Nevertheless, this is a wonderful old city built on the banks Douro River, my only complaint was that I didn't get the opportunity to explore this amazing city further.
Monday, 13 October 2014
Porto
Porto is a stunning city, maybe not beautiful like a Budapest, Prague or Paris - this is a example of an old colonial power in terminal decline hanging on tenderly to their last vestige of power and influence.
Nevertheless, this is a wonderful old city built on the banks Douro River, my only complaint was that I didn't get the opportunity to explore this amazing city further.
Nevertheless, this is a wonderful old city built on the banks Douro River, my only complaint was that I didn't get the opportunity to explore this amazing city further.
Quinta do Noval
Wandering around Porto, I find myself in Quinta do Noval, a stunning port house located on what I would regard as the main throughfare. The modern look of this facility is somewhat corcerning, I was expecting all old style tasting rooms.
My concerns are allayed, the quality of their product is above excellent, this is not a new business concern, this is an old school Porto business.
I am in the market for a 2000 vintage port, my nephew is of Portuguese descent and strangly enough, born in the year 2000. The first port I try is a 2000 and I am sold, now to have a lok at some more of their offerings.
Starting at €7.90 for a ruby or tawny port, a 1963 Quinta do Noval V. Nacional will set you back a whopping €5770.00 for a 750 ml bottle, a more subdued €2400.00 for a 1994, €2234.50 for a 97 vintage starting back in 1963 through to 2011. These vintage ports fall within the €1000 to €2000 range.
I might just get set in here for a while.
My concerns are allayed, the quality of their product is above excellent, this is not a new business concern, this is an old school Porto business.
I am in the market for a 2000 vintage port, my nephew is of Portuguese descent and strangly enough, born in the year 2000. The first port I try is a 2000 and I am sold, now to have a lok at some more of their offerings.
Starting at €7.90 for a ruby or tawny port, a 1963 Quinta do Noval V. Nacional will set you back a whopping €5770.00 for a 750 ml bottle, a more subdued €2400.00 for a 1994, €2234.50 for a 97 vintage starting back in 1963 through to 2011. These vintage ports fall within the €1000 to €2000 range.
I might just get set in here for a while.
Sunday, 12 October 2014
Six hours in Yigo
There isn't much to get excited about in Yigo, we had a layover onroute from Madrid to Porto, a stinging hangover didn't help. Neither did the fact that we needed to lug our backpacks around; there is no luggage storage facilities here, this was pretty much a city devoid of charm in my opinion.
We exhausted our limited opportunities for fun in Yigo and headed back to the train station hours early only to be met by a bunch of familiar faces from the morning train. It looks like they couldn't find much to keep themselves occupied with either.
We exhausted our limited opportunities for fun in Yigo and headed back to the train station hours early only to be met by a bunch of familiar faces from the morning train. It looks like they couldn't find much to keep themselves occupied with either.
Madrid to Vigo
It was definately a night out, I looked at my watch and it was 3 am, I had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol. I had arrived half an hour early, sitting at the table running through some instructional design notes and consuming two glasses of wine before the next diner arrived, that was professor Rolf, the course instructor.
Getting slightly lost on the way home saw me travel a greater distance and added a further 15 mintues to my commute. Wandering through the streets as the bars and nightlife spilled out onto the road was worth the extra walk.
Home at 4 am, alarm set for 6 am, it wasn't going to be a long sleep, still two hours is two hours. A fast walk down to the train station, we have 30 minutes until our train departs. The train is not listed on the departure list, quickly into information, shit, not leaving from this station - you have to be joking.
Getting slightly lost on the way home saw me travel a greater distance and added a further 15 mintues to my commute. Wandering through the streets as the bars and nightlife spilled out onto the road was worth the extra walk.
Home at 4 am, alarm set for 6 am, it wasn't going to be a long sleep, still two hours is two hours. A fast walk down to the train station, we have 30 minutes until our train departs. The train is not listed on the departure list, quickly into information, shit, not leaving from this station - you have to be joking.
Plaza Sol
Just down from our pension is Plaza de Sol, an interesting combinaion of open space and lanes sheltered by shade cloth. The plaza is well patronised during the day and really comes alive in the evening, there is plenty to do and see around here.
Wednesday, 8 October 2014
Dinner in Madrid with classmates
As fate would would have it, I would be I Spain when a post course dinner and get together is announced for Critical Perspectives on Management; the first foray into the wonderful world of Cousera for IE Business School, the Madrid based private higher education provider.
For an online class with thousands of students spread across the globe, the prospect of only eight people attending seems somewhat anti-climatic, it isn't, it makes the dinner more intimate. This has been tremendous advertising for IE Business School, I was interested to speak to filming director Phil who would also be attending, we will see from his perspective how the class ran and his views on the final product. I am extremely interested to see how this has translated into enquiries and ultimately enrolments into this prestigious business school.
Not only does the IE Business School regularly rate highly with the international face-to-face fulltime MBA; the blended delivery executive MBA and global MBA requiring substancial online components and attendance in cities of Madrid, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Boston/New York and Providence. The Coursera class is an actual class run in their MBA program, we took the full Critical Perspectives on Management class in its entirely, just as it would be done as a fulltime face-to-face student attending IE Business School.
According to Rolf, if students do not understand or grasp a concept in his class, he tells them to go and review the Cousera video. Also interesting was the fact that the highest score was 78%, about 7200 took the final exam with about 5500 people passing. Rolf said that he has incorporated elements of the online class into the fulltime examination making the fulltime examination more difficult.
