July 25, 2009

Wow, what a day. Getting up at six, after 5 hours of sleep was rough. But a bunch of us trudged over and got great views of the city around 9 am. I am glad we went when we did since on our way down the place was becoming packed - mainly because the Tour de France ends here tomorrow. We climbed up to the second floor, which was 43 flights up! Quite the hike - but it was worth it. 

After the Eiffel Tower, our group split up again and Amy, Emma and I headed over to the north side of the river - we wanted to go to La Defense. We stopped on the way at a place to take a picture of us resting on the Eiffel Tower - it didn't work too well... Anyways, we took the metro out to La Defense to see the new Arch. The Arch de Triumph can fit inside this arch - it is basically a big square with the middle cut out. It was an awesome sight to see. Plus, La Defense is full of neat office buildings. The modern architecture is so cool to look at compared to the basic square buildings of the US. By then it was around 11 and we were exhausted. We ate a quick lunch then headed back to the hotel for a nap. I woke up and grabbed some dinner then went downtown on my own to see Notre Dame. Unfortunately it wasn't open, but I got some nice pictures outside of it. I then headed back and packed, as tomorrow we take the Eurostar into London. I can't believe that I will be home in 5 days!

July 24, 2009

Today we had our visit to the OECD - Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. I was really excited for this visit since I just took Economic Development in the spring and loved the class. Unfortunately the visit wasn't anything that I expected. The first half was quite interesting, though too short, and the second half was a drawn-out explanation on how to use the data online. On the plus side, we go unlimited access to all of this data - literally millions of dollars worth of data for free.

Visit aside, we headed back to the hotel for a quick change and lunch and then we were off towards Versailles. We stopped to visit two Christian missionaries living just outside of Paris. They gave us a presentation on the state of the Christian faith in France - it is not good. It would take 150 years to get France to a saturation point (sorry for the business term) even close to ours in the states. Still though, this couple is working hard. Their kids all went to Messiah, one just graduated last year and even worked with Reid in the dining hall! I really enjoyed their talk and it was cool to see a couple know and trust that while things may not be growing very rapidly now, they are planting the seeds for a serious harvest in the future. Afterwards, we headed to the Palace of Versailles. No house in Orange County can compete with this place! Hundreds upon hundreds of rooms make up a palace so large the thousands of acres of land and gardens that surround it seem tiny! There was more gold in this palace than in all of the Prince's bedrooms in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. It was neat to walk in the same palace that so many French Kings and Queens have walked before me. The hall of mirrors was abosluteley astounding... pictures will hopefully come soon!

From Versaille we got the evening free. A bunch of us stayed downtown and walked around. We headed over to a church on a hill that overlooked the majority of Paris. It was an amazing site, and the Church itself was astounding. We hung around for a while and then split up. Amy and I were tired while Billy and Chelsea wanted to head to the Eiffel Tower and go up at night. Amy and I decided to walk back. As we moved on we kept noticing more and more red lights... until we saw that we were in the red light district of Paris! The cool part was getting to see Moulin Rouge. Beyond that, it was getting dark so we hurried along and got back quickly. Well, that leads me to now and I should get to bed. We have to get up at six tomorrow to go climb the Eiffel Tower! One more day in Paris!

July 23, 2009

Today was quite the long day, mostly because from 4 till 10 or so we were walking around Paris. We started the day off with class. We discussed the economy of France; it has been so amazing to be in the very countries that we are studying. After class we had lunch on our own until 2, when we had our tour of Paris. For lunch we had, of course, kebab! It was dirt cheap, and I now have saved 20 Euros! After lunch we took a tour of the city and got out at a few places. It was an okay tour, we had seen most of it the night before.

Me at the Arc de Triopmhe

 After the tour we had the option of being dropped off by the Opera House (which was the same house that Phantom of the Opera is based off of!). From there a bunch of us headed towards the Seine River and then on to the Arc de Triomphe. We took the route that went along one of the most famous shopping streets in the world stopping at some neat stores including a Renault Sport store that showcased some of their race cars. The Arc was amazing to see in person after having seen it or read about it so many times before. From there we headed back towards the river and across the oldest bridge in France that Russia gave in the beginning of the 1900s to France. 

View from Alexandre III Bridge.. look at that sky!

It had been raining on and off all day and so on the bridge the sky gave an amazing display of light and darkness with the Eiffel Tower in the scene. From there we headed down the river passing by one of the palaces where oddly enough the President of Cameroon was coming in for a visit. We got to watch him and his reception – it was amazing. A bunch of us got tired after that so we took the metro back to the hotel, only we went one stop too far and had to walk a bit more. I would say we walked, all in all, around 4 miles or more tonight. Hopefully it will stay clear tomorrow and Saturday. The Lourve is free for anyone 18-26 tomorrow night so we plan to go and see the Mona Lisa.

 

Notre Dame

One thing I forgot to mention when we were in the Hague. Some of you may have seen this on the news lately, but representatives from the North and South Sudan were in the Hague for arbitration on an oil field in the Sudan. The UN Court of Justice is in the Hague and so the leaders from both the north and south were in the city. It just so happens that the northern leaders were staying at our hotel! We got to see them and a few of the people in our group talked to them. They seemed nice, it was just surreal to see these leaders from such a ravaged country here so relaxed and calm.

