Budapest, Hungary- Day 8

05/01/2008

Today was a free day. It was also a holiday, May Day. More importantly, it was Beth's birthday (Happy Birthday Beth, wish I could be there). The streets were noticeable less crowed and there were far fewer people on the Metro. The weather was great all day and it made perfect conditions for us to go explore the city. After breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the Castle District on the Buda side (west side) of Budapest. It was quite a hike up to get to the Liberation Park overlooking the city, but well worth it. It was the best view point overlooking the city. We picked up a few additional souvenirs at the top of the hill then headed back down toward the famous Buda Castle. After exploring the Buda Castle, we crossed the beautiful Chain bridge back on the Pest side (east side) of the city and ate at McDonald's.

This was the last full day of the MBA trip. We ended it with a group dinner at the hotel. During the dinner, we had the chance to share our thoughts and experiences. I took full advantage to roast the "Godfather" (aka Joe Kalodimos, Kalidomos Machinos). I discovered that I was able to do an impression of him early on in the trip. He provided me plenty of material throughout the trip for me to cover. He was side by side with Jerry and Aric (our professors) for the entire trip, hence the nickname the Godfather. I have never met a more proud Greek personality in my life- thanks for being a good sport about it Joe.

This was a once in a life time trip that I will never forget. I made a lot of memories, I made a lot of good friends, and I gained a greater appreciation for how we do business in the USA. In addition, I became strongly aware that the US can no longer continue down its path of government overspending and corporate greed if we intend to remain a viable global economy. I'd like to thank Aric and Jerry for their hard work in planning and coordinating this trip, it has been the highlight of my MBA experience.

Budapest, Hungary- Day 7

04/30/2008

After a relaxing night's rest, we visited ING's main office in Hungary. It was conveniently located just down the street from our hotel and close to the bath house. ING is a giant global insurance and financial services firm with home offices in the Netherlands. They are best known known for their "orange" savings account in the states. We met with ING Hungary's chief macro-economist. He discussed with us extensively the Hungarian economy. The biggest challenges Hungary faces is the black market- which is the practice of employers paying workers under the table, tax evasion essentially. He said that only 25% of employers are paying into the Hungarian tax system. This a startling statistic considering Hungary has socialized medicine and a public retirement fund. In addition, he discussed Hungary's integration into the European Union.

After the ING business visit, half of our group went to meet with officials at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, http://www.bme.hu/en/. The purpose of this visit was to create an study abroad/student exchange program with Westminster College. Westminster has successfully established exchange programs with other universities in China and is hoping to spread the program to other higher education institutions of the world. I went with the other half of students to the US Embassy, http://hungary.usembassy.gov/. We were briefed by the Deputy Chief of Mission, Jeffrey D. Levine, http://hungary.usembassy.gov/dcm_levine.html. I got to say, I love the United States of America. We were given fantastic information on the region's political and economic conditions. The biggest barrier to Hungary's economy, according to Mr. Levine, was the political indecisiveness of the two dominant political parties regarding taxation. Budapest is critical to Eastern Europe's economy (post communism, 1990) because of it's location to larger and more developed countries in the EU.

After the visit the US Embassy, we went to the Great Market Hall, http://www.budapest-tourist-guide.com/great-market-hall.html. It is a huge indoor food and souvenir market. I got all of my Budapest souvenirs there. I got yelled at by one of the butchers for trying to take a second salami sample from one of the meet stands. He said in broken English "no, no, no . . . this is not restaurant"- I forgot that I wasn't at Sam's Club. Later in the evening, we made a second trip to the bath house and TGI Friday's. This time there were more students from my group there- we had a blast.

Vienna, Austria / Budapest, Hungary- Day 6

04/29/2008

We made a business visit to AKG in Vienna, Austria. They are an audio firm that specializes in professional and personal audio products- microphones and headphones primarily. This was a great business visit. We got to tour their manufacturing plant extensively and meet with the VP of marketing and research & development. They treated us exceptionally well and provided us with lunch and free hats/t-shirts. I had never heard of AKG prior to the visit, but their products are used extensively by musicians like Kanye West, Aerosmith, and Rod Stewart. To learn more about AKG visit http://www.akg.com/site/powerslave,id,35,nodeid,35,_language,EN.html

After the AKG visit in the morning, we transferred to Budapest, Hungary. The interstate from Vienna to Budapest was very modern and convenient. It took about 2 1/2 hours to travel between cities. The only bad part about the trip was the traffic in Budapest. Once we got into the city, it took us almost another two hours just to get to our hotel! The traffic was just terrible. This really didn't help with my first impressions of the city. We were exhausted after another long day of traveling.

We ventured out of the hotel around 6:30 PM en route to one of Budapest's most famous attraction, the Schechenyi thermal bath house, http://www.spasbudapest.com/furdo.php?idx=14&menu=1. Budapest is well known for their thermal baths. Locals believe that there are several health benefits to the natural spring water that flow into the baths. This particular bath house is was just 2 km down the street from our hotel; but we had a tough time finding it. We had to cross a few ghetto back allies and overpasses before we found this place, but it was well worth it once we got there. The thermal bath was so relaxing. It was the perfect solution to my aching body. The water was warm and it didn't leave an itchy feeling on my skin like most swimming pools. We ended the night with dinner at TGI Friday's. Interestingly enough, one of the travel books a fellow student of mine had mentioned that locals frequently eat out at American restaurant chains- what better way to get a taste of Budapest culture, right?

