Fiscal expenditure = commitment

You would probably assume by the title most likely I'm talking about my house, or maybe a needy girlfriend (I'll give you one guess which one is more expensive). Though I'm actually talking about just one of the steps I'm taking to make some huge changes in my life.

About four months ago I took the GMAT. A test that gives you a basic placement of those looking to receive an MBA. As with most tests, I did just fine. And by just fine, I mean, pretty darn good. Initially I expected to get my MBA from UW, a school that has already excepted me, though with some extremely generous support from the 'rents, I have decided to look a bit further.

I've decided to look in Europe.

So that was step #1. Next was trying to pick a school. IMD, London School of Business, IESE, INSEAD, St. Gallen, etc. Honestly I was a bit lost. I wasn't aware that the top end school (across the world) all have a specialization they aim for. Its not just "we rock at mba's", its "we're the leader at cultural aware managers", or "we're the only school to offer 2nd year courses in multiple languages". Luckily I had Walt Renfree (my mom's cousin) to help. He's a graduate of IMD, and has colleagues from just about all the rest of them.

This is when I made the first roadblock discovery. I'm unilingual. Or as some would say, American. That immediately dropped me out of IMD (average of 3-4 languages per student), and INSEAD (bilingual required for admission). Frustated? Yeah, I was a bit. The irony was Walts response, "I totally forgot about the language requirement." hmm. So dream dead?

No. Time for some fiscal expenditure. Time for a commitment.

1) Pimsleur Spanish I 1
2) Easy Spanish Phrase Book: Over 770 Basic Phrases for Everyday Use
3) One Thousand and One Most Useful Spanish Words

Yes. I'm going to (re)learn espanol. I'm tired of being that typical american, and I really was ticked off when I saw specifically holding me back from doing something.

All said and done, the damage is ~$210 bucks. The Pimsleur course is a 52 CD, 3 part set, so I still have a good $400 bucks to plop down, but lets just get me through these first set of CD's.

So the goal is still there. A high end business school in Europe for my MBA. Right now IESE in Barcelona is top on my list, followed by IMD and INSEAD (though as it stands right now, both of those are not "available" to me).

Hopefully soon you'll see some blogs in both english and elementary level spanish. One can hope.