July 22, 2009

Today we got up around 7 to get our luggage down. After breakfast we got on the coach for a day of traveling. I had trouble sleeping so I just looked at the Dutch, Belgian, and French countryside. France certainly is a beautiful country, even if the people do smell. There were farms everywhere with small towns dotting the landscape. That is one thing I do enjoy over here, seeing just vast amounts of land with towns taking up tiny portions of the land; and in each town, the tallest building is a church. So, despite the lack of religion here in France, there are hundreds of old churches in each town, and they are always the tallest building in the towns. When we finally got to Paris, it hit me just how large this city is. It is huge and expansive! We saw the Eiffel Tower from far off right before we left the ring for our hotel. While we are somewhat outside of the center of city, there is a metro stop right on our block. We ate dinner at the hotel, which is huge I might add. There are nine floors with a good 95 rooms to each floor. I am surprised at the size of the hotel given its location in Paris. The rooms themselves are tiny, barely able to fit two people, but I can’t complain. This will keep me out in the city. We have one full free day on Saturday, and all of our evenings our free. Speaking of evenings, after dinner, we got a bus tour of the city with Ronny our coach driver who does not like the “Froggies” (his nickname for the French) They surprised us with a cruise down the river, unfortunately it had been overcast and rainy all day and the rain really picked up towards the end of the cruise. We did get to see a lot of Paris from the river – the Lourve, Notre Dame, and the Eiffel Tower, to name just a few. Tomorrow we get a walking tour around town – lets hope it is sunny! I was really exhausted so when we got back around 11:30 I just collapsed in bed. Tomorrow we have our last class and then the walking tour!

July 21, 2009

After a nice evening of sleep, we headed to Ahold Corporation’s headquarters in Amsterdam. They are a grocery chain operator with presence in Europe and the US. They own both Giants, the one in the DC area and the one up by Harrisburg along with Stop and Shop. It was an okay presentation, a lot of their focus was on their accounting scandal of a few years back. They went from sales of around 65 billion euros in 2006 to 24.5 in 2008 – just to give you guys an idea of how big the scandal was and how they have come out of the problems a much smaller, yet more successful business. The funny thing was that after their presentation on corporate responsibility an assitant walks in with a good hundred or so pages of all of the presentations we had had ready to hand out. About half of the Amazon was used. But it was nice to have the presentations to be able to look at afterwards. After our visit, we stopped at one of Ahold’s new concepts, Albert Heijn XL a store designed to compete with Wal-Mart-type stores. I thought we were going to get a tour by an employee, but all we did was get 15 minutes to walk around.. not like our tour of the mall IKEA runs – that was interesting! So some of us shopped for lunch, the rest looked around a bit and then we stopped for lunch in a quaint little town situated on one of the dykes. It is so odd to see houses below sea level and then a big mound running for miles blocking off huge lakes and rivers. Sounds like New Orleans… We had a tour of North Holland for the rest of the day, stopping at a wooden shoe factory and other places, pretty uneventful. Honestly, I am ready to leave Holland and see more of Europe. It also doesn’t help that from here we are going to two of the most famous cities in the world – Paris and London. That night we hung out in the hotel, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It ended up that two meals for three of us cost 2 euros each, so even if I do go hungry, which I won’t, I will feel good knowing how much money I saved. Tonight I have to pack, because tomorrow we leave for France and Paris!

July 20, 2009

Today we went and visited Shell. On the way over I got my first glimpse at a church being renovated for apartments. It was really depressing to see. All of the crosses had been taken off the tops of the buildings and flags flew in their places advertising these new apartments. I just couldn’t imagine living in an old church; it would really bother me. The Shell visit was fantastic. The man that spoke was a Christian and he gave us part of his testimony which was amazing to hear. I really enjoyed the Shell visit – mainly because of their technique of creating scenarios. They are constantly looking towards the future, and I mean by more than 5 years or so. Their latest scenario was developed in 2005-2006 and has now been released to the public. There are two situations Shell sees happening: Blueprint and Scramble. In blueprint, nations work together, and ahead, to solve these environmental issues. It is the “harder” course since action is taken before the need is seen, but in the end we end up in a much better place than Scramble. In Scramble, events precede actions, resulting in the world struggling to find a solution. While it still ends up working out, the disasters and problems are much greater through this situation. This new scenario released by Shell, being the latest in a line of 50 years of this practice, is the first time they are publicly stating which scenario they prefer over the other. In this case, it is Blueprints (obviously). It will be interesting to see how everything plays out in relation to what Shell sees happening. Either way, that business model is quite fascinating. After the Shell visit, we headed back to the hotel to have lunch downtown and then class. We only have one more class in Paris before our final exam in London! Again, dinner was on our own. A few of us headed to the beach for the evening. Me, Billy, and Amy all decided that it would be fun, since it may be the only time in our lives, to go and take a swim in the North Sea. So we did! The water was really cold at first, but once we were in and got used to the temperature it felt just like the water on the East Coast late in the evening. I can now say I have swam on both sides of the Atlantic, even if this was technically the North Sea. After our swim, we ate at McDonalds since it was the cheapest restaurant there – even in Europe, everything is overpriced at the beach. Afterwards we headed back and I just spent some time away from everyone – it was getting to me being around the group all of the time. 

July 18, 2009

So I am finally able to get back online again, so expect a bunch of updates over the next few days. I am in Paris now and we just finished our time in the Hague.

