Ho Ho Ho

Well, it has been a pretty crazy week. Milano shut down and we all went to the mountains for our first SKI Club event. We decided to go to Bormio for three days of snowboarding and goodtimes, and boy was it a good choice! The snow quality was fantastic and the town was very beautiful! I think I had more fun there then I have had in a long time. I even dressed up as Santa for the first day of skiing!

So after all the craziness of the weekend, we tried to take a train home, but the train came 2 hours later than we thought, so we pulled up a seat at the bar and had a couple beers while we waited, which is not a bad thing :)

Then last night was my birthday. I didn't really think I would do too much for turning 25, but then I decided I might as well go for it and prove that I still have it! It turned out to be a really fun night, but I am feeling the pain now.

Well guys there are 4 more exams, 2 group projects, 12 days and a 20 hour flight keeping me from the Bay, so I better get back to it!

Ciao

Let the skiing begin, NOW!

Well, two tests are done and only four more to go. The next rounds of exams are in about 3 weeks from now. I have marketing, economics, quant, and finance tests to complete. I am not really worried about any of them besides economics. I get the macro stuff pretty well, but I never could get the hang of micro econ. Wish me luck.

The snow in Milano has been pretty awesome. I remember when I was a kid and I would watch movies where kids had to walk to school in the snow. I don't know why, but I always wished that I could too. I wished that I lived in a snowy environment. Well, today I completed a life long goal and walked to school in 30 degree weather in the SNOW!!! Now the picture to the left is not from my walk, but its cool. The snow in my walk barely stuck to the ground and was a little bit wet, but it was great! I have been a little bit lazy in posting photos, but I promise I will get back into it next post.

This weekend I go to Bormio for three nights of fun and 3 days of skiing! It will be my first time boarding since that one client I used to have had an IPO and ruined ski season for me. I'm not bitter. PS, here is the town I will be staying in when I go skiing. Ok guys, ciao. Ci vediamo.

Baby it's cold out side!

So I think the Holidays are officially upon us here in Milano! While we didn't get a chance to celebrate Thanksgiving thursday with our friends and family back in the US, us Americans here in Milan will be gathering with our new non American friends to teach them the meaning of Thanksgiving this saturday. It is really cool that there were so many people anxious to figure out what the meaning of Thanksgiving is.

Besides that event on Saturday, Milano has become extremely cold in the past couple days. This morning I woke up to snow! (pictures to come). It was pretty cool. I didn't know whether I should go out and play in it or go back to bed, so I went back to bed.

Anyway, things are good. Very busy, another exam on monday followed by several projects that will take a lot of time to complete. I cannot wait till dec 3. I get to go snowboarding in the alps for the first of what will be many trips this year.

Until next time.

SKI!!!

Today is the last day before my first exam... That means it will be a day filled with cramming semi-useless info into my head. Organizational behavior was one of the worst classes I have ever had. There where 4 lectures on negotiation, and those ones were much better. The problem is that org behavior is all common sense stuff. What is a team? When are teams good? And it is hard to take anything from it because every team is different and you need to be able to tailor your strategy to each team...

But anyway,I am loving life in Milano. It is great that in a 1.5 hour drive I can be in the Alps or on the Beach. In a 1.5 flight I can basically be anywhere in Europe. I am planning to work really hard during the week so I can enjoy my weekends skiing, snowshoeing, or kite skiing! I am planning a lot of these events for the ski club, so its nice that I will be able to get a lot of people involved. Well, just wanted to give you a quick update.

Till next time

CV, CV, CV!

After five weeks of struggling to stay awake in classes and having difficulties focusing on studying, I have finally transformed into my study mode. This past week I began seriously studying every night for at least two or three hours. I think this is pretty good considering all the other projects that I have going on. Which reminds me, AT Kearny is finally over for me.
My AT Kearny management consulting project group made it to the Italian finals along with three other teams. Making it there was an accomplishment in itself. I learned a lot through this consulting project and I am really happy I did. Plus, now I have something cool to add to my resume.
The AT Kearny challenge will look great on my resume. I am happy to add it on there, and in fact I was suggested to hurry up and add it by the career coach the school hired for me. The career coach is really nice. I spoke with her on Thursday and she gave me tons of suggestions to help realize my goal of working in the fine food/beverage industry. I was a little disappointed to hear that I should keep my geographical location desires flexible, but besides that I was quite happy with the session.
But back to the studying… I think overall, I have at least a decent grasp of all the topics we are covering in school, except for the class Firm and It’s Environments. I really dislike the organization and topics covered in this class. I think the class is far too broad to have any kind of logical final. Luckily we are graded on a curve!

