Express Yourself - Question I.

Show us an activity you enjoy doing. Tell us how you think it contributes to your personal and professional development

How travelling affected me

2

Machu Picchu, Peru:

15th century Inca site located 2,430 meters above sea level

Passion

Character-forming Events during my Travels

On a 4 day hiking trip on the ‚Inca-Trail‘, also known as ‘Camino Inca’ in 2011 I experienced to push the envelope

In a team of six young travellers, all never seen each other before, we hiked and slept in the Andes mountains

We were all driven by the passion for adventure, looking for beautiful mountain scenery, lush cloud-forest, subtropical jungle and a stunning mix of Inca paving stones, ruins and tunnels

With the common objective of reaching Machu Picchu we quickly developed a team spirit, helping weaker ones with baggage, bolstering each other after a night in the cold and rain or sharing excitement while waiting for hours for the fog to disappear at 4am

Application in my Professional Life

Self-motivation and self-control

Possess emotional maturity and the internal resources to cope with frustration, disappointment, and stress

Maintain good relationships with others

Being visionary

3

Ambition

Climbing up mountains in the heat of a desert with a sandboard

Climbing up mountains in the cold of the Rocky Mountains with skies

Both times suffering but having a well defined plan and target in mind with the ambition to achieve

Application in my Professional Life

Possess well-defined goals

Problem-solving

Being able to make decisions, to act upon them, and to accept responsibility for them

Character-forming Events during my Travels

Chile

Peru

Ecuador

Colombia

Venezuela

Brazil

Argentina

Bolivia

Paraguay

Uruguay

FrenchGuiana

Surinam

Guyana

Barrow

Anchorage Whitehorse

Vancouver

Seattle

DenverDeathValley(lowest point inNorth America, -86m)

San Francisco

Los AngelesTijuana Dallas

Minneapolis

Chicago

Atlanta

Houston

Monterrey

GuadalajaraMexico

Mexico

Guatemala

El Salvador

Costa Rica

Nicaragua

Honduras

Panama

Belize Jamaica

Dominican Republic

PueblaBelmopan

TegucigalpaGuatemalaSan Salvador

Managua

San José

Isla del Coco(Costa Rica)

Isla deMalpelo

Panama

Medellin

Cali

DetroitToronto

Ottawa Montréal

BostonNewYork

PhiladelphiaWashington, D.C.

Miami Nassau

Santo Domingo

Turks andCaicos Islands (UK)

The Bahamas

Bermuda(UK)

St. Piereand Miquelon(France)

Island ofNewfoundland

HudsonBay

Gulf of Alaska

Aleutian Islands

PuertoRico (US)Montserrat (UK)

HaitiKingston

NavassaIsland (US)

Port-au-Prince

Cayman Is.(UK)

Havana

Edmonton

Canada

United States

Cuba

U.S.Mt. McKinley(highest point in North America, 6194m)

Mount Washington, Bristish Columbia2005 during an exchange year

Atacama Desert, Bolivia2011 on travels in South America

4

Strategic Thinking

I was often confronted with choices to make during travelling, e.g. on how to cross a river, climb a mountain or who to trust

Examples where I learning how to think strategically:

1. Making the wrong decision to take a short cut in the rain forests of Costa Rica which resulted in a night in the wild

-> thought me to base decisions on multiple proofs instead of spontaneous plan changes

2. & 3. Guiding the way on the rivers of Bolivian jungle

-> thought me to also trust knowledge and experience of others

4. Organizing a family trip to Madeira trying to fulfil all wishes

-> thought me to make compromises

Application in my Professional Life

Be able to

– organize,

– plan,

– and communicate

for effective use of resources

Be able to allocate resources according to priorities.

Be willing to compromise

Character-forming Events during my Travels

Decisions Responsibility Planning Compromises

Cornelia BuechlerApplicant for Master in Finance & Master in Management

at ie Business School, Madrid

Cornelia BuechlerRohmerstrasse 8 60486 FrankfurtGermany

cobuechler@googlemail.com0049 / (0)173 679 1017