Things are getting better

An A/B for accounting and a B in Economics! There is a chance that I might pass this MBA after all!
I would write more but I am going out for a celebratory / commiseratory drink with my classmates. And tomorrow I am off to Marche for a 5 day break at home.
To garden, to cook, to relax, and to study for the finance resits of course!

E is for Resit

Oh Dear.
I have just received my first exam result.
And I failed.
Not a nice feeling.
There do seem to be a swathe of us that have failed though, so we are all headed for a resit.
The exam was Statistics and Applied Mathematics, the time value of money.
So don't be asking me to invest any cash for you!
The good news is that there is a nice group of people who are all in the same boat as me. So we will have some group study sessions and try to get through it the second time around.
And my friend Luca, who wants to know more about strategy, is going to trade me some finance lessons for some strategy ones. I hope I can help him as much as I am sure he is going to help me!

Beethoven and Ballet on a Budget

When I was telling friends at home that I was moving to Italy, many of them mentioned the culture that’s so easily accessible in Europe. Other than admiring the architecture here, and the natural beauty in Slovenia, my cultural consumption has been fairly minimal so far. I don’t count the Italian TV as a real cultural experience!
All this has changed this weekend, as I have lined up a double bubble of cultural spectacles.
Today I am going to see the Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo – the male ballet troupe – the members of which the guide points out wear shoes sized 42 and tutus size 50. They are performing scenes from Swan Lake amongst other things, and it should be a good show.
The good news is that, even though the tickets are almost sold out, I have been able to profit from the Abbonemente delle Stelle that I bought a few weeks ago from my school – without really knowing what it was if I am honest! This is – I have now found out - a pass for Euros 48 than entitles me to 12 stars that can be exchanged throughout the year for tickets to shows at the il Rossetti theatre. So the tickets for tonight are 2 stars – or the equivalent of 8 Euros, compared to 35 Euros at the regular price.
Last night, after a heavy day inside, cleaning, washing, ironing, cooking and studying strategy, I was desperate for some fresh air. So I pulled on a track suit and went for a walk. Heading into the Piazza della Borsa, I saw a sign that advertised a Beethoven concert in the Guiseppe Verdi theatre with last minute tickets available for 17 Euros.
A few weeks ago Mum and Dad sent me an article from the Times that said that Beethoven improves studying ability. So I decided to trade in the reading of the next chapter of my strategy book in favour of longterm studying gains and joined the queue and bought a ticket.
It was a fantastic concert, and the enthusiasm of the orchestra was matched only by that of the conductor who was jumping so high in the air I thought he was either going to fall off his platform, or lose his skull cap!
I stood out a mile in the theatre, being one of only a handful of theatergoers under the age of 80 – and certainly the only one not in stilettos and jewels galore. But it was a great concert and I will be on the lookout for other such bargains in the future.

Haiiiiieieeeeeeeyaahhhhhhh!

(Kick, Left, Right, Guard up, Pause, Turn and Kick)
Jump a bit and do it again….

OK, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. It was, after all, only my first lesson of kickboxing. But there was jumping and kicking involved!

I was itching to get my mitts (bandaged with my friend Giulia’s spare set of these essential hand protectors) on a bag or something that I could actually punch, but instead I was with the beginners - we were close to shadow boxing and touching with our legs. I was paired up with a very tall girl called Paola – also very thin – so I was a little wary of overdoing the ‘touches’!

Giulia meanwhile was sparring happily with a guy at the other end of the gym. Now that I have seen how well she kicks, she might be deployed for any troublesome moments in our group projects!

The Italian lesson continued during the lesson. I forget the words for ‘drop and give me 10 push ups’ but I am sure it won’t take me long to remember – I plan to go again.

Maybe boxing gloves and shin guards will be on my Christmas list!

Dry bread

Italian meals start with dry bread. This is never (repeat, NEVER) eaten dunked in olive oil – or even worse – olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I remember one day in Senigallia (famous for its golden sands – the velvet beach) when a waiter in the City Hotel told me with horror that it was considered very kitsch to eat bread with oil and vinegar.
No, bread is eaten dry and at the beginning of the meal..
Dry bread can be as deathly dull as it sounds. But here in Trieste the bread is much better than that in Marche. For a start, it has salt in it so it tastes of something. And is softer. Much of the bread is still white, but it is also possible to get a type of brown bread with a yummy caraway flavour.
The good thing about the bread being served dry however is that it is almost a carte blanche (carta bianca?) to dunk in whatever yummy sauce is languishing on the plate.
Monday night the sauce was butter and sage.
And it actually made cold olive oil and a drop of vinegar seem a bit kitsch!

