Madrid - Culture and Business

Palacio Royal

So I travelled back to the time without cell phones, and got burned. Actually Europeans had cell phones well before Americans, but I am just too cheap to by one, and anyway, who would I call?? After class concluded on Tuesday, we made a group trip to see the Palacio Royal in Madrid. Long story short, the group was separated. Enter a cultural challenge. Two of us, who speak limited spanish are trying to find the rest of the group. It just so happened I was with the professor of the class, and the other 12 people were somewhere in Madrid. No cell phone, just a map and logic. We had been separated at the Guzman al Bueno metro stop. After a solid 2 miles of walking around the biggest palace I have ever witnessed in my life, we found the group having sangrias outside the opera metro stop, next to the palacio royal. Both sets of people had reasoned the same, and found that stop was mandatory for everyone to get to the palace. We thought the group was ahead of us the entire time, so we were chasing a ghost since they were actually behind us. During the hunt, we asked for directions to several different places in the area. I felt like auditioning for the amazing race.

Regardless of the mishap, the royal palace is amazing. 2000 rooms, a diamond clock, a banquet hall that seats 300, a massive plaza, and tons of stradivarius instruments. Quite the impressive collection of wealth. Tapas y Cervezas to round out the evening, and then it was back to the apartment.

The weekend plans have changed, instead of Barcelona I will be travelling to El Escorial de San Lorenzo, Segovia, and Toledo. All three sites look to be awesome, and I believe the change in itinerary is a good one. We have no confirmed reservations for anything, so it should be an exciting couple of days. On Friday night, we will be going to the garden of roses to take a cable car ride. The garden contains hundreds of species of rose, each with an explanation. A cable car takes you over the gardens for a better view. Rounding out the night will be.... tapas y cervezas. Found a new beer, "Judas", which has 8.5% alcohol. So, if you get rocked on Judas, does that make you Judas Priest? I digress....

Two interesting things about Madrid: everyone smokes, and there is dog feces everywhere. I witnessed a dog make a deposit in SOL just yesterday in front of a historic statue. Madrid: the people's ash tray and animals bathrooms found everywhere. But the city is really clean... except for the dog ****. Interesting point for the day: Although not many people speak english, more people than you know actually do, so choose your english words carefully.

Hasta Pronto

Class

Three days of class, and I have an entirely new perspective on the EU. The idea of a United States of Europe is quite an amazing one, and being a MNE (Multi National Entity) doing business in Europe is probably easier than an MNE from the EU doing business in a different country within Europe. Seems odd doesn't it? The reason is cultural diversity of the 27 countries in the EU, and stereotypes such as all french are lazy socialists. For example, a speaker told us he had an easier time finding a job in the UK than his two French roomates for that exact reason; he was German (known as hard workers), and they were French. Experiencing the cultural differences first hand gives a unique perspective only experienced first hand, a book does no good in this life lesson. Tensions are high between the rich Northern European countries and the poorer southern european countries. Rich countries such as France and Germany do not like that money funnels from their countries to the new EU entrants from 2004. (Ex Soviet Nations) In the long run however, this is sustainable and good for the common market that has been created.

Now onto more interesting notes. The police force in Spain (and Europe for that matter), had a different mentality when it comes to enforcement when compared to the US. In the US, the police actively enforce, letting you know who is the boss, and making sure you know who they are and what the law is. In Europe, the police as passive, letting society run its course, only interjecting when and if needed. The quote "we are here when you need us, and you know where we are" was used. This mentality is found accross Europe, as the society is very relaxed. All of these decisions, social as well as cultural, must be taken into consideration in all aspects of business decisions.

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Part of trip: Europe 2009

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