Monday, June 30, 2014

Traveling Home

Our study abroad experience is officially in the books.  Each city filled us with many memories and we are greatly appreciative for the lessons learned and friendships made.  As for the Griswold's we are currently sitting in the Minneapolis Airport waiting for our last flight back to KC.  Today has been a day full of travel.  It's safe to say our internal clocks are pretty messed up right now.  Audrey just left for New York without saying by to us so she will be grounded when she gets home.  Grant (cousin Eddie) had an interesting flight from Prague to Amsterdam.  The sitting next to him had a seizure and passed out.  Luckily the guy was okay and cousin Eddie actually handled the situation somewhat appropriately.  With that being said, this has been a great trip.  Myself, Ellen, and the kids have thoroughly enjoyed the Griswold Family Vacation 2k14 edition.

- Clark W. Griswold

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Sunday, June 28th (Day 14)

Oh how the time as flown!!! Unfortunately today is our last full day in Prague and the trip as a whole for the Griswold's/Eurocats :(! What better way to end the trip though then on a high. We all began our day a little later than usually
catching up on some much needed shut eye following a night of many fun shenanigans. To begin the day (around noon) we all headed off in different directions to grab a bite to eat before our final visit to the Prague Castle. Around 1:15, all of the Eurocats reconvened to caught the tram up to the Castle to meet our fabulous guide Petr. Our tour was lead by Petr as he informed us all about the history of the Castle and Prague it's self. The views surrounding the Castle are breathtaking and you know we all took advantage of them for a couple great pics. 

Following our time at the Castle we made our way back to the hotel to beautify ourselves before our farewell dinner. Our dinner was at a more upscale restaurant this time where they served us three fabulous courses. Over dinner we all enjoyed sharing our favorite memories and cheering to such a great group of people. We ended the night with a final photoshoot forced by Allison, but to be honest I think it was my favorite one of all. We ended up the night by packing and trying our best to get a little bit of shut eye before our long day of flying. Till the next Griswold vacation peace out from your favorite daughter Audrey!

Saturday, June 28th (Day 13)

Today was the first day where we didn't have to travel to or from a city or go any business visits. Taylor and I went with a bunch of the boys so they could find souvenirs for their family members. We decided not to spend any money because we had done enough of that in the past couple of days in Prauge. After their shopping needs were satisfied Taylor and I made our way back to the John Lennon Peace Wall. Taylor had a pen along so we wrote our names on the wall along with date. We met up with some other EuroCats at the Peace Wall then made our way back across the Charles Bridge. There we found some really cool paintings of the Peace Wall to bring back with us!

The weather has been remarkable throughout our whole stay in Europe. It only rained one day and all the other days we've been able to wear shorts and a T-shirt. That's one thing I'm not looking forward to when we go back home!

We were sure to schedule a nap into our free day and after the nap several of the EuroCats hit the town of Prauge. Getting to the nightlife however was a bit of an issue. We didn't leave the hotel until a few minutes after midnight and were only able to ride the metro for one stop. At the second metro station we ran in a frantic in hopes of making the next metro. Someone, who shall remain nameless, even slide down the middle area of the massive escalator. Grant took over the the map navigating duties for the evening and did a wonderful job. We ended the night grooving to 80's disco music--something Europeans (as well as the Griswold's) seem to enjoy.