While I am studying a lot, I am also trying to keep one night a week open for fun. Last night I got to go to the Gambero Rosso Bere Bene Low Cost 2011 wine event. I loved it. Basically Gambero Rosso is a wine and restaurant guide here in Italy, and this event was focused on Italian wine that costs under 8 Euros. We spoke to the person who wrote the guide and who had the difficult job of testing 6,000 wines in 4 months (how do I get that job??). The man was telling me that this is one of his favorite cultural wine events because these wines presented here were what real Italians drank. Italians are not looking to buy 30 or 40 euro bottles of wine to serve with dinner every night, instead they keep good tasting economically priced wine around the house to drink. I like this strategy and discovered a few new wines that I like.

Well, that’s it for now. I will update again early next week!

Zero to MBA in 1 year

First and foremost, I cannot believe that the Giants have made the World Series without me being home. Giants baseball is truly torture sometimes. I mean, the last several years we could never make it out of regular season play, and now that I am gone, they put together an amazingly lovable team and seem to be going the distance (knock on wood). I bet SF and the Bay Area are going nuts right now. Go Giants!

So it has been just about 2 months since my plane touched down in Italy. I know its cheesey, but it is amazing how fast time can fly when you are having fun/busy. In the past two months I've had tons of classes, homework, group assignments, and events, but I am enjoying myself. And as if I wasn't busy enough, I became the Vice President of the MBA Ski team. Our mission is to organize a multi day ski competition between 5 international MBA programs in St. Moritz. It is a huge task because we have to coordinate the lodging, transport, ski passes, ski rentals, gala dinners, night time festivities, and everything else that goes into such an event. And of course, since we are an Italian MBA and we are doing this in the name of our school, we have to ensure it is the most amazing trip ever! In addition to this, we have to plan several other weekend ski trips and tons of fundraisers to raise money for this awesome st. moritz trip. So far we have thought of maybe having a Thanksgiving dinner for people and charge maybe 30euros to cover the food and raise some funds for the trip.

(St. Moritz)

Now on to some other things. Group projects have been dominating my life. The main one being a consultancy challenge for AT Kearny. The project was completely voluntary, and while I don't really want to be a consultant, it was a great experience. On Wednesday we submitted our project and are now waiting for results. AT Kearny will select three teams (out of eight) to present their ideas to the partners of the office, and the winner of those three will get an all expenses paid trip to London to compete other european business schools. We'll see how that goes.

Finally, last Friday we had a go karting event and conference with Pagani Zonda (http://www.paganiautomobili.it/english.htm). It was amazing to hear him speak. He basically came from Argentina with nothing but a passion to mix high design and science. This passion, of course, brought him to the high performance Italian car industry. He worked for Lamborghini for a few years before deciding to create his own cars, which he now sells for more than $1 Million each. His speech was in Italian, but it was cool. I understood every word! The speech was confirmation that my comprehension is increasing, now I just need more time speaking. Speaking Italian is oddly enough, very difficult to do here at Bocconi because everyone is trying to perfect their english. All well. I am off to do some homework and then enjoy my three day weekend!

Ciao.

Days are long, but the year will be short...

The first week of school was kindergarden compared to these past two weeks. My blackberry is in constant use as I schedule meetings, lunches, times to do homework, exercise, apereativos, more homework, and several group projects. The schedule never stays put though. Everyday new activities are added, some cancelled, and some have hours changed. The life of an MBA student is in perpetual motion. I know the course work presented in school is very important in developing our core business strengths, but I am pretty damn confident that close to 80% of the MBA's value comes from learning to manage 10 things at once and being able to deal with the unknown.

