EUROPE: Stopover in Stockholm

On our last free weekend in the program, several groups took short trips to various places in Europe. Tyler went to Switzerland, Alex went to Nice, and Steph, Jess, Christina, Sam, Beto, Kearby, and I went to Stockholm. The really notable thing about Stockholm is that the sun never sets - ever - Until winter when it never really rises. This really threw us off on the first night there, but we learned to either stay up late or close the blackout curtains.

The timing for our Stockholm trip was subpar, as we arrived in Sweden in the middle of their Midsummer Holiday. Basically, this meant that the city was deserted, as everyone celebrated in the countryside. (Picture Jess’s face light up at midnight as she see’s a single person walk past the empty bar we’re sitting in: “Oh! There’s a person!”) We were still able to visit all of the touristy sites on Saturday, including the changing of the guards at the Royal Palace and a boat tour of the city.

One of the coolest parts of the trip was that the Volvo Open Ocean Race was in the midst of a stopover in Stockholm that weekend. All of the sailboats were docked right in front of the palace, and there were stands set up with music and promotional bars and vendors from Puma and Ericsson, which sponsored several of the teams. Most importantly, there were some very attractive sailors walking around.

On our final day in Stockholm, Jess, Steph, and Christina went to one of the first three Ikea stores, while Beto, Kearby and I kayaked around the harbor. The sailboats were doing exhibition races that morning, so we got to paddle right past them, which was awesome. We finally made it back Monday evening, and since then have been working on our final projects and trying to soak in our last week in Copenhagen.

~Mary Griffin

EUROPE: A Side Visit To Stockholm

Beto Llaguno, Jessica McHie, Kearby Chen, Mary Griffin and
Stephanie Glover on a side visit to Stockholm, Sweden

Changing of the Guard

The Narrowest Street

Stockholm Is Beautiful!

Christina Matthews Enjoying the View

IKEA!

ASIA: The End of the Year

I have not written a single thing about Hong Kong but here is what I can say-- I am now done with grad school. It's truly amazing how time flies and I can't believe that my global immersion experience as well as my experience in the M.S. Commerce program has blown by me. The only thing that I can possibly say is: The more I learn about China, the less I know. There's so much still out there for me to learn and so in total Jeffersonian style, I'm going to say that this experience is only the beginning of my life long learning.

We had our group presentations on Friday that was the retrospective end of our Global Capstone project that we have been working on. All the teams did really well and it was interesting to hear about what each group would change about their strategy to enter China. At the end, we had a mini-ceremony with Dean Z and Professor Maillet and we received little Jefferson cups to commemorate the finishing of our experience. Afterwards, we saw a slide show to end things off.

Later on that day, our class gathered on Lamma Island for a seafood dinner...actually feast. To get to the island, we had a fun/long boat ride to the island. It was just a nice experience for us to see Hong Kong at night on this private boat and to recollect our thoughts on the past few weeks and the past year. After dinner, we rode the boat back and you could see all the city lights. I was overwhelmed with the feeling of being so lucky to be where I am. I'm excited for the future and can't believe I've been so lucky to have experience (and at such a young age!) All I can say is, I feel incredibly thankful.

I'm still in HK for a few more days with Lauren and Rob, who I'm traveling around Asia with. Yesterday we explored Lantau Island again (but went to different parts) and we also had the most amazing Indian food. It was such an experience because it literally felt like we were not in Hong Kong in there. We were the only non-Indian people there and I had a blast eating my matar paneer with rice and chapti while watching Bollywood movies in the background.

Today, Lauren & Rob went to explore Macau and I went to go visit around HK and see a temple. I spent a while there taking photos, talking to people and got my fortune by sticks. (There's a canister that you shake and the number stick that comes out is your fortune). Tomorrow night we fly out to Bangkok.

~Phi Trinh

Europe: The Weekend

While many of our classmates chose to go to Stockholm this weekend, the rest of us have been keeping pretty busy here in Copenhagen. The internet was down for the past two days. We suspect it is because our IT guy (Kearby) sabotaged it before he left for Sweden. Other than that things have been going smoothly. We have even enjoyed cooking fancy pasta dinners (Adam made the pasta on Friday night, and I tried to one up him on Saturday) and fine wine.

