Nightlife….Getting Sick…What’s Next….CPA!!!

Once again…I must apologize for the period of time between posts. I have a good excuse… I’m sorry (Bros.)….I really meant I have a good reason, which you will understand in a moment. Over the post two weeks, my experience in Spain has been filled with all types of adventure, some good…some bad…but all beneficial.

The Parties

As much as I enjoy my intellectual moments, I also LOVE to loosen up the tie, have a couple drinks, and enjoy the completely nonacademic side of life. If there ever was a time and place to do this, it is here and now. Believe me when I say that there was A LOT of partying going on in my first week…Work hard, play hard. Right?... What is the nightlife like in Madrid? It’s quite different than that of los Estados Unidos. First of all, no one actually starts getting to the clubs until 1am. Yes, it was hard for me to accept this idea too. What time do they close? The clubs normally let out at 6am. And trust me when I say that people actually stay there until 6am! A few nights ago, I went straight from “Orange” (a club) to mi clase de Español. Apparently, this is not out of the ordinary for students or people with jobs….When in Rome (or Spain in this case). From what I have seen, people here are really into American music. “Lollipop” by Lil Wayne was playing and there was a lady dancing next to me singing the song word for word. I began to wonder if she even knew what she was saying…So of course I had to ask her (in Spanish of course). After stumbling through my Spanish to try to ask the question, she replied (in English), “not really but it sounds good”. I guess she recognized that I was American after hearing my Tarzan-like Spanish lol. After the quick conversation I walked away laughing and wondering…. “Do I even know what the song is about?” Oh well…It made for a great time anyway. Overall, I think that my favorite club out here has to be Kapital. It has seven floors with different music on each floor. I believe that 2 of the floors have a lounge area with a theater and pool tables. The size of the place would lead you to believe that there is a lot of space to move. Well, at about 3pm (and a few drinks) you realize that your hourly walk to the bathroom has become maze-like as you wind around hundreds of people. Maybe it is different on floors 5-7, but I haven’t made it that far yet lol. Although Kapital was the best club, I had the most fun at a club called Pacha, the second floor specifically. The first floor is said to be filled with what they call pijos (snobs). Prior to going to Pacha, I met some popular Futbol (soccer) players in Spain. The night started off well because they got me in the club VIP (saving me some money). After settling in, one of the more energetic Futbol players convinced me to go on stage with him and act silly…Hey, why not?...At that point, the DJ was playing “American Boy” by Kanye West which is pretty laid back. Well, shortly afterward the DJ decided to play “Crank Dat Soulja Boy”…I’m sorry America but I just couldn’t resist the urge. I stood on stage as they “watched me YUUUUUULE!” LOL…Great times!!!

Getting Sick

OK this is where you begin to understand why I have not posted. On a cold winter night out in Madrid I decided to be “cool” and wear clothing more suitable for a day in the fall. For reasons that I still cannot explain to this day, I thought I was untouchable by the illnesses floating around…like this cold weather couldn’t make me sick. Needless to say, when I woke up at 3pm the next afternoon, I felt like I had been hit by a train. It’s funny how un-cool it is when “trying to be cool” goes wrong lol. As if this wasn’t bad enough, I quickly found out how hard it would be to get medicine. In Spain, you cannot simply go to the store and pick up NyQuil. First, you have to go the Farmacia and describe your symptoms to the pharmacists. There were two problems with that. Number 1, they aren’t open 24 hours. Number 2, at that point I wasn’t very good at explaining much of anything (in Spanish). Feeling as though I was on my death bed, I hardly wanted to deal with fumbling through a dictionary while trying to pinpoint the words I was trying to use. Oh how I missed Wal-Mart! I decided to kick this illness naturally…A lot of sleep and hot tea. I ended up missing 2 classes for the week and staying in one day on the weekend. I must say, missing class is much more hurtful when you actually witnessed your bank account dwindle as you paid for classes that you eventually miss. So there you have it! Trying to be cool got me sidelined for about four days. Lesson learned America! Cold air in Spain is no different than cold air in Chicago lol….Oh yea, and nature tends to be a lot less kind to foreigners!

Alright alright I know that only explains 4 of the last 14 days! What else could I have been doing? Well earlier last week, I received notice of two amazing opportunities. The first is a leadership program offered by Yale School of Management. The other is an opportunity to go to Greece through the accounting firm that I will be working for in September, KPMG LLP. Immediately after finding out about these opportunities, I set out to complete the required application for admittance. In all, wrote five essays in one week. It will be awhile before I find out if I have been admitted into either program. If anyone from Yale or KPMG is reading, feel free to pass me through LOL. Just kidding…Kind of. Keep your fingers crossed!

