ASIA: Hong Kong, The Peak

Claire Bordley and Jen Solomon take the tram to admire the view from Hong Kong's Victoria Peak.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this is a 5,000-word blog post.

A palacial home (complete with personal security) atop Victoria Peak.

Perils in the Kitchen

As I'm sure you all now realize from every other post on here about the city, Copenhagen is an absolutely amazing place. The beautiful streets, parks, and people have not ceased to impress all of us from the second we arrived. However, despite all of this, the sole complaint of the group is definitely the cost of food. While prices of everything seem to be a little steep, the cost of eating out has been the most shocking, everywhere easily costing double of what an equivalent restaurant in the US would be. So, about a week ago after splitting an extremely mediocre burrito and ending up with a $50 bill, including our $5 tap waters, my roommate Jessica McHie and I decided that we were going to start cooking meals in our apartment to save some money. Unfortunately, after living off Lean Cuisines and Qdoba, neither of us are good at, or even familiar with cooking.

After a very confusing trip to the grocery store, due to Jess and my general lack of knowledge about cooking coupled with the language difference, we set about to make our lovely dinner. Now this dinner shouldn't have been to complicated, pasta with pre-made pesto sauce and canned artichoke. Gratefully, about a month before we left for Copenhagen, Eric Chen taught me that you boil water before you put the pasta in it, so we had that part down. The decision about how much pasta to put in the pot proved to be tougher. Jess took the reigns on that one and about 10 minutes later our pasta looked done. After majorly struggling to drain the pasta without a strainer, Adam brought to our attention that we had about 20 noodles on the plate, maybe enough for half of a meal for one person. So, after Adam's advising (never a good sign when Adam Fassnacht is your cooking advice go-to) on how much pasta we needed, we started the whole process over again. So after about an hour, we had cooked pasta, unfortunately even after adding our pesto, it didn't nearly live up to our expectations, so we decided to spice things up a bit by adding some pepper and balsamic vinegar. After exploding the pepper bag all over the plate and Jess following in my lead and draining the plate in balsamic vinegar, we officially had the worst, but still edible, pasta dish in history. Despite our turmoil tonight in the kitchen, Jess and I have still decided that these next few weeks in Copenhagen are the perfect time for us to learn the basics of cooking, so that we come back to the US with not just a better grasp of the global business environment but also with the knowledge of just how to make pasta, and who know with some determination we may even move on to cooking vegetables or grilling chicken.

-Liz Benjamin

Back in Copenhagen

After a whirlwind of a week in Brussels consisting of many company visits, exploring the city on foot and late nights we are now, happily back in Copenhagen. For most of us Saturday was spent recovering from an intense week.

Saturday night was the soccer or should I say football game between Denmark and Sweden. The game was being played in Sweden but the city set up a huge tv screen in the central square.

Hundreds of people packed in to the square to watch the game and drink. We all headed down to the square to watch the game and join in the festivities. Fortunately, the dorm that half of us live in is only a five minute walk from our dorm.

It was a lot of fun to experience watching such a loved sport surrounded by Danes. People here get very excited about football. People had their faces painted and were wearing crazy hats. Every time Denmark’s goalie blocked a kick the crowd erupted in cheering. And when Denmark scored the one and only goal in the game the crowd went crazy. Tossing up their beer cans, singing and jumping around like crazy.

We’re now spending our Sunday hanging out and working on our project presentation that’s due this week.

-- Christina Matthews

Europe: Magritte and Tintin

Besides its food, Belgium is also known for its surrealist painter Rene Magritte. After hearing that a new Magritte museum had opened not too long ago in Brussels, a few of us wanted to check it out while we were here. So on Friday, Liz [Benjamin], Sam [Carr] and I went to see the newly opened Magritte museum by the Place Royale. We had a wonderful time! Although the collection was missing a few of his most famous works such as The Lovers or The False Mirror, we still had a chance to enjoy Magritte’s pastel blue sky dotted with fluffy clouds in his other paintings. We saw not only his paintings but also advertising art, posters, letters and photographs. The set-up was pretty interesting too. I liked how they displayed his works in chronological order on three floors.