We added some other members to the McIntire Europe team this weekend. We were visited by two UVA students and my brother Jim also decided to join us for the weekend after he spent some time in Lithuania.

Jim got into town Friday night and we all decided to go to the ACDC concert at the football stadium. We took the poor man's route and stood outside the stadium to hear what we could. Concertgoers in Copenhagen were just as intense as they are in the US.

The next day we did a little sightseeing and sat outside in the King's gardens to enjoy the great weather we were having. That night we explored some places in Copenhagen that were near our dorm.

~Dan Amberger

Europe: Off to Sweden!

We returned to Copenhagen from Prague last weekend to begin our second DIS (and last M.S. in Commerce) class: Marketing Strategies in Global Markets (or Trading in Global Financial Markets) with Professor Maxham (or Sandas).

Our marketing course with Professor Maxham is fantastic! We have class from 9:30-12:00 and get to spend the afternoon doing retail fieldwork; Christina, Amy (a girl from Indiana), and I are working on analyzing the Danish supermarket industry. Our counterparts in financial services have class from 9:30-12:15 and 1:30-2:45...but they play games half the time.

Classes aside, a few of us climbed the corkscrew spire on The Church of our Saviour and I was able to get some great shots of the city. We also enjoyed a concert by a military band in Kastellet, an old fortification now used by the Danish Defence Ministry. They played mostly classical music and a couple marches but also performed a Beatles medley that was pretty cool.

Professor Maxham has been kind enough to give us an extended weekend to perform additional retail fieldwork so...a few of us are going to Stockholm!

~Kearby Chen

Europe: One Of The Best Days Yet

Ok, so yesterday was probably one of the best days that I have had in Copenhagen thus far.  I think this had a lot to do with the weather.  It had been a bit dreary here for a few days, especially the days before we went to Prague…, which was amazing by the way.   Prague is totally my new favorite city.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from that trip:

So back to yesterday and why it was such a great day.  I’m going to just provide a little list of what we did and why it was so great:

1.       1.  We had class from 9:30-12 and then we were sent out to “explore Copenhagen” and “experience the culture.”

2.      2. There was a French merchant market set up right outside in the square that is in front of our apartment building.  They sold all sorts of cheeses and breads and olives, but I got some amazing marinated mushrooms.  I then took these mushrooms home and made pasta.  It was fabulous, maybe one of the better meals I have made thus far.

3.     3. Around 3:00 a bunch of us headed over to Christianshaven to go up to the top point of The Church of our Savior. We had to walk up about 30 flights of stairs to get to the top but the view from up there was well worth it.  It was a completely clear day and you could see for miles.  

4.    4. The next exciting thing that happened was that I got my bike fixed.  As you know, we ride bikes around everywhere.  I think almost everyone that is over here has rented a bike and so we go in little packs whenever we travel.  But two days ago my gears broke.  So I took the bike back yesterday and they gave me a new one!  This one is way better than the one I had before so I was excited. 

5.     5. On my way home I stopped at a store called TIGER.  I had no idea what it was but I had seen good things from the window.  I ended getting quite a few items, and at very very reasonable prices which is rare to find in this city.

6.    6. At 7:00 almost all of the class met up at a nearby park.  The park has a huge windmill and is connected to an army base kind of thing.  It is a bit hard to describe.  Anyways, for 10 Wednesdays in a row during the summer, various army bands have a concert from 7-8pm.   We just happened to find this out last week when we were just riding through so we decided to go back.  The greatest part about this whole trip was that we had a picnic.  I know this might sound a bit lame, but it was wonderful.  We sat on blankets, ate our dinner together, and listened to wonderful music. 

7.     7. Last but not least, later in the night I found something very valuable that had gone missing.  But it turned up and the mystery was solved.  This really was the cherry on top to what was a great day in the fabulous city of Copenhagen.  