-Ellen





Friday, June 27, 2014

Friday June 27th Conclusion of the Griswold's Vacation

                 Today was the last day for events here in Prague for the Griswolds', but it was a great day like the rest of the days. The day started as always with a light breakfast provided by the hotel then it was off to our first stop of the day HP (Hewlett-Packard). Here, we was greeted by Talent Advisor Martha Blathin, and she is a recruiter for HP in the HR department. Ms. Blathin, presented us with the Graduate Program, and with this presentation we learned how graduates become employed by HP. This presentation was very interesting because HP has over 270 locations, has over 300 thousand plus employees, and had a 1.6 billion in revenues for 2013! Wow! I would love to work a profitable company like this one, but the most important piece of this presentation was the Graduate Program. With this program graduates our choosen by HP, then are put through a series of assessments that test their skills for what HP is looking for. Once a graduate is choosen based off their assessment, the graduate is now a new hire that is put through two weeks of training. After training the new hire is given a mentor,a nd the mentor teaches the new hire about the company; for example, like where they need to go if their computer needs to be fixed. With a mentor, the new hire is given real task to work on soon as they are hired because HP believes in perfecting everyone, and one is not going to learn if they do not make mistakes. After several months past the new hire qualifies for the Young Guns Program, and with this program they are able to choose to work in a different department for a selected amount of time. When that time is up, they can either continue to work in the choosen department, or in the department they were hired for. Once all of this is completed, the new hire presents what they have learned in their first year or year in a half then graduates from the graduate program to new career opportunities.




                                                                          

                                                         "Rusty Future HP employee"

                   After the HP visit, we given some free time for lunch where pops and I went to KFC for a quick lunch, and a nap after. When we woke up from our nap, we went to our next visit, which was to Prague College. Here at this visit we were greeted by Mr Alex Head of Communications, and he gave us a breif description of Prague College that started 10 years ago. For such a young school, it is growing quickly, and has a great representation. Prague College is in the center of the industry network being located in the Czech Republic because it is a great location for transportation and logistics. Many representatives from Microsoft and Google come to Prague College and speak to students, and to work on real live projects from these companies. Students here are recieving British degrees which are recognized as a quality education. An interesting fact about Prague College is that it only cost roughly $6,900 a semester! After Alex gave the brief description of Prague College, we were next greeted by Tony Achmat who is an international life coach. He talked to us about how communication is key within any organization, and that face to face communication is always best. We also learned that we have an advantage in business, since we speak fluent english because english is business language on international scales. Mr. Achmat also talked to us about work ethic and creativity. He told us that companies are looking for young individuals that have great work ethic and creative. If you are not creative then companies will not want you. That stuck with us all, and was very glad to have Mr. Achmat as a presenter.





                 The Griswolds' finished the day off at a nice restaurant just a few blocks away from Prague College. We had a taste for a Czech cuisine since a few of us haven't had one while being here. I know that sounds bad, but we did it today, and I tried a cheesy pork pasta. Never had a pork pasta before, but it was good and I wish I could stay in Prague longer. This vacation will go down in the record books as one of the greatest, and more adventures to come.

Rusty (Brandon)

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Thursday (Day 12)

Today has been another great day.  We got to sleep in a little bit which was nice.  The breakfast was better today because they had scrambled eggs instead of hard boiled.  After breakfast, we headed into the conference room at the hotel where we listened to a presentation on Johnson & Johnson.  J&J is a multinational company that provides medical services, pharmaceutical, and consumer packaged goods.  They team up with many surgical suppliers and have a big stake in the global healthcare business.

After the presentation we got to have a couple hours of free time.  Some of us guys decided to go on a short run around the train station and found some stairs in the hotel to run up as well.  It's important to stay somewhat in shape during this period of heavy consumption of business practices as well as other things.  After a quick workout we walked down the street for a not so quick lunch.  I've noticed the restaurants in Central Europe are much more casual in the way they serve food when it comes to speed and timing.  For example, the last two days we have spent almost two hours at our lunch spots.  It seems permissive for people to take longer lunch breaks over here, and they also get five weeks of vacation time.  

Our second presentation of the day was at Cisco Systems.  We heard a little bit about the history of the company as well as new projects and trends that are coming in the near future.  There was some cool technological features at Cisco.  At one point, we switched up groups to initiate a conference call between the two groups.  One group was in another room and within seconds, we were able to connect with them by video and see/hear what they were saying.  Overall Cisco was a good experience.  

With that being said, we're less than one hour away from game time here in Prague.  The US will be taking on Germany for the final game of pool play.  Allison came in clutch and found a great place for all of us to go watch the game.  Beer taps at each table.  Lets get rowdy.  USA!