I am not sure if it is because I am at an Italian university or because the school has carefully crafted this as a teaching lesson, but I am in the dark of most important school activities until 1 day before it is to take place. It is a problem because of all the other things we are expected to do as an MBA.

I cannot complain now because I like the challenge. This is the ultimate crash course in organization. Filtering through all the details thrown at me to find the one or two important things has almost become second nature. It is amazing how quickly you can mature in an MBA program. All of us here are in a delicate balance. We are the future business leaders, so we must maintain some professionalism, but at the same time, we are young and need to have fun. We need to network. And we need to learn to accept others as they are. It is a big job, and I will continually learn from this experience. Next time I will include some pics of events including the CEO of Vodaphone's presentation, go karting with Pagani Zonda, wine tasting, Soccer in the Italian country side, and some other less cool pics...

It’s not all fun and games (kinda sorta)

As much as I would love to believe the contrary, these past 5 weeks spent in Milan have been passed in the most leisurely way possible. I took advantage of every opportunity to spend money and waste time (sorry Dad). Want to spend a night out at the Cavalli club? Sure. Another apperativo? Count me in! A weekend excursion to Munich for the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest? Why not! Everyday I would wake up when I pleased, and as long as I made it to my single class at an extremely convenient 4:30pm, I was ok. But this week was different.
There was something in the air that I have only experienced a couple times in my life. During my first day at Santa Clara University I felt it. I felt it again during my first day as gainfully employed adult at Deloitte. And for the third time in my life I felt the excitement of something completely new and foreign, it was the first day as an official MBA candidate at SDA Bocconi. New faces filled the hallways in our home for the next year, Via Balilla 18, and I loved it. Meeting people is an incredible feeling. I think I met 200 people this week, and although our class size is 110, I am sure I did (sorry for those of you that I met “for the first time” more than once).
Classes were about what I expected. We are split into 2 groups, Blue and Yellow (shout out to the blue class!), and we are concurrently enrolled in the same 5 classes. I really enjoyed our Marketing, Quantitative Methods, and The Firm and It’s Behavior (kind of) classes. I seriously disliked our Financial Markets class and I am sure I will have equal feelings towards the Financial Reporting class. The classes that I do hate (I know hate is a strong word, but trust me on this) aren’t that bad, but I come from a financial/accounting background and that is a sector that I have absolutely no interest in going back to. I think the concepts that are being presented are fairly basic and I spent four years in my undergraduate studies learning them, but I am not saying that others are not getting anything from them.
Besides my general disdain for two of the classes, I am enjoying my time. I am already overloaded with class, homework, social events, and professional development events. This month is particularly crazy as the previous MBA class is departing for the work world and we begin to fill their shoes. This month alone I have a lecture by the CEO of Vodaphone, a tour of the Martini Factory and networking event in their office, a social event and lecture hosted by CEO and Founder of Pagani Zonda Motors (look it up, seriously cool company), a wine tasting and lecture by owner of Tenuta La Tenaglia winery, and then a private tour of a winery in a Barola based winery hosted by the owner. Besides those events I have homework and other social functions that I “must” attend. I know I am busy, but I couldn’t be happier. I can tell every event I attend and every class I sit through is preparing me for the future.
Well that has been the experience of my first week. Be sure to check back as I sit through the good classes, anguish through the bad, create millions of memories, and catapult myself into the best year of my life.

Road Trips: European Style

One of the greatest things about living in Milano is the location. Within one hour I can be on the beach, in the mountains, or basically anywhere in Europe (if I fly). So the past couple weekends I have taken advantage of that benefit and traveled. First was Gorgonzola for the gorgonzola cheese festival, then Parma for the prosciuto and parmeggiano, then I went to Munich for Oktoberfest. All three were great trips, but some were better than others.
Gorgonzola is a sleepy town about 45 minutesnorth east of Milano by train. If Gorgonzola was not invented there, I would probably never have gone. There is not much there, basically one church and a couple houses and basta. During the sagre (festival), it is supposed to liven up a bit, but as you can see in the picture there were still only a couple people. The cheese was great and I had tons of gorgonzola themed dishes like gorgonzola lasagne and risotto. Even though the town is lack-luster, it was a great experience.