Un-Stephanie Glover

ti

ASIA: June 10

What a day. Our day began like any other of this week. Our early morning breakfast was followed by our 30-40 minute bus ride to Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Today was our second day of separating into our specialty tracks. The marketing and management students had their second lecture with Professor Larry Franklin and the Finance students had their second lecture with Professor Wilhelm. Today's discussion in finance focused on law and finance. In particular we looked at the origins of common law and civil law in various countries.

One aspect we dug deep into was the importance of having a well established legal and financial system. One of the articles assigned to us by Professor Wilhelm discussed the importance of having both in order to stimulate economic growth. However, China has neither, yet the country has seen astonishing economic growth. This left us in a deep discussion of is China different…?

After class we headed back to the hotel. During the afternoon, we all went our separate ways. I chose to take a much needed nap. However, that evening we all met up for a trip to the extremely popular Hong Kong Jockey Club to watch some horse races. This was truly an awesome activity. These races take place twice a week and attract an extremely diverse crowd. The stadium was filled with Americans, Europeans, and of course Asians. Everyone was rushing around to place bets on the 8 races that night. Several students decided to test waters and bet their Hong Kong Dollars on their horse of choice. Some looked at the odds, some looked at the records of the horses, and others simply picked the horse with the name they liked the best. Even though the majority seemed to lose money, we all had a great time at the track. It was an awesome cultural experience that we will all remember.

June 10th, 2009 was a fun day for people all over the world. Here in Hong Kong we spent the evening at the tracks experiencing horse races, while back in Virginia, my sister celebrated her birthday. Happy Birthday Carissa.

- Jeremy Szuch

Asia: Our first attempt at bringing it all together

Wednesday was our last real class session both here in Asia and in the M.S. Commerce program. It is incredible to think these five weeks have gone by so fast. Today, we had a great session where we really tried to bring together all we have learned in China. I think we are all still a bit overwhelmed by all we have seen here in China, so I’m not sure we came up with any profound conclusions. In fact the phrase “drinking from a fire hose” comes to mind.

We did have a great speaker and facilitator to help guide us through our reactions to China, T.L. Tsim. The depth of his knowledge about China was impressive; he would field a question on the future of China’s political stability and then turn around to give a detailed response to a question about the impact of capital controls in China. Mr. Tsim certainly provided us some key points about China that will help all of us decode all that we have experienced here. For me, I imagine it may take a few weeks just to organize all of what I have experienced.

The afternoon was pretty much taken up with completing our final exam. Thursday we have the day free to do any last bit of exploring and prepare our retrospectives for our Global Beer Industry projects which we will be presenting on Friday.

~Teddy Wolynec

ASIA: Array of Speakers

This morning we taxied over to the International Financial Center tower II to meet with Nicole Yuen, Managing Director and Head of China Equities at UBS. Ms. Yuen was yet another extremely impressive person that we’ve had the opportunity to speak with on this trip. She gave us more insight into the equities market in China and explained why UBS is one of the leading foreign investment banks in China. We were all amazed at how seamlessly she went through a presentation that she’d probably never seen before until the second she walked into the room. Nicole was not your ordinary banker. It was clear that her instincts make her think about how to make China’s financial markets successful rather than what’s in it for us (firm centric)

After a quick turnaround, Mr. Weijian Shan, Partner at TPG Capital, and former Professor at the Wharton School, met with us back at the hotel to discuss the pending deal between Shenzhen Development Bank, Ping An and Newbridge. This was truly an extraordinary opportunity as we had access to privileged information and more importantly, the man responsible for it all. Mr. Shan left a lasting image upon us all. His remarkable life story took him from the depths of the Cultural Revolution in the Gobi desert to the peaks of J.P Morgan. Weijian Shan epitomizes hard work. During the Cultural Revolution he taught himself English with nothing more than a dictionary. After listening to his journey it was by no means difficult to buy into his philosophy that the most important thing you can do in life is to be prepared. Although Mr. Shan believes that life is to a large part about luck, he told us that we must always be ready to seize the opportunity.

