Spring Break

     We had our spring break the second week in March.  I was able to go to Germany and the Czech Republic.

Kathy and I at the game

     The first weekend of break I traveled to  Rodgau-Niederroden, Germany which is about 45 minutes outside of Frankfurt to visit a friend.  Kathy had studied at Monticello my senior year of high school, and I haven't seen her since. I took a train which left Arnhem around 5:30 Thursday night and arrived around 10:30.  On Friday I went to a football game with Kathy, her brother and a few of his friends, and her dad.  We saw the OFC Kickers play Rot-Weiss Erfurt. Her brother let us wear some of his Kickers cloths.  It was really fun and the Kickers won, which is the team that my friend likes.  It was interesting though that they serve beer at the game but it basically had no alcohol in it because they don't want people to start fights.  It was really cool being apart of the atmosphere; people had some really big flags for their team and they sang a lot of songs.  I really enjoyed my first football game and I hope to go to one here in Arnhem.
     On Saturday we spent a few hours walking around Frankfurt, which is another beautiful city.  That night we went to a Karneval party, since the weekend I was there was the offical holiday weekend.  This time we dressed up as devils.  First we went over to her cousins house to play a few games and then went to the party.  The party was fun, but it made me feel old because at 16 you can drink so I actually felt like one of the older people their.  (the 16 olds though had to leave at midnight).

Our homemade Kreppel

     On Sunday morning we made our own bread with a Toffifee (Toffifee is a chocolate candy) spread for breakfast which was really good.  Then we went and walked around her town for the afternoon.  When we came back we made our own Kreppel which is a pastry popular for Karneval.  Typically they have a jelly filling in them; ours did not but they were still good. That night we had a movie night with a few of her friends and watched the Hangover. (they were really nice and allowed us to watch it in English)

People in the parade

     On Monday, was the Karneval parade. Kathy and I dressed as football players.  It was interesting that we had to pay to get into the parade, though not much.  The parade was really cool and the people were dressed in really colorful costumes.  They are allowed to drink alcohol in public so it was interesting to see people drinking on the streets and people were even drinking who were in the parade.  
     Tuesday morning I left Germany and headed to Prague.  I took at train from Frankfurt to Nurnberg and from their I took at bus to Prague.  In Nurnberg I was able to exchange currency because even though the Czech Republic is in the European Union, they do not use the euro but instead they have the Czech crown.  Traveling took up almost the whole day and then I meet my friend Emily (from Whitewater) in Prague.  We stayed in hostel in a 4 person room; the first two nights we had the room to ourselves, the next night we had one other guy, then the next night was two guys, then the last night was just one guy again.  Luckily the guys were nice so it wasn't too weird.  Our hostel was in a great location, was really clean and included breakfast.

Astronomical Clock

     Wednesday morning we just walked around on our own checking out all the souvenir shops.  That afternoon we were planning on doing a guided tour around the city. We went and got our tickets but we were the only two that showed up and they said they wouldn't do the tour with only two people so we could come back the next day.  So we just walked around some more on our own that afternoon.  We went to a traditional Czech restaurant for dinner. It wasn't anything too different; I just had some baked fish and mashed potatoes with a sponge cake for dessert.  Afterwards we went to a small bar to have a beer and watch a soccer game on TV. 

Charles Bridge at night

    Thursday morning we did a free, 3 hour guided tour through the city.  We started in Old Town then went to the Jewish Quarter, crossed Charles Bridge into Lesser Town and then up to the Prague Castle.  After, Emily and I went to a small cafe for lunch and then went and saw the Lennon Wall.  That night we had a dinner cruise.  The boat cruise included live music and a dinner buffet. Then we just sat on the upper deck and got to see Prague at night.