For my part, I only sought out the class for my close friend and partner; only joining her at the last moment to provide feedback and consultation building on the foundations of her mini-MBA she undertook a couple of years back. I quickly found this online offering to be very interesting, informative and challenging - I was hooked. Unfortunately, she was unable to be in Madrid at this time due to work commitments.
Thanks to Mecky, I took the time to complete the unit, I was busy with my graded university course finding it difficult to find time to watch the online lectures, undertake the required readings, quizzes and final exam. Throughout, we were busy discussing the course content, principles, helping each other out and generally supporting our endeavors to learn the material. The course run by Rolf was so much more interesting than my change management class, more effort was put into that than actual university class.
For an online class with thousands of students spread across the globe, the prospect of only eight people attending seems somewhat anti-climatic, it isn't, it makes the dinner more intimate. This has been tremendous advertising for IE Business School, I was interested to speak to filming director Phil who would also be attending, we will see from his perspective how the class ran and his views on the final product. I am extremely interested to see how this has translated into enquiries and ultimately enrolments into this prestigious business school.
Not only does the IE Business School regularly rate highly with the international face-to-face fulltime MBA; the blended delivery executive MBA and global MBA requiring substancial online components and attendance in cities of Madrid, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Boston/New York and Providence. The Coursera class is an actual class run in their MBA program, we took the full Critical Perspectives on Management class in its entirely, just as it would be done as a fulltime face-to-face student attending IE Business School.
According to Rolf, if students do not understand or grasp a concept in his class, he tells them to go and review the Cousera video. Also interesting was the fact that the highest score was 78%, about 7200 took the final exam with about 5500 people passing. Rolf said that he has incorporated elements of the online class into the fulltime examination making the fulltime examination more difficult.
For my part, I only sought out the class for my close friend and partner; only joining her at the last moment to provide feedback and consultation building on the foundations of her mini-MBA she undertook a couple of years back. I quickly found this online offering to be very interesting, informative and challenging - I was hooked. Unfortunately, she was unable to be in Madrid at this time due to work commitments.
Thanks to Mecky, I took the time to complete the unit, I was busy with my graded university course finding it difficult to find time to watch the online lectures, undertake the required readings, quizzes and final exam. Throughout, we were busy discussing the course content, principles, helping each other out and generally supporting our endeavors to learn the material. The course run by Rolf was so much more interesting than my change management class, more effort was put into that than actual university class.
Tuesday, 7 October 2014
IE Business School
Arriving in Madrid by train from Seville, our accommodation was immediately sourced and it was straight off to IE Business School up on Maria de Molina, a bit of a hike on a hot summer afternoon. I was more than happy to burn a few calories and generate some genuine sweat to actually walk the corridors of this leading business school since I had undertaken only online courses through this prestigious educational institution.
Upon arriving, I headed into the administration area to immediately book an interview with a career adviser. I spoke with a full time adviser, moving to Madrid for 18 months isn't an option for me so I was quickly introduced to the part time team.
I found to my dismay, IE Business School wasn't willing to recognise previous studies at the post graduate level. If I want to do their course, then I do their course in full without any credits, this was disappointing as I have been negotiating with a number of university and private business schools for advanced standing credits. Apart from saving time and effort, you save huge sums of money - I want to save time, effort and money.
The mode of delivery for part time international MBA students required 2 weeks full time attendance at the Madrid facility followed by an intensive 15 month course delivered via the Blackboard learning management system utilising Adobe Connect for weekly class conferences. At €55,000 this is going to be a big ask whilst maintaining full time employment, prepare to put your life on hold for that period.
As MBA curriculum is roughly similar, differentiation between institutions is difficult to identify with only reputations and alumni separating various business schools. I have learnt that high performers tend to be attracted to institutions with the best reputations regardless of cost. As I am a price sensitive consumer, in a highly mobile marketplace, I no longer have to solely apply to my local university, the tyranny of distance is no longer a deciding factor. I was also disappointed to learn that IE Business School does not really have a recruitment service organising graduate interviews with potential international employers, for that type of money spent, you want to be pretty certain you have access to top notch employers.
All in all, it was a highly productive afternoon.
I found to my dismay, IE Business School wasn't willing to recognise previous studies at the post graduate level. If I want to do their course, then I do their course in full without any credits, this was disappointing as I have been negotiating with a number of university and private business schools for advanced standing credits. Apart from saving time and effort, you save huge sums of money - I want to save time, effort and money.
The mode of delivery for part time international MBA students required 2 weeks full time attendance at the Madrid facility followed by an intensive 15 month course delivered via the Blackboard learning management system utilising Adobe Connect for weekly class conferences. At €55,000 this is going to be a big ask whilst maintaining full time employment, prepare to put your life on hold for that period.
As MBA curriculum is roughly similar, differentiation between institutions is difficult to identify with only reputations and alumni separating various business schools. I have learnt that high performers tend to be attracted to institutions with the best reputations regardless of cost. As I am a price sensitive consumer, in a highly mobile marketplace, I no longer have to solely apply to my local university, the tyranny of distance is no longer a deciding factor. I was also disappointed to learn that IE Business School does not really have a recruitment service organising graduate interviews with potential international employers, for that type of money spent, you want to be pretty certain you have access to top notch employers.
All in all, it was a highly productive afternoon.
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