Saying Goodbye to Lugano

On Thursday I left for Lugano, Switzerland, to close my apartment for the weekend. Getting there was quite an adventure. I booked my flight through RyanAir (cheap airfare), and their airport was in Eindhoven, Netherlands. My flight was scheduled to depart at 8:50 a.m., so I had to wake up early to get there. Being cautious as to not miss my flight, I left Leiden on the 4:23 a.m. train. From Leiden, I had to get off the train at the Hague. Here, I had to find the bus station, and take a bus to Scheidam. When I arrived at Scheidam, I had to go to the train station, and take a train to Rotterdam. However, my train to Rotterdam never came. So, I had to wait for the next train out. I began to get nervous that something else would go wrong and I wouldn't make my flight. I caught the next train, though, and headed to Rotterdam.When I arrived at Rotterdam, I switched trains, and got on a train to Eindhoven. Upon arrival in Eindhoven, I hopped on the #401 bus to the airport. After all of this moving, I arrived at the airport at 8:15, and check-in closed at 8:20. I got very lucky, but I am still surprised at the fact that it took me almost 4 hours to get to the airport! The flight was only 1.5 hours. Crazy.
     I arrived in Bergamo, Italy, at about 10:30 a.m., and I hopped on a bus to Milan Central Station. Once there, I was able to board a train to Lugano. Arrival in Lugano was a nice feeling. The weather was beautiful and I had become comfortable in the city by living there for two years. It was very hot, but I didn't mind, as I hadn't seen the sun since I arrived in Europe. I walked from the train station to my apartment, where I met my old roommate, Avo Murdock. We had to spend Thursday and Friday clearing out the apartment, and have it inspected at 4 p.m. Friday. It was sad to see the apartment empty. There were so many good memories. Here is my bedroom, which doubled as a 'hangout' room:

We somehow were able to clear the apartment in two days, and without a car! Apparently, you can only throw out furniture on trash day (no more than 4 times a year), and trash day was the week before. But, we sold a few items, gave a few pieces to some of the cooks at Franklin, and donated the rest to the local thrift store. On Friday, the inspector came, checked the apartment thoroughly, and took our keys. I remember telling Avo that it was a terrible feeling that someone was telling us what to do in our own apartment.
   But, to have it done felt nice, as well. I was then able to relax and enjoy the rest of my weekend in Lugano. There were some friends there that I hadn't seen in at least a year, and that was nice. I stayed at a buddies apartment close to the train station and downtown, which was convenient, as there was a free music festival downtown. It was called Blues to Bop, and it was great Jazz and Blues music.

     There were four stages similar to the one pictured above, and they were all located in similar large plazas (piazza in Italian). The music was very good, and we even heard covers of Otis Redding, Bob Marley, and other similar bands. It was interesting to see the Swiss enjoying this music. At first, we didn't think they were enjoying it, because they were not dancing. Then, we found out that they were not dancing because of the fact that they are Swiss. They just don't dance! Very strange.
    On Saturday and Sunday, we spent the daytime at the lake and at perhaps my favorite park in the world, Pink Castle Park, pictured below.

Here we are playing frisbee, with perhaps the most beautiful backdrops that can be found. Here is a picture of the left side of the view from the edge, where the guy in the red shirt is standing:

     You really have to see this view to take it all in. It may look great as is, but the picture really doesn't even show how great the view is. This is only a small part of the large panoramic view. But, for those of you that know them, Chip and Robbie ate on top of the large mountain peak on the right. I have yet to see pictures from that view.
     I spent the rest of my free time on the lake. The water felt fantastic, but the sun felt even better. I had been a bit sick since I came out to Europe, and while in the sun, it was almost as if I could feel myself getting better. But here's a view from lakeside:

     This is a view of the other end of Lugano. I hiked the mountain in the middle a couple of times. It took about 3 hours to get to the top. Great workout.
    On Sunday, I had to make my way to Bergamo for my flight on Monday morning. The flight left at 7 a.m., and this was too early to take buses from Lugano to Bergamo. I couldn't find any reasonable hostels, so I decided I would head to Bergamo as late as possible, and just sleep in the airport. I left Lugano at 10 p.m., hopped on a bus in Milan, and arrived at Bergamo airport at 2 a.m. When I walked in I was surprised to see how many people were scattered around the airport sleeping. I found an open spot next to a wall and dozed off with my backpack as my pillow. I slept for about two hours before an airport security guard woke me up commanding something. I was expecting a few different Italian phrases, but what he said must have been some serious slang, because I didn't understand a single word of it. I just guessed he was saying I couldn't sleep there. So, I decided to walk around for bit until the gates opened. The flight left on time, and I was back in Leiden by noon. I had a great weekend, but traveling to-and-from definitely wasn't the best traveling experience I've encountered. Let's just say I probably will not fly RyanAir ever again.

