2009 European Field Seminar Participants

Its our last day of the European field seminar and we have a full day of lectures and discussions in sunny Budapest. Sarah is the first one down for breakfast, having accidentally set her alarm clock to five in the morning. Breakfast at the hotel consists of a full buffet of eggs, three types of sausages, fruits, and Hungarian breads. Tyler, Ryan and Pooja are discussing how they were cheated last night by a Hungarian taxi driver, which seems to be a common experience among our group. We leave at 8:30 for our first meeting at the Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency. Our local tour guide Robert leads us through the Budapest “blue line” subway. The subway system seems efficient and arrives within seconds of us reaching the station, and is filled with burger king ... read more

We had our last meeting with Hungarian Investment and Trade Development Agency (ITD) in Budapest today (June 12th). ITD was founded by the Hungarian government to achieve foreign economic growth in Hungary. Mr. Kilian Csaba, the Executive Investment Director, spoke to us regarding the economic performance and foreign investment in Hungary. After the meeting, Carol, Ryan A., Veronika and I stopped by Costa Coffee for our team meeting and headed back to the hotel for the course wrap up meeting at the hotel. In our course debriefing, the four teams each facilitated discussions on different topics including comparison of the EU vs. the US, recommendations on doing business in Europe, best practices identified, and a comparison of old vs. new Europe and EU's future moving forward. Moreover, Professor Brunel asked us about things that had struck ... read more

My shuttle ride to the airport is an unforgettable one, even though I am mostly a sleep at the time. The buildings are beautiful until you hit the outskirts and witness debris of a demolished structure. “Just like Miami” I whisper to myself. The thought reminds me of my Mother who would tell me when I was younger that one day if I work hard, I could go anywhere in the world I wanted to. I think to myself, she has spent more than 50 years of her life on this earth and she has never been outside of North America because she simply could not afford it. So I hope it’s understandable that the thought of this experience forced my eyes to water for the first time in a longtime. Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, and Budapest- ... read more

Hi!! Today is our 3rd day in Budapest, and the two companies we are visiting are both in the automotive and manufacturing industry. We started our day at Audi in Gyor, touring the highly automated production and assembly lin,s and had nice lunch over there. Then we moved to Lear which is the global car seating manufacturer. Here we observed a JIT (Just in Time) system plant, thats process significantly focuses on quality and providing the product on a timely basis. After our schedule, I and the Asian fashion club went to the train station on the Buda side (which is closer to our hotel) to purchase tickets for our post-class trip to Vienna but unfortunately the international ticket selling booth was closed. So we have to go to the main train station on the Pest ... read more

Today was our first day in Budapest and we had an early start. At 7:30 we all piled in the bus and headed to the Acell factory which assembles bikes, mostly for Northern European countries. On the two hour journey there we passed through wheat and hops fields, saw Soviet bloc housing, the shells of old factories, as well as idyllic dachas (I pretty much felt like I was back in Kazakhstan). When we got there we took a tour of their production facilities where they put together bikes (they don't produce the frame components as they source most of these from Asia). After a short presentation we were able to take a tour of the facilities. As MBA students in Boston, we don't get to visit factories that often, so it was amazing to see ... read more

Today was our last day in Paris (6/9/2009). In one day we accomplished quite a bit: we had a morning meeting at Peclers, lunch in the city, afternoon meeting at Euronext, after which we came to the hotel, got our bags and went to the airport for our flight to Budapest.... and then dinner in Budapest. I really liked Paris but was excited to see Budapest. Peclers, located in the historical fashion district Sontie, was very interesting and different from everything we have seen. What they do appeared all encompassing: history, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, in addition to general business/marketing. Our speaker, Emma Fric, said: we need to understand the past very well in order to know the future.... And part of what they do is predict future trends... While walking around during lunch, Pooja and ... read more

Before I begin to talk about our meetings and adventures on the 8th, I have to mention my fantastic off-day on the 7th. During the fall and spring semesters I work part-time as a Graduate Assistant in the Graduate Admissions Office. As a result, I have the opportunity to meet and greet hundreds of prospective students and I get to spend even more time with them at admitted student open house events. At one of these events I met Thomas Eisner, a prospective full-time student living in Paris. Little did I know, I would be traveling to his city in June. He noticed a status update on Facebook and before you know it I was getting a personal tour of the city. The walking tour was a perfect way to spend the off day. On the ... read more

Sunday was a free day for all of us. The day started with some of us meeting to go to Versailles. Before we left, Sarah and I went to get pastries, while wandering around some of the smaller streets behind our hotel. After meeting the group, we walked to the metro stop by Museum d'Orsay. The train ride to Versailles took about 40 minutes, which was a lot quicker than I thought. The line to get in was surprisingly short and moved fast, given that most of the shops are closed on Sundays and tourists are out visiting museums and other Paris attractions. Everything about Versailles was spectacular. I couldn't get over the ornate decorations and colorful rooms. The famous Hall of Mirrors is a must see. One thing we didn't get to do was to ... read more

Today is Sunday so most of shopping centers and boutique shops in Paris are closed. I and 3 Taiwanese girls started the day with brunch at one of the most famous pastry shops in Paris called "Pierre Herme". It is located on the small street across from the St. Germain so we walked from our hotel in only 10 minutes. We arrived there at 10.45 am, and though the shop opens at 10am, there is already long line. The fancy display in front of the shop and the smell of pastries easily made us queue up. We ordered different kinds of pastries and macaroons, all of them so impressive and fabulous. Then we walked through the "Pantheon" and "Quatier Latin" areas until we arrived at "Norte Dame". We went inside this Gothic cathedral and saw hundreds ... read more

Today we took the high speed train to Angers (Ahn-JEH for you non French speakers) for a chance to further understanding the mysteries of Terrior with respect to the wine industry in France. I was really excited about this day - meeting Pascal Drouin, from InterLoire and Florent Baumard from Baumard Vineyards. It was to be my first experiences tasting wine while consciously trying to note the unique flavors created by differing exposures to the sun, earth and water (or lack thereof) from its origins in the Loire valley. We began with M. Drouin and learning about the Loire valley region and the AOC - the Appellation d’origine contrôlée - or the"controlled term of origin". Through this assignment, viticulturalists monitor the French tradition of recognizing the area in which the grapes are grown - experts maintain ... read more