We broke for a quick lunch break and returned to the Island Pacific for a session on real estate in Greater China. Our keynote speaker was Mr. Kenny Tse, Managing Director of Aetos Capital Asia and head of its real estate business in China. Aetos is a private equity real estate firm based out of New York. They began investing in Asia in Japan in 2002 and opened their HK office in 2006. Currently their primary focus is in China, Japan and Macau. Prof. Maillet stressed to us that in Hong Kong and Asia, property is THE asset class and that we could not study business in China without covering real estate. In this session, we learned that the Chinese think of real estate as “land” whereas in the U.S. we are more concerned with the value of the building we can get out the land.

~Claire Bordley

EUROPE: Professionals, P&G, and Prague

I just arrived back in Copenhagen from Prague. On Friday the five floor dance club did not disappoint, everyone was practically a professional dancer, Adam's description during the globalization residency was spot-on. Saturday we "officially" toured the city, the highlights (in my opinion) were: 1.) St. Jacob's Church, which featured a mummified arm hanging from the ceiling. 2.) Charles St. Bridge, where not only did I get to make a wish by touching a 5 stars (rumor has it Jae Young Lee wished for more free beverages with dinners), but also Tom Cruise ran across it in Mission Impossible I. On Monday we had the pleasure of visiting the P&G plant and were hosted by some of the most pleasant and welcoming people in Eastern Europe, beyond the academically enriching component, the highlight was the free toothbrushes and deodorant, which were more than welcome for many of us following the weekend's frantic pace.

~Chad Gaudet

ASIA: Guangzhou & Shenzhen

On Thursday, we packed up our things and headed for Guangzhou, China, back on the Mainland. After "Crossing the border" from China (Hong Kong) to China (Mainland), we headed to the Marriott in Guangzhou. On Friday, we had an excellent visit to P&G's facility in Huang Pu, which you heard about from Erin and Paxton... thanks guys!

On Saturday, we woke up early to head to Shenzhen for a visit to Foxconn. Maybe you've never heard of Foxconn before, but you probably use a Foxconn product every single day, as Tiphany mentioned in her post. When we arrived, we pulled through the Foxconn gates and began to drive through their campus, a 2.5 square km property that functions as its own town. There are banks, restaurants, shops, dormitories, and the plant facilities.

Incredibly, after hosting us all morning, Foxconn hosted us for a traditional Chinese lunch, with everything from sausage and eggplant to sour melon soup to fried pumpkin cakes. Delicious!

EUROPE: Photos of Euroland by Tyler Hogan

Photos by Tyler Hogan

ASIA: Time Flies in China

Time flies by quickly in China. This week end, we left Hong Kong to enter mainland China once again (and one last time) to visit the city of Guanzhou in the Guangdong Province. Guandong was the first economic zone that Deng Xiaoping created when he started to open China in 1979. I have to admit, I had never heard of Guanzhou. So as we traveled back to China on our bus, I thought that we would find ourselves traveling across small villages and rice paddies. It was quite the opposite. In fact, it’s even hard to determine where the city limits are because the city skyline never ends. The Guandong province is often referred to as “the world’s factory”.

We woke up early Saturday morning to visit Foxconn Technology Group or “Hon Hai Precision Industry”. We traveled to the company site not really knowing what to expect. We knew that Foxconn was the largest Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in the world but most of us had never heard of this company. With almost 300,000 employees residing on site, the Foxconn’s plant looks more like a city in itself. The scale and magnitude of the company’s facilities left us all speechless. After touring the company’s testing facility, we met with the chief learning officer. His presentation of the company was almost as mind blowing as the tour itself.

Foxconn’s clients include Apple, HP, LG, Sony, Dell, Motorola, Nokia, among others. This means that the company makes your IPOD, IPhone, Wii, playstation, cellular phones… basically 80% of all electronics are made by Foxconn. The company is already the most successful OEM in the world for electronics but Foxconn plans to get into the automobile industry among others. Our speaker also shared his personal goal to develop a university within the company to train employees and engineers. Though we have been very lucky to visit some extremely interesting companies, this was one of the most eye opening company visits that we have done. Before this Global Immersion, I had read several articles arguing about how things were no longer simply be “made in China” but rather “designed in China”. After visiting Foxconn, I could not think of a better example to illustrate this trend.