-Clark 




Wednesday, June 25, 2014

June 25th (Day 11)

Well it's been another busy day for the Griswold family as we had two business visits to complete today! After rising a little earlier than usually this morning we all enjoyed a nice breakfast before beginning our morning at T-Mobile. During our time here we listened to two different speakers. The first Martina, Senior Head of Cooperate Communication, informed us of the many
great things that T-Mobile Czech Republic is doing. With over 5.9 million customers in the Czech Republic alone T-Mobile provides services for over ½ of the Czech Republic's population. Unlike in the United States, there is much more competition within the Czech Republic mobile companies. Martina said that there are the 3 major companies and an additional 50 others that the population of only a little more than 10 million have to choose from. A majority of her presentation included information on challenges T-Mobile Czech Republic is faces and also different statistics. The five main challenges that T-Mobile has faced in the past couple of years included: Declining prices, tough competition, regulations, recessions, and it's integration with GTS. Integration is nothing new to this company as it is the second in the pass year.
Following Martina, Milan Vasica spoke to us which was a very special thing because he just happens to also be their CEO. Milan's provided us with very
helpful hints about leadership and focused on the 9 following areas to being a successful leader.
  1. Listen & form an option
  2. Awake the urgency of change
  3. Provide a clear vision & strategy and take action
  4. increase power & involve others
  5. communication
  6. celebrate & boost confindence in successful
  7. change the corporate culture
  8. self development
  9. persist in the future

After our visit to T-Mobile we all got around a 2 hour break to do as we pleased. Within our family we went in two different directions. Jared and Brandon made their way back around the hotel to grab food well Hailey and I put our shopping pants on and when to town. After blowing way more money than I want to admit we all made our way back together just before a massive storm hit the downtown square. Our second stop of the day took us to AVAST a very popular anti-virus company. Here we meet Milos who knew many of us by name before we even said them. He had even gone as far as Facebook stocking us like any good computer user. Founded in 1988, AVAST
took off in 2004 when it reached 1 million users. Founded by Paval Baudis and Eduard Kucera it was just the 3rd ever anti-virus company to score a full 3x100% detection in the Virus Bulletin test. Mouth to mouth is how this company found it's success. Milos informed us that they use no marketing or advertising. They have users found in 234 different countries and 41 have over 1 million users.

Both of today's presentation were very educational and helpful. Personally, I ended the night with Allison and Teri wondering the beautiful streets of Prague. We even managed to find a movie set! Look for more tomorrow!

Have a great night!

The Griswold's  

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

June 24th (Day 10) Vienna-->Prague

We made some great memories in Vienna and some wanted to stay a couple of days longer but if anyone understands how important it is to stick to an itinerary it's the Griswold's. After saying our goodbyes to our guide Manuela, we hopped on a train for a 4.5 hr ride to Prague, Czech Republic.  Several of the EuroCats have mentioned how excited they are to visit Prague. It'll be hard to top the first ten days of the trip!!!
Waiting for the train.






Grant was even comfortable for a couple of minutes before a bunch of people got on the train at the next stop.

Once we arrived in Prague we waited on the platform for our tour guide Petr but he was no where to be seen.  Our fearless group leader, Allison, rose to the occasion and led us all the way across the street to our hotel.  Petr showed up shortly after and said he waited for us but never saw us at the train station, our train did arrive a couple of minutes early.  After The Griswold family switched out of their smokey rooms (nothing can dampen our spirits) we were ready for our orientation meeting with Petr. I was thankful the map of the city he provided us with was smaller than Vienna's. There is also only 3 metro lines, we should know our way around Prague by the end of tomorrow! Petr gave us some good tips that will be useful to us in this new city: about a half a mile from our hotel is a main street, always turn when you get to this street because if you continue to go straight you will run into Prague's red light district. O_o  Other tips included: beer should cost around 40 koruna ($2) and that is how to judge the prices that restaurant charges, there is no need to learn to say thank you in Czech because everyone here understands our America version, the subway line stops running around midnight so if we have to negotiate with a taxi driver we are prepared.