What’s Next?

As you all know, I only had one guaranteed month as InternationalDarius, in the literal sense of the word. I came to Madrid (on a one-way ticket) through a Spanish language program that provided housing and intense Spanish lessons. This trip was completely financed by money that I have been saving since May, which didn’t turn out to be much. I guess you could say I put it all on the line, in terms of finances. In a worst case scenario, I could be stuck here without enough money for a return trip home. I know it was a slightly dangerous decision, but in my opinion, all of the risk I am taking pales in comparison to the rewards. Plus, I’m smart enough to ensure that my risk is calculated lol. Obviously, I need to find some sort of income to make ends meet, which brings about an interesting story. For the purpose of the story, please disregard the bad English. In my search for a job, I came across the following opportunity:

*Hello,*
> Basically I’m looking for assistants or shopping helpers, which can buy some stuff by orders of my clients or to receive corporate documents and some other special orders for delivery locally by you.
> No heavy stuff to lift up. Every day I have different orders.
> Your duties:
> Every week I’ll send you each item description, which I’m looking for.
> I’ll pay you *200 Euro *for your job/once.
> I’ll pay you extra for fuel or other expenses for transportation as a bus tickets.
> It is easy job but a little specific.
> I have 10 – 40 customers every day with different orders from all areas of Europe.
> I have some special orders also as corporate documents delivery, cash delivery, jewelry delivery and gifts delivery etc.
> FAQ
> How is money sent to me in order to buy the items you need?
> Money will go directly to store or going to your bank account. You’ll
> have cash for your job in your hands.
> It looks like very easy for people, which are not experienced shoppers.
> This is legitimate. As I said I have different orders every day. If
> you really interested I’ll teach you about each deal at the same time when it will come to that point.
> I’ll try to make you busy if you would like to.
> I’m busy too much. That’s why I’m looking for assistants.
> Let me know if you still interesting and please give me some
> information about yourself as follows:
> First name:
> Last name:
> Age:
> Sex:
> Nationality:
> Home address:
> City:
> Postal Code:
> Home phone:
> Cellular phone:
> E-mail:
>Scan of any photo.
> What is the best time to contact you during a business day?
> How many hours do you have available during a day?

And Then:

Dear Darius,

Thank you for your reply.
I can give you the best order of this week as a test for you.
You will receive money to your bank account as prepayment for your job and for laptops, which I sold out at the auction to make sure you’ll have your first order and you can handle that.
You’ll start up since Tuesday - Friday.
I’ll give you easy order for the first time for documents or cash or check or gift delivery and it is going to take about 2 hours at Wednesday for your part of job. If you don’t have available time at Tuesday, please give me your plan for the next week. As you know our hours are flexible.
So please give me your banking
Name on your bank account(As shown on your information:bank statement):
Account number:
Bank name:
Every time I’ll provide you with all necessary information and instructions in details.
OR
If we are talking about stable business for a long time I would like to ask you to open personal bank account in Citibank - most stable bank in the world in our World Wide crisis situation from my opinion.
P.S.
I am selling and buying stuff on the auction all around Europe.
I don’t need any company and any web for that. If I have to buy stuff in Germany locally I have to pay high taxes.
That’s why I am using different people in another country.
So money going out from one country and I have to pay money for stuff from another country.
This is good for my customers I‘ll be clear under the LAW of any European Country.
I need your help. If you will follow my instruction I’ll give much more possibility for your future with real profit.
First deal for you, as a test and I must see how you can candle that.
If you are ready to go let me know about your plan for this week and next week exactly because I need to know how long time you will be free for my business.
Regards,

Alex

This is perfect for me right....short hours with good pay. Wrong! It’s funny how a little desperation can almost lead even the smartest people to believe the dumbest lies. Many people fall victim to this ridiculous scam. Upon first glance, a few friends and I thought this was a great opportunity. It’s a good thing I actually sat down to understand what was really going on. Courtesy of a good friend, here is an explanation what happens. This guy Alex (or whatever his real name is) takes your account information. Then he will write checks from your account to accounts outside of the country. He will later cash the checks before you or anyone else recognizes what has happened (because it is cashed internationally). Oh and one more thing…You will be held liable by other banks for what our buddy Alex has done. Could you imagine the turn of events had I actually taken another step with this? I am just happy I can laugh at the situation that I nearly walked into. Not everybody can say the same.

