Update on my last weekend in Spain



One of the buildings in Sitges.



Although I have been back in the US now for over a week I did have a wonderful weekend in Spain that I felt I should write about.  On Saturday, the 15th of January, we boarded a train and traveled about 45 minutes to a coastal town by the name of Sitges.  When we set foot in this quaint little town we were welcomed to a nice fresh scent of the Mediterranean.  Before we get head down to the beach we set out to find a post office so that we could send off our postcards postmarked from Spain.  That was about an hour adventure of travelling from tobacco store to tobacco store (this is where we discovered they sold stamps) until we finally found one that offered them for sale.  Since the post office was within a couple of blocks of where we finally found the stamps we decided to stop off there and have our postcards properly stamped :)  With that errand behind us we set off to the beach to frolick in the waves and create art in the sand. 



Brrr!



Although we only spent a few hours at the beach it was so nice to just relax and take in the beautiful scenery and just enjoy one another's company.  Afterwards, we located a place to grab a quick sandwich and then set off to do some shopping.  To my dismay, I discovered almost the entire town had shut down for the siesta and my shopping adventures were cut short.  Around 5 we boarded the train back to Barcelona so that we could do some quick shopping before we met up for dinner.  I tried and tried to find the ceramic store I'd been told about, but finally had to give up the ghost as it was time to meet up with the rest of our group for dinner at our favorite establishment.  When we arrived at the restaurant (now the 4th time that we had been back to this place) the owner instantly recognized us and got on the phone to call in our FAVORITE waiter.  About an hour in to dinner, he finally arrived (to this day I still do not know what his name is, but we referred to him as Diego) and our dinner became a joyful matter of much laughter.  Around 11:30 we finally decided to call it an evening and headed in for the night.



Me, KP, Ernesto, owner of restaurant, our FAV waiter, Nicki, Val, & Reese



The next morning we left at 10am to go in to the main part of the city to finish our shopping.  Since I had put this off till the very end, I had a lot to buy in a very short period of time.  I did manage to finish up and then we headed back to start packing and to take a short siesta.  Around 7 we met up with our group and headed to dinner at Tapa Tapa and then boarded the metro to head to the stadium to see FC Barcelona!  I have never experienced the excitement of a sporting event like I did that evening.  I am so glad that I decided to go see the soccer game even if they didn't play till 9pm and we didn't get back to the hotel till around midnight....this was only bad because we needed to be in the lobby at 3:30am to head to the airport to begin our long trek home.  All in all, though, the weekend was a huge success and was worth any shortage of sleep we may have gotten so that we could enjoy our last days in Spain.  I am so thankful that I was able to go on this trip and learn so much about the Spanish culture and the long walks we were able to trek on everyday.

Our Last Day of School

Our professors, Turner and Martin along with Carlos.

Our last day of school was more of a wrap up day with each of us presenting a short speech about our two most memorable cultural experiences and two things that we learned from our lectures and/or site visits.  To me, I truly enjoyed the Leadership lecture at Synthon Pharmaceuticals and the site visit at DKV which focused on Corporate Social Responsibility.  As for the cultural experiences, I was most in awe of Gaudi's works and the trip to Montserrat.  At noon we went to a room to enjoy a lunch together of Catalan chicken and a coffee gelato dessert.  Wine and champagne were served, as well, along with a nice cup of espresso.  After eating, a large group of us journeyed over to the FC Barcelona stadium to purchase our tickets for the Sunday night game.  I have to say, it was fun watching the guys in our group try to figure out the best way to the stadium and we spent a little extra time in the metro station while they studied the maps and routes of the various metro lines.

After that fun adventure we called a few of the group who did not go down to the stadium with us as we were ready to explore Gaudi's Casa Batllo.  I am not sure I can explain the wonders that awaited us inside this house that was completely designed by Gaudi.  While the outside represented the dragon's scales on the roof and the bones of all its victims, the inside was a completely different story of an underwater fantasy.  We were treated to six floors of simply amazing architectual wonder along with a visit to the roof where we could look out on the city.  There are no straight lines used anywhere within the house and at the attic level it was designed such that we were within a whale and the arches were its rib cage.  The way that he manipulated light in the house and found ways to get the best results is simply amazing.  I would recommend anyone visiting Barcelona to make sure that this tour is on their list.  A little bit pricy (14.40 Euro with the student discount), but worth every Euro we paid.