After our visit to the museum, Liz and I went to look for Tintin museum as Belgium was the home of Tintin (Tintin is a character created by Belgian artist Herge). Unfortunately, the museum we were looking for was not in Brussels but in Louvain-la-Neuve so we decided to go to Tintin shop which was located at the Grande Place. We might have been the dorkiest people at the store but we sure had a lot of fun reminiscing over our childhood memories and remembering our favorite episodes and characters from the Tintin series. (photo: Liz Benjamin and Jae Young Lee)

~ Jae Young Lee

Europe: The highlights of Brussels: Food

While in Brussels, team Europe was more than happy to take in our favorite part of the Belgian culture--its food. And this, we experienced in excess. Not only was this food a delicious departure from the exorbitant prices of the average Danish fare, but it was also characterized by perhaps the unhealthiest options physically possible: waffles, French fries, mussels, chocolate and beer.
By trial and error, I found that three is the maximum number of these options that should be consumed in one sitting. For my first meal after our AB InBev meeting in Leuven, I tried a waffle, French fries, and a Leffe for lunch . . . poor decision making.

Similarly, on Wednesday night, we tried out the mussels in Brussels, and I’m not referring to Jean-Claude Van Damme. The whole group ate at Chez Leon, which is on a street where the waiters assault you to choose their restaurant over the ones just like it to either side. We had all-you-can-eat mussels with beer, French fries, and chocolate mousse. You’ll notice that this is over the suggested limit of three Belgian delicacies. While delicious at the time, the group had reached a food delirium by the time we left for the bar crawl that night. (See attached picture of Christina Matthews). Regardless, we all had a great time trying out the Belgian fare, and eventually learned from our initial over-eagerness.

- Mary Griffin

Asia: Shanghai to Hong Kong

Part 1: It’s 4:15 in the afternoon and we are at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport waiting for our plane to get here. So far, we haven’t heard anything besides “Attention: China Eastern Airlines flight MU509 to Hong Kong will not board on time because the plane is late.” No other details. And so we wait.

Hopefully, soon we will be leaving China. Hong Kong is classified as a Special Administrative Region, with its own government, so this will technically be an international flight. I am interested to see how different it will be, especially with regards to free speech. Today happens to be the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square tragedy, but you wouldn’t even know it. There is no mention of it in the newspapers, there are no banners in the streets and there is no unusual activity anywhere. We have heard a lot recently about the government working hard to suppress all talk of the incident. Many people in China don’t even know what happened there.

Tiananmen is one of the “Three T’s” along with Tibet and Taiwan: three taboo topics that no one is really supposed to talk about in China. A few of us have noticed that there have been random muted or blacked-out patches on international TV channels, like BBC. Our guess is that these are references to Tiananmen Square that are being censored out.

Earlier today, we had our final class session in China: a guest presentation from Nestor Gounaris and Jay Boyle, two American expatriates living and working with their own businesses here in Shanghai. One key take-away that I will remember is that regardless of what people say, there are no experts on China. As Matt Moore said in his blog a while ago: the world is BIG. This is especially true for China. There are many people here who can give you great advice, but every situation in every industry in every province is different. The best thing to do is to come here, start small and experience it for yourself. Use best practices and common sense where you can, but when those fail turn to creative problem solving. This advice is a great summation of what we have seen so far in Beijing and Shanghai, and their presentation was a great way to end our time in China.

Part 2: It’s about 11 pm here in Hong Kong. We made it! We took off from Shanghai about an hour late, and from the plane we were able to get a birds-eye view of the pollution that has been clogging Shanghai all week. Beyond that, the flight was very normal and we landed in Hong Kong just after sunset. After a brief incident involving John’s Ghanaian passport needing a visa, we got on a shuttle bus to head to our new hotel on Hong Kong Island. Seeing the city at night was amazing, and I am very excited to get to explore it over the next couple weeks.

