rob’s blog

Babson requires its two-year MBAs to complete an international component which may take the form of a “significant international experience.” When I heard that one of the options is a semester (three months) abroad in Madrid, Spain I knew I had to take a hard look at it.

The Babson Office of International Programs hooked me up with a Babson MBA student currently undergoing the program and he found me Andreas Berghoefer. It took some coordination, but after a few weeks, we finally hooked up on Skype this afternoon to go over his experience so far. Hopefully, Andreas doesn’t mind me sharing some of the things he told me here.

In brief: Andreas is from Germany, and a part of the two-year MBA program at Babson College. He was involved in a number of clubs at Babson, especially the Babson Family Enterprise Club. One of his main interests going to the Instituto de Empresa was to reach out to a wider European alumni network.

One of my first questions was on how easy or difficult it is to stay connected to the Babson campus while taking a semester abroad. Andreas said that he still receives all of the emails that he would other wise so that is good. However, he misses out on all of the hands-on activities including Buffoonery which is a bummer.

On the academic side, he said that the quality of each class depends largely on the professor teaching it. Sometimes slides are not translated into English very well and it reflects sort of poorly on what is otherwise a well-regarded program.

Another concern was the administration of the program–which he seemed to feel had more red tape and difficulty in changing than what you’ll find at Babson. He has felt this especially with regards to the IT department which sounds like it is in some state of shambles at Instituto de Empresa. Andreas mentioned that many of the group organization has been outsourced to Facebook at this point. Continue Reading »

I’m taking the Sony Mylo for a test spin this weekend in Las Vegas, NV for reporting on the two Dave Matthews Band shows going on out there. Last year I reported from Bonnaroo using the T-Mobile MDA, but ultimately returned it due to the costly service contract for data over the cellular network.

I picked the Mylo up from Fry’s Electronics, if I keep it the cost will be ~$282 after the rebate. After playing around with it, I’d say it is worth probably actually worth around $150 to me.

The Mylo does not have access to universal connectivity over a 2.5g or 3g network like so many wireless PDA’s, but it does connect to wi-fi. Continue Reading »

This is a picture "Frisky." Frisky belongs a rastafarian named Herman who lives in Treasure Beach Jamaica. I met Herman while backpacking / vacationing across the southwest coast of the island. He would come by the guest house I shared with some germans and hung out after dinner.

Continue Reading »