It’s 8 p.m. on Friday evening as I get on my bike. It’s not the first time that I realise that my summer coat isn’t made for cold autumn winds, but buying a winter coat hasn’t been my priority in recent weeks, and especially not now, not tonight.
My almost eternal summer has come to an end and it’s about time I admit it. An entire summer spent on the Adriatic Sea and you almost forget what a coat even is.
Yes, I spent a full summer in Croatia, sailing young people from island to island as a skipper for a holiday organization, and yes, that’s as good as it sounds. The early morning swims in the crystal clear water to get your day properly started, the massive floating festivals on the open sea and the fine dining at medieval castles with stunning views: the organization’s motto “Nothing Like The Real World” will never be more appropriate than for this radical event.
Unfortunately, none of that’s happening right now. My short bike commute to the campus has ended and I arrive at the Polak building, commonly known as a fancy yet sad excuse for a university library. The bright artificial lights, the groaning people and the numerous empty coffee cups leave no room for illusions: there’s no summer to be found here.
Somewhere in between the empirical evidence supporting a two-tier board and a revisited formula of the Weighted Average Cost of Capital, my focus fades away and I’m back in Croatia, partying at yet another out-of-this-world venue, napping in my hammock, drinking champagne while anchored in a natural bay and racing in the regatta against 50 other yachts: am I finally going to win this time?
The PA voice abruptly awakens me from my daydream. It’s 11.50 p.m. and the Polak building is closing in ten minutes. Great. This means that I have exactly 13 hours and 40 minutes left to know everything about capital structures in an assumed hypothetical environment with a perfect and rational capital market and where information asymmetry does not exist, before my exam starts. Welcome to the real world.