~Tiphany Rigaudias

ASIA: Shanghai's Yu Gardens

Today, four of my classmates and I took a trip to the Yu Gardens. Finding them was no easy task. The entrance to the Gardens is located in the middle of a maze of 400-year-old buildings. As you wind through the alleyways, vendors try to sell you everything from chopsticks to counterfeit I-Phones. Because we are clearly foreigners, the prices they quote us are about 300% more than they would quote a Shanghai native, but with about 10-15 minutes of bargaining, it is possible to pay incredibly low prices for anything you might want. After wandering for close to 40 minutes, we found the entrance to the Yu Gardens, which was located toward the back of a big courtyard containing a large tower surrounded by a moat.

Entrance to the Gardens was 40 Yuan, or about $5.5, and was completely worth it. The Gardens Have been around for hundreds of years and were built by a government official from the Qin Dynasty, restored in the 1950s. The trees in the Gardens have been trimmed so that the leaves and branches are perfectly flat. There is also a river that runs though the center. Overall the area is very aesthetically pleasing. I would highly recommend anyone who goes to Shanghai see the Gardens.

Today was only the first day we spent in Shanghai and there is so much to see, I feel like you would need a month to see it all. It is a very interesting city, and I would definitely recommend that anyone who has the opportunity to come here do so.

-- Francisco Hoyos

ASIA: Company Visit to P&G II

On Thursday, we left Hong Kong for a brief excursion to Guangzhou. While in Guangzhou, we were lucky enough to be invited to tour P&G's production facilities. It was quite exciting. We were able to tour the entire shampoo production line - all the way from where the bottles come in to where the finished product goes out.So what's the most interesting part of the assembly line? Your first guess might be to say the robot technology on the assembly line. After all, these robots automatically fill, pack, and brand tens of thousands of these bottles per day with a startling degree of accuracy and virtually no error. But what stuck in my mind the most was the very first stage of the production chain.Empty, brandless shampoo bottles - who knows, maybe even a thousand per minute at peak times - ride down a conveyor belt and are funneled into a giant vat. Humans then pick up these bottles, one after another, and place them upright on a conveyor belt, where they move on to the next stage (probably to be filled with shampoo). It was interesting to see humans performing this task when surely there was a machine that could do this just as well.Turns out, there was a machine that could this just as well - however, it simply cost P&G less to employ people to do this themselves. One of our classmates was told that these assembly line workers start out at about 25RMB (4USD) per hour. You might be saying that hey, that's only $8,000 a year without overtime. But in China, the average per capita income is less than $6,000 a person (and about $11,000 in this specific region). Just goes to show that sorting shampoo bottles for P&G is a hell of enviable job for someone from China.

- Paxton Flesher

ASIA: Company Visit to P&G I

We just spent a couple days in Guangzhou on company visits, and overall the experience was a little startling and very interesting. First of all, I was shocked at border control from Hong Kong to the mainland. We were traveling by bus, and when we hit the border everyone and all their belongings had to get off the bus, go through three separate checkpoints before getting back on the same bus on the other side. There were more checkpoints than there generally are at airports in a foreign country. I think of Hong Kong as being part of China (which it technically is), but its pretty clear that it remains even physically separate in big ways.

Our first company visit was at P&G, which was really cool. We got to actually go into the factory and see parts of the production line for shampoo and feminine products (sorry to the guys on the trip). We already had a great experience with P&G in Shanghai, where they took us around to three different retail channels to talk about their products. So it was really cool to be able to follow up to that and actually see those very products being manufactured. We saw the beginning of the shampoo line, which was really interesting because there were people (very rapidly) loading the unlabeled shampoo bottles onto the line to be filled. Seeing this impressed me with two different thoughts.

First, was surprise at seeing people doing things that I would completely have assumed to be automated - just another example of many that we've seen in China of the fact that it is cheaper to employ people than to buy the machinery for some tasks. The second thing that registered as we walked along the various shampoo brand lines was the fact that although I was only looking at the completely unlabeled bottle, I could tell exactly which brand of shampoo was on each line from the bottle's shape and color. I think this pretty clearly speaks to the power of P&G brands that each is totally recognizable with the bare minimum of visual cues.