The main living room.



The back patio off of the dining room.



Lightwell in middle of house.



The roof.



The attic, the "ribs".



Casa Batllo



Afterwards, we located a wine bar where the group enjoyed a glass of wine and for myself, instead of wine, I had a nice cup of cafe con latte.  We decided to go back to the hotel at that point as the temperature had dropped significantly and I needed to get a coat before we headed back out for dinner.  We chose to stick close to the hotel that night as we had had a very long day, so we went up to metro stops and found a little local place where I ordered a very greasy pepperoni pizza.  Not the best meal I've had, but it sufficed for a quick dinner.  Yet again, though, another terrific day in Barcelona.

Mornings at school, evenings with friends

Tuesday morning began with instruction time over Fighting Poverty and Social Exclusion.  Our professor for the day introduced Fundacio Engrunes, a local company who takes those individuals who are socially excluded from their society and employs them in a two-year program that teaches them basic skills so that they can become socially included.  For the last group that came through the program, 83 individuals joined the program and after two years 3 were successfully employed and 22 had successfully completed the program but were currently unemployed.  When it was asked if the company was successful in its endeavors because 3 out of 83 seems like a very small ratio it was commented that yes, just 1 now included back in to society is considered a success.  We then boarded a bus and headed to this facility so that we could see it in action.  The employees were involoved in such jobs as construction, waste management, sorting clothes that had been donated through the community, etc.  Through these jobs, employees learn punctuality, obedience, and responsibility.

Casa Mila (La Pedrera)

After our return to campus we decided to go see out the Gaudi houses so that we could tour them.  The two houses we had chosen, though, were both closed.  One was under construction and would be re-opened on Friday and the other house had closed at 2 that day and it was already 4, so we decided we would return on Friday to make sure we would still get to see them.

Casa Batllo

For dinner that evening, one of our classmates works for Cisco and had contacted a local VP to dine with us.  We met up on La Rambla and ordered tapas galore and spent a couple of hours asking questions about running a business in Spain and any other international questions that we could come up with.  Andrew, the VP, was very considerate and kind and was very patient with all of our questions.  It was a very informative evening and I appreciate the time that was given to us.


I ate octupus!

 On Wednesday we did not have a site visit planned, but a 4 hour lecture on Global Marketing.  Although I had International Marketing last semester the approach that this instructor took was much more innovative and expanded on the 4 P model by adding People and Profit to the equation.  Probably the most interesting portion of this lecture is when we discussed trends and the ability to see the evolution of products and forsee the future of where these products were headed.  We discussed many trends in today's market and we discussed the evolution of that product and what we predicted would happen next.  After class we found a local cafe and enjoyed a nice lunch and then headed back to the hotel for a siesta.  I was content to lay low and work on my blog, catch up on email, and just relax, but a group were headed out for dinner and enticed me to come along.  We found another local seafood joint with our group of 13 and didn't finish eating till around 11:30 at night.  Since it was so late we had to hoof it as fast as possible up La Rambla so that we could make the last metro train of the evening which left at midnight.  We made it with minutes to spare so fortunately we did not have to seek out a cab or make the long walk back to the hotel.  The late night life on La Rambla revealed the many hustlers that try to sell drugs to the passerby, so we had to be extra careful not to engage these individuals and remind ourselves to be vigilant of our surroundings.  This was quite unsettling, but I was with a group of 9, so I felt a bit safer with this in mind.  We made it back to the hotel by 12:30 and settled down for the evening.  It is quite strange the late nights that Spaniards keep and am afraid that I will continue this habit when I return to the states.


At Synthon for our lecture portion.

