First serious job

Most of you already know that I'm doing my Final Project (I need it in order to graduate) through an internship in a company called Ingeteam. Well, I wanted to tell you that I'm not gonna be an intern anymore. A job opportunity appeared in the very same company and I was interested, so I asked my boss if he could take me into account for the selection process. He did and eventually I got the job. He called me when I was in my trip back from Vienna. I was so excited.
My main purpose will be to train people, both from Ingeteam and clients. It's called Head of Training. This means that I'll be organizing the courses we'll offer and teaching most of them. I think it's a great opportunity to come to know everything about what we produce. Also, not only will I be teaching in Spanish but in English as well. With the advantage that I might have to travel to teache some courses abroad from time to time, which sounds perfect to me.
So now I'll have to do both things, finishing my Final Project and working. But I think I'll survive.

Vienna Reunion 2008

Wonderful, awesome, amazing, breathtaking, really really nice... those are some of the words that come to my head when I think about the reunion we had in Vienna about three days ago. Continuing with the great tradition we have already stated of gathering together at least once a year, some the internationals from my year at UVM met in Vienna for an incredible weekend. It was just awesome to see and talk with my friends from all around Europe who I hadn't seen in so long. Weird as it may sound, it was like we were never apart. I was kinda nervous because I thought there would be some awkwardness since most of us hadn't seen each other in more than a year. However, it felt like we had never been apart. From minute one I felt at home and really comfortable talking with everyone and hearing about everyone's updates. No matter how much our lifes had changed or how much we had changed and grown up, our relationship stays as healthy as it always was.
The reunion was a way thanks to Christoph, the great Austrian guy, who pulled it out and put everything together. It wasn't easy to lead a group of twelve people around Vienna, but he did a nice job. In the three days we stayed there we had time to visit and tour the city, drink lots of glühwein in the Weinhnachtsmarkt, party in a planetarium and enjoy the company of people we don't come to see very often. So for all these things, Thank you Chris!!!!



So now we must keep organizing these wonderful reunions. Some names and countries already appeared during this one. Sweden (Marie), Croatia (Maja), Rumania (Anca) were some of them. Guys, I think that as most of us agree, what we have here is something very special that we have to take care of. So let's keep it up!!!!

First skiing of the season

Finally, after a lot of waiting we were able to go back to the mountains and do what we like the most in winter, skiing. This year there's snow everywhere, and plenty of it. It's not winter yet but the ski resorts are jumping in excitement with what's coming. The past years they haven't been very lucky. There was lack of snow and so no business going on. However, now the mountains are packed with snow and people are really wanting to go back to the slopes and enjoy some great rides.
I did it myself last weekend. Monday was a holiday in Spain, so some friends from class and I decided to go to Jaca. We stayed at my place there and skied two out of the three days we were there. The day we did not ski we just enjoyed ourselves playing with the snow and making huge snowballs. We decided we had to get a taste of Jaca's nightlife during the skiing season, when the city is full with people like us. We had a wonderful time and the party was better than expected. I totally recommend it.
Now we are planning our next trip to the snow. We really want to hit the slopes again some time soon. The main problems are time and money. But I'm sure we'll get around them and organize a few more adventures this winter.

Burlington, simply the best

Today I was looking around the UVM website trying to find L/L address. I want to send something to my brother because he's not coming back for Christmas and I could not remember what the address was. Anyway, the thing is that I saw a link that seemed pretty interesting. And in fact it was. It's about Burlington, VT, our beloved city being considered the healthiest city in the States. I feel now more proud than ever of having spent one year of my life in that wonderful city.
I love Vermont!!!!

