With this study abroad we were given four weeks to visit seven different countries. We started in London, United Kingdom as told in the first study abroad post. The second place that we visited was Paris, France. There we were able to meet with the BETC advertising agency which allowed us to see one of the top advertising agencies in France. It was really cool to be able to compare this advertising agency in comparison to Design Bridge and Partners which we had met in London. I learned that there aren’t many differences between these two companies besides their locations. The presentation mainly consisted of showing us examples of their work with different brands. As students, we were able to see how one company can come up with different designs to cater to the client. After Paris, we went to Avignon for the day to see some world heritage sites like the Pont du Gard and the bridge of Avignon. Following this day trip, we headed to my favorite place Nice, France. There we were able to go to the Parfumerie Fragonard where we were able to make our own custom perfumes and learn all about what goes into the perfume-making process. The next day we headed to Monaco where we toured the Monte Carlo Casino and had an independent day to experience all that this second-smallest country has to offer. After an amazing time in Monaco, we headed to our fourth country which was Italy. There we had the opportunity to visit Verona and Venice and take walking tours and had free time to explore the cities ourselves. Then we headed to most people’s new favorite city, Innsbruck, Austria. With this, we had my favorite company presentation which was a man who worked for advertising the city of Innsbruck and Vienna itself. There is a huge difference when it comes to advertising a city versus advertising a company. Following Austria, we went to Germany and then landed in our final country which was Switzerland. Each country had beautiful views and every interaction from a local was always very kind. My initial impressions were wrong because I had always heard that Europeans thought of Americans as annoying tourists. However, everyone was very welcoming and even open to talking and helping us. This study abroad has also changed my initial thoughts on advertising. Originally, I had thought that it was similar to social media where you post consistently and a lot of content in order to gain awareness for the brand. While this part of it, there is actually a lot of steps and thoughts that go into what goes out onto the internet. Additionally, I have learned that majority of companies run their businesses the same no matter what country. Due to the fact that most of the countries that we visited were worldwide operations, they all had a similar standard to how they ran it. Overall, I have learned that you must treat everyone with respect and professionalism as they may be your future employer or next customer.