-Erin Kazaz

EUROPE: What we eat..

So this is what has been on my mind this morning... I dont think anybody has touched this topic for the Copenhagen group.

Anyway, I would argue that about 67.4% of the time, everyone in the group eats at this place across the dorms called "Chilli Milli". Its a healthy salad/sandwich place thats a great value for what we pay. A sandwich (or two salads) will cost about 60 Danish Kroner, which ends up being about $11 USD. Not bad really, its good, healthy and very filling.

Although when you compare this to the other prices in other restaurants it makes a lot of sense why we are all pretty addicted to this place...

A chocolate croissant and a shot of expresso in the morning will cost 45 DKroner (apx $8USD!). A beer at a bar will cost the same...

According to the LPlanet guides, a cheap place to eat will be about 100 - 150 DKroner (apx $20 - $30 USD) And thats supposed to be a budget place to eat...

At the same time, you can always hit the street stands for a Donner Kebab or a HotDog that will cost about 30DKroner ($6USD). They're not the healthiest option, but they'll get the job done.

I hope that with these price comparisons, you can see why we all love Chilli Milli and eat there every day and sometimes even twice a day!

Although, I've always felt that part of the traveling experience is the food. And even though we all know the CMilli woman who serves us (Ursula) and gives us free drinks every once in a while, Im going to make a commitment to find new spots and interesting dishes even if I need to pay $10 usd more every once in a while.

Only a few minutes away from us, we apparently have some really good Tapas restaurants, sushi restaurants, local smorebreads shops, and even a Mexican restaurant (which I will avoid at all costs...)

In Brussels, a few of us (Hogan, Brandon, Glover, J.K) went to this great French restaurant that made our night -- Glover got the best plate, which was made of really simple ingredients. Ask her to share some more, and M. Brandon got a lavender aperitif that made her weak. We all had to get one of those too. J.Hogan looked great drinking purple Kir from a champagne glass.

Next time, I hope to be sharing some stories about interesting food in Copenhagen.

~Beto Llaguno

Greetings from Hong Kong!

Shanghai was a whirlwind, so I’m going to update you guys with some “this is what I’m doing/have been doing” and thoughts I have.

After landing in Shanghai, I felt like I was not only in a different city, but a different country. Ironically, I don’t know how to describe Shanghai but the same way I have described Beijing: a city of complete contrast. (But in a different way.)

Some friends and I climbed the longest arch bridge in the world. On top of the bridge, we could see all of Shanghai, including the body of water that separates the city. We also saw all the construction that is going on as a result of the World Exposition in 2010. Afterwards, we went and got steamed dumplings for 5 yuan per 6 dumplings (UNDER A DOLLAR!). Later on that night, we were able to get into M1NT an up-and-coming club in Shanghai (Google it!). We were lucky enough to know a “friend of a friend of a friend” who was a member and let us in (sounds cheesy, I know). The club had sharks swimming in tanks which is the main reason we went to the club. That day was a nice introduction to the city.

The next day was probably one of the best I’ve had in Asia thus far. A friend of a friend, Suda, took me all around Shanghai. Here’s the cliff notes version of what we did: lunch at Kommune (an Australian grille) which is located in an amazing art alley, French Concession where we went to the Shanghai library and hunted for old mansions, went to the Bund and looked at old banks, and had afternoon tea on top of a building. I learned so much from Suda’s knowledge as an ex-pat and was able to gain great insight on the city, cultural history and economic perspectives.

As I mentioned earlier, we had afternoon tea at this place called M on the Bund. Suda said this was the first Western restaurant establishment on the B area. From the top of the building, the view was amazing. Directly in front of me (and past the scones that I couldn’t stop eating) was Pudong (new Shanghai). There your mind is lost in a sea of skyscrapers and you forget that you are in China. It looks incredibly modern. You then turn you head left and see the Chinese flag and just behind it, shadows of very old buildings. Having tea in that location was a great privilege and has left me thinking about China’s past history and the implications for its future.

