St. Patrick's Day in Lausanne and DC - and where next year?

St. Patrick’s Day in Washington D.C.: basically the same as in any other corner of the world, people dressed mostly in green with some orange, wearing ridiculous hats and getting wasted. What struck me was that even the water of the fountain in front of the White House was green yesterday – a reference to Obama’s Irish family connections.

Was there a St. Patrick’s Day party at IMD? Under normal circumstances I would not hesitate a second to bet 100 Euros that Eoin organized something. But given the current workload in Lausanne, I’m not even sure about this. Nor do I know where Kamini and I will be for St. Patrick’s Day in a year’s time. The world is open after the MBA (that’s what we all hope in any case), and the next months will be about figuring out where Kamini’s post-MBA job will lead her/ me/ us: a challenge for us as for every MBA couple to get all the relevant factors in balance. One thing is for sure though: There will be Guinness and corned beef and people wearing ridiculous hats getting wasted on 17^th March.

I am in the midst of my US trip. After some days in New York and a short visit to friends in Boston I’m now in Washington D.C., and weather is just fantastic: T-shirt weather above 20 degrees! The main reason I am here is that I take part in a one week programme in US foreign policy and international relations at Georgetown University, called the Georgetown Leadership Seminar. It’s my personal mini MBA - not in terms of learning about marketing, accounting and finance (thank God…), but in terms of diversity and personal development: 32 participants from 25 countries from all continents; entrepreneurs, business leaders, journalists, filmmakers, politicians, diplomats, consultants, people from NGOs, from international organisations and military, and even fully fledged MBAs are in the group. Yes, I am showing off here, and yes, this is a way of keeping pace with Kamini doing an exciting programme ;-)

For me, participating in this seminar is an opportunity to look beyond the Brussels EU bubble of which I have been a part for ten years. It is an opportunity to see new horizons beyond Europe and exchange with interesting people from around the world. I feel privileged and am very much looking forward to the week – a week away from the normal routine. In order not to lose momentum of my PDE, I scheduled a Skype session for Sunday morning – and I look forward to it!

One last comment on the USA (it's only my third time in the States) – the paradise of service culture, as I thought. I was quite surprised to learn that the quality of the AT&T network is pretty poor, mobile data plans are extremely limited in volume, and it took my friends in Boston three weeks to get a new stove delivered by Sears. Now they have two stoves none of which is working, as the guys who delivered the new one were not able to disconnect the old one. Such an experience reminded me of how things go in Belgium…

But now I need to get out into the sunshine. I will write about my seminar, and will make an effort to blog more regularly again. And I look forward to seeing you guys in Lausanne on 9/10 April. Tahira, it’s about time we meet in person ;-)