Ok so what’s next? I have arranged to stay in Madrid for another month. I will not be taking classes porque estan muy caro (because they are very expensive). To improve my Spanish, I’m going to participate in what is called intercambio. Basically, you find someone who speaks the language that you would like to speak. This person also desires to learn your language. You arrange times to meet and teach each other how to speak in the desired language. Beyond that, I’m just going to let the wind guide me throughout the month. I decided to wrap up my travel abroad experience at the end of March. Unless I find a suitcase full of money, I think it would be best to get out while I’m ahead LOL. I’ve probably taken enough risk for one trip. With March being my final month, I plan on doing any and everything that sounds like a good idea. It should be interesting!!!

Last But Not Least…Darius Gant, CPA!!!

I have had a day to digest the fact that I have actually completed the rigorous CPA exam. I wish someone had a camera on me when I received the good news. The celebration was nothing short of obnoxious lol. It reminded of when Rockstars go completely crazy and trash their hotel rooms (minus breaking things). You’ll understand why the celebration was so intense after explain its background. The CPA is the highest designation to be obtained in a career as an accountant. Each test taker must pass all 4 sections of the exam within a one-year period. Per section, there is only a 40% pass rate. Only 10% of test takers successfully complete the entire exam on the first attempt. Each section of the test is taken using a computer in a secured room. Candidates are given approximately 4 hours to complete each section. By the time I had begun to map out my test taking process, I had already decided that going to Spain was a must. In order for this to be possible, it was necessary that I finish the exam by the end of January at the latest. This meant that I had to successfully complete all 4 sections between October 1, the earliest date to test, and January 31 (4 months). During that time period, I was also faced with presiding over a newly established student chapter of National Association of Black Accountants, taking a full load of courses, participating in a student lead action group “Audacity of Success”, and somehow maintaining a social life sufficient enough to maintain my sanity. Obviously, the odds were stacked against me in terms of my probability of success. However, I don’t think that there is a time where I so determined and focused on succeeding. What was my life like? I was still in school for the first 3 sections. I was in the library studying at least 8 hours per day (not including downtime). I even had my own “office” on the first floor of Ames Library (that’s what I called it). Everyday I would wrap up my studies around 3am. At first this was very hard to do while realizing my peers were enjoying warm weather (in Sept), less stress, and more fun. However, I learned that each sacrifice I made just fed my determination to succeed. For my final (and most difficult) section in January, I was at home. I set up my new “office” in the bathroom (see the picture) where I would remain for 9 or more hours per day. Yes, you read correctly…I locked myself in a bathroom with my computer and books for 9 or more hours a day. Sounds fun right! I even found myself studying on Christmas Eve and New Years’ Day. Luckily, my mom allowed me to invade the bathroom until 4am every morning while both her and my brother were forced to walk to the first floor bathroom in the middle of the night.

My purpose in telling this shortened version of this story is not to glorify myself. Passing alone has made me happy enough. I tell this story because it is important to understand that the reason that I was able to achieve my goal is because of my determination and willingness to sacrifice. It had little to do with being naturally smart or having good luck. In fact, to have your achievements credited to your natural intelligence or being lucky is a slight insult. They neglect the most important aspect of achieving any sort of significant accomplishment, hard-work. At times, it was difficult for me to stay in my “office” knowing that all of my friends were out partying. However, this does not mean that I was not enjoying life. Passing the CPA exam is not my life goal, but it is definitely a step toward reaching the life that I dream about. For me, chasing a dream is exponentially more pleasurable than moments that are temporarily exciting, especially when you can see your dreams materializing before your eyes. Throughout the entire process of completing the exam, I knew that the odds of passing were slim given my schedule (based on prior numbers). However, what is more important is that I understood that by contributing the necessary effort, anything was possible. I have always known this to be true about anything that you set your mind to do. Today, it’s not only something I know, but it’s something that I UNDERSTAND, which is significantly different. As I said before, I am not documenting this to glorify myself. There are a number people out there who I talk to about success and what we need to do to realize our potential. I am thankful for everyone who has given me the advice necessary to be successful. For those who look to me for advice, it is my hope that this serves as motivation. Personal accomplishments excite me, but I am more passionate about seeing you realized your own dreams, especially you SEAN and TEAH!!!

I’ve posted a Question for the Week and I look forward to hearing your responses!!!

Contacting Me

I know that there are some people who have tried to contact me via text message or phone call. I disabled my US cell phone while I am traveling. If you want to contact me, I check my email and facebook (if your on it) regularly.

Question of the week: What is it that motivates you?

I would love to hear your thoughts. Please post to the comments section of the blog. If you would rather contact me through email, my address is: internationaldarius@yahoo.com

Thank you,

InternationalDarius

First 3 days....One Word....SORPRENDER!!!