The next few days was followed with class and then we were lucky enough to have dinner with a variety of ex-pat businessmen. We had dinner at Szechuan Citizen, which was delicious and at times (very spicy) Szechuan food. I cannot say enough how lucky I feel to have the opportunity to meet such established people AND do it in Asia. We also had 2 company visits, which was a treat. (At one of the visits I met the most amazing woman ever. She was a teenager during the Cultural Revolution and has experienced things I cannot even imagine.)

Last night we flew to Hong Kong. We missed the vigil for Tiananmen Square at Victoria Park because one of our students was not allowed through customs because of passport issues (since resolved). We drove by Victoria Park only to see a mass of people. After reading the paper today, we realized that 150,000 people were there and 50,000 were turned away that night. Clearly, the Chinese have not forgotten what happened June 4th. It was so interesting to leave mainland China on June 4th (where there is no mention of the events at Tiananmen) and then fly to Hong Kong were speech is unrestricted. In fact, when we were in Shanghai, whenever the TV made any mention of Tiananmen, our screen would just black out. No joke.

We had our first class at HKUST, and the course was called Social Issues in China. It was good to be able to discuss what we’ve seen so far in China - the growing gap between the rich and poor and the mistreatment of migrant workers.

My heart was broken to see the number of children and elderly I saw on the streets of Shanghai and Beijing. Even now in Hong Kong, though it’s not as visible, I have a hard time reconciling these feelings. Since arriving, I've visited Big Buddha and climbed a 934 km peak. It was gorgeous and exhilerating. At times, I didn’t think I was going to make it. I also made friends with some locals with my Cantonese skills which I hope are improving.

~Phi Trinh

Hong Kong and Macau: Not what you expect

The biggest lesson I can give you about traveling though Asia is that things often do not turn out anything like what you first imagined. If you go in with an open mind and eager to explore beyond the typical guidebook recommendations, you’ll certainly be surprised (mostly in a good way).

For one, we had heard on a regular basis that the pollution in China is a terrible problem (which it is for Beijing and Shanghai). In Hong Kong you can definitely get back to nature if you venture out of the city even a little bit. At the top of Victoria Peak you can find nature trails that take you though a tropical forest and offers great views of the island. Hong Kong is actually a much bigger territory most people think. Some of the islands have beaches, hiking trails, and giant Buddha statues.

In this picture, the sun is setting just past a historic mansion on top of the peak.

Lee Robertson, Lauren Schmidt, and I stop at a nice waterfall along the trail.

Hiking up to the Buddha on top of Lantau Island.

Another aspect that has turned out completely differently than expected was the experience at HKUST. The University boasts some very accomplished faculty, like Cassian Cheung, the former head of Walmart China and Professor Laurence Franklin who also teaches UVA classes at Darden and the Law School. HKUST is located on an almost resort like campus on the South China Sea. We had the chance to spend one afternoon lounging by the pool while some tried to play basketball with nearly 100% humidity outside. It offered a nice break from our classes with Professor Cheung earlier in the day.

This picture shows one of the dozens of patios that overlook the water.

I also wanted to include our trip to Macau and what turned out to be a very long but fun night. Having never been to Las Vegas myself, I can’t directly compare the two but those who have say they are almost exactly the same. Enormous casinos, great restaurants and bars are all in one place. You will most certainly forget that you are in still in China. I only offer two pieces of advice. First, definitely dress up for the night (think James Bond in Casino Royale). Brand new Chinese suits and flashy dresses will set an amazing tone for the night and hopefully make you feel lucky. Second, at least sit down for a couple hands at one of the tables. If you are feeling particularly guilty or trying to stick to a budget then be sure to take advantage of the free drink service.

We all stopped for a picture in front of the MGM Grand fountain.

Another view of Hong Kong at night from Kowloon.

~Joe Goings

What is North?