Settling into Leiden

     One week has passed since I have been in Europe for grad school. I am still settling in and getting adjusted to the time difference. It's too exciting, and everyone seems to be getting along much better than we probably should... I haven't gotten into a good sleep pattern yet. I'll just say that we all like to explore the nightlife, as well.
     Our first classes have been pretty enjoyable. This came as a bit of a surprise to me, considering each class is 4 hours long. On Mondays, I have Statistics from 6-10 p.m. with a dutch professor. The class is less than two minutes from my apartment, which is very convenient. The class seems like it should be more interesting than your average statistics course. He said that we do not need to memorize most of the equations, as it is unnecessary for most in the business world. I like this kind of "open-book" policy, because people can use books and calculators in the real world. However, I can remember having difficulty understanding certain theories in advanced accounting, so we'll see how the class develops.
     My second class is Marketing on Wednesdays from 1-5 p.m. with a Canadian professor. He has lived in the Netherlands for almost 25 years, and he seems very knowledgeable about different corporations and their marketing strategies. I feel that I will really enjoy this class, as the professor is very engaging and because I seem to enjoy marketing. I have always liked psychology (why we do the things we do), and I think this may be one of the reasons I enjoy marketing. Marketing is all about how to apply to people and create needs out of wants. But, one of the coolest things about the course is its location. The Marketing class will be in the Amsterdam World Trade Center! Here is a picture:

     I have a third course, but it is all online. The course is called Cross-Cultural Management, and it stretches out until December. The course is pretty neat, as we will have online seminars and discussions without ever having to meet in person.

     These courses all seem exciting, and all the professors seem to be very enthusiastic about the subjects. But, the course will be very challenging, as each course should require between 8-15 hours of work each week. So, while I have all this excitement around me, I have to make myself sit down regularly and be prepared to spend at least 30 hours a week on work. This should be a good test for me, as I have discovered that I tend to wait until the last minute to tackle assignments. But, it shouldn't be too much of a problem, as I enjoy my classes so far and I have somewhat already realized how valuable this MBA will be.  I look forward to seeing how it all unfolds.

Arrival in Leiden

     On Saturday morning at 10 a.m., I left Memphis on a flight to Amsterdam. With the hopes of trying to sleep the entire flight, I did not sleep the night before. I'm not sure my friends would not have let me sleep if I wanted to anyways.

     I arrived in Amsterdam Schiphol airport at 6 a.m. on Sunday, and caught my train to Leiden, the first location for grad school. When I arrived, I quickly threw my bags down in my room and began to wander around. I was too excited to try and sleep. I walked around Leiden for an hour or two, and was fascinated at how laid-back the city (more like town) was. The weather is perfect, with highs around 65-70 F. It has been mostly overcast, but little rain. So far so good, but I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

     Leiden is a college town, with roughly 118,000 inhabitants. Leiden is home to the Netherlands' oldest university, Leiden U., with about 20,000 students. It is also the birthplace of the artist Rembrandt. What may be even more historical, Leiden was a location in which many Protestants fled to in order to avoid persecution. Here, many people, along with John Robinson, met regularly in a church before setting sail for America aboard the Mayflower. Pretty historical, right? I'm surprised I had never heard of Leiden.

     The city is conveniently located between The Hague (10 minutes) and Amsterdam (35 minutes). In fact, one of my courses, Marketing, will be in the Amsterdam World Trade Center. Being near the coast, Leiden is full of canals, arguably just as beautiful as Venice. There are also lovely old-style dutch windmills all over the Netherlands, and Leiden has two of its own.

     My program consists of 14 members of the Global MBA cohort. Everyone seems very friendly and well-educated. There are 7 guys and 7 girls, ranging from ages 21 to 30. We all seem to have a passion for traveling, and everyone has specific places they are trying to see. We will have class on Mondays (6-10 p.m.) and Wednesdays (1-5 p.m.). Outside of class, the teachers are expecting us to do quite a bit of reading and writing. However, as long as we do it (fingers crossed), we should be able to work while traveling.

     My goals for the near future are to attend class, form travel plans for the next few weeks, and buy a used bicycle to ride around the Netherlands. Hopefully the next post will be a little less informative and, perhaps, contain some stories of our settling in.