 Today we met for our last full day of instruction.  We boarded the bus at 9 am to head out to Synthon Pharmaceuticals and for about an hour we discussed Leadership and then received a tour of the facility.  Of all of the lectures the past two weeks, this by far was my FAVORITE.  This tied in to my current profession and was very relevant to my life.  I truly love my job and hope that I currently carry a lot of the traits that were discussed, but I was given many ideas that I want to move forward with when I return to work and gives me plenty of milestones to set for myself.  Once the lecture was over, we were then given a tour and were shown an area where tablets and capsules were created and formulated.  We were shown the quality control area where a sample of each lot is tested along with the research and analysis area.  This is a very fascinating company and we are very fortunate to have been able to spend time there today.  Afterwards we came back to the hotel and pretty much took it easy for the rest of the day.  We took a siesta and then this evening we ordered sushi and ran to grocery store to pick up some wine.  We are now playing card games and having wonderful conversations and just enjoying each others' company.

From the Mountain to the Sea

We woke up on the 9th ready for our highly anticipated trip to Montserrat.  Montserrat, about an hour train ride from Barcelona, houses the infamous "Black Madonna" or Shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat.  Legend (or as the Catholics believe) has it that St. Luke carved the statue of the Madonna somewhere around 60 A.D. and brought it to Spain where it was eventually hidden from the Moors, but rediscovered in 880 A.D..  Shepherds stumbled upon the statue again in the 13th century when they supposedly beheld a bright light along with music that led them to where the statue had been hidden.  The bishop at that time wanted the Madonna moved, but she weighed so much that it was not possible to do so and remained at Montserrat.  Of the four original chapels at Montserrat in the 9th century only one remains to this day and by the 11th century a monastery was opened.

Here is where historians disagree with what the church states as true.  Historians believe that the Madonna was carved in the 12th century.  But, many individuals report that this Black Madonna has performed miracle after miracle in either case.

Towards the end of the 18th century, Napoleon destroyed most of the sanctuary atop Montserrat, but due to the popularity of the monastery it did not take long to restore the shrine and in 1881 the Black Madonna was named the patron saint of Catalonia (the region where Barcelona resides).


The view from our tram ride.



After our hour long train ride we then climbed aboard the sky trams to begin the descent up to the top of the mountain.  This ride probably took about 5 minutes or so of breathtaking views of the mountainside and the surrounding foliage.  Once we reached the top we seperated amongst smaller goups and hit the area to see the sights.  We first headed to the basilica, but on the way we got side-tracked by one of the statues and had to stop for a photo shoot.  We then continued on up and was astounded by the beauty of the basilica.  We entered and admired the beauty of the interior and the intricate artwork within and then joined the 30 minute line to go see the Black Madonna.  It was very fascinating to see such a relic that had survived over so much time, whether it was 60 A.D. or as late as the 12th century, this piece of iconic art is an amazing artifcat of history and I am so blessed to have been able to see this in my lifetime.

Once we were done with the basilica, we headed down to the cafeteria to grab a quick lunch and then we boarded the funicular and jetted up the mountainside to enjoy a light hike and inspiring views.  The weather out was ideal and the atmosphere enjoyable with the many friends that I have made on this trip.  As the time got later, we headed back down the mountain so that we could board our outgoing train and make the hour ride trip back in to Barcelona.

The main area of Montserrat upon departing the tram.

Once we returned to the main train station we decided it was time for dinner so we sought out a local restaurant where I had potatoes bravas and a bowl of ravioli. It was then decided that it had been a long day so we drug our weary bodies back to the metro and stumbled in to our beds for another night's rest.

Sources cited:  http://www.sacred-destinations.com/spain/montserrat-shrine

The statue we stopped at for photos.





 

The "Black Madonna"



Once up the funicular, such a beautiful view.



The morning of Monday, January 10th meant a return to school and the true agenda of our trip so we met for breakfast and then a brisk walk to school.  Our instructor for the day works at the port of Barcelona and her career background coupled with her degree in industrial engineering provided a very thoughtful and insightful lecture on Logistics within businesses.  Once her lecture was over, we headed up the hill from the school to board a bus to tour the Port of Barcelona.  We watched a quick overview video on the port's operations and then boarded a bus to begin a tour.  We viewed the different types of activities that the port was involved in, such as cruises, cargo handling, etc. and after about an hour returned to the main hub.  We were then released for the day to frolick around the city with a promise of meeting up for breakfast the next morning for another day of school.

