Our First Day of Business Visits

Today has been busy. It was our first day of business visits. Starting out, we knew this would be an adventure since we would be taking a tram, the subway, and maybe a trolly/bus. Unfortunately, we started the day with bad directions. But all ended well - just later than desired. Thankfully, our first visit was with a great company called Edusys (www.edusys.hu) who greeted us as if we were old friends. Edusys is a small company whose focus is on the spread of internet technology and the creation/development of distance learning education systems. Next we travelled to Cashline Inc. (www.clt.hu/en/), a trading company that works on both the Hungarian market as well as the US Stock Exachange. Students were given a short presentation about the markets, the recession, and then given a tour of the trading room inside Cashline.

The day ended with some disappointment. We have been walking past parliament many times over the past day or two. We were scheduled to have a special tour of the building and meet with MP Horvath (an economist who serves in parliament). Unfortunately, a dignitary from another country also visited parliament today and there was some miscommunication with our contact there so the visit didn't happen. We are holding out hope that Mr. Horvath can see us tomorrow, but he's a very busy man. Cross your fingers!

Some of us are heading to a large market in the area, while others are heading to a local museum called the House of Terror (http://www.terrorhaza.hu/).

Revolution Day 2010 Comes To An End

Everyone went on a bus tour of the city from 9-1 today. We visited the Citadel, which is the highest point in the city and you can see a large portion of both the Buda side as well as the Pest side (pronounced pesht). From there we visited other sections on both sides of the river including the Jewish section, Hero Square, and the castle district. (check out the slide show to the right for some pictures from the tour)

Once we were finished with the tour, we all split into groups to explore the many things the holiday had to offer. It seems food was the first priority of everyone. Along the Danube, street vendors had long lines at times for their warm food. Some ordered the traditional favorite goulash, which is much different from American versions. Others had a variety of sausages, meet, giant pretzels, and pastries.

Once our bellies were full, and we were a little warmer, we all struck out in different directions. Some viewed groups singing traditional Hungarian songs of 1848, others saw parades of period soldiers on horseback, and a speech given by a current candidate for political office. Many places had re-enactments of daily life activities or marching soldier-type demonstrations.

Between 6 and 7pm, everyone regrouped and headed out to dinner - also in groups. We plan to meet for breakfast in the morning to debrief from today and make sure everyone is ready for our first day of business visits. There will be a great deal of public transportation involved so I'm sure we'll have plenty of stories for tomorrow's blog. Until tomorrow.

Happy Revolution Day

A group of us got up very early to go site seeing. They are already setting up for the festivities and our group is getting very excited. We are about to leave for our 1/2 day city tour and then will split up again to check out various activities around town. We'll blog again later today. Check back later today (it's 9:00 am).

UPDATED - We Made It To Budapest!

We made it to Budapest and it's been a great day. We arrived at the hotel around 12:30-1 pm today. Everyone checked into their rooms, cleaned up a bit, and then headed out for a few hours to check out our surroundings. Several could be found checking out a very cute shopping district just around the corner from the hotel.

At 4:30pm, we all met back at the hotel to leave for our meeting with Professor Paul Marer of CEU (Central European University) - a school of business. He is also a distinguished former Kelley faculty member. He explained his life story, from having one family die in a concentration camp and his father almost executed during the Jewish persecution of WWII. He discussed his unique perspective on the history, culture, politics and economy of Budapest/Hungary. He is a wealth of knowledge and the students' enjoyed listening to him. Of course it didn't hurt that he bought enough pizza to feed us, and then some.

With full bellies, we all headed back to the hotel to hopefully get caught up on sleep. Tomorrow morning, some of us are getting to breakfast early and plan an adventure to Margaret Island before we set off for the official first outing - a guided city tour. After the tour we will all break into groups to view various Revolution Day activites.

We Leave Tomorrow

Bloomington is a ghost town. Most of the students on campus have already left for warmer locations. But Kelley Emerging Economies students are still here. Some of us leave tomorrow morning at 3:45 a.m. Thankfully the Hungary/Croatia students don't leave until 6:30 a.m. Still, that's much earlier than most of our students EVER get up. But it will all be worth it.

You can expect a post or two from various airports tomorrow. I'll also try to put up a quick note just to let you know we have reached our final destination in Budapest. Everyone get some sleep tonight, it's going to be an exciting week to come!

Weather we can expect: Looks like low 40's in Budapest and rain a few days. If we're lucky, we might get into the low 50's by Thursday, which is when we leave for Zagreb.

Last Culture Class!

So tonight was our last night in the cultural section of class. The students took their "final" and the remainder of the class was dedicated to last minute items such as the itinerary, what to pack, how much money to bring, and some of the daily educational activities.

Here, we were discussing the expected 4" of snow in Budapest for tomorrow (and what to expect).

Here, TJ is looking through the journals that were given to all the students. They will use these to jot down notes about business visits and use them to reflect on the day's activities. These books will help them remember key elements of the trip to use in their presentations once we return to Bloomington.

Everyone was extremely excited to finally be just days away from our adventure. We leave in just 3 days. Budapest! Here we come!

Oh Waiter!

Tonight we were given the opportunity to taste a little of what Croatian and Hungarian food will be like. The culture professors, as well as Professor Jaffee, were quick to point out that this will not be the trip for losing weight. For example, Hungarians enjoy heavy soups and fish dishes and the desserts are supposedly "to die for".


Conversation flowed easily and we are shaping up to be a "tight" group.


We also learned about some of the cultural differences between the US and the two countries we'll be visiting. There will be no free drink refills and no wait-staff checking on your satisfaction every two minutes. For those who miss home, Croatia has McDonald's and Coca Cola.


Next week, we'll be covering the Croatian economy and learning some more Hungarian.