Next up on the Euro road trip is Parma!! Parma is a beautiful classical

Italian town. It is the town where parmiggiano reggiano and prosciutto di parma come from. Ther

e are a couple really cool churches, but besides them, I think you only go there to eat and enjoy the atmosphere. Everyone rides around on bikes and looks like they love life. I hear they have a very high standard of living, and it is visible when you walk the streets. In Par

ma, Nick and I ate a 24 month aged parmiggian and some delicious prosciutto crudo. Man that stuff is good!

Finally on the trip was Munich. I went to Munich four years ago in a drinking binge that was Oktoberfest. We were literally there for no more than 12 hours, so I didn't really get to see the city. This time I planned better and spent 4 days there. I drove up with a fellow MBA student who is origina

lly from Munich. We drove up through the snow capped Alps of Switzerland and Austria. It was such a beautiful ride that I decided I have to go back there with my Girlfriend when she visits... Anyway, On Friday morning I received a tour of the city from my friend, and man, that is one beautiful city! Everything about is so clean, organized, and beautiful. The buildings are of a classic German architecture (or what I imagine to be classic German style). I really enjoy the culture that they have worked to maintain, for example, drindls (the dresses women wear), beer, Oktober

fest, and public gathering locations. After the tour, the remainder of my time was spent at the fest. In the fewest words possible (as not to incriminate myself) it was FANTASTIC. I had a blast.

I love living here in Milano and I cannot wait to travel more. I have a feeling I will be exploring the alps quite a bit this winter. I found out today our MBA ski cup will be held in st. Moritz and there will be about 400 MBA students from around the world taking over the town to ski and meet eachother.

Until next time!

Networking and its importance...

Networking. It's a funny thing. Everyone knows what it is. Everyone knows that it is an important thing, but I think many are confused on exactly how to obtain a network and how to use it.

Many people get an MBA for the network it opens you up to. An international MBA takes your network to the next level. I have been in Milano for about 1 month and I have already made friends from all around the world. I added people from Argentina, Israel, Columbia, Italy, Poland, Germany, the US, and Nigeria to my network.

Now people ask "Justin, how will you use these people in your network?" I would say, I already have. Just talking to them and understanding the world from their point of view has given me much more insight to the world, or international market, than I would have gotten by staying at Deloitte. I am also sure that in the future there may be business opportunities to share in.

But all in all, I think the activity of extending my network has been the most fun so far. We have done dozens of aperativos, gone to a couple clubs, and planned fun events all over Milano. So, enjoy the pictures, they represent networking in action!

Looking to the future

I just got done talking about how excited I am to start school. Well, in response to those feelings, I have been doing a lot of research on potential industries I would like to work in. So as of today, I am extremely interested in the green tech, agribusiness, and Ferrari industries.

The green tech industry is really just starting to grow up. Even just a few years ago it was a very young and immature industry. Today it is still developing itself. The term "green tech" is very fluid. Although it can be loosely defined today as environmental technology, there is still unlimited possibility for its final direction. It is amazing to see how companies have developed ways to be profitable and to care about the social responsibilities we have as inhabitants of earth at the same time. Yes, I can see me incorporating the green industry into my future career, even if I go into my second career interest, agribusiness.

Agribusiness is awesome because I love making great food. It is simple, we

need food to live and food is delicious. Making food from scratch is an incredible feeling. Lately I started brewing my own beer, and it was really good. Creating a finished product from raw natural ingredients is a very cool feeling. By making food from scratch, you know what is in your food. Its good to know what is in your food for obvious reasons, but by knowing exactly what is in your beer, for example, you can also tweak things very subtlety to create big changes in taste. There is also a bigger picture element to agribusiness as well. The population is growing. With the growth in population more and more farmland will be converted into suburban living. The industry needs to figure out a safe, sustainable, and efficient way to grow mass quantities of good natural food. This is an issue that will arise in the next few years, and it would be cool to be a part of it.

My third industry is Ferrari. I know it is not exactly and industry, but I think I would have an extraordinarily hard time refusing any offer that Ferrari would make me. Working there would be an awesome opportunity to fulfill some childhood fantasies, and who knows, they might even offer me a discount on a car. I think something like 95% off would put it in my price range.

