Hi folks-
I'm blogging on a weekly basis for FT.com. This is very exciting news for me because we're expected to read the "Financial Times" for class so to get close to them in anyway is an amazing experience for me. Check out my first blog for them here.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades...
Hello my faithful readers:
It has been nearly two weeks since my last post and it's quite simply because I have been under the weather with some sort of cold/sinus infection/disease and studying with my friends for my mid-term in Financial Accounting. My cough (some say it sounds like I have tuberculosis) wasn't enough to stop me from spending this past weekend in Amsterdam where I had a fantastic time blowing off some steam, with some of my friends (and classmates). I finally have health insurance here in Belgium (all for 82 euros for the year) and officially I'm a Belgian resident (for the rest of my school year) after multiple visits to the City Hall Office here in Leuven. My bank account situation was straightened out a few weeks ago and I was even elected as one of four student representatives for my class. My future's so bright I gotta wear shades, right?
Ironically, with all of the good news coming my way, this past couple of weeks have been my toughest so far because I've had a burst of homesickness that seemed to hit me out of the blue. Some of the minor annoyances of living here in Leuven, like my noisy neighbors, have started to wear on my nerves more than usual. This weekend in Amsterdam I think I realized that my biggest frustration is coming to terms with the fact that I have to live within a student budget. That's tougher for me than I thought it would be, simply because my standard of living was a few notches above my current (humble) student lifestyle. I'm not sure this is my biggest issue, but I think it contributes to my feelings of discontent. I am also feeling like information overload is about to make my head explode. My classes are fantastic, but a lot of the topics I'm covering aren't my area of expertise (Financial Accounting anyone?) and that makes the control freak in me a little crazy. Overall, I'm having a great time here, but I think I'm fully entering my "crisis" mode of culture shock.
I have to say that I am so thankful to have met some of what I believe will be lifelong friends here in Belgium. Everyone has a different perspective, based on their life experiences and backgrounds. It's these friendships that will get me through the rough patches... they make me realize that I need to focus on enjoying life and living each moment to the fullest. I should also say that my family has been incredibly supportive of me coming here and my parents have been helpful in keeping my life in order back at home in the US. All these things help me to deal with the strain I'm feeling right now. My friends (old + new) and family make me happy that I decided to come to the top 10 MBA programs in the world, according to the rankings by The Economist. I have the feeling that six months from now this culture shock "crisis" will be a faded, distant memory. After such a relaxing weekend in Amsterdam - it feels like it already is becoming one!
Mwuah,
Georgia Peach
It has been nearly two weeks since my last post and it's quite simply because I have been under the weather with some sort of cold/sinus infection/disease and studying with my friends for my mid-term in Financial Accounting. My cough (some say it sounds like I have tuberculosis) wasn't enough to stop me from spending this past weekend in Amsterdam where I had a fantastic time blowing off some steam, with some of my friends (and classmates). I finally have health insurance here in Belgium (all for 82 euros for the year) and officially I'm a Belgian resident (for the rest of my school year) after multiple visits to the City Hall Office here in Leuven. My bank account situation was straightened out a few weeks ago and I was even elected as one of four student representatives for my class. My future's so bright I gotta wear shades, right?
Ironically, with all of the good news coming my way, this past couple of weeks have been my toughest so far because I've had a burst of homesickness that seemed to hit me out of the blue. Some of the minor annoyances of living here in Leuven, like my noisy neighbors, have started to wear on my nerves more than usual. This weekend in Amsterdam I think I realized that my biggest frustration is coming to terms with the fact that I have to live within a student budget. That's tougher for me than I thought it would be, simply because my standard of living was a few notches above my current (humble) student lifestyle. I'm not sure this is my biggest issue, but I think it contributes to my feelings of discontent. I am also feeling like information overload is about to make my head explode. My classes are fantastic, but a lot of the topics I'm covering aren't my area of expertise (Financial Accounting anyone?) and that makes the control freak in me a little crazy. Overall, I'm having a great time here, but I think I'm fully entering my "crisis" mode of culture shock.
I have to say that I am so thankful to have met some of what I believe will be lifelong friends here in Belgium. Everyone has a different perspective, based on their life experiences and backgrounds. It's these friendships that will get me through the rough patches... they make me realize that I need to focus on enjoying life and living each moment to the fullest. I should also say that my family has been incredibly supportive of me coming here and my parents have been helpful in keeping my life in order back at home in the US. All these things help me to deal with the strain I'm feeling right now. My friends (old + new) and family make me happy that I decided to come to the top 10 MBA programs in the world, according to the rankings by The Economist. I have the feeling that six months from now this culture shock "crisis" will be a faded, distant memory. After such a relaxing weekend in Amsterdam - it feels like it already is becoming one!
Mwuah,
Georgia Peach
Monday, October 5, 2009
Just another weekend in Belgium
Hello my faithful readers:
It's Monday morning and I have the morning free of class! I love having mornings free after the weekends; it makes me feel like we have a long weekend (especially if we get the afternoon off on the preceding Friday which was the case for me). This weekend I did some traveling with my classmates. We visited Antwerp for a short day-trip, then headed to Brussels for "Nuit Blanche" which translates into "White Night" or "Sleepless Night" in french. This is a cultural festival that intends to get people at night to enjoy the cultural aspects of the city.
Saturday was such a busy and full day for me because I started my day by leaving Leuven on the 11:05 AM train to Antwerp with two of my classmates. We were so excited to get to Antwerp that we got off one station to early and ended up at the Antwerp-Berchem train station (not in the center of the city). We were meeting up with a couple of classmates at Antwerp-Central station so once we realized our mistake we hopped on another train for the short trip to the right station.
I decided upon getting off the train and seeing the beauty of Antwerp's train station that I wanted to move there. Antwerp has a more sophisticated, urbane energy when compared to Leuven, the town where I currently live. It's the fashion center of Belgium and home to the Antwerp 6, fashion designers who studied at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts (in Antwerp) in the early 1980's. We spent the day walking around the city window shopping, taking pics and sampling some of the local food. We had as our gracious guide, one of our classmates whom I have a lot of respect for because she commutes in daily from Antwerp for classes (approximately 1+ hours each way). She met us at the train station and remained us for most of our time in Antwerp!
After our relaxing girls day out in Antwerp we were ready for some fun in Brussels. We had arrived and missed one of the trains to Brussels by just a minute. We had to wait another 20 minutes for the next train, but the station is so beautiful that we didn't mind waiting at all. I'll share the rest of my story later this week.
On another note --I have some exciting news to share! I will be blogging on behalf of my school for the Financial Times MBA blog starting later this month. Once the details are finalized and I have the link on this blog. I'm very excited because this is an amazing opportunity for me. I'd also like to say a special thank you to the classmates who helped me out by being a part of the mini photo shoot for the blog. Without such wonderful classmates I wouldn't have anything to talk about.
Thanks for reading today. I have a few new classes starting this week and a couple of papers to write so it's time for me to get back to work!
Mwuah,
Georgia Peach
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