Today we left Oisterwijk for The Hague. On the way we visited Amsterdam. Not quite the city I was expecting. Based off of American stereotypes I thought it was all drunks and potheads and people looking for prostitution. It was an amazing beautiful city with some great architecture and canals that ran throughout the city. We first stopped at the Rijks Museum in downtown Amsterdam. They had a large collection of Rembrandt and his student’s paintings. It was cool to see the Night Watch, the most famous, and largest, Rembrandt painting. I have a hard time paying attention to artwork after an hour or so, so it was good we spent just under an hour walking around. One cool thing was a clock on the second floor. The entire face was a screen that showed a video of a man that would draw the hands of the clock, hour and minute, each minute. He would draw the time and then spend a minute fixing and admiring his drawing until it was time to erase the minute hand and redraw it for the new time. 

The Hague's Beach!

After the museum we had lunch and went on a canal tour of the city. It was okay, mainly due to the fact that it was drizzling and overcast all day (until we left of course!). We got some good pictures and were dropped off at a diamond factory – something I thought was a waste of time. I was tired and ready to move on and the girls were going gaga over all of the diamonds and jewelry. The next visit was my favorite. We went and visited the Anne Frank house. 

Stairwells in Amsterdam are so narrow they have to use hooks to lift furniture up

The Anne Frank House

It was absolutely mind blowing to walk through the very same bookshelf that hid her and her family for two years. To see the exact rooms and stairwells I had read about in 7^th grade was amazing. After the Anne Frank house we headed off to the Hague – a beach side city that houses the Royal Family. We had dinner at a restaurant on the boardwalk and then headed back to the hotel. Our hotel is very nice – apples in random bowls on every floor and hotel rooms that are really nice with some English language channels! I know I am going to enjoy my time here – it will be good to relax after all of the classes and tests and projects of the past three weeks.

A picture update

Since we are here for three weeks and our schedule is basically the same everyday, I figured it would be boring to update you on all the meals and classes. Instead periodically I will update with some pictures! Here is the first batch! (Sorry it took so long..)

Some flowers for the ladies :) Mom, I immediately thought of you with the hydrangeas.

One of our many bike rides.

Me feedn' a horse

One week down, two to go!

It is so hard to believe it is Saturday. Each day seems to drag on, but the weeks just breeze by. The weather has finally begun to cool off, some really big storms moved in all around Europe, but seemed to hit everywhere but Oisterwijk. I am not complaining, we got the cool air without the heavy storms!

I am glad classes are going by fast, it is rough sitting through 4 hours of class a day. We even have classes on Saturday, so now Grandpa can't complain about our class schedules ;)

These past few days have just been relaxing. I haven't done too much, which is fine by me. The previous 6 weeks were moving non-stop and it is good to get a break. I started to read The Shack here, I found a nice small park a good 15 minutes away. The book has its memorable moments, but for the most part it is just dialogue that is dragged on and on. Still, the good parts make it worth it.

Today is the 4th of July, nothing happens here of course. But the hotel is doing a bbq for us tonight and I think some of us are going to live it up on our own somehow after dinner. It is interesting being over here and celebrating our 233rd year of existance when these countries over here have been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Well, our break in between classes is almost over so I better get back. I hope to update some more soon!

Another day in Oisterwijk

This week is beginning to fly by, which isn't good. That means the last part of this trip is going to go by in a blink, because once we leave here we only have The Hague, Paris, and London and then we are gone. Today was a usual day, three sessions of class and then some free time. I took a nap during the free time and felt motivated to work so I got a ton of work done today, which will help with this weekend when we have a ton of free time.

It was another hot day here, and there is no AC in the rooms. The guys are on the first floor so it isn't too bad. The girls floor is a good 10 degrees hotter, I don't know how they can sleep up there! But the heat makes us go out into the city, and once you start biking you can get a good breeze. But then you come back to the hotel and start to sweat like crazy...

I don't really like my classes too much. So far a lot of it has been redundent from things I learned this past spring.. though it is kinda neat to see things I have learned in some of my classes being used on a daily basis in classes and corporations.

I can't wait for the weekend, not only will we be halfway through marketing (crazy to think about since we just started Monday) but we will have a lot of free time to go exploring.

Loong long time since i last posted

Things just got crazy in Switzerland.The work just piled up and amidst all of the visits and class time my only free time was spent exploring Lucerne and Geneva. I liked Geneva much better than Lucerne. It was a much larger city, but more expensive... I can see why this is considered one of the best cities in Europe to live in. The entire city is on the end of Lake Geneva, again an amazing site. The drive into the city allowed us to see the French alps across the lake, and Mailbu can't touch the scenic drive that the highway had to offer around the lake towards Geneva.

Back to the city, the place we stayed wasn't the greatest. I can say I am now eternally grateful for Messiah's dorms, I will never complain again. We were only in Geneva for three nights; we visited the WTO and the headquaters for Nestle (in Vevey Switzerland). The WTO visit was not quite what I was expecting, perhaps it has to do with the fact that I see no point to the WTO anymore. Okay, personal opinions aside, Nestle was also quite underwhelming. It was fascinating to see the scope of the company - it is absolute HUGE; it has double the sales of companies like Procter and Gamble, Kellogs, General Mills, etc. I had no idea just how large the company was. More than 15 of its brands sell in the billions each year. They said that a million Nestle products are sold each day in the world.. crazy. But it was just a corporate visit with a presentation... not the same as the visit to the Mars factory in Moscow. I still enjoyed the visit, and the company really impressed me with their social responsibility. A lot of their work is done in Africa, and not only do they ensure Nestle employees get fair wages, but they will only work with suppliers that pay apropriate wages. That was awesome to hear.