Ok folks, until next time. Ciao.

Spelling sucks and other things of that nature.

I would like to start off this post by publicly acknowledging my lack of proper spelling. I hope you are not too offendedby it, but spelling is for suckers. But thanks for bearing through the terrible grammar and spelling to at least read a bit of what I have to say.

In other events, schoolstarts tomorrow. It's kind of funny, because I am really, really, really excited. As hard as it is to believe, I am getting very bored. When you go from working 1,000 hours a week to not having one single responsibility on your plate you go through three very distinct emotional reactions.

1) Supper Happy Stage- the first week you go through this emotional overload of happiness. You are excited that you left DT andare getting on with your life. You sleep in the first Monday of no work and wake up with ahuge smile. Words do not do this stage justice, so you can watch this clip to really get an understanding of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI

2) Lazy Stage - enough said. You overload on happiness and begin to be a bum. Your days consist of eating ice cream and laying around ingym shorts. This stage lasts about a month, it is no double rainbow (see above link) but it beats working.

3) Over retirement stage- the third and final stage is where I am. I am so over my "retirement" that I just want to get back to doing stuff. School should fill this need to do something quite nicely.

To close, here are a couple pics of the first couple times meeting the 36ers.

to loan or not to loan

Oh man, so today I had a meeting with a loan coordinator that SDA Bocconi helped to arrange. I am seriously thinking about taking out a small loan, but OMG is it a pain in the ass. First, I have to pay a 3% deposit, which is not much by itself, then every three months I have to pay about a 9euro fee, then on top of all that I have to pay interest in December. I don't really know what I expected, but man it made me nervous. Because after all this, I started thinking that I don't have a job and who knows if I will find one when I graduate. Then when I graduate, I have to change the loan into a personal loan and pick how long I want to pay it over (2 - 8 years)!! Interest and other things start piling up pretty quickly. Well, long story short, I am now extremely hesitant to get a loan. If I get it, I will live much more comfortably here, if not then I will penny pinch a bit. Either way I guess it will work out.

On better news, off to the vineria to buy a nice bottle of wine for the afternoon picnic I will be having with some fellow 36ers (mba 36th edition). Next post will probably be on the topic of my heart attack about the loan or why people think SDA Bocconi is full of snobs (like Stanford).

Ciao.

Our fish doesn't smell...

Milano in the summer is kind of like spending time in an oven. Well, it is like being in an oven with 70% humidity and a ton of mosquitos. But if you look past all the negatives like the heat and bug bites, you will find a prettylively market scene. This past weekend I discovered two open air markets near my apartment, one was filled with crap, but had a very awesome food market at the end of it.

Even though Milan isn't very close to the sea (its pretty freaking far from it), they have the freshest fish. It is pretty amazing. At the market there is a huge fish section, and unlike China town in San Francisco, it doesn't smell. Not even a little. I promise. My roomate, Andre, and I picked up two huge freaking pie

ces of salmon for 2.50 Euro. The fish was fresh and delicious! The only bad thing about the market is that it was crawling with Gypsies... literally. They sit on thefloor in the most inconvenient location and stick their hands, feet, and cups out expecting you to give them all your money. I guess they might not always expect you to give them money, because rumor is that they also love to steal things from you.

The second market I went to was an antiques market. It was mostly old junk that I am pretty sure is worthless.The old italians were selling everything from old tobacco pipes, to telephones, to paintings that looked a couple hundred years old. Every table had basically the same things, and there was no awesome food market at the end, so I think I will stay away from that for a while.

In other news, I finally got hot waterin my apartment, so thats nice. Here are some pictures of my home for the next year...

Residency, Italian style

The past couple days have been busy. I established residency, signed up for free health care, and moved into a new apartment. The city is still empty as most of us (haha, that takes time to get used to) are still on ferie (vacation). For the entire month of August Milano is a ghost town. The streets are empty, about 70% of shops are either closed entirely or have seriously reduced hours, and nothing gets done. I guess I haven’t truly acclimated to the Milanese life style though because I have completed nearly everything I set out to accomplish within the first week of arriving.