The guided walking tour Petr led included an abundance of beautiful sites. Prague was one of  the only cities that didn't get bombed during the war, so all of the buildings we saw have been undamaged since they were built.  The Charles Bridge, built in 1357, was unlike any bridge I've ever seen before. A friend of mine just spent a month in Prague and told me I should watch the sun rise from there before we leave. We were able to see the John Lennon Peace Wall before we walked across the bridge. Since the 1980's the wall has been filled with inspiring lyrics bad quotes from The Beatles and Lennon. The wall has been painted over several times but within a couple of days it's filled again with colorful, inspiring graffiti. An original portrait of Lennon still remains about as untouched as something can be on a wall full of graffiti.

The EuroCats are trilled to be spending the last 5 days in this charming Czech Republic city. I spent a couple of minutes tonight outlining what activities we have planned for the remaining days and noted the weather for that day beside it on a handy dandy "Outfit Planning Cheat-sheet."  If anyone on the trip is having trouble deciding which outfit to wear please ask to see this sheet of paper! This isn't The Griswold's first rodeo and everyone knows we dress to impress.










Monday, June 23, 2014

June 21st & June 22nd (Day 8) Vienna


June 21 (night)

After enjoying a free afternoon in Vienna, many of us took naps to get ready for the evening.  Then a group of us took several subways to the museumquartier where we ate a late dinner (9:30).  The restaurant was really good and was airing the Germany vs. Ghana world cup match.  No matter where you go in Europe, you can be sure to find a restaurant or bar airing world cup games.  After dinner and several drinks we headed down the street to a dance club called Platzirch.  This club had a cool nightclub feel that played 80's and 90's American music so many of us felt right at home.  We put our proverbial dancing shoes on and stayed at Platzirch until 3:30 am or so.  Most bars in Vienna stay open until 4 am which is nice.  The night provided many great times and memories.   


June 22 (Day)

It was an early morning for those of use who went to the club last night.  We powered through it though.  Our first stop of the day was the Hapsburg "summer home".  This was a giant home just outside the city of Vienna where the Hapsburgs would live during the summer.  We took a tour through the home which was very interesting.  After the tour we walked though the back "yard" to the Vienna Zoo.  Note:  by back yard I mean a giant open field that stretches several acres.  The zoo was fun.  We were able to see quite a few different animals including a couple panda bears which are extremely rare. After the zoo several of us guys took the train back into the city to grab some food and get a workout in.  For the workout, we ran a several miles around Vienna then found a nice hill to run some sprints on.  After the workout, we took a quick nap to recharge the o'l batteries then headed to dinner with the group.  We are currently getting ready to watch the US vs. Portugal game.  USA!

- Clark

pictures of Maria Teresa's 16 children



June 23 (Day 9) Last Day in Vienna

       As the title states it was last day in Vienna, Austria, but we all had a few things planned for the day. The day started with nice breakfast once again, which is a good thing because usually I don't eat breakfast. After breakfast we headed to our first visit here in Vienna, and it was to the BAWAG PSK Bank. Once we reached the bank, we took a family photo in front of the bank with our Northwest Flag. After the photo we headed inside the bank to be given a presentation about the history and services of the BAWAG PSK Bank. BAWAG PSK Bank is the Headquaters of all 477 branches that it has, and was opened in 1906. The original BAWAG PSK Bank was started by Francs Joseph 1st in 1883, and Francs Joseph 1st was empreror of Austria for over 68 years. BAWAG PSK Bank closed during WWII, and reopended in 1947. In 2005, there was a merger between BAWAG and PSK, which now is called BAWAB PSK Bank. In 2007, Cerbus  Capital Managementbought BAWAG PSK Bank, and is now owned by two americans as one of the representatives mentioned.

