Chicago, United States

The End or Just the Beginning

April 12, 2012

- Paul Simon

There is something decidedly strange and slightly unsettling about sitting alone in an empty apartment. The apartment is mine and the emptiness is the result of a three weeks effort to sell all my furniture and the possessions that usually occupy the space in one’s home. If that sounds like a lot of work that is because it is a huge undertaking, even more so than you would think. With all the effort involved, such a drastic change wouldn’t come without significant motivation. For me this motivation had been building for quite some time and was rooted in where I saw my life and career heading further down the road. By all standards I had a good job, but after three years in Chicago the future was a bit murky, and probably not unlike most people in their daily lives, I was looking for something more.

With a quest of that sort it is certainly easier when you can figure out what you’re looking for, however, that is rarely the case because it is very difficult. For me, lacking a focused direction, I thought that learning the fundamentals of business would supplement my technical background and present me with a lot of opportunities to choose from, and that maybe that would help me to figure out what it is that I want to do. With that in mind, I decided to go to business school in Barcelona, Spain to get a more global perspective and to experience the vibrant lifestyle and culture of such a wonderful city.

Beginning in August I’ll be calling Barcelona home for the next eighteen months. In the meantime, I sit alone in an empty apartment for one last night before embarking on what should be a grand adventure. With a few months in front of me before school starts I decided that life would be better spent traveling and exploring the world rather than working. So after a few days with friends in California I’ll be flying to China and traveling west towards Spain, taking the long way around. I’m not sure how far I’ll make it or even the exact route I’ll take but one thing is certain, I’ll be heading out into the great wide open.