On Friday I went to the Agenzie Entrate to register for my Codisce Fisciale (CF). The CF is basically my Italian Social Security number. I need this to do just about anything a normal Italian would do like, get a phone number, rent an apartment, get a drivers license, or open a bank account. Getting the CF was much easier than getting to the office. I spoke to a few Italians to ask where the office was and they all said it was within walking distance. So I start out on the walk and after 4 miles, I reach the office. Lesson 1 about Italians, when they say something is within walking distance, do not trust them. So after getting my CF I set out to establish residency.

There are 7 different offices in Milano where you can establish residency and luckily for me, there was one close be to the Agenzie Entrate. So a short walk later I arrive at the office, but it is closed for Ferie. So the woman who was standing outside told me where another one was. I jumped on tram number 3 and made my way up to the office. I took a number and waited about 45 minutes. This place is like a DMV with 20 angry people working at a counter with 100 even more angry people waiting to be served. So after my number is called, they informed me that since I am an Italian and lived in the USA, I had to register at a different office. Oh the bureaucracy of Italy. Pure. Joy. So I finally found the office, gave my info over, and was told that police men would visit me within two months to verify my address, but basically I am now Milanese!

After that journey I decided I needed healthcare. With all that walking just to become a resident, I figured my feet were sure to fall off shortly and health insurance would be nice to have, just in case. This was easy to get. I showed my passport, residency documents, codisce fisciale, and BAM! I have health insurance. Oh the joys of Italy. It can be nice!

Well, now that this boring stuff is done, my next posts will focus on a couple of the coolest food and antiques markets that I have ever seen.

Ciao Ciao!

Sono Arrivato!

Ok, so I have arrived! The weather is hot and the city is beautiful. I found an apartment after not too much searching in the heart of Navigli. Navigli is an awesome area. There are dozens of great bars and restaurants. It is also famous for apertivi. An apertivo is kinda like happy hour. The bars and restaurants set up a buffet of delicious food. The food has ranged from watermelon to pasta to pizza, to stuffed bell peppers. So for 8 Euro you can get all the food you want and one drink. The apertivi last from 6pm - 10pm and take place every night.

In the past days I have discovered that Milano is not as terrible a place as I thought it was. After living in Roma, I have heard that Milano is terrible. The people are supposed to be rude, fat, and too busy to love life, but in my short time here, I feel the opposite. The people have been incredibly nice, great shape, and having a great time! I assume Rome's distaste is more like a Nor-Cal/So-Cal battle.

Anyway, I am glad to report that I am beginning to settle in. I like it here and I cannot wait for school to start (wow, never thought I would say that again)!

Ciao,

Justin

T minus 48 hours till take off...

There is no real news since my last post. Only so much can happen in the last week before you move to a new country. My bags are packed, I found a hotel, I have an appointment to look at more permanent apartments, and I have my flight confirmation printed out. My mind has stopped racing and I am no longer stressing about all the little things I have to do when I arrive. All those little annoyances are in the back of my mind. As far in the back as they possibly could be. What is on the forefront of my mind are all the people I will be leaving back at home.

Maintaining relationships that I have made, will be tough. Luckily Al Gore invented the internet (COME ON!) and others came along and realized that social media is an awesome tool. Facebook, skyple, and linkedin make it pretty easy to keep touch with everyone back here in the Bay Area, and I am thankful for that. It would be too easy to move to Milano and start a new life, but the friends I have made here have shaped me and encouraged me to grow and seek out new challenges, like the MBA. So, the moral of the story I guess is that moving to a new country is easier for me than I thought, but leaving my friends, family, and girlfriend behind is weighing on me a lot more than I wish it would.

T minus 48 hours, guys!

Not too much longer for some real posts!

Pizza, gelato, ancient ruins, high fashion, better food, and a new chapter in my life await me when I leave to Milano in less than 2 weeks. I will soon have some actual experiences in Milan to write about, but until then, you will be forced to read about my anxiousness (and nervousness). With a list of two dozen things to do before I leave, I have my work cut out for me. Among the list of things to do are the names of four books that I must read prior to the actual courses. I am definitely not used to reading for school. I am an accountant not a librarian! At SCU there were a couple classes that I had to read for, but really it was mostly accounting. I never read those books, just did the problems.

