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.