North is where we are. As you have heard from everyone in the crew, things in Copenhagen are stellar. This week has been filled with presentations, papers, and tests. This has not stopped MS Commerce students from doing what they do best, studying. Kearby and I logged a total of 8 hours preparing for our presentations today, while Shawn and Ben took the prize with 10 hours total preparation. Look how exhausted they are:

It paid off in their presentations. Meanwhile Chad has forgone studying altogether in exchange for transforming himself into a movie star. His mustache and Ray Ban Wayfarers have created an alter ego similar to the paradigmatic European man shown here. Of course the paradigmatic European male can only aspire to look as good as these two:
The real subject of this blog will be the trip that you haven't heard about yet. Beto and I were cued into a fishing area north of Malmo in Sweden (5959 miles from Mexico) that is rumored to boast Baltic Pike in the 25 kilo range. Yes, that was enough to entice us. We persuaded Mary Griffin to join us, which was a great decision. The three of us rounded up our bikes and hopped a train to Malmo with large backpacks and fishing gear.


We made our way about 20 miles north and camped out on a beach hoping to tie into some sea run brown trout. That didn't happen so we drank beer and chilled on the beach with a fire. We were pretty amped about fishing pike inland the next day. We all slept well under our ghetto-rigged tent by the shore:

The beach was gorgeous, a beautiful meadow with flowers and huge rabbits running around.

The next day was spent hunting pike. We were ambitious until we talked to a local who laughed at us for coming out at the wrong time of year. I was bummed but we didn't have any other options, right? Prime time fishing season was in March, oh well. We caught nothing. Actually Beto got a needle fish, which is nothing.

Regardless, it was an enjoyable trip. As Mary and I know, not every trip means fish, and a lot of it is getting the feel of the area in order to come back and dominate next time. Beto was upset because he wanted to catch fish. We spent the last night chilling in Malmo with this sunset and some tall Carlsbergs, which as I learned from Mary Brandon today and her stellar group, is a cool company.

While most folks headed back to Copenhagen after Brussels, I headed to my home away from real home, Zurich. For those who haven't been, maybe these photos will inspire you.

That's all for now check out this video that Jamie is now obsessed with. It is pretty inspiring as well. Thanks for listening.

-Tyler Hogan

EUROPE: Photos of Brussels from Christina Matthews

Group photo (left to right): Christina Matthews, Tyler Hogan, Mary Brandon Ingram, Dan Amberger, Alberto Llaguno, Andrew pascoe, Kearby Chen, Stephanie Glover, Jae Young Lee, and Jessica McHie.
The European version of a strip mall.

In Brussels, all the street lights were painted with smiley faces.

The Palace

Café Leffe

Europe: Downtime in Copenhagen

Goddag. That is "hi" in Danish! I'm taking lessons. So far, you have heard from people about all the activities we do in Europe, so I wanted to mix things up a little and show everyone what those in my apartment do in our downtime. I live with Jae Young, Christina, Liz, Steph, Mary G and Jess. In Copenhagen, they go by the moniker "The Babes and Jess". They love to Gchat, as you can see from the following pictures. Skype is pretty big too.





The ever lovable Kerby also resides with me. He and his roommate Tyler Hogan are probably the two best buds in the entire apartment. Here is a picture of them hanging out. The Danish have a word for this called "hygge", which translated roughly means "cozy and snug". It implies shutting out the turmoil and troubles of the outside world and striving instead for a warm intimate mood.



From time to time, we get the occasional visitor who likes to relax with us. For instance, Jamie generally spends his time in the kitchen cleaning dishes.



Another common visitor is Shawn Patrick. He loves his blackberry. He is on it 24/7. He really likes to keep in touch with friends and family. Especially ones in Florida.



Mary Brandon lives a floor below us. She visits all the time and hangs out in our rooms for hours. When she is not here we can just message her.



While we all have our different vices to kill some downtime in our apartment I am particularly proud of what I have been doing. In between reading the Wall Street Journal, The World is Flat, and Atlas Shrugged -- in addition to taking Danish lessons -- I have been working out a bit (too much...NOT).




Thanks for your time, and as they say in Denmark, "Vi ses!" or see you later!

--Adam Fassnacht