Intensive Italian

Italian lessons have started for those of us that need / want them. Valentina our teacher seems terrific - very clear and smiley too! We have an intensive course to start with - one and a half hours a day for 2 weeks. And after that a couple of lessons a week. We should be fluent by the end I hope!
It is a good chance for me to recap the basics of the language, and also kind of refreshing to be in a class where I can get most of the answers right.
At this pace I hope that I can learn enough to stay and work if I want to when this is all over.
Or at least chat more when I am out and about!

Saturday in Slovenia

A "family" outing today to Slovenia. We finally got going at about 1130 from school and started our trip in Izola with a coffee break - all the non-Italians happily adapting to local practices! Then we moved onto Piran, a town on the coast, established by Venetians. It's a lovely place, very colourful and the sea is beautifully clean. A few brave souls were swimming but it was way too cold for that! Slovenians must be built of stronger stuff than expat brats from Hong Kong!
We stopped for a lovely long lunch on the waterfront, sampling some of the local seafood - and the local wine too - then a wander along the waterfront to a viewpoint and back before piling back in the cars to Ljubljana.
Logistics got a bit complicated after that and we scattered to the winds for a while. But we did get back together at Bacchus Bar - the location for Slovenia's bar reality show - currently filming - which is, as a result, full to bursting. The bouncers are apparantly notorious for not letting peopple in, but we all made the grade.
The numbers dwindled as the night went on, but a hard core group of 7 of us made it to Global - the most famous disco in Ljubljana. The music was hilarious - I honestly don't think I have ever danced to Ghostbusters before!! - but we had a ball and danced til 5 when they kicked us out.
One thing I noticed about the nightlife in Ljubljana is that it is very international. I met 2 large groups of drunken Englishmen (the Sleazyjet phenomenon); 2 Australians, some Slovenians and a guy from Udine who is a friend of Luca and Massimo on my course that I had met previously in the Piazza Unita in Trieste! It was a terrific night, and just what the doctor ordered after the previous week.

Che bella giornata!

Sunday we woke to brilliant sunshine. The postponed trip from the day before to the Postjama Jama was once again postponed as we needed to be outside to make the most of the glorious weather. Its a good job that the sun was shining because there were a few jaded people after the night before.
At 11 our flotilla of cars left Ljubljana and headed for Bled. At Easter, when I was there with Mum and Dad i was totally underwhelmed - partly due to the busloads of German pensioners that were swamping the place.
This time there were fewer people, and with the leaves turning red and gold, and the last of the summer sunshine the lake looked stupendous.

We jumped into row boats and paddled out to the island in the lake where there is a church that has a bell that you can ring 3 times for luck. I thought that it might be more lucky for me to sit outside and drink a bitter lemon in the sunshine. So that's what I did.
We rowed back with Hakan at the helm taking a slightly indirect route to the shore. The old couple in charge of the boats were in hysterics as we tried to navigate in and park the boat!
It was a slow day, on true Sunday pace. Lunch was another lengthy affair and an education - again from Chris from Kansas, who has lived in Trieste for a long time and is my principle tour advisor for the region - with my first try of Ljubljanska - basically pork cordon bleu - YUM!
There was food left over, giving me another opportunity to learn. This time that there are no doggy bags in Slovenia. I asked why not and Vlasta told me it was because there are dogs instead!

What a week!

Its been another busy week. The 3 exams on Wednesday - well - at least they are over with now! Applied maths and statistics was pretty horrendous, and swiftly followed by economics in which I became verbose through lack of any concrete ideas! Accounting peversely was the easiest of the 3 as it was really about the application of ratios and not having to learn things by rote. It seems as though everyone has different responses, but as the response seems to be 'it depends' for many questions then maybe thats no bad thing.
The pic shows Chris and Giulia from my working group at Massimo's house after the exams - smiles all round!
It is turning cold very quickly now. And officially the heating cannot be turned on prior to November 1st. This is a law that I have officially not heard and I am toasty at home in via torrebianca.
This weekend, to recover from the exams, we are going to Slovenia. This will be our first weekend outing en masse - expect pictures on Monday!