Unfortunately, because of our delayed flight we didn’t have a lot of time to look around the city tonight. Several of us had hoped to go see a candle-lit vigil in remembrance of the Tiananmen incident, but we did not arrive in time. However, I did find a newspaper at 7-Eleven with a full-page photo of the student blocking a column of tanks in the square (you can see Christopher with the newspaper). That was proof enough for me that the central government exercises much less control here in Hong Kong, at least as far as free speech is concerned. All of the news channels here are talking about Tiananmen and remembrance ceremonies from around the world. It will be interesting to see what else is different here in the Special Administrative Region.

-Rob O'Connell
June 4th, 2009

EUROPE: A bit of China in Belgium

Hi everyone! Sorry the Europe team has been lax in blogging. We were in Belgium last week and did not have internet at our hotel. On Monday, we arrived in Brussels for a five day study tour. We took a bus from the airport and discovered that we were staying at a Chinese hotel called Maison du Dragon … so we experienced a bit of your culture here in Europe! We settled in and had our first meal, which was an authentic Chinese lunch in the hotel restaurant (for some reason Chad is camera shy, see below).

After lunch we went on a walking tour of the city with a guide. He had a great sense of humor, and we saw some interesting sites. We ended at a Belgian chocolate shop with a chocolate-making demonstration and history lesson. We drank some amazing hot chocolate and sampled chocolate pieces as well.

That night, we went out to a bar called Delirium that serves over 2,000 beers. We had a great time sampling some authentic Belgian beers. The next morning, we had our first company visit at ABInBev’s global headquarters which was interesting. They are located about forty-five minutes outside of Brussels in a town called Leuven. We hung out in the town for a little while and saw a “beetle on a needle” in the town square … we still have yet to figure out the meaning of that, but it was definitely an interesting addition to the town!

We had some other company visits and experiences in Belgium that I am sure the next few people will blog about. We all had a great time in Brussels, but it is very nice to be back in Copenhagen.

~Jessica McHie

ASIA: first day in Hong Kong

First Day in Hong Kong

I awoke this morning to a beautiful view of the water from my hotel room window on our first day in Hong Kong (Picture 1). We were all up and ready to leave the hotel at 815 a.m. because today was our first day at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). HKUST is a 30-45 minute bus ride from our hotel in Hong Kong, and although many of us were still half awake when we arrived, we were not disappointed by the school’s gorgeous campus. The mountainous campus is located in the New Territories, and the views are breathtaking (Picture 2).

After a brief introduction to HKUST, we had the opportunity to meet some current HKUST MBA students. HKUST’s business school is one of the best in Asia and is considered one of the top 20 business schools in the world. Afterwards, we were given a tour of the campus which included a welcome lunch with one of the dean’s of HKUST’s business school and some faculty members. Afterwards, we had a lecture on social issues in China.

It was strange to start on a Friday, but we all got through the day and are looking forward to the free weekend we have. Some of us are planning on staying around Hong Kong this weekend to take in the sites or go hiking while others are planning to go to Asia’s Las Vegas equivalent, Macau.

 -Matt Moore

 

ASIA: Just another day in Shanghai...

Just walking down the street, a few of us encountered this last week while we were in Shanghai....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiDEuJUNJbk

-video courtesy of Lauren Schmidt

ASIA: Beijing to Shanghai, a few observations

General observations about China:

1. Tiered pricing: very prevalent in China and consists of buyers paying different prices for essentially the same item. In the Silk Market, for example, one person might pay 1600 RMB for something that their friend can haggle down to 200. As an Economics major, this is an incredible thing to see in practice, because in theory, this is supposed to be more efficient than the traditional set prices. There is almost no gap between what buyers are willing to pay and what sellers are willing to sell for, so the sale happens almost every time. I would argue that although China is technically Socialist, this is capitalism and the market economy at its best.

2. Customer service: Chinese customer service and effort in the service and sales industries is far superior to American customer service. You want something? In a different color? Size? If they don’t already have it, they’ll find it for you. People were always on their cell phones in the silk market calling someone to bring the newer non-display versions of the item to the store. Where are these support sales people located? Who knows. Sellers work very hard and really long hours, and are almost always overtly enthusiastic in their approach to making a sale: for better or for worse. Servers at restaurants wait patiently to serve any and all needs through the meal, and yet the concept of tipping does not exist and a tip may even end up offending the waiter.

