Final Term, Team Project

July 1 - September 5

I worked on my final dissertation project with Maria, a colleague from Warwick Business School. We are working on a project with Deekeling Arndt Advisors (DAA), a communications consulting group on a project at their Berlin office.

The dissertation was based off of our work with DAA and focuses on the logistics industry with a marketing twist. It ended up being about 24,000 words (the most that I have ever written) and was entitled: Forecasting Customer Needs and Prepping the Supply Chain for 2020 and Beyond. Maria and I are now officially expert futurologists - if interested, inquire within! The project was very interesting, but a bit scary as well focusing in on the possibilities of what the future holds. We finished right in time and I jetted to turn it in and to graduate!

Our time in Berlin was short (two months) and we were jam packed with the dissertation. However, we still made some time to see some of the eclectic style that Berlin has to offer. I would recommend this up and coming city to all - its supposed to soon replace London as the hot spot of Europe! Oh but I will indeed miss the local Dolores the California style burrito place at Alexanderplatz, it was so yummy - imagine an amped up Chiptole with a habenero salsa option.


Photos:
1 -3 - the Building
4 - Maria in our office
5 - Maria and I at dinner
6 - Henrick and Maria at a library outing day
7 - Maria and I and the DAA team (Christian, Anja, Tobias)
8 - Maria and I with our finished product

Last week of the Official MBA

Week of June 22

Hurrah, we ended our last week of MBA classes with global information systems! Only the final project now and our MBA program is officially over - the feeling is ever so bittersweet.

Photos:
1 - MBSers Me, Masaru (Japan) and Boris (Germany) hanging with the CBSers Chris (China) and Pall (Iceland)
2 - Pretending to work, class is over! Ahmad (Egypt), Katsu (Japan), Me and Sekou
3 - Me and Nazih (India) trying to be cool
4 - Yes, we are putting off working on the final that we needed to do
5 - Ahmad and Sekou protecting themselves from the rainstorm in the MBA building
6 - Valeta and AK
7 - Me, Marc, Olivia and Tatjana
8 - Me and Izzie
9, 10, & 11 - Celebrating our last days together before we split off for project work
12 - Katsu and I
13 - Frances (Taiwan) and Sasha

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

June 20 - 22

After Ko Samui, we spent another day in Bangkok and on the way back to Germany we made a longer pit stop in Dubai. We arrive very early in the morning in Dubai, and nothing was open!! We walked around a bit, trying to wait it out until we could check into our hotel. We visited lots of the famous buildings (the Burj, etc.) and saw Jumeriah beach.

The most memorable was the shopping experience at the notorious Dubai mall. The mall is something to write about. We didn't go to the mall with the skiing inside, but another one that was amazing for a gal you likes to shop! It was huge - think Mall of America size - with every store you can imagine. I was so excited to see my American brands of the Gap, Banana, etc. The sales were not that good, but the selection of stores was unique. To get out of the mall was an obstacle, as it is in the middle of nowhere. To get there was easy, to leave was the hard part. The taxi line would have taken 4 hours, I have never seen a line so long ---reminded me of a line to get on a roller coaster except shoppers had carts full of their goods!

While our time in Dubai was limited, here are my initial impressions of Dubai:
-Really freaking hot, feels like you cannot breathe
-Large difference between the wealthy and the poor
-Bad public transportation system
-Money makes Dubai go round and opens doors
-I have never seen so many sky scrappers being built at the same time as I have here
-Chaotic
-Multi-cultural, but separated

Photos:
1 and 2 - Early morning views of Dubai
3 - Exploring the closed Souk area
4 - Dubai Creek
5 - Around town
6 - Rules for entering the mall
7 - Dubai Museum ticket, not overly exciting museum about the history of Dubai
8 - My favorite - Fresh mint and lemon drink
9- View from our hotel window. Those are beds on the roof of the building next door.
10 - The closest you can get to the Burj
11 - The Gulf at Jumeriah beach
12 - The Burj Dubai, it will be the world's tallest building when it is finished September 2009
13 - The pier
14 - Friends hanging out and chilling along the Dubai creek

