Week 4 flew by! This past week was definitely one of the best, but also one of the least exhausting. We had more school work than normal, which was expected given it was our last week of class, but we also did not have as many planned activities. The program has done a great job balancing our school work load with our cultural and corporate visits.
This week I presented over periphery countries in the European Union and potential impacts. This was a very fascinating topic, and my group did well to cover the topic. Through the course taught by Professor Gund?n, I was able to learn a lot of valuable information about the European Union and how the Union operates economically. It is actually more similar to the way the United States operates than most would believe. Dr. Panina?s class has also been very interesting and informational. She has done an excellent job teaching us about how culture and business interact and how international business is conducted, along with different organizations and procedures that impact international trade/business. She is definitely one of the nest teachers I have ever had. She expects participation and effort but makes class enjoyable and is able to keep everyone engaged. ?These two classes have been great learning experiences and I am excited to continue my certificate in International Business in the Fall.
Park G?ell is one of the most stunning sights I have ever seen. The way that Gaud? combined nature with houses and the layout of the park left me absolutely speechless. Our tour guide, Christina, walked with us around Park G?ell on Monday for a few hours and shared many stories about the construction and history of the park. It is pretty crazy how it is called a park when really it is an outdoor display of the magnificent Gaud?s architecture. Although this park was stunning, the temperatures in Barcelona this week were brutal. The hot spell has continued in Barcelona and we were even told this was the hottest it has been in Catalonia and over 50 years. Thank goodness there is a beach in Barcelona! Unfortunately, we were not able to go to the beach. School and exploring the city took up just about all of our time. However, now that class is over, we will be visiting the beach frequently.
One of the best parts of this week was definitely visiting the Port Authority of Barcelona. We were given a fascinating PowerPoint presentation by the Head of Training and it was incredibly interesting. I did not realize the size of the port, nor the amount of business that went through the port. It is the 4th largest port in terms of tourism via cruise ship. The only ports that handle more tourists are in the United States. They took us around on a boat after the presentation and showed us the ins and outs of the port. The sheer size of some of the ships and equipment was ridiculous! I would have loved to stay longer and look around, but we had to catch our train to Madrid.
These next two weeks are going to come quick, so I am going to go back to soaking up the beautiful city of Madrid before we are back in Barcelona! Vis?a Bar?a!!