3. Transportation systems: very advanced, efficient, and accessible. New York City’s subway system could learn a thing or two from the way Beijing has their subway set up. Cab drivers in Beijing, however, will never take you to where you want them to take you to, even with a map and directions written out in Chinese. I blame it on the language barrier. And the fact that they just don’t care.

Beijing à Shanghai

Beijing was interesting. There were times when it was breathtaking and times filled with utter frustration.

Shanghai is developed -- easier to navigate, what many would think of when they think of a modern city. Our hotel is located in “People’s Square” which has LOTS of shopping malls and restaurants. We are right across a beautiful park a few museums. Our first night we went to a hot pot restaurant and had a great meal, and then did Karaoke at a KTV. Karaoke consists of getting a private room with about 3 mics, and one screen. The lyrics did not appear in English most of the time so we had to improvise to classics such as “I want it that way” by the Backstreet Boys. A few nights ago we discovered an all-you-can-eat-and-drink 150 RMB (about $22 USD) Japanese steakhouse (hibachi grill style). I am going to have a hard time adjusting to food prices in America when I get back.

A group of us took the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel and traveled in a tram through a tunnel which had ridiculous flashy lights and odd music to accompany the light show. We also visited the SWFC of Shanghai World Financial Center, which is the second tallest building in the world. The view from the top was amazing, and they had clear floors so you could look all the way down. Initially you feel a little lightheaded, but the view was fantastic. I went back again last night for dinner at the Park Hyatt and also to the jazz lounge upstairs. Watching a jazz band 93 floors up was unforgettable. The Shanghai skyline is beautiful, and with all the construction they have going on, I think it will be even more impressive in the future.

--Fiza Ahmed

ASIA: Arrived in Hong Kong

Company Visit to Tyco Electronics on Wednesday June 3rd

Company Visit to ABB Engineering Plant in Shanghai, Wednesday June 3rd

Ms. Cai Ge, Vice President and Head of M&A at ABB Engineering (Shanghai) Limited

Reception and Dinner at the Sichuan Citizen, hosted by Nestor Gounaris (Law, '01) and colleagues

Whew! After a whirlwind trip through Shanghai, we have arrived in Hong Kong! Our time in Shanghai was incredible. Little sleep, wonderful company visits, and lots of experiencing the city. Here are a few pictures to hold you over until we can post more on our time in Shanghai, but for now, we are off for our first day at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology!

ASIA: Exploring Shanghai

After arriving in Shanghai, Bill [Bridges] and I set out to explore the city. We soon found ourselves walking down a one-kilometer stretch of highly developed commercial real estate that was basically the largest outdoor shopping mall either of us had ever seen. Almost as soon as we got there we were approached by a person frantically shouting “Prada Gucci Rolex CDs DVDs TVs Ladies...”. He seemed to offer everything you could want and had the extensive product offering pamphlet to prove it.

As we continued walking down the mall, we were approached numerous times by similar vendors. In fact, they all began with “Prada Gucci Rolex CDs DVDs TVs Ladies...”, had the same pamphlet, and dressed in the same monochromatic manner. Within twenty minutes of walking through the mall, we must have been approached 30 times. This doesn't even include the highly entertaining game of spotting a vendor coming towards you, acting as if you are walking to one side of a pillar, and then using that pillar as your lead blocker - cutting to the other side, and leaving them wondering what happened. We soon realized that all these vendors were salesmen for the same company.

How could this business be profitable? As price mavens, we were consternated. How is it worth your time to sell an assumedly limited selection of DVDs when I can walk five blocks over to a DVD store and search a veritable library of 6 RMB (less than 1 USD) DVDs, without having to deal with a shady street vendor, moreover? Where do they even keep all this inventory? Policemen patrol the mall. As this business is illegal, vendors presumably keep the inventory out of the public's eye in a brick-and-mortar location somewhere close.