So we left Switzerland on Friday. That night we stopped in Koblenz, Germany just for one night. It was an amazing night. About 6 of us headed into town and came across a party going on following a marathon they had had that day. A bunch of Germans were dancing (all of them drunk) and so we joined in. At one point, one of the guys in our group suggested we make a train. We started weaving in and around everyone thinking it was just us. Chelsea, one of the girls on the trip, turned around to me as we chugged along and asked how many people were on the train, thinking it was just the six Americans. She glanced over her shoulder and shrieked - there were a good 30 people in our train! It wrapped in and around the entire dance area. For me, I thought I had Clinton behind me. He kept stepping on my flip flops, and I thought, how does he not know how to do the train? I turned around and it wasn't him anymore but a German girl. Once the song was over we all just got together(the six of us) and we did the stereotypcial goofy American dances: shopping cart, lawn mower, the fish, haha soo many. A lot of the Germans would look over at us and then start to imitate us. It was an amazing night!

The next day we got up early and headed down to the Rhine (which our Hotel overlooked) and took a three hour cruise up passing a lot of old towns and castles up in the hillside. Ronny, our coach driver, picked us up at our stop and took us the rest of the way to Oisterwijk, where I am now. We stay here for three weeks doing intensive studies (two classes: International Trade and Finance and Global Marketing). It is really nice to just relax in one spot. The hotel we are at is rented out totally to us, which is also nice. We all got bikes for the time we are here, and there are bike trails everywhere! I have already spent a good 6 hours on my bike in the past two days. The town of Oisterwijk is quaint and tiny, but really nice. 10 minutes in any direction and you are out into the countryside which makes for a great bike ride. I even got lost last night and had to eventually ask for directions.

Tonight we are supposed to see Transformers, it is supposedly in English with Dutch subtitles.. lets hope so. I will try to be better at keeping up on this blog, sorry I missed so many days!

June 20, 2009

So I haven't blogged in a while. Things have been busy and I never go the chance. We are now in Lucerne, Switzerland.  It isn't the most impressive city. The mountains aren't the greatest right now, I heard they get better when we hit the real alps on our way to Geneva. The city is pretty, with lots of cobblestone streets and river that runs right through the center. But it is mad expensive here. My meal at McDonalds cost 14 bucks... crazy. 

Anyways, out last few days in Innsbruck were nice. We visited Swarovski HQs on Wednesday. It was stunning to see so many crystals everywhere. Even the bathroom symbols were made of crystals! We then went to a mountain lake on Thursday. It was absolutely amazing with huge mountains overlooking this deep blue lake. The water was freezing cold, and everyone had their first jump in off of a diving board. When you hit the water it felt like hundreds of tiny knives poking you it was so cold. Me, Amy, Val, Dave, and Kyle got an electric boat for 17 euros that went 2 miles per hour and cruised around the lake for a bit. It was neat to see the mountains and lake from a different perspective than just the "beach." There really was no beach, it was just grass and about two feet of rocks. The day was perfect, really relaxing and refreshing. The next day we got up early and headed off to Switzerland. I slept for most of the ride and apparently missed some mountains, though it wasn't the greatest (so I heard). It was neat to just keep driving through mountains, hitting tunnels every so often and then some sweet mountain lakes. 

Lucerne is nice, but again not the most impressive town. For one, we got here on Friday and our first day here Saturday, everything closes around four. So we didn't too much tonight and it has rained quite a bit since we got here. Lets hope the weather gets better. On monday we visit Credit Suisse and Suisse Bank, it will be cool to see some swiss banks!

June 16, 2009

Yet another half day. This week is pretty relaxed. Class was okay this morning. I get hungry really fast since everything they serve for breakfast has some type of dairy product in it: cereal, sandwiches and cheese, or yogurt. But it isn't too bad. Beyond that we had some good discussion in class. During our break some of the west coast guys asked me and few other messiah people why we attack everyone's views. We kind of laughed and told them that wasn't us attacking them, it was just asking them to defend their views. Still, it is fascinating to see differences just in American culture. 

Cloudy in the morning

At any rate, we finished class (which was really just a reiteration of what I had learned in economic development this spring. After lunch we went and played volleyball outside on the courts. They were free because it was cloudy and drizzly all day. We played for a good two hours and then I came inside to work on my part of the project. We had dinner and then about 6 of us went on a hike around some of the mountains. It was absolutely gorgeous. I really enjoyed hiking around the Inns river, going up the mountains to some lookouts. On the way back the sun set past some of the mountains for some amazing views. Now just to finish my project and enjoy our visit to Swarovski tomorrow!

Some cool waterfalls along the way, it as an amazing hike!

And look at that sky on our way back!

June 15, 2009

So we started the day off with our test. I had studied quite hard and didn't think it was too difficult. It also helps when you just had a class in the spring with tests like that. We then finished off class in the morning, again just a half day! After lunch at the hotel, we had the rest of the day free. I spent the time doing my laundry yet again, though this time it only cost me around 7 euros which isn't too bad. It was a hike there though. For the rest of the afternoon I ran around town with Caroline. It was cool to take a jog through the old towne and see all of the old buildings.

Old Town

After dinner we went back into old towne to celebrate Amber's 21st birthday with gelato (which I couldn't have haha). It was a nice relaxing day. We came back to play volleyball, but no one would get off the courts for us.. so much for nice and polite people (we waited a good 45 minutes) So we just went across the street to this really sweet playground with this elaborate water maze, a huge teeter-totter, some slides, and a rope swing. A British guy was there with his two year old son, Julian. We all played with him for a bit. I went down the slide with him and Dave High a good 20 times...