I apologize for the amount of time between this post and my first post. However, I can sum up my experience to this point in one word……SORPRENDER!!! As of today, I have been in Spain for nearly 3 days.

The First Day

I arrived in Spain on Sunday expecting to escape the dreadful Chicago winter. Unfortunately, after stepping off of the plane in Madrid all I could see was snow. Apparently, snowing is a rare event in Spain. All of the Spaniards seemed excited about it. An hour after arriving in Spain I was dropped off at the house of the family that I’ll be living with for the month. I had no clue what to expect...And I most certainly was not prepared for what was to come. Within 5 minutes of being in the home I found myself in a state of shock. My Señora, caretaker, did not speak ANY English and I definitely did not know ANY Spanish. It seemed as though she spoke 100mph, while I gave her the “deer in headlights” look…Talk about feeling brainless… After attempting to converse with my Señora for about a half hour, I retired to my new room for the rest of the night completely bewildered. I had never appreciated the ability to communicate effectively until that point. Based on my last blog entry you’re probably thinking “What happened to all of the excitement? The unquenchable thirst for knowledge?” Well…….rest assured that you have nothing to fear. You know I cannot let you down! Despite the fact that the previous comments seem like complaints, I cannot begin to explain how amazing all of the confusion made me feel. It verified the fact that I will be exposed to a lifestyle completely foreign to my own. I have the opportunity to realize exponential personal growth unlike any other. I have never been so excited to attend the first day of class…not even in Kindergarten LOL!

First Day of Class

Part of this experience requires that we find our own way…..to class that is. Yes, I was tossed directly in the fire LOL. My first thought was “Oh Geez!” I decided that I would use the metro (la linea 6) as my mode of transportation. It couldn’t be any harder than navigating the metro in Chicago right? Unfortunately, I hadn’t taken into consideration that the signs in Chicago are in English and these signs were in Spanish. Therefore, I definitely got lost on my way to class. After eventually finding the school (and on time), I was greeted by a receptionist (who only spoke Spanish) as she handed me a placement exam. I must say, the exam went as expected, muy mal. However, I was happy to start with the basics.

After the first section of class (2 hours), I decided to sit back for a moment to take everything in. At that very instance, I realized something very interesting. Throughout the day I had attempted to speak with other students (assuming they knew my language) only to find out that they either didn’t speak English, or it was not their first language. Why would I assume such a thing while in an environment where there were many different nationalities (i.e. Chinese, Italian, Polish, German, Brazilian, etc…)? I guess I would contribute this assumption to being born in the United States. Being surrounded by the various cultures gave me a brief sense of familiarity. As crazy at it may sound, I think that I have underestimated the diversity of the American population. Every nationality that was present in the building at that moment currently has significant representation of their culture in the US. As I continued to speak with other students something else caught my attention. I’d try to communicate with a German student in English, and when that did not work we switched to Spanish. The same thing occurred with students from Poland, China, Brazil, Greece, etc… This sparked a question in my head. Why is it that everyone here already speaks 2 languages fluently (if not more), while I’m working on my second? I even met a couple of people who knew 5+ languages. I understand that English is probably the most common language on a global scale. However, with America being so diverse, why isn’t their higher numbers of bilingual and multilingual US citizens? Is it more beneficial to be unified through use of a single language? Could it be that we feel that our superpower status eliminates the necessity to learn another language? I don’t know the answer but I’d like to hear your thoughts!

One more thing! Whenever we (the students in the program) introduce ourselves, we must also identify the country that we come from. After I announce my country of origin, I receive the most amusing response (especially when I say Chicago), they say “Oh Barack Obama!!!” with a huge smile. That is always the first response I receive. President Obama is even on the front page of today’s newspaper in Madrid. One of my professor started doing the “Yes We Can” chant, proclaiming it to be the international quote of the year. Whether you like President Obama or not, it seems that the aura he emanates is good reason to have a positive outlook on our international relationships. Everyone (and I’m talking non-Americans) speak his name with a smile on their face. Of course, it is too early to proclaim any success in the rebuilding of foreign relations, but the potential for change in this aspect of politics cannot be denied.

What is on the Agenda for Tonight?

It’s time to make my way to the club scene!!! After all of this studying, the international students decided to have a night out. By the way, it sounds funny to call myself an international student. This should be rather interesting considering the fact that none of us are that great at Spanish and we all speak different languages. Interestingly, everyone likes Kanye West, Lil’ Wayne, and T-Pain. I guess some things don’t change! More to come later…

P.S. Feel free to comment on anything I’ve posted. I’d love to hear what you think. You can also email at the address below.

Also, be sure to check out the video. Thanks for tuning in!

Email: internationaldarius@yahoo.com