My Last Days of Freedom

Today, the class was completely together for the first time because this week is the official orientation week of the programme. Teambuilding and introduction into different Sauder departments will be the main topic of the week. The week started with an very emotional keynote “A test of will” of a guy who lost both legs in a hiking accident some years ago. His legs where smashed by a huge stone and he had to wait two days until the rescue arrived. After his accident, he overcome the obstacles of his new situation and has again started to hike mountains – without legs. As I am also into the outdoors, his story impressed me a lot.

As this was the highlight of the new week, some other highlights took place at the weekend. Saturday, we went sailing with the MBA sailing club of the previous year. It was a nice trip with beautiful weather and considerable wind. After some weird dinghy sailing, I was very glad to be on a real yacht again.

 

Another highlight of last week was my hiking trip to Bowen Island on Wednesday – my last day off before the Core starts. It’s an island near of Vancouver with a nice 800m high mountain. Naturally, I need to get onto the summit. All in all, you need to hike 17km which takes you around seven hours. The efforts are honoured by a awesome view on Vancouver Island, Vancouver City and Mt Bacon.

On the summit are some broadcasting antennas which were maintained that day. The engineers choose the more convenient way to get onto the summit. They flew in by helicopter. It’s quite impressive to watch a helicopter landing on this small platform. We tried to convince the pilot for a ride back to Vancouver. Unfortunately, he was not as exited about the idea as we were….

Finally, I got also very aware about the disadvantages of being so far away from home. Eva and Jörg, good friends from Munich, married and I was not able to participate. Congratulations again from the far west to them.

God and Evil - Sailing and Comprehensive Accounting

After our relaxing weekend in Okanagan, we had four days of accounting this week. I had been a bit relaxed about this topic as I had accounting before in my undergraduates. However, I was deeply impressed of the speed in which the professor went through the content. I didn’t expect that it is possible to teach the whole stuff of four terms undergraduate accounting in only four days. I am even more impressed that many students with limited accounting backgrounds followed the lectures so smooth. I guess we have some very smart people in our class. In summary, it was probably a good introduction into the first month of the program (so called “Core”) which is supposed to be the toughest part of the studies.

But let’s switch to other important things in life: Sailing. I finally managed to go out on the Ocean. I joined the UBC Sailing Club together with Samuel, a new friend of the MBA program. And: It’s awesome to sail here - on the one side the skyline of Vancouver on the other side the sunset above the Strait of Gorgia. Because it’s so nice, I have been out each day since Saturday. However, it’s still challenging, as we are on small dingys which I haven’t sailed before. I used to sail on the bigger yachts and the small dingys react much faster in every maneuver – beware of capsizing.

After sailing we usually enjoy one of these nice and expensive Canadian beers on the patio of the Sailing Club. As a committed MBA Student, Samuel is checking in the meanwhile the latest news of the NYSE – just kidding – he is checking the prices for the new iPhone4.

Out of Vancouver

My first course ended last week. So far, the impression was quite good. I met many nice people from different countries. Parallel to our classes we worked in different groups on a team project which we presented at our last day. Our project was about “Vancouver Olympic Games – was it worth it?” – for a Munich guy a relevant question at the moment as the city applies for the Games 2018. We invested a lot of time, but the presentation was really perfect. I guess we built a very good and efficient team, a good starting point for further teamwork. However, the first week was more on the networking side, for the MBA itself I still expect a tougher level.
Our ISP – International Student Preparation Class:

 

Friday I left Vancouver with a group of people of my house to the countryside. Together with some further friends we were nine people heading for the Okanagan Valley which is famous for the wine (yes, Canada has wine!) and fruits. With currently more than 30 degrees, it is indeed one of the warmest and driest areas of Canada. When we arrived at 11pm, all camping sides were already closed. So we went for hidden spot for wild camping. During the good night beer we heard a strange noise. We agreed quite fast that it could be a bear. Everybody was a quite frightened – including me: first night in the wilderness and directly a bear. However the noise vanished and we got back to our drinks. Some minutes later we heard a similar noise again. This time fast approaching – the frightening level raised again until we recognized that the noise was related to a big V8 pick-up truck engine which were passing on the road nearby. Learning: big cars and big animals could sound very similar.

Next day, we were heading to a camping place nearby the lake. The Canadians have tends and camping trucks which outsize houses in other parts of the world.

But we were also not so bad: For the obligatory BBQ we had a Weber grill in our luggage. In the afternoon, we were floating on some air mattresses on a channel which connects two of the lakes. As beer, sun and laziness are part of the Canadian culture we very naturally not alone on this trip. In the evening, we closed the day with another BBQ and some further drinks.

 

Sunday, I was the first time of my life wake boarding – And surprisingly, I got out of the water and ride the waves. An absolutely awesome experience, I can’t wait to do it again. By the way, “awesome” is the probably most used word in Vancouver. You have to use it as often as possible and you could do hardly anything wrong.

Now, we are on the way back to Vancouver. Next week, the Accounting preparation course takes place. New people and probably more content as so far.

back to reality

Vancouver welcomed me with more than 10 days of exceptional good whether. But since yesterday, it have been raining nearly all day. According to the Vancouver people this's unfortunately the weather they have most of the year. So better do not visit the city without a good rain jacket :-).
However, even if it is raining the city is still exciting. During the weekend I did some walks along the seawalk - a 30km long trail at the shore of the city of vancouver -, went through the Olympic Village and ate my by far best fish and ships ever.

In addition, my first week in my new house is over. I live together with 10 other people in a house in the middle of Kitsilano, a very popular neighborhood of Vancouver. It's a funny community. Most of us are expads from all over the world who met in Vancouver now. It's perfect to make new friends and to have some fun.

For me it has the further advantage that I am very fast at the University, but also nearby downtown.

After two weeks in Vancouver, I am willing to say that I am landed now.

PS: saw this sign today. For all who still do not know how to pronounce:

Werde das Hy-fuh-vy-tzen die Tage dann mal probieren... 

Up into the mountains

I was asked to publish more pictures, so I will do!
Yesterday, I did my first hiking tour together with some friends. We went to the north shore mountains of Vancouver. We drove to one of the Olympic locations and walked from there to the peak. From there we could see all over Vancouver and the English Bay. Great, was a good introduction into the Canadian Mountains... and there will probably some more follow.

Afterwards, we drove to a small village  located at an arm of the ocean outside of Vancouver. A lovely, peaceful place very close to the big city. Many kayaks and boats out of the water and even more people enjoying their BBQ. In addition, totally multicultural - Asians, Canadians and Europeans - each celebrating in his own way.

Finally, we went to one of this huge supermarkets for which North America is popular for. But I have to admit: they need the space because the size of all products is mainly times two of the european size (eg. Shampoo 500ml, blueberries 1KG and so on). If we already talking about fruits: they are also almost twice the size of the fruits you get in Europe. However, they taste like nothing. Strange, but its seems that only the size counts.

I have a room!

You will find me here:

Link to Google Maps

Matthias Hartmann
2710 West 5th Avenue
Vancouver, BC
V6K 1T4 Canada