Koh Nangyuan, Thailand

June 17

Koh Nangyuan is about a 15 minute ferry ride from Ko Tao and is made up of three small islands that are connected by a sand dune. There are 3 ferries a day there and back from Ko Tao, and the last one comes back pretty early. After this time boats are not allowed to go back and forth. We decided to go over pretty late and brought the snorkeling stuff. I think we had about an 1.5 hours until the return ferry! This turned out to be the most beautiful beach that I saw in Thailand. The sand or lack there of was really rocky, but the water was a amazing. Really shallow coral. I was just sitting in the shallow and could see all the marine life swimming past me. Florian went out deeper to snorkel around, and accidentally cut up his foot. It was a mini-freak out, as this island is tiny with only one resort and one shop. I was virtually running all over the island to find a first aid kit! Alas, I found something and got him on the boat back safely.


Photos:
1 - Ariel view of Koh Nangyuan
2 - On the ferry ride over
3 - Snorkeling
4 - view of Koh Nangyuan as we left

Ko Tao, Thailand

June 15 - 18

After a little disappointment with Lamai Beach, we decided to go even more remote. We took a 1.5-2 hour ferry to the island of Ko Tao. Ko Tao was originally an island meant for divers, but is now opening up for further tourism. We even stayed at a diving resort that held classes everyday, although we didn't dive.

In Ko Tao, Florian got a little sick from the air conditioning, but Florian was recovered by the end of our time. I had time to wander around the small island and it was a little relaxing for the both of us to be away from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. Beautification procedures are soo cheap in Thailand, the hardest decision is where to go. I ended up getting some Thai pampering with a massage, pedicure, etc. and n Ko Tao. The Thai massage was painful, but felt great!!

Living the business
I noticed that Thais really live their business. For example, when you go into a pharmacy or a shop, they really seem to live there. They are watching TV, eating or cooking. You have to take off your shoes as a sign of respect, since this is their "house." At a larger restaurant along the main strip I even saw people sleeping and relaxing on the floor of the kitchen - not sure how sanitary this is!!

Photos:
1 and 2 - On the boat to Ko Tao, which was about 2 hours or so from Ko Samui
3 - Ko Tao scenery
4 - Florian at our lunch stop along the harbor
5 - The Ko Tao harbor
6 - Me thinking how are we going to get back up that steep path. We were exploring the more secluded parts of the island where we had to drive the 4x4
7 and 8 - Ko Tao beach scenes
9 - Leaving Ko Tao on an old school propeller plane, which of course we were seated right next to

Ko Samui, Thailand

June 13 - 15

We were trying to go South straight from Kanchanaburi, but ended up taking the bus back to Thailand and to the airport. We sporadically bought plane tickets at the airport and hopped on a flight that night. We hadn't even really booked a hotel room and we arrived quite late in Ko Samui. From the start it is obvious that Ko Samui is a hot tourist destination with the outrageous taxi prices that you have to take. We took the taxi and I think it may have been the scariest taxi drive in my life, I really had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. It was a very shady cab ride, as the driver made us switch to his brother's country club car to finish our journey. Then he was driving really fast and the curvy, bumpy roads didn't help! Alas, we arrived safe and sound.

We decided to stay at the second most popular beach (Lamai) to avoid crowds and congestion, in Lonely Planet it says it may be the most beautiful. However, we made the wrong decision. The sand was rough and the water was rough and nothing special. Don't get me wrong it was very beautiful with huge rocks, but not what I was expecting at all. However, we ended up checking out the most popular beach, Chaweng Beach, and it was very nice. Crystal clear water and warm. Chaweng was the place to be and we had a very nice dinner one evening on Chaweng beach!

Never Saying No
I realized that in Thailand show the desire to purchase something or request something, the Thais will go out of the way to accommodate you. For example, we stayed at a small nice mom and pop owned place with individual cottages. For breakfast I ordered my usual iced ovaltine, which I couldn't find on the menu. They took the order and 5 minutes later the husband was off on his little scooter and came quickly back with the drink mix in hand. This is also very apparent when shopping. Don't see your size, never fear the vendor will find one for you. Talk about customer service!


Photos:
1 and 2 - the bad beach (Lamai Beach)
3 - the good beach (Chaweng Beach)