While I am not used to reading academic books, the one that I started yesterday is actually pretty interesting, The Myth of the Rational Market written by Justin Fox. The book will go into the creation of the Rational Market Theory and its eventual downfall. Sounds boring I know, but trust me, it is interesting.

On another note, I think I found a roommate for Milan (no apartment yet but that will come too). The potential roommate is a German guy who has spent the past few years in Ireland. I think we have quite a few things in common.

Well, that's it for now. I can't wait to actually write about some experiences that I am having. Here is a picture to keep you interested.

Life goes on...

Well, the time is drawing near and I have started to put all the puzzle pieces together. Finding an apartment is one of the harder things to do. Finding a new apartment is always challenging, and adding to the challenge there is only a 15 hour flight separating me from Milano. I'm not really sure what I am expecting when I arrive. I hope to find a place within in a week, but who knows.

Milano is going to be a huge change in my life. New friends, new surroundings, and new experiences await me. I will be living like a student again. There will be a million challenges. Establishing residency, enrolling in the National Health Care system, exams, and a marathon, but I am excited. I hope all these challenges help strengthen me as a person. I hope school will open new opportunities in my professional life, and I hope to find the work/life balance that I seek.

Life is not just changing for me though. As I look around, all of my friends are really starting to begin their "real lives." Friends are starting careers, getting married, moving away, or starting careers. It is an exciting time in our lives. I know I will always have these friends, but I also realize that things will never quite be the same. I'm not ready to say that the golden years of my life have ended, I am only 24 after all, but man, these past years sure have been incredible. If the next 6 years are anything like the past 6, I am in for a treat.

T minus 2 months

So, a lot of people have been asking me, "What are you going to do with an MBA?" It is a question that is not as easy to answer as I would like. I am entering Milano with the hope that I will specialize in Strategy and Internationalization. The school is well known for its strategy professors, so I hope I will be able to take advantage of it. I have also come to realize that working for a large firm may not be for me. I truly hope that I will find a job in strategy with a small company in the agribusiness space. Ideally I would be able to stay in Italy for it and move from Milano down towards Roma/Tuscany area.

Lately I have been pretty worried what will become of my future, but I guess I shouldn't worry so much. I have a great support group behind me and I am positive that I will thrive anywhere I go. I am getting anxious to start the next phase of my life in Italy, and with 2 months to go, I have began intensive planning around finding an apartment, learning how to establish residence, and figuring out what I need to do to hit the ground running. Man it is getting real. I also have to realize that these last two months need to be spent with my friends, family, and wonderful girlfriend, all of whom I will not be seeing until I come back in December for Christmas.

Anyway, have a good one!

The last hour

So it comes down to my last couple of hours at Deloitte. Man, it has gone by so quickly. In about 10 minutes I will send my final goodbye e-mail and prepare to leave the Company for ever. On the bright side of things, I have booked my flight to Milano and cannot wait to start that adventure!

Last week at work...

Well, it has been one hell of a run. I have had a lot of good times here at Deloitte, but it is time for me to leave to greener pastures. As most of you know, I was accepted into the 36th edition of SDA Bocconi MBA program. It is an intense program that goes from October 2o1o to October 2o11. I cannot say becoming an MBA is something I always wanted to do, but I cannot wait to start.

I have known since the first time I laid eyes on Italy that I would be living there someday. It turns out, living in Italy is going to come sooner than I, or anybody else for that manner, could have imagined! I will be moving to Milan in August and will start posting my Italy related experiences then, so until then I will be posting random little tid bits from my last summer of love in the USA.

But back to the topic at hand. OMG! I cannot believe this is my last week at Deloitte. I honestly thought this day would never come. I have had my ups and downs, but cannot wait to move on. I woke up this morning feeling a little lighter and a little more nimble than I have in the past two years. I can only guess this wonderful new feeling comes from putting the final few pieces of the puzzle into place. With only 5 more days, I still have a lot accomplish, so much in fact, that I probably should not be making a blog right now, but I thought I would get it off the ground.

5 days.till.the.fireworks!