The view out on the city

  The rest of the week is quite busy, we have a paper/presentation and an exam over the weekend and on Monday. We are visiting Swarovski on Wednesday and then Thursday we are going to a mountain lake. Then we leave friday. I don't think I will want to leave. It is amazing to be staying in the same place the Olympics were held 30 years ago. We can see the ice rink, the speed skating course, the Olympic rings on the outside of the arena. And the coolest part is that they still use these facilities for training. Today some Austrian national team was walking around the hotel and gym getting ready for training.. kinda cool. Well, I better get to bed.

June 14, 2009

We left Prague this morning bright and early. It was about a seven hour drive. We had bagged lunches again at a rest stop. You had to pay to use the bathroom, yet the 50 cents it cost gave you a voucher for 50 cents in the store. Talk about a smart marketing technique. At first I didn’t understand why they make you pay, but then I noticed how clean the bathrooms were than compared to the states. Now I see how 50 cents could be worth it.

We stopped in Dachau Germany to visit the concentration camp. It was sobering to walk through the very same gate thousands of men, women, and children walked through before me. The camp was absolutely huge. I got to see one of the buildings where they lived – it was so crammed and dirty, I couldn’t imagine living such a life. There was a large open area where they had role call every morning. The prisoners had to stand still for an hour straight until role call was finished. They had a crematorium and gas chamber (which wasn’t used). Again, absolutely sobering to be in the same room and see the very furnaces used to burn thousands of bodies. No museum in the US can create such the emotion that being at the very camp where it all happened can. Words really cannot describe the experience. 

 We continued the drive on, driving around Munich. We got to pass Allianz Arena where Bayern Munich plays. Then the drive became amazing. I was looking out towards Munich when I saw some dark wall on the horizon. It then hit me that I was looking at the Alps. There they were, outlined on the horizon, and towering over Munich and Germany. We slowly crept towards them until we hit Austria. The drive to Innsbruck was through a valley all the way – about 70 km. It was just mesmerizing to just stare out at the mountains. And while they aren’t the biggest I have seen (we have yet to see true Alps until we hit Lucerne so I have heard..) they were gorgeous. Innsbruck seems nice, it has been hard to focus; we have a test tomorrow and I need to finish my briefing report on Black and Decker. We are literally in a valley in the mountains. The hotel we are at is really awesome – it is the sports center where they held the Olympics thirty years ago. We are surrounded by a soccer stadium, and indoor arena for hockey, and you can see a huge ski jump off in the distance. It can be hard to understand that the Olympics we held here since all of the venues are so small, but then you just remember that the Olympics in the 70s were much smaller than they are today. I have to go finish studying and hopefully tomorrow we can go into town.

The Alps!

June 13, 2009

Today was just a half day! We had three hours of classes, which wasn’t too bad. It is just like J-Term back at Messiah. It is kind of hard to pay attention but I have gotten through two J-Terms so I think I can handle this. It is weird to think that for my summer I am taking 4 classes… every time I take a test I keep thinking about my friends back home, working and hanging out for the summer and here I am doing something totally different. After classes a bunch of us walked down to the city. We ate lunch at McDonalds because Subway was really expensive (6 bucks for a six inch sub!). They gave you a fountain drink AND a water at McDonalds; really really fancy. Even a four star restaurant doesn’t give you free water!

After that we walked by the river and rented two paddle boats for eight bucks. We then spent the next hour paddling around Prague looking at all the sights from the water. Unfortunately a bird decided to leave his mark on my shoulder right when we got in the boat. People already stare at us all the time here, so it didn’t make any difference for me. We then walked all the way back (it is about a half hour walk uphill) stopping to see someone’s Ferrari parked on the road. Back at the hotel I got to Skype my family and then studied a bit. That night after dinner a few of us went to the largest club in central Europe. It is an old bath house turned into this nightclub. It has five floors with different types of music. The one floor is all disco themed where they play techno-ish remixes of old classic disco songs. It had a sweet dance floor that lit up in different colors. We had to get there around ten, and no one was really there. People in Prague don’t start to party until around midnight. But we had to make curfew at one so we left early. For the time we were there it was a lot of fun. We got back late, but I had already packed, so I just hopped right into bed. Up early tomorrow to leave for Austria!

 

June 11, 2009

Today was our longest day while in Prague. We went on a corporate visit to a Black and Decker plant in Utsi in the morning and then had class in the afternoon, so we didn't finish until 4:30. The visit to Black and Decker was quite interesting. The man who gave the presentation was from Scotland and had a serious Scottish accent that made me think of Reid and Todd. I won't bore you with too much information about the plant - I found it very interesting, but that is why I am a business major. They are a 6 sigma corporation, which means they are very efficient and have a serious lean manufacturing system. As you walk around, each assembly line has the parts all located within 5 feet of the machines. I was quite surprised at how much labor was actually used to make these drills and hammers. I thought more of it would have been automated.

At any rate, we then came back, had class (Global Business Strategy again) and then had the rest of the day free. I went running for about an hour and found this great park right across from our hotel; perfect to just go and relax and read. Classes aren't too bad we have a big project due sometime in the next two weeks, but it will be an interesting project to work on. I didn't go downtown tonight, I was pretty tired from the day and didn't feel like walking or taking the tram. Most of us ate at a pizza place right across from the hotel - it was cheap and good. Afterwards we stopped at a grocery store for some snacks totaling only around 2 US dollars. This update was short, but I am tired now and should get some sleep. Here are some pictures of Prague, I will get the full album up on Facebook soon.