Even if they do manage to pique my interest, I'm going to haggle with them until I get a DVD down to 3 or 4 RMB (less the 50 cents), and will spend 30 minutes haggling over products I have no intention of buying - just to see how low I can get the price. How many customers do you think this thundering herd of salesmen can entice in an hour? Four or five maybe, if that? And unlike other clearly unprofitable and insolvent companies we have visited in China (such as a government-run Beijing silk store selling $5,000 USD rugs that we saw no other customers in for an hour), these people clearly couldn't be backed by the government - they sell counterfeit goods after all.

So why are there 40 to 50 of these guys wandering around the same one kilometer by one block stretch of land? Anybody with any insight into this, feel free to shoot me an email...

--Paxton Flesher (PWF3K@virginia.edu)

EUROPE: Adventures in Copenhagen

For Jamie (Kinsler, my roommate) and myself, our trip started out rocky. The first day when we arrived in Copenhagen it rained for most of the day. We were pretty excited when we could finally get into our dorm rooms. Upon entering our room we realized it lacked window coverings and the sink was not working. This was not what we expected, but we just rolled with it. [Everything has since been fixed.] Copenhagen has been an awesome time thus far, a testament to how cool this city is.

Last night a lot of us went to a Carnival celebration in Faelledparken after we got home from our 30 mile bike ride to Kronborg Castle. The bass from the speakers could be heard 5 blocks away from the actual park and the party that was taking place in the park was truly something to be seen. Needless to say, I think a good time was had by all last night (and probably by none this morning).

Today most of us spent part of the day working on our first assignment which was due this evening and packing for our trip to Brussels, which will require us to get up at 4 am tomorrow so we can catch our flight. On Monday, we will take a tour of Brussels and on Tuesday we will visit ABInBev's headquarters in Leuven (something that is pretty fortunate for my group considering it is the company for our project). I'm sure the next person up will share more about our experiences in Brussels, so I am going to go try and grab the 5 hours of sleep that still may be possible.

--Dan Amberger

ASIA: Final Presentations at Guanghua

ASIA: Final presentations at Guanghua

The Radisson Shanghai Welcomes Us!

ASIA: Final Presentations at Guanghua

Europe: Kronborg Castle

Today, a few of us decided to visit Kronborg Castle, better known as Elsinore, the setting of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Since we all had bikes, we figured we would bike to Helsingor (where the castle was)...approx. 30 MILES north of Copenhagen! To quote a line from Hamlet: "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." We not only saved some money but were able to also get a great workout and experience the Danish landscape in a way few Danes and even fewer tourists have.

It took between 2 and 4.5 hours and a couple detours (our cross-cultural skills really came in handy), but we all made it! We had a long/short lunch (depending on when you arrived) and set out to explore Kronborg Castle. The castle was built in 1425 and rebuilt in 1585 to defend the Øresund, a straight connecting the Baltic Sea with the Atlantic Ocean.

We explored the Maritime Museum, Telegraph Tower, Chapel, Royal Apartments, and the Casements (which we thought was the dungeon because it was dark and gloomy, but actually served as soldier quarters during times of war). Highlights included large beautiful tapestries and works of art in the Royal Apartments and a statue in the Casements of Holger the Dane, Denmark's legendary hero who sits slumbering, ready to be stirred into action the instant the Danish kingdom is threatened by an enemy.

Incredibly sore after a long day, most of us opted to take a nice 40 minute train ride back to Copenhagen while Steph and Sam chose to bike back to Copenhagen!

~Kearby Chen

On top of the Telegraph Tower in Kronborg Castle!

EUROPE: Getting into the Jive in Copenhagen

So today is officially the fourth full day of the Europe group being here in amazing Copenhagen. The UVa lacrosse boys finally arrived, gracing us with their presence yesterday which was exciting. As amazing as Europe is, however, I would like to say that I do very much miss the other half of the class currently in Asia. Life will go on, but it's not the same. (photo left to right: Ben Rubeor, Stephanie Glover, Michael Timms, Shawn Flaherty, and Jamie Kinsler)

I find myself in awe of Skype and the fact that I can clearly and freely talk to someone all the way over in China or the United States! A few of us spoke to Eric Chen this morning via Skype. Getting to say "Hi" to some people via video was definitely a highlight of my day.

