PRAGUE, CZ
Our journey began in the heart of the Czech Republic, Prague. We arrived on January 16th to the charming city of Prague where we started our capstone class, SLC 475. This class gave us an introduction to the entire program and gave us insight into our current global mindset was. As a part of this class, we took a trip to Terizin, a concertation camp used in the Holocaust. For the next two weeks, we took FTM 484 where we learned about management and strategic decision making. We first had classes with Helmut, a German professor from NC State. In this class we took an excursion to the Prague airport and Boma glass factory to learn about leadership in international organizations. The next week we had class with Vaclav, an entrepreneurial professor teaching at the Czech Institute of Life Sciences. This class gave us insight into how classes in the Czech republic differ from those in America. As a part of this class we took a trip his university and gave a presentation to his students about the program we were doing.
REUTLIGEN, DE
After finishing our first full class in Prague, we traveled to Reutlingen, Germany, a college town an hour south of Stuttgart. In this location, we took MIE 430 with a cohort of German students from Reutlingen University. We first had class with Leigh Shamblin, a professor from NC State. During this week we took excursions to the Mercedes-Benz factory in Stuttgart where they produce E-class, S-class, and G-class cars. We also had an excursion to the nearby city of Tubingen where we had a historical tour and got to walk around and eat lunch. During our weekend in Reutlingen, our cohort took a trip to Zurich, Switzerland where we got some experience planning the logistics for travel on our own. The next week we had class with Hazel Gruenewald, a German professor from Reutlingen University. In this week we met with representatives from Bosch to help them find a solution to a hiring issue they were having. We teamed up with the German students to prepare a presentation where we went over possible solutions to this issue.
MUNICH, DE
The next leg of our adventure was in the charming city in the heart of Bavaria, Munich. On the Sunday before we started class, we attended a soccer game at Allianz arena between Bayern Munich and Furth. We began our fourth class this week, PRT 359, where we learned about organizational leadership in the sport and tourism industry from NC State professor Kyle Bunds. We toured the Olympic facilities in Munich and had our classes at TUM university which was on the old Olympic site. We took an excursion to the town of Schliersee, where toured the athletic club, TSV Schliersee. We were able to interview the president of the club, Hubert, and learn about his journey and how the he has grown the club over his time as the president. We also had a teacher at TUM talk to us about his observations of the Olympic committee and why cities are starting to resist hosting the Olympics.
INNSBRUCK, AU
My favorite of all the cities we went to, Innsbruck was a mountain town nestled in the Tirolian alps that were simply stunning to look at. We continued our PRT 359 class at Universität Innsbruck with NC State professor Jason Bocarro. During the first day of this program, my group met with Georg, the CEO of a mountain biking festival named CrankWorx. We first listened to a short presentation of his company and then asked him questions about plans for expansion and his own leadership style. Later that week we took a tour of the ski jump and the indoor faculties that were used when the Olympics were held in Innsbruck. After giving our final presentations for PRT 359, we were free for the weekend and a group of us took a trip to the ski region of St Anton Am Arlberg in the Tirolian alps.
POST PROGRAM TRAVEL
Using the travel skills we learned in this program, my friends and I were able to plan a month of travel around Europe after the program concludes. Two days after the last day of class, I am flying to Florence to meet four of my friends from NC State for their spring break. We will then make our way to Rome and Berlin during their week long spring break. After this, I will meet back up with people from the program in Amsterdam where we will stay for three days before going to Zermatt to go skiing. After skiing, we will make our way to Nice, France and then Barcelona, Spain where we will meet up with Laura, who is a native Spanish speaker. Our travels will conclude by going to the coast of Portugal where we will go to Porto and then Lisbon where we fly back to the US from.