spanglish looking for an apartment, phone, food, etc. and meeting new classmates.

We've found some barrios which are somewhat comparable to NYC - Malasana (like East Village), Salamanca, where IE Business School is (like Upper East Side).

Here are some shots of the things we've seen:

Madrid airport

Courtyard view from our temporary apartment