Italian TV

Any visitor or new resident of Italy talks about the abysmal state of the TV here. I realized this on a very early trip to Italy, before I bought my house, when Mum and I spent a week watching “Passaparola” over dinner at our agriturismo.
I might watch more of the TV than most, as I am resisting SKY so that I can continue to improve my Italian.
This means indulging in the delights of the Italian box.
Apparently things were a lot worse before Berlusconi and his Mediaset revolution.
This seems a little hard to believe.
The main staple of prime time telly is the game show.
This consists of one host.
Typically male, bespectacled and orange from fake tan.
One contestant.
Typically female, curvy and orange from fake tan. We see a lot of her teeth and other assets through the many close-ups.
Or it is someone older. Of whom we see a lot less.
Then there are the “assistants”.
These can be male (very orange from fake tan – practically full-on Jaffa) and with glow in the dark white teeth, very buff.
But more often they are female.
And so orange that the clementines in my fruit bowl get jealous.
And wearing bikinis.
Or something equally skimpy.
These assistants have absolutely no plot motivation at all in the scheme of things. They are like the gratuitous chest shot in a duff B-Movie from the States.
At a specified break in programming, a naff pop song comes on such as “Keep it Funky:.
Cue the girls.
On they come
Wiggle Wiggle
(Many close ups)
Off they go
Kill the music
On with the show.
So, thank you, Berlusconi. You may not be helping my Italian much, but you give me a great excuse to hit the books.

There are worse places to study economics

This weekend has been full on studying. With the exams on Wednesday, the whole group has been hitting the books hard.
I have indulged my preference for economics by studying that most of the weekend, with the occasional foray into the Time Value of Money (an excuse to play with my new Financial Calculator) and accounting ratios.
On Saturday afternoon Walter texted me to see if I wanted to meet him to study near to the water in Barcola as the sun was shining. It didn’t take me long to say yes!
Barcola is the closest that Trieste comes to the beach. It’s essentially a boardwalk next to the Adriatic, which in the summer is jam-packed with towels and sunbathing Triestines.
At this time of year however, there is me and Walter with our towels and many books, one half naked girl catching the last of the sun in only her bikini bottoms (braver than me on so many levels!), and many joggers, families, friends and grannies out for a stroll.
We contended with the wind on Saturday – which was gusting strongly – but I hear it was only a 3/10 on the Bora stakes – I am getting more and more worried about this wind! – but on Sunday afternoon on our return visit, the wind had calmed down, and we were able to zip through most of the economics problems. We did have to retire to a bar (read coffee shop) to finish the last 2 chapters when the cold got too much for me.

The next week at MIB

The pressure is definitely building here.
We have spent the last 2 days studying in groups until the evening - trying to get to grips with balance sheets and their analysis, statistical variations and the time value of money. (This latter proved difficult to do as I had managed to turn off the equals sign on my new financial calculator and so could not use it for anything. I have since poured over the book and we are now back in business, but it made for a stressful morning yesterday!)
Next week there are full day lectures on Strategy (a new topic for us and FINALLY one that I am already familiar with. Porter of 5 Forces fame feels like an old friend compared to some of the stuff we have been doing!) on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday night we have a first meeting with our new Italian teacher, to assess the level of the class. Wednesday there are the 3 exams, Statistics and Mathematics first, Economics between coffee and lunch and finishing with accounting after lunch. Wednesday night we have a football game then are out on the town celebrating the end of the exams.
Thursday we have another new subject - International Analysis and Politics - supposedly the light relief in the calendar over the next few months. I have a lunch appointment with a girl from another course who is doing a project connected with Hong Kong and needs to know about the logistics. Then I have a meeting with the personal development team in the afternoon and volleyball in the evening.
Friday we are back in the wonderful world of statistics and applied mathematics.
When we don't have classes, we are all studying - either individually or in groups - and then going home to study some more. Some of my colleagues are hitting the books until gone 2am, but not me - maybe I am getting old but I feel like I need sleep more than that. My economics lecturer says this is a cost benefit situation (like everything else.) At which point, I should really get back to the books.
It's going to be a long weekend, and one, I suspect, punctuated by text messages of varying levels of panic from my compatriots here.
And from me to them.