Vienna, Austria- Day 5

04/28/2008

Today was painful. We checked out of our hotel room in Prague at 8:30 AM en route to Vienna, Austria. The trek is normally around 3 hours; but ours was closer to 7! Our bus driver was unable to obtain a bus permit to travel on the interstate, so a good portion of our trip took place traveling on small windy roads between towns. There was a stark contrast between Czeck Republic and Austria once we crossed the border. Austria’s countryside is full of beautiful rolling green hills. There is a lot of farmland and flowerbeds. There are also huge rabbits in the fields. They are literally the size of dogs and can be seen from far distances.

Once we arrived to Vienna, our driver was supposed to transfer us directly to our business visit to Pitney Bowes, but instead he took us to a hotel (and it wasn’t even the hotel we were supposed to stay at). We had to travel all of the way to the other side of Vienna to get to Pitney Bowes. We ended up getting there an hour late. The Pitney Bowes employees who were there to greet us had to stay an extra hour after their work shift— which is like asking someone to give up a kidney. They were very generous and understanding of our situation. We just blamed it on traffic.

Because of our delays, we didn’t have very much time to explore Vienna (thus the not so great pictures); but we were able to hit most of the hot tourist spots. The highlight of Vienna was our dinner. It was by far the best meal I had on this trip. I had chicken cord’en bleu and authentic Viennese schnitzel. The hotel we stayed at was also much nicer.

Dresden, Germany- Day 4

04/27/2008

Wow! I am so glad that a group of us decided to take advantage of our free day and go to Dresden, Germany. It is the closest large city to Prague in another country (at least that I know of). Don't get me wrong, Prague is a great city and all, but it feels like we have seen and done everything. Dresden is a totally different city than Prague- culture, people, food.

We took a train ride at 8:30 AM and arrived in Dresden around noon. Downtown Dresden is right next to the main train station so it was very easy to get around on foot. We first stopped at a bratwurst stand to eat, then we wandered the city. I quickly discovered that most of modern day Dresden was built post World War II. Everything is more modern than Prague and the streets are wider. After seeing pictures of Dresden during the war in city hall, I am amazed that the city is even still standing. My description of the place really doesn't do any justice, so here's the link on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden.

The day couldn't have ended better too. I was able to video chat live with Beth and Evie for a half hour- I love you two- it was so nice to see you! Tomorrow, we're off to Vienna, Austria.

Prague, Czech Republic- Day 3

04/26/2008

Greetings again from Prague. We didn't visit any businesses today. Instead we went on a foot tour of Prague. We were accompanied by a great guide who is a teacher at a local high school. She carried a large windmill flower around so we knew where she was at in the big crowds. We started out at the top of Prague Castle, worked our way down the hill, crossed the Charles Bridge, and then ended up in the main town square.

Tomorrow a few of us plan on taking a 2 hour train ride to Dresden, Germany for the day. It's a free day so we want to try and see and do as much as we can. That's all for now.

P.S. I love you Beth and Evie

Prague, Czech Republic- Day 2

04/25/2008

I do not know how I made it through the day. I still haven't gotten over the jet lag. Over the past 48 hours, I think I have only slept 5 hours. I woke up in the middle of the night last and couldn't fall back asleep. A lot of other people were the same way.

I came down to the hotel lobby around 5 AM to try and use the internet but the wi-fi was down. The hotel worker came over from behind his desk and asked me if I had a "makintush" computer- he was really intrigued that I was using an Apple. He then started asking me a bunch of questions about the computer, where I was from, etc. After I told him I was from Utah, he kept telling me that Utah was one hour behind California. I kept correcting him, but he insisted that I wasn't listening to him and that he was right. I quickly realized that between his broken English and persistency that our conversation was going nowhere fast; so I just went "ahhhh" . . . . . OK. Afterward, he repeatedly handed me the headphones to his MP3 player to listen to his music. He wanted me to guess who the artist was and what language they were singing. The only one I got right was ABBA.

Our group left the hotel at 8 AM to head to a steel plant 100km outside of Prague to Plzen. We visited a steel plant owned by Skoda Holdings. Skoda is better known as one of the most popular automobile's in Europe. A few years ago Skoda Auto was sold to Volkswagon. The Skoda steel plant we visited is decades old. If OSHA was in the Czech Republic, they would have a field day at this place. It was very run down and the floors were loose in a lot of areas. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the production plant. It was very cool however to see the heavy equipment they used to craft the shafts used for cruise ships.

After our visit to Skoda, we travelled for two hours near the German border to a town called Karsle (I think that's the spelling). We visited a company called Amati. They specialize in manufacturing high end woodwind and brass band instruments. We arrived just after 2:30 PM and met with the CFO/marketing manager/production manager- he was very welcoming. We kept asking him if we could see their production plant; but all of the workers had left for the day (by 3 PM) and he refused to show us. He went to explain that they have had losses for the last 3 years- I think it's because of the lingering socialist influence.

Prague, Czech Republic- Day 1

04/24/2008

Some of you may or may not know that I am in Eastern Europe for the next 10 days. I am participating in an international business trip which is a requirement of my MBA program. After a 3 1/2 hour flight from Salt Lake to Atlanta, a 3 hour layover, and a 9 hour flight from Atlanta to Prague, Czech Republic we finally arrived at noon 04/24/2008. I ended up getting about two hours of sleep on the flight in.

After arriving at our hotel (Quality Inn Prague- nothing "quality" about it), my fellow students and I hopped on the tram down to the center of the city and just explored for the day. This is my second trip to your Europe. My first trip was in May 2003 to Barcelona, Spain as part of a semester abroad program through the University of Utah. Prague doesn't quite match up to Barcelona in my opinion; but the city is nothing short of absolutely beautiful. I was immediately blown away by the amazing architecture in the city. Every corner you turn there are amazing structures. It is a great place to just get lost and explore. I can't even tell you the names of all of the places we saw today- I know lame. However, I will be here for the next 4 days and by the end, I should be able to give some descriptions of my pictures.