Prague overlook

One of the largest squares in the city

The Charles Bridge

June 10, 2009

Today was our first full day in Prague. We had class in the morning, Global Business Strategy. The first sessions wasn't to interesting, but today things really picked up - I am definitely going to like this class. We then had a presentation on Prague and the Czech Republic. It was fascinating to hear a Czech's experiences during Soviet rule. She said one day on the radio they played the national anthem and then the DJ came on and said their country was being invaded by the Soviets. In a few hours their broadcast would stop completely, and anything they heard after that was a bunch of lies. She said that was the last she heard of that DJ and his station. How crazy. She then took us around the city on a walking tour (for 3 hours...). This is one beautiful city. Every building is ornately designed and half the streets are cobblestone. We went inside the Prague castle.. though it was nothing like Heidelberg's.

One interesting thing to note. The moment we got to Germany, I felt so much more relaxed. Moscow was just a stressful place. I am not stressed here. But when we did get to Germany I also noticed that people would say hello and were very welcoming. In Lithuania, Russia, and Latvia, the majority of the people were very cold. They wouldn't acknowledge you, say hello, and just weren't too polite. This seems to be true in Prague as well and the reason is due to Soviet oppression just 20 years ago.

Back to my day. We had the rest of the day to ourselves. Some of us walked to a mall and got some food - Prague is not as cheap as people have told us! All in all, dinner cost me around 130 kronas, or 7 dollars. Afterwards John Murdock and I walked around trying to find a shop that sold soccer jerseys for less than 100 bucks. We then headed back, tired from so much walking today, and took the metro/tram back to the hotel. That is one great thing about this city, you can grab the metro or tram from just about anywhere in the city. It is so nice to know that for less than 2 bucks you get 75 minutes of public transportation.

So here I am tired, writing this blog. We visit Black and Decker tomorrow. Oh, and Dr. LaFrance said that we got into the World Trade Organization, so we will be visiting them soon! I am really excited for that!

June 9, 2009

We left Heidelberg today. Coming to Prague, and I haven’t seen much here so I can’t make my final conclusion just yet, but I liked Heidelberg better. It was really picturesque and quaint whereas what I have seen of Prague so far has been mediocre. We left quite early this morning and drove all day getting in to Prague around 4. The countryside in Germany is astounding. At one point we drove on a bridge a good height up that went way over a beautiful valley with a tiny village and river. It was raining all day and it didn’t let up until we got close to Prague. We are staying at the Hotel Pyramida. It is nice, a little dirty, but at least the showers have some sort of covering so water doesn’t spray all over the bathroom. Plus, they have free internet here! We ate dinner at the hotel, it was this great buffet with rice and either chicken cordon bleu, beef, or fish and then some salads, vegetables and desserts. We got our iterneary for the week here, only one day of corporate casual dress up! We only visit one company here – Black and Decker. The rest of the time is classes (Global Business Strategy) and free time to see the city. I am looking forward to my time here. It is hard to believe that three weeks has already passed – but we have 7 more!

June 8, 2009

Our last day in Germany. It is sad to leave tomorrow, I really like it here. Even worse, the Greers are leaving tomorrow and we all are going to miss them. He was a great prof who was really down to earth... emotions aside, haha on to today.

The European Central Bank

We took our exam this morning and I am pretty confident that I did well. It was nice today to not have to worry about any work, we can relax tonight and we have the whole day tomorrow to do nothing but sit on a bus. Immediately after the exam we headed into Frankfurt, or Bankfurt as they call it. Unfortunately, on the bus I had realized I had forgotten my passport, which I needed to get into the European Central Bank with. Fortunately I had my drivers license with me, so we just hoped that it worked. We got to grab lunch first, only I didn't get anything. I am out of Euros and I don't want to exchange any more of my money as no place in Europe seems to accept credit cards. And yes, even McDonalds doesn't accept credit. So, no lunch and no passport. It was a great day in Frankfurt so far. We went into the European Central Bank (ECB) and I got through security. The lady wasn't too happy that I gave her my license and she said that next time I would need my passport. Well lady, there won't be a next time. Both presentations today were good, I won't go into detail, most of you won't be interested in what was said. I can give you the fyi that they are going to roll out new Euro notes (bills) in the next few years. Ooohh exciting.

 

What is more interesting is the European's opinion on the validity of the dollar. Currently, the dollar is the standard of world currencies. Everything is compared to it and most international trade is done with it. However, due to our current presidents economic policies many think that the value of the dollar is going to decline drastically. The presenter today said it may be wise in the coming years to begin using the Euro as the standard. This may even teach the Americans a little fiscal responsibility (rather than spend spend spend!) I think it is not just a good idea, but it may become a necessity. So now I am sitting at a cafe outside with some other IBIers, this cafe offers free internet so it is a hot spot for us all. Dinner is coming soon. I must pack tonight and tomorrow early in the morning we leave for Prague.

