Life after Sthlm AND Cph...

By Jonathan

Hi Folks!

I don’t have a fancy birthday party to rightly brag about, and I haven’t been back to or left Stockholm since December 19th. Nevertheless, my bad conscience has finally caught up to me, and I have decided it is time to update you all on life in and around Copenhagen! So you have been warned, and everybody indifferent may as well stop reading now in the spirit of efficiency.

Spring was rather busy from my side, and not particularly interesting (even to me) – partying, working, studying, and applying for jobs. The highlights include finishing my last courses at CBS: I will neither miss school, nor studying for exams. Just one little thesis to go. So now I’m working at full speed (at least when there are no world cup games on TV) to finish that thesis thing. Probably won’t happen by September, but at least we are going to give it a try. We are valuing a couple of private equity buyouts in emerging markets for some institutional investors. Interesting – probably not. But hopefully more so than the alternatives ☺. If anybody has insights, feel free to forward…

Distractions are therefore more than welcome, so yesterday I went see a stand up show that got amazing reviews, but unfortunately I found it rather disappointing. Today I was out sailing on Øresund with a couple of friends – firmly believing that a rested mind is much more efficient ☺. But maybe not if you drink beer at the same time. Oh, well. I also had a lot of plans for the summer, but given the pressure to finish the big T I’m cutting it down to three weeks in Canada with my family in July/August. Winnipeg to Calgary. Anybody knows what to look for there (except for trees and prairie)? Anybody else planning on being in that neighbourhood? Maybe I’ll also try to squeeze in a weekend trip to somewhere in Europe, but prospects not looking too good at the moment.

On the job front it was positive to see that more than one company was actually willing to pay for this profile that a lot of us have been working to build up. Last week I decided to go ahead with an offer to join the graduate programme at Danish company called Vestas– the worldwide leader in wind turbines. It wasn’t the most obvious choice, but they made a really good impression. The programme involves three rotations of 8 months– the first in Denmark (Randers, to be specific), and as of May 2007 Portland, Barcelona, Singapore, or Beijing. The last rotation can be anywhere, hopefully on another continent. As if you cared ;-).

Anyways, we are four graduates starting In Randers. I’m one. Then there is a German dude and another Danish fellow. And the last one? Our friend the Great Polish Player. With 800 applicants, seven jobs in Denmark and four in Randers I figure the odds are roughly 0.0000001564:1 using random sampling. Or maybe not, but I hold that it is lucky. So obviously it couldn’t be much cooler. Especially since Randers is in the other side of the country (I know DK is not that big, but come on we’re not that small either!). Since three of the four HQ graduates are moving there for the job, they are going to provide us with an apartment or a house. So on top of being friends, it looks like tomek and I will also be colleagues and flatmates – at least between September and May. I might have to get a couple of earplugs for emergencies though. Sorry, tomasz ☺. They tell us there will be an extra room in the flat, so no excuses are good enough to avoid paying us a visit!

I think that’s all for now. I’m going to get back to working on the damn thesis, so I can end this academic career and move on to real life ☺. How is everybody else doing? A lot of folks haven’t been posting in a while (or ever!!!). So (to use a simple, Danish expression): Get your finger out of the gas chamber and let us know what you are up to! At least send a comment and a shoutout!

Happy summer and happy world cup! May the second best team win (since we're not playing)...

All the best,

Jonathan!