From the port, we headed over to Barceloneta (a neighborhood of seafood restaurants just east of La Rambla) to find a quaint seafood restaurant to eat at.  I enjoyed an oven-roasted chicken (yes, yes, I realize that this is not seafood) and a side of calamari (There!) and then headed over to the Mediterranean sea for a quick dip (trust me, just our feet, muy frio).  We spent about 30 minutes hanging out near the water and using the time for a photo opportunity and then headed back west to La Rambla to hit the Boqueria before it closed.  The Boqueria is the oldest open market in all of Europe and when we descended upon it we were tickled to find stall after stall of chocolates, candies, fruits, vegetables, and meats.  The colors meshed together formed a potpourri of exquisite designs and the market was a rainbow of delight.  After making our purchases we decided that tonight would be our laundry night.

When we got back to our rooms we threw all of our dirty items in to bags and descended on the front desk to find where the closest laundromat was situated.  After about a 10-block haul of our suitcases down the city streets we finally found the local neighborhood laundry and made a night of comraderie over cheeses, bread, grapes, strawberries, cookies, and wine while we chit-chatted and waited for the clothes to be done.

All in all, a very successful day and we headed back in for another night of rest.





The Boqueria





El Vino a Torres

Today was our scheduled Torres winery tour!  I think the entire group of students, and instructors, were buzzing with excitement for this trip.  We arrived around 10am and we boarded a trolley like shuttle to carry us through the tour.  We learned the differences between the red and white wines and the different processes that are needed to be done between the two.


Are you ready for a trolley ride?

 Additionally, we learned that in order to press the grape as soon as possible that new technology was purchased to bring the grape smasher (I'm sure there was a proper word for this, but I have forgotten) to the fields, so to keep the grapes from fermenting they could be squashed within 20 minutes of being picked!  Truly amazing.  We then were taken underground so that we could see where the bottles were stored and the barrels of wine were kept.  During this portion of the tour we were completely surrounded by darkness until a really interesting video of how the monks way back when began cultivating grapes to make wine which then, many years later, the patriarch of the Torres family began this estate.



You might be on the other tram, but we can still see you!



The Torres family now has additional locations in Chile and California.  The most remarkable item I took away from this visit was the care of the earth that Torres tries to implement in its vineyards and its storage.  Where we first entered, was a wide area of sand (the picture below you can see the sand in the background).  They use this to cover their storage area and since the sun beats down on the sand it reflects the sun back so that it does not take as much energy to cool the storage area.

They also use many solar panels and receive a lot of their electricity from this source.

After the tram ride, our guide, Kati, took us back inside for a complementary tasting of a red wine and then turned us loose in their store to purchase additional testings of any wines that were interested in.  I chose a white wine and a dessert wine that were truly magnificent (if you enjoy the sweeter wines) whereas many of the group went for the reds and the brandy.



What to try next...darn decisions.



Great afternoon for a wine testing.



Before we left many of the group purchased bottles of wine to bring back with them, but we took a moment to grab a picture of the MBA students with and without our professors.

We arrived back at the hotel around 1:30 and I headed back to La Rambla to see if the shopping area had subdued in numbers any.  I spent a couple of hours roaming the shops, but nothing really caught my eye.  I realize I only have one more week left and my children will expect gifts upon my return so I will need to return soon to see if I can find the perfect gifts for them.

After shopping I caught an hour siesta and then Nicki, Colleen, and myself found a nice little restaurant where I enjoyed a salad with a honey dressing with goat cheese!!  It was wonderful.  We also had bruschetta, tuna on toast and some Spanish omelets for tapas while we tested Colleen's meal which I do not recall now what it was called, but contained something similar to rice mixed with eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, and other fabulous vegetables.  It is now in the early hours so I must head to bed as tomorrow we are headed to the monastery of Montserrat.  Should be another wonderful day of sight-seeing.