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1859507,00.html

Working life

Those of you who follow my posts already know that I started working as an intern in a company called Ingeteam placed in Pamplona. In order to become an engineer I need to fulfill a final project, and that's exactly what I'm doing there. I've already been working in Ingeteam for over a month and a half and everyday I feel more comfortable. Like the guy who works next to me told me, starts are always difficult, no matter what you start. I mean, it's not like super hard, but the truth is that the first time you have to deal with a proper job, you are kinda lost. You don't know anyone and you are not familiar with working procedures or habits. But hey, that's the reason why the invented internships, so that you could learn. Well, that and to get the job done for half the price. However, I can't complain about this, because in my case, they don't make me overwork. They let me work on my project and learn, which is great.
The truth is I would like to be doing more for the company, but since I'm not an engineer yet, the final project is the priority. Sometimes it can get pretty boring, but it's something we have to go thru. Anyway, the good news is that the atmosphere in the office is great. People are awesome and so friendly. As I said, it wasn't easy in the beginning, but now I feel like part of it all and get along with all of them.
Sorry for the lack of structure of this post, but you have to understand it's a Sunday in the Carpa's (biggest party at my University) weekend, so it's quite a lot that I'm even writing something here, unlike others (Anita, yeah, you are the one I'm referring to, lazy blogger). Oh, and talking about feeling comfortable at my workspace, they have organized a padel tournament called Ingepadel. Guess who's gonna win!!!

Julen and Mauro

Every now and then I feel the urgency to go to Madrid and pay my two friends there a visit. Julen, who I met on my trip to Australia, is working there in a very important consulting firm. Whereas Mauro, who I met on my Interrail trip around Europe, is studying Engineering there. We are pure travelers material and love planning and going on trips together. The truth is it keeps getting more and more difficult to do so since we are starting our grown ups lives. We have less free time due to working schedules and money isn't exactly something we have in abundance. Nevertheless, hope is the last thing that should be lost and I'm sure we'll manage to go on more adventures together, sooner or later. And in the meantime, this little, short but intense, weekend-length visits is what we have left and the best way to stay in contact. Phone is really handy and everything but it just isn't the same. We are, as Julen always likes to point out, friends of the second group. He refers to a post I wrote while ago where I tried to explain the different kinds of friends people usually have. Being second group friends doesn't imply being less friends than the first group ones, it's just different.

Anyway, all this is just because last weekend I went to Madrid to visit these two friends and I had an amazing time, as usual. I guess they are one of the reasons why I like Madrid that much. Thank you for the weekend!!!

workin' vs studyin'

What's better? working or studying? One thing I know for sure, the answer ain't easy man. Each activity or "way of life" has, like most things in live, its advantages and disadvantages. I'd like to clarify something here, when I talk about working I mean a real job. In this discussion I'm not considering work-study jobs or the like. I'm referring to when you have a full time job which enables you to survive in this society of consumerism that we live in. Having cleared that I will continue with what I wanted to express.
Recently I entered the working group. After twenty years of studying I'm finally done with it. I did not get my degree yet because I still have to hand in and present in front of the tribunal my Final Project, but I already started working. So what do I prefer? Well, it's hard to choose. However, I believe it's just a matter of attitude. If you enter your working adventure thinking that you know everything because you have studied a degree in whatever in whichever university you are gonna be disappointed for sure. University gives you the knowledge so that you have a base to build a more specific and thorough understanding on top of it.
One of the things I value the most about being a student is the flexibility. You could, more or less, skip classes, go on vacation, visit friends abroad, etc whenever you felt like it. But once you start working that changes dramatically. You have a certain amount of vacation days and probably you won't be able to place them exactly when you need them, since you have to take into account the rest of your colleges vacation days as well. Believe me, that's something I really miss.
On the other hand, when you start working you always have free weekends. Some people don't really achieve it, but I try and make the effort of leaving work at work. Meaning when I'm out of work I want to enjoy myself and definitely not worry about work at all. I'd rather come out of work half an hour later with the everything tied up than worrying around. So when you're working you don't have to worry about finals, mid-terms or anything like that. Of course you'll have a thousand things more to worry about than a student, but they'll wait for you in the office the next day, they won't probably chase you home. Anyway, I think I got out of track here and started digressing and rambling. What I wanted to say is that, at least me, I enjoy more weekends now than I did before. And I can plan getaways for any given weekend since I don't have any exam on Monday.
Well, and I did not mention it here but of course the main advantage of working is that you get paid. However, I believe it's better to be paid less and love what you do and work the right amount of hours rather than being a workaholic or a work slave. Instead of working that much in order to get more and more, why don't you just get out and enjoy the nice weather or put your free time into good use helping others?