Sometime in Lithuania looong loong time ago

I am going to back track for one post to talk about a crazy day in Lithuania. This was in the last week of May. Chelsey Granger, one of the girls from Messiah had her camera broke one day. She needed to buy a new one and wanted to go by herself. Since that was a dumb idea, haha, I went with her. We had to sprint to the bus stop so we didn't miss it. Panting we got on the bus and took the front seats. Chelsey thought it would be cool to talk to a local, turned around and started chatting with this young man. When she told him we were staying at LCC, a local Christian university, he responded, "I know." Chelsey and I just looked at each other almost scared wondering how he knew. It ended up he knew of the University and that students grabbed the bus from that stop all the time. Finally understanding that he wasn't a creeper, we pulled up in front of the mall. We got into the store just in time and spent a good 20 minutes trying to understand this chick tell us about the cameras. After finally deciding on one, we went to the front to pay - but Chelsea's card didn't work. Frustrated, she used her fathers card.. which hadn't worked at the grocery store an hour before. Finally free of that hassle we stepped oustide of the store only to realize it was 10:10 - the buses stop running at 10 pm. Could this day get any worse? We figured we might as well just stop and grab a snack at a restaurant to just relax. While there we asked our waitress about a taxi. She tried her best to explain in broken English, so we decided it would be best if she just called the taxi for us. We finished our meal and then headed up to pay. We talked to her a bit and then asked her to call. She put out her hand and asked for a cellphone. Really lady? American tourists at a  mall way to late a night obviously with no idea how to get back home and you expect us to have a cellphone? So, they just wrote down a message in lithuanian to give to a taxi cab drive for us. We stepped outside and found some rinky dink green cab just sitting there. We headed up to the window tapped on it, the guy inside smiled and let us in...

He didn't speak English. I now began to realize we were on our own. We gave him the message and he told us it would cost 25 Latas...  and then he pulled out of the parking lot going the wrong way.

If any of you know me, I am good with directions. I had taken the bus twice before so I knew the general direction back the the university. This guy definitely went left instead of right. It was eleven at night and there was no one really on the road but us. We just watched the meter keep ticking up and up. A u-turn that was pointless cost us 1.70 litas. This would happen to us. I had no idea where we were. The next thing I knew we pulled onto the main road through the old city and I saw that he had just taken us around a large circle and added a good 10 litas onto our bill. When we got close to the University we just yelled at him to stop and got out of there really ticked off at him. We walked the rest of the day home finally realizing what had just happened that evening.

Crazy times the first week.. who knows what is to come?

June 7, 2009

At the castle overlooking Heidelberg

Today we got to sleep in since church wasn’t until 10:30! It was nice to get some extra hours of sleep. We attended Calvary Church of Heidelberg which is about a 15 minute walk away. It is also where we take our classes while we are here. The church service was good, it was contemporary and much like a typical evangelical church in the U.S. I was reminded of Livingstone when we sang Jesus, Lover of My Soul. Rachel, one of the workers at the monastery used to always use that in her devotional set. The sermon was really good - on the 10 commanments and total dependency on the Holy Spirit and what that means. It was in English, the men who run this church are guys from California. 

Messiah!

After the service we grabbed a quick lunch then headed over to the Heidelberg Castle! It was amazing, and I had to keep telling myself I wasn't at Busch Gardens Europe ;). It was amazing to finally walk around a castle partially in ruins knowing hundreds of years ago men and women actually lived and worked in this monsterous building. It also makes me want to watch Timeline or Lord of the Rings. After the tour we headed back to the hotel. We were free for the rest of the day. Since it was overcast and drizzly all day most of us (including me) just stayed indoors and studied for our exam tomorrow or wrote a paper also due tomorrow. For lunch we ate at a Turkish place right next door. their food was delicious - I had a sort of wrap with lamb and spicy sauce; all for 4 euro!  After studying some more the sun did clear up but we are waiting until tomorrow night when we don't have to worry about any work to spend some more time in the town - it will be our last night. Tomorrow we are up early for an exam and then we see Deutschebank and the European Central Bank!

The inside of the castle in the courtyard

June 6, 2009

I am finally caught up on my entries, so they will start to get longer now ;).

Today was only a half day for us! We had class in the morning (Global Business Strategy) and a presentation by a former IBIer who now lives in Germany. He was actually born in Thailand (?) under German parents who were missionaries there. He then went to Messiah for college, graduated and eventually wound up working for Bosch in Germany. Talk about a man with no true nationality! It was fascinating to hear some incite into the German culture, especially dealing with work. The Germans are heavily unionized and work 35 hours a week. What is really interesting was that the Germans care more for the whole than the individual. So, when a company is doing well, rather than just fire the poor performing employees to save money, everyone in the firm will take a hit in hours to keep the corporation a float. I think it is kind of impressive. After the presentation that ended at noon we had the rest of the day free. I got some of my laundry done, it cost me 6.90 euro! I also got some homework done, it was overcast all day which helped me to stay focused. That night we ate at Pizza Hut, it was really good but not the same kind of pizza they offer in the States. Later in the night the city had some fireworks, which they only display the first Saturday of June and September (lucky us!). It was cool; they seemed to be recreating the attack on the castle, so they shot off a few at first from the bridge, and then used some flares all around the castle to imitate the entire castle being on fire. Beyond that, there was nothing special about the fireworks – Damascus does just as good. We saw a bachelorette party walking around, drunk off their minds and dressed up in ladybug outfits, so Billy, Dave, and I got our picture with them. It was nice to have a break. Tomorrow we have church then we visit the castle! 

