Bonjour and Ciao! I recently got back from my two-week field trip to Spain, France, and Italy. Leaving the airport was difficult and saying goodbye to some of my closest friends was hard. I am sad that we will not be having dinner together in new places every night. Despite being sad that it is over, I learned a lot from studying abroad. We had several interesting company visits. The first visit, which I mentioned in my previous post, was to a sailing company in the Barcelona Harbor. The second visit was to the office of the port of Barcelona where we learned about imports, exports, shipping, and the typical supply chain for goods. Then, we visited a winery in France. It was interesting to see the winemaking process and to try wines that were native to the region. Lastly, we visited an olive Farm. The name of the company was Le Moulin ? Olives d?Eguilles. The owners took us on a tour of the property and allowed us to look at their equipment and machinery. I enjoyed these company visits because they are very different from American companies, and a lot of these businesses weren?t 9-5 corporations (like I am used to). The employees at these companies took pride in their work and did it because they loved it. Their mentality was much different than ours. They worked to make money, but in the U.S. we base our entire lives on making money. Europeans seemed to have lives apart from work, but here it seems like the line between work and life is sometimes nonexistent. I can learn a lot from their culture, especially since I will be entering the workforce soon. Apart from the company visits, and guided tours, I had an amazing time meeting other students from the business school. I met some of my best friends, and I am so grateful for the experiences that we got to share. I look forward to seeing everyone back in the halls of Mays!
