Hey there!
The week in Berlin was quite the ride! I was aware that the workshop week would be intense, but it was even better than anticipated. From Monday to Friday, it was a spiral of learning: Getting a lecture in the morning, applying the topic in a case, presenting it, getting feedback, having another lecture on another topic, applying the new knowledge in another case, applying the knowledge from before as well, presenting it, getting feedback… so that in the end of the week we ended up with a “monster”-case, where everything they taught us in the days before was to be applied.
All this learning took place in wonderful Les Fontaines, which was as cool a place as the website had promised. Beautiful place. But see for yourself: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hollender/sets/72157603290310452/
The weather was not that great most of the time, sun only came out rarely, but when it did, oh boy was it good! It must be just perfect to be at Les Fontaines in summer.
Most important point was the people (who would have thought!). I worked in a case team with a German, an Austrian, two Dutch and a French. Talk about globalization! We had people from all over the place, though most came from Europe (I think they do the CSW at a US location, too, but I would have to look that up to confirm it). Across the board, I met people that were pleasant to work with and spend time with. It was a good mix of many beginners, straight out of university or their first job in the industry, and a few veterans with 10+ years of experience. Nobody played the hierachy card, in fact I only got to know that two of my team mates were actually managing consultants (which is way higher up the food chain than I am) on the last day when we exchanged business cards. It was really only the person that counted, not rank, and we all respected each other, regardless of how old you are or where you are from. This made the whole week, especially the intense teamwork, really really interesting and fun.
So what was it then? Was it a networking event? Yep. Was it intense training? Oh yeah. Was it a fun week? You betcha!
Can I please do it again?!
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Consultants live in Powerpoint, as you might already know. Excel as well, but they live and breath (and deliver!) Powerpoint. I am getting used to it quickly. My skills will take a good learning curve, and I already love the company-programmed tools that make some things in Powerpoint easier (or bearable, depending on how you look at it). Right now I sent my slides to the graphics department for the first time, right over to a colleague in Mumbai, India. She has a 5:30 hours advantage over me - which means that by the time I get to the office, she is already halfway into her day, and I will be getting my slides back in the afternoon. Don’t you just love globalization sometimes? 
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Today was diet coke day for me.
… ok, ok. Everyone who knows me did just shake his head in disbelief… you are right. If available, EVERY day is diet coke day for me. I mean, it works! ’nuff said!
It was a beautiful day in Berlin, which for me mostly means that the sight was excellent from our office, and that the windowshades (automatically controlled by the building, which thinks it is more intelligent than we are and that we crumble to dust like vampires when the sunshine hits us, apparently) were closed almost all day long. Still: Good weather makes good mood.
Project work goes on as planned - still not easy, but if it was easy, the customer would have done it himself, right?! It is fun, and I am making progress, so it is alright. I was invited to the christmas party of TC (Transformation Consulting) today - yay! I am looking forward to meeting all the people in “my” part of the company, and if my experience so far is representative, I have lots of nice people to look forward to (no, really! Consultants, yes, to the point, yes, but people are friendly here, polite, greet each other, smile - the whole shebang!).
Now back to work!
(this seems to become a pattern!)
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Hey there!
It would be a complete lie to say that I am already used to the consultant lifecycle - getting up very early on Monday morning to get to the client side, that is - but at least it all worked like planned today. Thank goodness that our apartment is closs to public transport! I was on the train in no time, even got some sleep, and headed straight into the office. Berlin was cloudy today, it rained, at one point there was even almost snow, so I did not miss a lot being in the office.
Work goes well - I am researching a topic I did not touch on much in university, so the learning curve is definitely as steep as they say about consulting in general. People still are as friendly and interesting as they were last week, and the hotel crew got me the jukebox again: I’ll be singing under the shower 
Let’s hope my neighbours are up as early as I am.
Now: Back to work!
Later alligator
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It is Friday! I checked out of the hotel, the train is booked - tonight I’ll sleep in my own bed. Good times!
This first week has definitely been challenging, and the fact that I had such great three months with not much more to do than just enjoy life and do fun stuff did not make the switch to being a full-time strategy consultant much easier. Still: This is the right place to be for me, and I guess I will soon get used to this new lifestyle, and maybe even find time to write about things that do not have to do with consulting!
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