Carmen

Yesterday we made our final presentation for our startup project. After four months of working to add value to our client company, we are enthusiastic about its prospects so had no trouble presenting it positively to our jury of VCs and entrepreneurs. They asked tough questions which made for a challenging, valuable experience.

To celebrate, one of my startup group members, Mathias (French), and I attended a performance of Bizet's Carmen last night. Perhaps we should have been working on our papers or studying for exams, but relaxing with a wonderful performance and some wine (My first in three weeks!!!) was just what the doctor ordered.

We have this morning free too, as the final startup groups make their presentations. Martin (Czech), Martin's wife (Czech), and Tomas (Slovakian), and I are seizing the opportunity to play some beach volleyball. Again, maybe we should be working but the weather is beautiful and I can't pass up the opportunity to get in touch with my Eastern European side.

I heart opera!

Tonight's attendance of La Bohème by the Opéra de Lausanne was magnificent. Aside from featuring a great Musetta, the performance itself wasn't exceptional, but it's still hard not to enjoy such a wonderful libretto and score. It reminds me why I love opera so much. It's an art that features music, singing, acting, dancing, elaborate set/costume design, and even a a little audience participation when one considers the "bravo"s that erupt after an excellent aria. It stimulates many senses simultaneously to create a powerful emotional impact.

The show itself was just half of what made tonight so great. Several other IMD students and partners were there so part of the fun was just dressing up and going out for an evening of something different. As we sipped champagne during intermission we all agreed that we had made the right event choice tonight.

It was also a cool challenge to remove English completely from the operatic experience. The singing was in Italian while the supertitles were in French. It felt good just to go from one to the other, eliminating English from the equation for a few hours.

But enough about tonight; 9.5 hours of Finance starts early tomorrow morning so I'm off for now.

Crazy Aussies

On Monday I realized that the Opera de Laussane would be presenting La Bohème this weekend and this weekend only. How could I miss such an opportunity to break free of the IMD dungeons?

I sent out a feeler email to the rest of the class to see if anyone else was interested. It came as no surprise that I received several positive responses from interested parties and, in fact, some responses from students who already had tickets. What did come as a surprise, however, was this email from Lucy, an Australian student with a petroleum engineering background:

"argh - [can't make it. However] I'm in for Carmen in May - the last time I sat down and listened to it in its entirety was at about 3am working night-shift with a bunch of crazy Norwegian riggers off the north west coast of Africa . . ."

I love it. Reason # 8,264,921 to come to IMD: rubbing shoulders with people like Lucy.

Now I can't wait for Friday's performance. Then Saturday will be cigars and Scotch/Cognac/Port with students and alumni at the 5-star Beau-Rivage Palace. This may be the closest I come all year to the post-wine-dinner environment of the Petroleum Club of Houston. What better way to relax after 9.5 hours of Finance on Saturday? Fortunately the IMD Cigar Club is a standing tradition so there will be more opportunities to partake.