Before leaving for IBI my older sister Rachel gave me one piece of advice-well two actually. One: Don’t be stupid and Two: Don’t be loud
Heidelberg, DE: Our eight hour flight landed down from JFK at 3:01 a.m. EST. Sleep deprived and mentally drained we walked through customs,picked up our luggage, and got onto our bus. Let me tell you-the bus ain’t too bad. It’s got about 50 seats for 32 students plus Dr. LaFranz. From there we headed from Frankfurt to Heidelberg.
Once in Heidelberg we broke into our teams-blue,yellow,green,white, and red for lunch. (GO RED TEAM! #HAJACCforever) Crowding the narrow sidewalks we stood with our 50 euro and broke down the street to find some lunch.
While in Germany we are taking Comparative Economic Systems with Dr. Paul Koch of Olivet Nazarene University. After extensive class time I can proudly say I can hold a conversation about the European Union and BREXIT. How about that? Exams in Germany covered an introduction to CES along with the topics of the German and British Economy, the nature of the European Union, and the implications of Brexit.
There are around 10 one hour classes that went into our first exam all within four class sessions. Compared to J-Term or an ordinary semester-this exam (content size) feels about like a midterm would.
In addition to free-time where we could explore shops, hike, and try different restaurants around the city, we also went to three corporate visits and took a trip to the castle ruins.
The first of two was at SAP, then onto Frankfurt International Airport and the European National Bank.
On Monday, May 25 we toured the SAP Headquarters in Frankfurt. Ranked #3 largest software companies in the world after IBM and Oracle, the multinational software company employs over 200,000 persons and has satellite campuses around the globe, including the United States.
Its impressive home campus offered impressive work/life balance opportunities. There was a zen garden, tennis courts, and running trails-to name a few. Now, while on tour I whispered to a friend, “This is the kind of corporation you sell your soul to.” I didn’t mean it in a negative way but our presentation with the head of HR rather confirmed that sentiment. Once we wrapped up the walking tour we filled the chairs around an oval conference table to hear about the company and its assets in greater detail. In fact, SAP offers a company car to any employee who worked there for 2 or more years. They cover cost of gas, insurance, and they offer family insurance as well. We learned that employees have the option of working out of the office whenever they please-so long as their work gets done.
Tomorrow is a travel day- five hours in a coach bus with nothing but PB & apricot Jam sandwiches. Wish us luck.
Next up…Prague, Czech Republic
Peace,
Hannah
REED IT & LEAP 