Moving on to what this blog is about... Class the past two days has been led by Dean Z and Nelson, [Carl Zeithaml and Ryan Nelson], which has been awesome. We are mainly doing strategy right now and have already gone on two company visits: yesterday to the Shell Denmark Headquarters and today to Tivoli, the big amusement park in the center of Copenhagen. (photo: Jae Young Lee)

Tivoli was awesome, and we plan to go back, but we were a bit miserable today because it was freezing. There was a torrential downpoor, hail included. Imagine the seven of us UVa girls in skirts and flip flops, no rain jacket, and a scarf if you were lucky. The only thing that redeemed the trip was the free beer we got at the end of the tour.

So, on to other interesting and fun parts of the trip so far. I've been shopping, running, cooking (in our quaint little kitchen), and trying to soak up as much of the Danish culture as possible. That being said, last night was the Champions Cup in Soccer; Manchester United verses Barcelona. Here in Copenhagen, the game was aired on a huge TV screen in the middle of city with tons of people gathered around drinking, watching, cheering, and singing. It was an awesome experience. Although I wasn’t attached to either team, it was great to be around these fans that were so passionate.

So we currently have a list of about fifteen things written on a white board that make up our “must do in Copenhagen before we leave” list. We are crossing our fingers that many of these can get accomplished this weekend. There is still so much to do and experience. We are taking one day at a time, but enjoying every minute of it!

--Stephanie Glover

Photo of Team Europe!

ASIA: The World is not Small, Flat, or Round. It’s BIG.

After spending almost two weeks in Beijing, I have realized that the world can feel like a small place when you can go halfway around it and find a 7-Eleven, eat at Subway, or have McDonald's delivered to your hotel room at midnight. I was somewhat prepared for the presence of American foods in China, but I was not prepared for the "time barrier" between China and the rest of the world. (photo: Katherine Knight, Lee Robertson, and Matt Moore)

As I type this, it is just after 1 p.m. here in Beijing. I just finished lunch and am on my way to the Beijing Capital Museum with the rest of the group. Quite the opposite, however, the M.S. in Commerce group in Copenhagen is still asleep (or maybe still partying), and it is just after 1 a.m. back home in Virginia.

All of this wouldn't have been such a big deal twenty or thirty years ago, but today it’s cheaper and easier than ever to connect with our friends in Europe or family back home. So far I’ve been using our hotel’s wireless connection to call friends in Copenhagen and my parents and friends back home for free using Skype, a free application I was even able to download to my wi-fi enabled phone. I’ve also been able to use Skype to call landlines in the States for about 2 cents per minute as I try to find an apartment for when I start work [with Robert W. Baird & Co. in Flordia] this July.

“What’s the problem,” you might ask? Now that the world is so connected, we can realize just how big it is. Because we are twelve hours ahead of the United States, I can only catch my parents on Skype when they are just finishing up dinner and I’m eating breakfast before class. When I’m eating dinner here, my parents and friends back home are rushing to get ready for work in the morning.

The “ease” with which we communicate globally is in contrast to Professor Maillet’s remarks about the difficulties he had communicating with his family back home when he worked in Asia [a few years ago]. During our residency, Professor Maillet said that he would rarely call home due to the cost and poor call quality. However, in 2009, I can call halfway around the world for free with a flawless connection. Of course, I have to make sure the people I’m calling aren’t still asleep while I’m wide awake.

Another troubling part of the time barrier has been the inconvenience of watching American and European sports while we are in China. Jeremy (photo left, background), my roommate and admitted basketball addict, is unable to watch the NBA Playoffs because they are shown live here while we are in class in the morning. Even worse, Wednesday’s European Champions League final featuring Manchester United and Barcelona began at 2:30 a.m., Beijing time.

With all of the talk about the world being flat, or round, or small, I couldn’t help but think that it truly is a big place as I was setting my alarm for 2:30 a.m. on Thursday morning so I could get a few hours of sleep before watching the game.

--Matt Moore