                                                                            

                                                  An early model of the BAWAG PSK Bank


      In 2011 BAWAG PSK Bank provided 68 services for its customers, which is high for a bank because banking is a complex thing for some people to understand. To change that, BAWAG PSK Bank became more efficient by cutting services provided from 68 to 9, and making offering simplier and easier banking options for their customers. Like most banks now, BAWAG PSK Bank's customers are able to bank online, have access to customer care, and ATM's throughout Vienna. An interesting factor about the BAWAG PSK Bank, interest rates are negotiable but start at 0.3%. Also it cost about a 135 euros to start a banking account at BAWAG PSK oppose to no fee in the United States. More interesting facts we leanred about while on this visit was that Austria has the lowest unemployment rate in Europe, and that BAWAG PSK offers its employees 5 weeks of vacation time.                                  

      Once our visit was over with the BAWAG PSK representatives, they provided us lunch in their cafeteriahwich consisted of two choices freshly cooked fish, potatoes, and veagtables, and chicken wings and potato wedges. Both meals looked amazing and I am surprised that the BAWAG PSK employees have options like these to choose from. After lunch, most of split up and did our own thing. Some of us went to the river and wake boarding, and others like myself went shopping and went and visited the St. Stephen Cathedral. While shopping I picked up a few souvenirs for my family, and at the Cathedral I took quite a few photos of the inside. I also got a workout in at the Cathedral by walking up 343 steps to get a view of the city. That workout cost me 4 euros, but I would say it was way worth it.
     
        We split up for our last free afternoon in Vienna. Some went shopping, some saw more sites, and some wake boarded on the Donau!  Hailey said she had never seen a wake board lake like the one they visited but was interested to see it because of her interest in sports.





Saturday, June 21, 2014

June 20th (Day 6 Night)/June 21st (Day 7) Vienna

Welcome back to The Griswold's take on Vienna. Audrey (Taylor) speaking. Before I hit on the exciting events from today I will quickly recap last night. Following our meeting with Manuela, we were off to our complimentary 3 course meal at “Wiener Wirschaft.”  But unlike expected we were not feed famous Viennese Sausage but other Viennese favorites. For starters we began with asparagus soup which even though it sounded bad to me in the beginning it turned out to be very delicious with all of us eating every last drop! This was followed by boiled beef with roasted potatoes before we ended with an apple strudel both of which were also tasty.  
After dinner, we parted with Manuela and headed off to a carnival! Which included everything from roller coasters to games. Here we all had a lot of fun before calling it an evening so we could get ready for today.

Just like the first day that we spent in Budapest the family first started off the day touring many of the popular places found here in Vienna. After waking up and enjoying a nice breakfast we met up with Manuela, our Vienna tour guide. Much like Szilvia, Manuela is very energetic and educated. A few of the places that she took us today were The Habsburg Palace, famous museums, and a famous market
.
My favorite place that we toured today would have to be The Habsburg Palace. This palace was con-prized of a number of different building, churches, and so much more because it was HUGE! A little bit of back round information on The Habsburg's is that they ruled Austria for more than 650 years with their rein ending at the beginning of WWI when Franz Ferdinand, a Habsburg himself, was assassinated in Bosnia. Their palace didn't just house them but also all of their servants. The
Habsburg Palace is no longer used as a home but serves as a number of different museums. After about two hours of touring Manuela called it a day and set us free. During our free time Hailey and I chose to take on the market with Allison and Teri. Overflowing with fruits, vegetables, nuts, and so much more it looked a lot like an American farmer's market. We also enjoyed lunch down at the market as well. After a couple hours of shopping we decided it was time for a little break for the afternoon before heading out for tonight's festivities. The boy's on the other hand spend their entire afternoon relaxing, for more on their progress you can ask them :).