Shopping the day after a major holiday really wears you out....

Yesterday was another day that we did not have to go to the classroom, but had a field trip to DKV.  Our topics for the day were International Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility and DKV was a great example of CSR in action.  Spain has a national health system so health insurance is free to all the people, but DKV is a private insurer, marketed towards the wealthier segment, that offers benefits such as faster access to care, better facilities and a larger choice of providers to choose from.  The unique quality that DKV provides is that 60% of their employed staff in the call center have some form of physical disability.  DKV trains these employees and helps place them in other work areas if they choose to leave the company, or they can stay with the company if they choose.




Silvia, our instructor for the day with our tour guide.

  Key items taken from lecture:
Top 5 global brands of 2010

• Google
• IBM
• Apple
• Microsoft
• Coca-Cola

The four Spanish companies in top 100:

1. Zara
2. Santander
3. BBVA
4. Movistar

The new trend for 2010 of companies that made top 100 was maintaining and increasing budgets to support brand loyalty.  This was the first year that all BRICs were represented in the top 100, as well (these include Brazil, Russia, India, and China).  The new trend is referred to as schizophrenic consumerism patterns where people are spending more money on their health, such as oral care, healthy fast foods and items such as Bud Light in order to maintain a healthier lifestyle so less time or money is needed to be spent on such things as dental care, etc.  People are also spending more money on unhealthy small indulgences, such as alcohol/beer, tobacco, fast food, and coffee.  The new trend also includes more control (such as only using debit cards, shopping at small stores so as not to be swayed to buy additional items, and shopping online for exactly what is needed), technology (to help organize and simplify your life and cell phones), and responsible consumption (using more middle brands instead of premier brands and cutting back on the use of water bottles).

We then changed gears and started talking about Corporate Social Responsibility and analyzing whether it was cut back during the latest financial crisis that we were in.  Studies have been performed to see how important green items are and green behaviors and if customers expect responsibility of companies to tackle these issues.  Silvia showed us a great youtuve video of Severn Suzuki and if you have never seen this before, please take the seven minutes to listen:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPx5r35Aymc. 

All in all, it was a very intriguing discussion and has probably been my favorite topic and field trip thus far in to the program.

We returned to our hotel around 2pm and decided to take a siesta before attacking La Rambla for some mega-shopping.  The sales were out en masse since Thursday had been the big holiday for Spain (I'd have to gather that it was more important than Christmas) and just like in the States after Thanksgiving and Christmas there are huge sales.  When we came off of the metro, we were astonished to find the area packed with people shopping for the best deals they could find.  We attempted a handful of shops, but realized it just wasn't worth the frustration and the constant shoving so we headed to a little bistro to eat a light snack and drink a cup of coffe.

Cafe con leche!

After this brief rest, we continued to look around, but decided that we were really ready for dinner so we headed back to a restaurant that the group frequented a couple nights back as the owner had promised a bottle of champagne if we came back on Friday night.  We got there around 7, but forgetting that Spain does not traditionally begin dinner at the earliest at 8, we were disappointed to find the doors locked so we headed back out to kill some time till 8 (as we assumed it would be open by then).  Around 8:30 we found our way back and this time they were open, HOORAY!  Nicki, Val, and Ernesto ordered the seafood paella, but Colleen and myself ordered a plate of spaghetti to share as neither of us were really wanting seafood that night.  The owner/waiter delivered on his promise of free champagne along with a free pitcher of sangria and two free tapas.  After dinner we decided to call it a night and headed back to the metro station so that we could find our beds for the night.

Our favorite owner/waiter!

 

Colleen and myself with our spaghetti.



    

Seafood paella.

We had another successful day and evening in Barcelona and we could not wait to start our next day which included a trip to the Torres winery and whatever other adventures we could include in the rest of the day.