In front of the Lennon Wall

      Friday, we walked along the river and then down to the Dancing House.  Then we stopped at a cafe for some coffee and dessert and walked back through new town.  That night we did a pub crawl where we went to 3 bars and then the last one was the largest bar in Europe; it is five stories.  I thought the pub crawl was a great way to meet some more people I meet some people who were studying in Budapest and also ironically, some people studying in Arnhem!  Saturday we walked around and bought some souvenirs. Then we did an hour underground tour.  When Prague was originally built it was about 15 feet lower than it is today.  Prague had problems with flooding so the people buried their homes and built new ones on top.  This tour took us underground where we were able to see some of the old homes. 
    Sunday was our last day.  We walked down Paris street where all the expensive shops are and did some window shopping.  We also did a small tour of a chocolate shop and saw a demo and taste testing of pralines.  We were able to take a shuttle directly to the airport; we flew into Amsterdam and then took a train back to Arnhem.
   It was a really nice trip.  We had enough time to see everything but were not rushed.  It was really hard to get concentrate on school that next day! 

A Very German Weekend

      I had the opportunity this past weekend to go and stay with a family in Nordkirchen, Germany.  Their daughter Pia had came to study for a year in Monticello in 2008-2009.  Even though I was not in high school at the time, she is good friends with my sister so was over at our house a lot.  Then in the summer of 2010, Pia came back to visit and brought her sister Vanessa for five weeks.
      I left Arnhem Thursday night around 5:00 and headed to Deventer where I had to switch trains.  My next train to Rhiene was delayed 15 minutes which caused me to miss my connecting train in Rhiene to Munster.  Luckily there was another training leaving for Munster that left in a half hour.  I was a little nervous about traveling by myself because I still learning the train system, but even with the delay I was able to do everything ok.  Once I arrived in Munster Pia and Vanessa and their parents were there to pick me up.  We went to their house and had dinner of curry soup and bread.

One of the classrooms

      The next day, Friday, I went to school with Pia.  We had to ride bikes to the bus stop which was an interesting experience.  I haven't rode a bike in awhile and never in town so at first I was really bad.  I was really bad at stopping and then starting again quickly. Their bikes are more like the old fashion bikes that you see with the curved handle bars and narrow tires.   Bikes are a popular means of transportation all through out Europe because of how close everything is.  Then we got on the bus which took us to her school.  I attended her English,German and history classes. Their school was a little different than ours.  I was really surprised at the lack of technology in the room.  The rooms were simple with tables and chairs, a teachers desk and a portable overhead projector.  There high school is more like our college than high school.  The teachers did not have their own classroom, instead they moved around.  Also, they do not have each class everyday.  They usually start school around 8 and are done around 1 or 2.  Also, they do not have substitute teachers like we did in high school, so when a teacher is sick the class is canceled.  In one class I was very shocked at the openness of the teacher. They were talking about President Clinton and Monica.  The teacher said something to the affect that instead of the Oval Office it should be called the "oral office." There was a line graph shown on the projector with two high points.  One student asked what events were going on during the two climax points and the teacher said "that one climax was probably Bill and Monica." I couldn't believe that a teacher would say that in a high school classroom.
      Friday night we went to her Aunt's house in Munster for dinner.  I really enjoyed the dinner as it had a very friendly,lively and interactive atmosphere.  The center of the table was this thing that was a grill on top and a warmer on the bottom. Each person got a small triangle shaped pan where you could put whatever vegetables you wanted in it.  They had so many vegetables to choose from including corn, tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, pineapple, zucchini, potatoes, mushrooms, peppers and a few more.  Then once you choose your vegetable you cover them with cheese and put it under the warmer to warm and melt the cheese.  On the top you can grill small pieces of meat or vegetables.  It was really good and was a fun dinner even though they mostly talked German. After dinner we went to a local club which was fun but very crowded.

Ready for Karneval

     The next day Pia and I walked around the center of Munster.  There were many shops and a farmers market, and we toured a Cathedral and church.  We went back to Pia's house had a lunch of meat, mashed potatoes, friend onions and sauerkraut.  After that we went to the stables where Pia has a horse that she had to let out and we played with the puppies.  Next we were able to go visit her friends farm.  They have a thing that burns corn husks for energy.  They milk about 100 cows in a fish bone parlor that holds 16 cows at a time. They said it takes them about an one and a half hours to milk and they milk twice a day.  That night was the Karneval program.  Everyone dresses up for Karneval; Pia and I dressed as cowgirls.  The program was in reception hall and it had a stage and tables and chairs for people to sit at.  There were many skits including singing, dancing, and story telling (though it was all in German).  It was a really fun and lively atmosphere.

Me in front of the castle

      On Sunday afternoon we went and toured a castle that was about ten minutes from her house.  The whole tour was in German, but Pia was able to translate enough for me.  It was a really pretty castle but the weather was rainy and a kind of cold.  For lunch her mom made beef with dumplings and peas and carrots.  One thing that was a little weird is that they drink a lot of carbonated water and will mix their apple juice with the carbonated water. 
       It was a really good weekend and it was nice to see her again.  I think I learned more about Germany in one weekend than I have after a month in Arnhem.  It was really nice to be able to stay with a family who could explain things to me, ate some traditional German food and learned a few words.  I really wish that before the semester started, we could have stayed with a Dutch family for about 2 weeks just to learn our way around and learn about the Dutch culture.  I think its actually been difficult to learn about the Dutch being on our own. For supper we just make food that we are used too; I do not know any typical Dutch dishes.  Also, I only know about one Dutch work which is "alstublieft" which is please/thank you. 

Opposites Attract

After being here for a month now I finally feel settled in and very comfortable here.  There are not really any major differences between here and home, just many small ones.

• Here they use the 24 hour clock instead of our 12 hour clock.  I am still getting used to this and sometimes still have to count on my fingers to figure out what time it is! It helps that my cell phone and the computers at school display time in 24 hours, but when reading a non digital clock I always think of the time in 12 hours.  I tried to change the clock on my lap top to the 24 hour to force myself to learn the time better but I could not find how to do it.
• Here, they write their dates differently.  In the US, we always write our dates as: month/day/year.  In Europe, they write it as day/month/year.  Usually in order to avoid confussion I just write the month out with the date. 
• The US in only one of three countries that do not use the metric system.  I do not know the converesions very well so sometimes when people say a place is only so many kilometers away, or some is so many meters tall, or when food says that it has so many kilocalories, it is hard for me to understand what that really means and to be able to judge the distance, height, etc. 
• Here, they mearsure tempeture in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit.  At first I thought this was an easy conversion because I knew that 32 degrees F was 0 degrees C so I thought that 42 degrees F was 10 degrees C.  This is not correct. The conversion from F to C is F temp.-32 * 5/9.  This is not easy to figure out so usually when I see the temperature in C I have no idea what it really means other than what it feels like outside.
• Even their standard size of paper here is different.  In the US a standard piece of paper is 8X11 I believe.  Here their paper is about 8X12; about an inch longer than ours.
• Here, in numbers, they use the comma and decimal point differently than we do. We use the comma when using thosands and they use the decimal point and vise versa.  So we write 1,000 and here its 1.000 which has been hard to get used to. 
• Another opposite thing is that they wear their wedding rings on their right hand where as we where themn our left.
• The standard business hours here are also a lot different.  I feel that in the US business open really early and are open till really late and some are even open 24 hours.  Here is just the opposite, they open late and close early.  One morning I was walking to class with a friend and we wanted to stop at this bakery quick at grab something for breakfast.  It was 8:30am and it stiill was not open! Last night we were going to a store, that was kind of similar to Target.  We knew it closed at 6:00pm and we got there after class at 5:45 and they had already closed their doors.  Also, most countries have laws governing store hours on Sundays.  Most store are required to be closed, but the tourist shops can be open and some grocery stores will be open for a few hours.  At Whitewater, the university library is usually open till midnight every night and on weekends which makes it really nice to having a quiet place to study.  Here the library closes about 6:00 at night and is not open on the weeknds.
• The only place that is open longer than in Wisconsin is the bar.  In Whitewater the usually bar time is 2:00am here it is about 4:00am.  People here usually do not even go out to the bars till between midnight and 1:00am.  Here the drinking age is 16 instead of 21.  But to get into clubs and bars you have to be 18, or sometimes 18 and under can go in and drink but only till a certain time.  Some bars even require you to be 21, which is weird because they can drink at 16.  I am not sure of the reason behind this. They are also allowed to carry open alcolhol in public.  So many times, students will be drinking a few cans of beers on the way to the bars which is definaly not allowed in Wisconsin.
• The driving age here is 18 instead of 16.  But here driving is not as big as in the US because everything is a lot closer together and they have a much better public transportation system with the buses and trains.  The cars here are also so much small than cars in the US, but they also get better gas millage which is necesary because the gas price here is really high.  It is €1.5 for one litter and there are about 3-4 litters in one gallon. People also bike and walk a lot more and I have finally bought my own bike here! At least they drive on the same side of the road as we do!
•  The money here is similar to the US.  They have 50, 20, 10, and 5 euro bills.  Then for coins they have 2 euros,1 euro, 50 cents,20 cents,10 cents,5 cents, and 1cent.  In Holland, the seem to not use the equivlant to the penny at all. When the price comes out to be 4.97 or 4.99 they just round up or down depending.  Also, the tax is already included in the price you see listed on the shelves which is nice so you know exactly what you are paying.  Another difference with money is that they do not normally tip for services such as waitresses. 

Pillows, the Super Bowl and Amsterdam

     I was here for almost two weeks before I had a real pillow.  I had been using this inflatable pillow that was not comfortable at all and sometimes I even slept with out.  You would think that finding a common bed pillow would be easy...wrong!  Our dorm is about a 5 minute walk from a small shopping area with a few kind general stores.  Some of the other international students said that found pillows at one of these places, but apparently they all bought them so there was none when we went.  One day we went to the city center which has a lot more shopping.  We went into one small general store and found one pillow, and there was three of us that needed pillows.  They do not have a store here that is equivalent to Wal-Mart or Target.  Finally, on one Saturday Stephanie, Emily, Max and I decided to make a trip to Ikea that we heard was located on the outskirts of Arnhem.  We heard from someone that we need to get on the number 5 bus so we got on the bus and then at one of the stops Max asked the driver if the bus would take us to Ikea and the drive said no, that his route went no where near Ikea so we got off the bus just around the corner from where we got on.  We asked the bus driver of another bus if his bus would take us to Ikea, he said no but he would take us to the bus stop of the bus that would. So we got off at the correct bus stop, and looked at the schedule and saw that the bus left in about an hour. So we just walked around this mall area.  When we went back to the stop we looked at the schedule again and saw that the bus we need actually did not run on Saturdays!  There was a group of about 3 girls waiting at the stop and we asked them  if they knew how to get to Ikea.  They said that they were going their themselves and told us a different bus we could take.  But of course we had just missed it and it didn't come back again until about 40 minutes.  Finally we made it on the bus and made it to Ikea.  Ikea was a successful shopping trip as I got a pillow, clothes line, a candle, and a vase.  Once we got outside Ikea, we had no idea how to get back home because where we got off at didn't really seem like a stop.  We asked someone outside Ikea but I don't think they really understood what we were saying.  They pointed us in a direction and we went that way but we quickly found out that it was not correct.  After stopping to re-group at McDonald's we went back towards where we got off.  We ran across some people who had just got off the bus and asked them how to get back on the bus.  We had to go under this bridge and around the corner from  where we had gotten off.  We made it to the bus stop and then had to wait about 45 minutes till the bus came but we made it home! That day I really wished that I had a car!

     I was able to watch the Super Bowl!  My buddy, Christian, said that he was planning on watching the Super Bowl and that we (Steph, Emily and I) could come over to his apartment to watch it.  I think that there were a lot of guys that were jealous that we had a place to watch the game.  I had two guys asked where we were watching it.  The Super Bowl started at 12:30am.  Christian was able to find an Internet site that had live stream of the game in English and hooked up his computer to the TV.  Christian is German and said that he didn't follow American football much, but he did know the basics.  So during the game he would ask some questions and I'm not sure the three of us girls were the best people to be explaining to him about football.  But it was worth staying up till 4:30am to see the Packers win!!

  
  Last weekend I did my first travel! I went to Amsterdam with Stephanie and Emily.  When we left our dorm it was raining so we debated if we should even go, but decided to go anyways.  We had a direct train that left Arnhem at 8 and we arrived in Amsterdam a little after 9.  As soon as we arrived we went to the Anne Frank house.  We were able to get in right away.  The museum was really interesting to see.  I was surprised that none of the rooms had furniture in them at the request of Otto Frank.  The rooms had signs and pictures of the room to describe it.  In the parents room you were able to see the marks on the wall where they tracked the growth of the girls during the stay and in Anne's room was some of her pictures that she had glued to the wall. They also had Anne's original dairy on display along with some of the short stories that she wrote.  I had just read her diary before I left so it was fresh in my mind what all happened there.  When we were done it had stopped raining so we just explored the city and wondered around for an hour seeing many canals, bridges, bikes and shops.  Then we went and ate lunch at the Pancake Bakery.  They had many kinds of toppings you could put on your pancakes including fruit, meat, cheese and even ice cream! I had one with apple and grand marnier and it was pretty good.  Then in the afternoon we just walked around more and even stumbled upon the Red Light District.  I wish we would have done a guided tour because we had no idea what we were looking at and some of the buildings, when we thought they looked important we would take a picture of them.  Next time we go I think we will do a canal tour.  I bought my first souvenir, which was a small pair of ceramic clogs with windmills and flower painted with delft blue on them.  They are a cute little nick-nack. Amsterdam is a beautiful city with an old charm to it.  It is often call the Venice of the north because it has so many canals because a lot of the city is below sea level.  When the windmills where originally built they were used to pump out water.  It will be nice to go see Amsterdam again when the weather is nice.

To see more pictures of Amsterdam, check out: http://www.flickr.com/kristen_smith 

In front of one of many canals in Amsterdam.

Anne Frank Museum.

Why Arnhem?

      When talking to people here, a lot of people ask "Why did you choose to come to Holland?"  I would ask the same thing to people to come to Wisconsin because I really like to know why people pick Wisconsin over places, that to me, seem more interesting like New York California or Florida.  When asked this question I don't really know how to answer so I usually just kind of laugh and say "because the classes are in English."  This got me thinking to why am I am here in this county.  I really do not think I gave much thought to where I would study abroad; I always knew coming into college I wanted to study abroad because when else am I going to get the chance to come live in another country?

     Originally, I was just going to do a three week summer class because I did not think that I could handle a whole semester away.  Being a summer program, there were not as many options to choose from as to where to study.  I have always had an interest in Europe, so I knew that Europe was the continent that I wanted to see the most.  For the exchange program I could study in Mexico, Japan or Germany but all classes were in the native language.  The only programs that offered English was the Netherlans, Finland, and Sweedan.  I really had no interest in Finland or Sweedan.  Which only left the Netherlands which sounded like a good program for business.  The more I started looking into the program and talking to people the more excited I got to study abroad.  I decided that I wanted the full experience of living abroad.  If I was only there for three weeks, I would not have really fully experienced the Dutch culture as I probably would have stuck with my group for most of the time.  It also did not leave me time to travel outside of the Netherlands.  I decided to do a whole semester abroad.  I did not even look at other programs that offered full semester exchange, I just stayed with the Netherlands. 

      I do not regret my decision to study abroad for a whole semester. I have already been here for three weeks and I cannot imagine leaving already.  I am just starting to get settled in and get into the swing of things.  I have already meet so many new people from all over the world including Argentina, Mexica, Canada, US (California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and South Carolina), Spain, Finland, Germany, Slovekia, China, Vietnam, Australia and more.  It's kind of funny that when people ask where I am from, and I say Wisconsin, most people know of Wisconsin because of "That 70's Show."  I have already spent the day in Amsterdam, and I would really like to visit Germany, Prague, Italy, Barcelona, Paris and Brussels before I leave.  Right now, I think it is too early to say if I am happy with my decision to study in Holland; if I had to pick again would I still pick here?  I have always had a facination with Italy; maybe if I go for my masters degree I will study abroad there.  I wish that Arnhem was a bigger city or that the University was in Amsterdam.  Here is a lot slower pace of life which I guess it is good to experience change.  Its interesting that on Sundays pretty much all of the businesses are closed and even during the week most things do not open until 8 or 9 and then close early, usually around 7.  I am not good with having nothing to do; I like to always be busy so I guess I have to learn to entertain myself and to relax more. 

First Impressions

I have been here for a week and half and already I have learned so much.  I think this adventure is going to teach me a lot about who I really am, help strengthen my beliefs and values, and push me to step outside my comfort zone.  I don't think I really thought this trip through when planning for it.  I was focused on the adventure--seeing the world and meeting new people; that I over looked how difficult and trying it is going to be.  Overall, I think so far I have adjusted pretty well and there is a lot more adjusting to come.  First, adjusting to the time change was really easy.  I think it really helped that we had an overnight flight so when we got here it naturally seemed like the morning rather than the middle of the night.  I was kind of surprised at how many things are actually in Dutch.  When talking to people about the trip, everyone kept saying that everyone speaks English.  It is true that mostly everyone here does speak English but the signage and groceries and such are in Dutch because that is their language.  Some things that are in English are still called different than what we would call it.  An elevator here is a lift, a bath room is called a water closet (W.C.), and our class schedule is called a timetable.   I am starting to learn my way around the city and how to read the bus and train schedules.  But because we are all still learning our way around, we don't go any where by ourselves. I think that has been one of the hardest things to adapt to because I feel that back home I am pretty independent; I go shopping, get groceries, go work out, etc. all on my own but here we always go in a group, which I prefer to go by myself.  I don't miss my car yet too much because the public transportation is pretty easy to use, but it does make you realize the cost of every trip.  In the States, I never really thought much about driving places and how much it cost me until I would fill up my car, but here since I have to pay every time to use the bus I can always see money going out of my pocket.  I did buy a strip card to help reduce the cost of the bus a little, but I would really like to buy a used bike so I can save even more.  Normally a trip from the dorm and back from the city center cost 4 euros so about $5.50; with the strip card its only 2 euros.  I have also had to get used to living in a dorm again since I have pretty much lived by myself since last June.  It's nice that at least I don't have a roommate here so I can have some time to myself to study and just to take a break from everything. We are the only floor that does not have a toilet in our room. I really hate having to share a toilet; it is always so dirty and smells and the housing company doesn't provide us toilet paper so we each bring our own every time we go. One weird thing here is that not all public toilets are free; some of the time in stores and such you have to pay to use the toilet.  Its not much; luckily I have only had to pay once at a department store and it was .25 cents but one place I saw was .70 cents which is almost a dollar in the US.   I don't mind sharing the showers as much because they are decently clean, but its just annoying having to carry all your shampoo and everything down the hall, wear shower shoes, and learning when the showers are usually full.  In the dorms, each floor shares four mini fridges between two kitchens.  Since there is not much room in the fridge at one time, we go grocery shopping about every other day.  Its different having to actually cook meals for super every night.  Here, usually for breakfast I have some fruit and bread, for lunch a sandwich and chips, and then cook supper.  They don't have as much pre-packaged food here.  Usually, I would eat a hot pocket or something from the freeze section.  I always make supper with my friend Emily; its easier to cook with two people.  We have made chicken alfredo twice, hamburgers, breakfast burritos twice, and a frozen pizza cooked in a pan on the stove top. We want to make pancakes and grilled cheese but we are going to run out of  ideas really fast.   Another thing with the dorms, is that people here party all the time and of course, most of the time it is on our floor.  I don't mind going to parties occasionally, but they just seem to go out all the time.  People here also smoke a lot, so I might develop lung cancer while I am here.   That's kind of an exaggeration, but my cloth always smell really bad after the bars and sometimes its gets really smoking that I need to leave and get fresh air.  There is a guy on our floor who smokes pot, which stinks up our entire floor.  Another thing is, that going to the bars here is expensive, because one the city center is too far to walk so you have your bus fare plus the alcohol.  I would rather spend my money on trips! Remembering the conversion rate has been difficult.  Its really easy to look at prices and see them in dollars; things seem comparable back home until I remember exchange rate.   With everythingI think this trip is going to be really good for me and I can't wait to see how everything plays out.

Description of Classes

Even though I sometimes forgot, I am over here to go to school.  I am just finishing my first week of classes.  I got all the classes that I signed up for and have a decent class schedule. The class descriptions below are from the program handbook.


Business Performance Tools:
      Mondays and Wednesdays: 12:00-1:30
      Professor Marco van der Woude

      The programme teaches students how organizations and its people can achieve a better performance.  This course is based upon the concept that organizations continuously have to change in order to stay competitive and bring added value to their clients.  This course is an integration of both financial and non-financial factors that can be delivered for the success of both companies for and not-for-profit.  This course is built on the basis of the performance improvement cycle, and introduces the Balance Score Card, on of the tried and trusted methods to translate strategy into practical, measureable objectives.  It gives insight into trends and tools used by organizations in their response to both external and internal changes. It highlights the organizationl and personal learning process.  This course provides students insight into the trends, tools and instruments companies can use in their permanent learning process to stay competitive.  In parallel, students gain insight in their own personal performance, their role in a team and behaviorial opportunities for improvement.

Finance
     Tuesday 11:15-12:45
      Wednesday 2:15-4:00
      Professor Witek ten Hove

      This program teaches students to manage and evaluate companies and organizations from a financial perspective.  The module is built along the principle that a company can be considered as an investment.  The course gives insight into the public and private capital and money markets as well as how companies organize their relationship with potential investors.  The course will give insight into the relevant forms of financing.  It will address why different financial sources have different concepts and prices and how companies can organize their optimal financial structure in order to create value for all its stakeholders.  Students will learn how financial managers combine the need for a satisfying return to their financiers and an internal controlled system to support the neccessary risk management.  Students will learn how investment decisions are made and what different forms of capital budgeting companies can use.  The course will show the benefits and risks of the principle that companies and managers are evaluated whether they have been able to create value for their financers.  The program will explain why cash and cash flow are so relevant for both business decisions as well as for current and future financial sources.


Business Ethics
      Wednesday 8:45-12:00
      Professors Stephan Plat and Robert Penning

      In this course students will get insight into the complex world of Business Ethics.  During this couse ethical issues and approaches will be dealt with on several levels, including the individual, the organisational and the social and culture environment.  Students will be challenged to elaborate on their future role as a(n) (international) (HR) manager.  The aim of this course is to stimulate critical thinking and enable students to actively participate in discussion and reflections. 

Event Management
     Wednesday (tutoring hours) 4:00-5:30
     Thursday (lecture) 8:45-10:30
     Tutors Saskia Kreutzer and Jacqueline van Schalm
      5 different guest lectures

      This 12 week module will increase students' professionalism in planning and organising events in groups.


European Integration
    Thursday 12:45-4:00

     The course will help you understand European Institutions.  It focuses on mergers, cooperation and expansion of companies across Europe and deals with economic and legal aspects related to such developments.  Moreover, you will study the differences in culture and society to help you find your way in Europe. Topics covered will include European Insitutions, European and Instituational law, competition law, economics, export, marketing and cross cultural aspects as well as recent developments in the field of business, politics, employment, export, environment, expansion, mergers, and take-overs and their consequences.

Me inside the school

Business School