My Favourite Time of Day

Trieste is a lot of fun in the evening when there are many restaurants and bars to go to, and lots of people around. But my favourite time of the day is when I go for a run in the early morning when I have the place almost to myself.
I leave the flat at around 630, and walk down to the waterfront (about 2 blocks.) These days with winter approaching, its still dark at that time.
I start running from the moment I get to the sea wall.
There are few people around at that time of the morning, but those that are are all characters!
I normally pass 2 or 3 opportunistic fishermen on one of the moorings near the Piazza Unita. I have no idea what they are fishing for as they never seem to catch anything and I haven't seen any containers for fish. But I think my lack of understanding is only fair, as they clearly have no idea what I am doing either from the looks I get with the Buongiornos! The Piazza looks amazing at this time of day. Completely empty except for the pigeons and the sea gulls, and with all the light still blazing as the sun slowly rises and the sky gradually lightens behind the main buildings in the square.
The next person I pass, near to the converted fish market that is currently housing the Andy Warhol exhibition is the Cat Lady. Almost every Italian city seems to have vast numbers of wild cats and Trieste is no exception. And where there are cats there tends to be at least one cat lady who feeds them all with scraps from a bag.
On the left I then pass some of the more functional areas of Trieste. Occasionally I see crew from the boats heading into or out of one of the 1 star hostels 'round the back of the square.
On the right there is the sea, with only the occasional ship on the horizon. It always looks perfectly flat at this time of day, and sometimes you can see the fish in the water.
At the AquaMarina - the last point on the outbound leg of the run I occasionally see an old man walking. He always encourages me to carry on running, which is probably a good thing at this point - although was a little frustrating when I had pulled a muscle and couldn't run!
The return journey often includes other people - a father and son from the army wearing their uniforms, and a few dog walkers. Then there are the 2 caribinieri who stand outside the building next to the Grand Canal, the Chinese cheap-shop owners unpacking boxes of tatt from China, and the small huddle of business men who linger outside the next door building to me, smoking cigarettes before they have to start their day in the office.
I return home at 730 - just in time to power up the coffee machine and get going to MIB.
I still hate it every time the alarm goes off, but the early mornings are a magical time, and make a day of statistics almost bearable.

Book Early For Christmas

My Christmas holiday dates have just been announced!
I am off from December 21st - January 7th 2007.
And we have another 5 days off in November - the 1st - 5th.
Connie and John are already coming from HK for Christmas, but there is still room at the inn, so if you are in the neighbourhood and fancy escaping the annual turkey (I can never find it in Sarnano!) then do come and see me.

Exams approaching

The 18th (1 week today) will be a day to forget for all of us on the MBA.
We have exams. All 3 subjects studied so far on the same day.
Economics and Statistics and Applied Mathematics in the morning.
Accounting in the afternoon.
Accounting and Stats and Maths are open book. Not a lot of help. You have the information (a lot) but it is the application of the information that matters.
Economics is closed book.
The studying has picked up a pace.
The going out has done the opposite.
But I am managing to keep up with the sport. I still run in the mornings when I can, and tomorrow night we are hitting the local Slovenian volleyball courts for a run around.
After the exams things should improve again on the social front. We are going on a class mini break to Slovenia on the weekend of the 21st of October. We are travellling around a bit and staying overnight in Ljubljana in a youth hostel that used to be a prison. We will then head back on the Sunday to Trieste. The attached photo is from my last visit to Ljubljana - at Easter. This time though, we will have the benefit of local knowledge so will see the sights only Slovenes otherwise see!

Messenger

I have finally capitulated and subscribed to MSN Messenger.
This has revolutionalised my student life - and introduced me to a whole new form of communication I knew nothing about previously. It's fantastic to be able to talk to people - and has helped me to check information in lectures with people who actually understand the data crunching on the other side of the room.
And to plan social activities and shopping trips.
I have learnt pretty quickly though that you need to turn it to busy when you are otherwise occupied. Otherwise just as you are getting to the sticky point, grappling with the finer details of the marginal principle and coefficient correlation, someone can send you a message.
It is also a pretty clear indicator of how lectures are progressing. If the lecturer is losing us, MSN is the biggest signal. The names of my classmates pop up on the screen one after another. "Massimilliano has just signed in." "Hakan has just signed in." "Angie...." you get the picture.

Birthday Celebrations

I had a fabulous birthday on Sunday. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the Barcolana was a lot of fun. Lucy made me breakfast and we then went out for coffee by the canal. It was fabulously sunny and afer a while we wandered down to the waterfront just in time to see the winning boat, sponsored by Alfa Romeo, coming in. We toasted their success with a glass of local prosecco, then Lucy had to head off back to the UK. I spent the afternoon wandering around the stalls that had been put up all along the waterfront for the Barcolana.
In the evening some of my colleagues from the course came into the town to meet me for a little while, then Kristina, Lovro and Vlasta (the Slovenian contingent!) and Massimo - from Udine, who now lives in via Milano just around the corner from me, came back for some cake that Lucy had provided from the UK - good old M&S!
All in all it was a lovely day - topped off by a huge bunch of flowers from my classmates on Monday morning!

Going Abroad for Lunch

On Saturday, Lucy and I went with Vlasta for lunch, To Slovenia! It was a cold day, but we ate at a lovely restaurant called Ruj (pronounced roo-ie) which is a type of plant that turns red in the autumn. You can just about see it in the back of this picture of Lucy and I at lunch. We are drinking a sparkling red wine made of the Terano grape that is prevalant in the Karst region of Slovenia. It is yummy - but a bit heavy for lunch time and we both struggled to stay awake as Vlasta drove us onto Stanjel - a UNESCO protected village, and Lipica - where we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the horses before they disappeared for their tea!