Feast of the Epiphany

Yesterday morning began with breakfast and then boarding a bus to head to the manufacturing plant of Punto Blanco located in Igualada.  Punto Blanco, most famously known as the premier company in Spain that makes socks, they also make underwear for men and women.  We were given a tour of the plant from where they dye the threads to where the socks are made and the seams inserted.  Quite fascinating to see the machines in use and the amount of socks that are generated on a daily basis in this plant.  We then headed back to the meeting room to discuss the business model that Punto Blanco uses and compared that


Punto Blanco

 business model against the one used by Zara.  All in all, it was a very fascinating business trip and I learned tremendously from it and realizing the different paths that can be taken when making business decisions.

After our site visit, we returned to the hotel (after about an hour long bus ride) where I consumed my sandwich and fell in to a siesta coma.  Around 6ish, I woke up and we headed back down to La Rambla so that we could watch the huge parade for the Feast of the Epiphany.  The Feast of the Epiphany is truly the real Christmas for the country of Spain.  Although Christmas day is acknowledged and most children receive a token gift on that day, the true Christmas for these children is January 6th where they are visited by the three magi that visited Christ in Bethlehem.  After the Mardi Gras type parade we decided to find a place to eat dinner, but I started feeling not so great so I headed back to the hotel to find my bed to get some rest and hope that rest would do me good (which it did).





Celebrating the holidays in sock style at Punto Blanco.

This morning we were supposed to meet in the lobby of our hotel at 9:30 to head out to La Familia Sagrada.  Unfortunately, both Nicki and myself seriously overslept and awoke to one of our classmates knocking on our door at 9:45am.  Talk about an adrenaline rush when we realized that we were that late in waking up.  The group decided to go ahead and head down to La Sagrada Familia and we were going to hurry up and get ready as fast as we could and meet them down there.  A little confusion happened when we boarded the metro and a fifteen minute trip took us about an hour, but when we walked off of the metro we were struck by amazement at the view before us.  No matter what you have read or seen in pictures, La Sagrada Familia will knock you over with its imposing size and the amount of detail that strikes you in the face immediately.



Coming off of the metro and turning around this was our view.

There are no words to describe this building designed by Gaudi except as awe-striking.  I know there has been plenty written about Gaudi, both good and bad, saying that he was either the most talented architect or the worse, but in my opinion the man was a genius.  I am not an art critic, nor do I know much about architecture, but seeing what he accomplished with the materials that he used and the use of light in his work and the stories that he told through his reliefs is, simply put, an amazing talent.  I could go on and on about each of the areas within the church, but this church alone is worth the trip to Barcelona to see for one self and to form your own opinions.  I will include some photos (probably not the best shots with my little ol' camera) that will give you an idea of what we were treated to.



As you can see, I could add more and more photos, but without seeing it in person would be a shame as this is truly a spectacular edifice.  After completing our tour of the La Sagrada Familia we then started the hike up to Park Guell.  What an enchanting visit this turned out to be.  The weather was beautiful and the park full of visitors and performers, but the moment was magical nonetheless.  The sea serpent bench that circles the main park is a mosaic of colors and interestingly enough were formed by a naked worker's buttocks imprinted in clay to get the curves within the bench.  We then climbed up to the highest point of the park which is marked by two small crosses and one large cross.  We then began our descent and made a quick stop in the front to visit the lizard (I HAD to see the lizard).




 

        

Children playing in Park Guell.




Overlooking the park.



Band performing in the park.







At the highest point in the park.



The lizard I just had to see.





After our visit we headed back down the hill to find some lunch.  Well, I should say to find the others some lunch as I still had my sandwich in my purse from earlier in the day.  After eating, we finally made it back to the hotel around 5ish and we all decided a quick siesta was in order so that we could head out for dinner around 7:30.  A group of 11 of us left the hotel around 8 and found a hole in the wall restaurant where Nicki and I shared a plate of spaghetti and I had a nice huge salad to get some vegetables in me as it seems it is very easy to forget to eat vegetables as they are not very common to find on the menus.  On our way back to the hotel we stopped at a little convenience type store and picked up some goodies to tide over our chocolate cravings and called it an early evening as we had to meet in the lobby for school the next morning by 8:30 to head to our lesson for the day on International Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility.