After being in Portugal for a week, I am so impressed. It has been so cool to meet with each business, and see how the cultural differences impact the way they run their business. For example, we met with a very popular winery that lots of tourists visit, and they have the demand to grow their company. However, they value one on one interaction with their customers and refuse to sacrifice the quality of their product for the potential to make more profit. They are very traditional and are not interested in moving towards a more modern production line in order to reduce labor costs and increase efficiency. In lots of the companies we have visited, the priority was not growing as large or making as much money as possible. While each company obviously knows that making money is important, they strongly value their customers and their employees, as well as maintaining their values. This strong moral compass is not as common in the business world in the United States. Here, we value the cheapest option that will provide the best value. However, in Portugal, customers have a strong loyalty to companies and do not allow money to be the only/most important factor.
We also got the opportunity to visit so many different cities and parts of Portugal, and each one was unique and beautiful. Each city was beautiful with vibrant colors and lots of cultures. It was nothing at all like the cities in the United States, with very similar-looking buildings and no personality. The buildings are old and have lots of character. There are so many monuments, and so much history and art to be found in the cities. However, the politeness and friendliness that the southern United States is known for are not very common here. Perhaps it’s the language barrier, but typical politeness is lacking, or the normal expectations are different. I would not go as far as to say that the people are rude, but I do not feel extremely welcome all the time. A lot of the people do speak English, so it hasn’t been too hard to communicate with them. It is also important to stay very aware of your surroundings, especially at night.