June 5, 2009

Today we had a long day. We got up and headed straight for the Daimler plant where Mercedes buses are built. Outside of the US, Mercedes also markets commercial vehicles, from ambulances to trucks and buses. This plant built public transport buses for cities and towns. It was neat to see the entire operation up and running, especially since two of our past visits (John Deere and Yazaki Wiring were both shut down). I was surprised at how little of the factory was automatic. There were many men there wielding and putting together the buses rather than a bunch of robots. It was fascinating to see these huge commercial buses being put together. We saw the plant finishing up an order for Dubai and they had been custom built so that men, women, and children all sit in separate sections of the bus. Crazy. After our meal and a quick presentation, we headed back to Heidelberg where we had class for 2 ½ hours. We were wrapping up the last section of Comparative Economics with Dr. Greer. We then had the night free, so a bunch of us went out and ate dinner.

June 4 2009

Our first full day in Germany! We first had class in the morning; we have today and tomorrow and than another exam on Monday! After class, we took a visit to the John Deere factory in Mannheim, about 20 minutes away. It was cool to see the facilities and the machinery used for the production of the tractors (of which about 9% stays in Germany, the rest head to other parts of the world). Unfortunately, John Deere has seen a decline in sales, and so the factory was shut down. So we didn't get to see anything in action, but it was still neat to see how a tractor was made and all of the huge machines used to create one tractor. We had lunch in their cafeteria, and they even gave us free refills! That is a rarity in Europe haha. The food was good, I got some German sauerkraut too which was really good. After our visit, we had some free time late in the afternoon. We ate at a small cafe down from the hotel. It was okay, the food was kind of pricey. I am actually here now again just for the free internet. I went to an internet cafe, where they only charged one euro for an hour of internet. Unfortunately, I couldn't set up my skype account, and I still haven't been able to talk to anyone yet from home! Hopefully soon.

Tomorrow we visit a Daimler plant!

June 3rd Heidelberg Germany

And here I am in Germany! We took about a six hour coach ride (in a Mercedes coach I might add!) to Heidelberg, a town about an hour away from Frankfurt. It is a beautiful town, located right on a river with the Heidelberg castle just overlooking the entire town. It was fun driving on the autobahn seeing so many Porsches, Audis, BMWs just zooming past us at 90 mph or more. We stopped in Cologne for a quick visit and lunch. For only 1 euro we climbed all 5oo some steps to the top of the tower of the cathedral there. It was 500 steps all in a tiny tower with a spiral staircase!

I had Greek food for lunch at a cheap little store right off of the square by the cathedral. We then hopped on the bus and took a long tour of Germany's countryside on our way to Heidelberg. We passed a good 3 or 4 castles on our way to Heidelberg, but none of them compare to the one here, especially at night when it is all lit up. We had dinner together as a group at a Cuban restaurant (go figure) then we had free time to explore the city. There is a nice walking street with shops that leads all the way up to the Castle. I cannot wait for a tour of the castle!

June 2nd - Holland

So here I am in the Copenhagen airport waiting for our flight. We got delayed by an hour so I had some free time and thought I would write now. We are en route to Amsterdam! I cannot believe we have already been to Lithuania (Vilnius and Klaipeda), Latvia (Riga), and Russia (Moscow!) Time has really flown by. We visited the Ikea distribution center today. It is actually an Ikea store with a distribution center attached to it. What I was not expecting was an Ikea with a huge mall attached – second largest mall in Europe to be exact. Ikea, and this is only in Russia right now, is in the business of building and leasing malls. It was a fascinating visit – the presentation was good and we even got a tour of the mall to see how it was run. It was monsterous; there was a movie theater, and ice rink, and tons and tons of stores. Afterwards we ate at the Ikea store and then rushed over to the airport. The flight was good, only around 2 ½ hours. We ate here at the airport; food is not cheap! And now we are waiting for our flight. I cannot wait to be in Amsterdam! 

It ends up our hotel isn't in Amsterdam, but about a half hour south of it. Which is fine, we will be back in a few weeks. The moment we got to this hotel, I felt so much stress just go away. It wasn't like I was terrified in Moscow, but all of the rushing around and non-stop activites just wiped me out. This hotel is nice and quite surrounded by farms, really peaceful. Tomorrow Germany!!

June 1st 2009 - Moscow

So I decided to blog, it is a good way to keep a journal and plus people can see what I am up to. Today was our last full day in Moscow, we leave tomorrow afternoon for Amsterdam for a night. We started the day out by visiting the Kremlin. It wasn’t quite what I expected. It was huge and beautiful, but I was expecting more Government buildings and less cathedrals. It seemed to be more of a tourist attraction than actual government property. That isn’t to say it was overloaded with touristy things; I suppose I am just used to the distant and aloof government buildings of DC. After the tour we stopped in Red Square for some pictures and then headed over to GUM, a huge mall right in Red Square for lunch. After grabbing a bite to eat, we met a tour guide at an entrance to the Moscow Metro. We did a quick tour of two stations on the metro. They were as nicely decorated as some of the cathedrals we had seen! Ornate walls, marble floors, chandeliers draped in gold; it was almost surreal yet really harked back to the Soviet era. We got separated as a group on the metro, the doors just slammed shut, almost crushing Josh Kuehl’s hand. When we finally regrouped we headed up to street level for a driving tour of Moscow. We passed by many government buildings including the Russian White House. We ate dinner at a cow themed restaurant where a drunk man kept talking to two of the guys in our group. Afterwards we hopped on a boat for a river cruise of Moscow as a sort of goodbye. Tomorrow we will visit an Ikea factory before heading out for Amsterdam. It is hard to believe where I am going next; and that I still have 8 weeks to go!