Beautiful Barcolana

Its even colder here now - below 20 in the days I think - and we are starting to get out the winter woolies. There is also a medium to strong Bora predicted for Sunday, but the sun is shining and the visibility is 'flawless' according to the Meteo office. (I hear that this makes a change from the weather in Hong Kong, which is horribly polluted by all accounts at the moment.)
Lucy, my sister is here, and we will go to see the big yacht race in the harbour on Sunday morning before she goes back to London. http://www.barcolana.it/inglese/index.asp will provide more information.
It is also the birthday of Ciccio (Francesco) one of the guys in the class. He has organised a big party on Saturday - it is the tradition here which does not bode well for Sunday when its my birthday!
I will post some pics of the boats at Barcolana on Monday.
Happy Mid Autumn Lantern Festival to all Hong Kongers!

Secondary School Stress

We were laughing last night about how the stresses in our lives have now changed. From being concerned about client demands, cash flow, new business, and international issues, the major concerns now are making it to class on time, whether or not we have finished our homework, and whether we are prepared for the exams ahead. It sometimes feels a little regressive - like we are back at secondary school!
That said, some of the topics are really interesting.
I have uncovered a secret about myself already - a well-hidden love of economics! I guess this isn't so strange as I have really enjoyed writing press releases and other materials for The Economist over the last year, but I never knew that I would enjoy the subject so much. Luca has a theory that it is pretty close to marketing, and that may be why I enjoy it. I think he might be onto something - compared to the other subjects we are studying right now, there are a lot less numbers in Economics. The lecturer is also very dynamic, and great at relating things back to the real world (even if there is a slightly-too-frequent detour to the oil prices every lesson).
I am not sure if this interest will extend beyond the exams (in about 2 weeks time) but at the moment, Economics lectures (about 8 hours a week) are a real pleasure.
Something that cannot be said for accounting.

Party postmortem

I have realised that I didn't write any thing about the party (mainly because John has reminded me that I didn't!)
It was a great night - and the cleaning up was not too terrible afterwards, Vlasta helped a great deal as she was crashing on my sofa for the night so she could come to the party too, Which is great, because she joined in the dancing too!
I had done extensive market research in the bars in Trieste to figure out which snacks to buy. The success of the research was measured by the amount that was left at the end of the night - just a few tired looking olives
Almost all of the class came and we had to move on at 11 when the party on the terrace was getting a little rowdy! This might have been a result of either a) the themed Baileys photos that Lovro was taking, b) the rum and cokes courtesy of Luca, Alessandro and Massimmiliano who brought the rum, or c) the critical mass of people piling onto the balcony.
We went out in town afterwards, to a bar near the Piazza Borsa which is becoming a regular haunt. Friday was a long day.

Turning chilly

The temperature seems to have dropped today, quite dramatically. This unfortunately has happened on the day that Mum and Dad are here in Trieste (currently they are in the mountains near Austria), and on the day that my gas at home has inexplicably stopped working. I have also caught my first cold of the winter (and hopefully one of the last) and didn't much relish the cold shower this morning. I will have to get onto Acegas and try to sort this out. Maybe there is a simple explanation. I wonder if I have missed a note from the company.
This brings me onto the situation with the post. There are a lovely bank of post boxes on the wall in the lobby of the building. And the postman, as in Hong Kong, is expected to deliver the post to each apartment's box. The only problem is that the door to the building is solid. And il postino doesn't have a key. So post sometimes takes 7 working days after reaching the building to be delivered to me. The poor guy has to wait for the day when there is someone in to open the door for him. So post can take anything from 4 days to 3 weeks to reach me.
http://www.turismo.fvg.it is a link to the local tourist authority so that you can see what the region has to offer, other than Sprits and accounting!

All present and correct

Great news - the boxes all arrived and after a weekend of a huge amount of work, the apartment is looking completely different! It is great to have my things from Hong Kong around - especially my shoes which I have missed madly! It is terrific to now have furniture in Marche - the place has been revolutionised by the arrival of such items as wardrobes, and side tables, and much improved by the influx of knick knacks and art from Asia. My next door neighbours all came round to have a look and although the place is far from finished (there is a huge amount of unpacking to do!) proclaimed it bellissimo! It will be great to be able to spend some time there at Christmas and enjoy the place a bit!
And if anyone is interested, I am now the owner of 2 toasters, 3 kettles and 3 hoovers, now all at different places in Italy. Expect a garage sale at some point!