Look for more from us tomorrow!
The Griswold's 







Habsburg Palace











Friday, June 20, 2014

Family Picture


June 20th (Day 6) Budapest-->Bratislava-->Vienna

Today marked our last day in Budapest and our first day in Vienna. We stopped in Bratislava, Slovakia on our way to take a tour of the Volkswagen plant.  While cameras and video cameras were not allowed into the facility we still managed to get a picture of the plant from the bus.
I've complied a list of interesting facts our guide Daniel supplied us with:
- the plant is bigger than the size of 160 football fields
- they produce Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche vehicles  
- 500 - 2100 cars are produced each day
- which means approx 440,000 are made yearly
- there is a fire department, medical center, and cafeteria on site for all of the employees to use
- 7% of their employees are women
- all full time employees receive a 10% discount
- robots complete approx 85% of the labor done in the plant
- these robots only make approx 1 mistake a day where a car has to go back a step or two to be fixed
- employees ride their bikes from point A to point B while working in the plant (it'd be great to give your feet a break during an 8 hour shift!)

After our tour we had time for lunch then it was back on the road to Vienna. George, our bus driver, only had it back up on an exit ramp of the highway once before we were ACTUALLY on our way. We said good bye to our tour guide Szilvia and hello to our new guide Manuela once we arrived at our hotel in Vienna. Our hotel is very nice just like the hotel we've been staying in for the last 4 nights. The Griswold's decided to take the stairs with 70+ pounds of luggage in hand like real travelers do and ended up taking the service elevator part of the way. Taylor and I have a great view out our window.

As soon as it felt like we were getting the public transportation system down in Budapest it is time to start over in a new city. Manuela gave us a city map and pointed out some key stops on the "Underground."  Westbahnhof is the stop closest to the holt which is right off of Mariahilfer Street. If we want to head to City Center we hop on U3 aka the Orange Line and head towards Simmering but get off at the Stephanspl stop. It took most people 3 days to figure out the stops in Budapest. I haven't even left the hotel yet but I think I have a better grip on the public transportation system than I did in Budapest.

Tonight we will enjoy a complimentary 3 course meal at the Restaurant "Wiener Wirtschaft." Think we'll be served sausage?? I'd be willing it bet on it. :) 

Hailey Kenkel also known as Ellen Griswold signing out. Thank you for keeping up with our group's (family's) blog.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

June 19th (Day 5) Budapest

            Day 5 of Budapest was awesome and event filled. Much walking was involved today as well. The day started with a great breakfast filled with ones choice of bacon, eggs, hash browns, sausage, yogurt, fruit, and etc. The EuroCats left the hotel at 9 am this morning to our first event of the day, which was to the SAP company. If you do not know what SAP means, it is okay because I didn't until today. SAP is an IT term that means System Application Processing. On the way to our SAP meeting we passed by a Microsoft location and rubiks' cube monument. Once we reached SAP, we were given a presentation by the Managing Direction Markus Hilken. This was a surprise because normally directors of companies do not give presentations to college students, and Mr. Hilken has given quite a few to students! Mr. Hilken greeted us all with hand shakes, which was different then all of the presentations we have been to thus far. Normally, the presenter has given their name to us and their profession, and jump right into the presentation. After he shook all of our hands, he introduce himself, and his profession and started talking about SAP.

           SAP was started 42 years ago by five gentlemen that were all employed by IBM, that had a passion for innovation and business intelligence. They wanted to create a software program that could input real time data much faster and simpler for the world. They were so eager to do so, they convinced the company to use a computing machine to input the new software they were going to create. Turns out that the software program was a success, and SAP was been titled in the Guinness World record book, for IT company to store real time data at 34.4 terabytes per hours. Also SAP touches 72% of the worlds GDP with their technology software, so no one can compete with SAP. Also 90 plus percent of fortune 500 companies uses SAP's software. SAP's software consist of a HANA platform that is able to input real time data faster, simpler, and smarter than any other software platform out, and SAP itself runs off this platform, and is able to produce quarter records that usually takes days or weeks to produce now into hours. SAP is always innovating, and continuing to make things simple, smart, and fast.
            After our SAP visit, we had a couple hours a free time that most of us spent getting lunch at some sort of cafe or Gyro shops. Me and a couple of guys relaxed at the hotel for a bit, and walked to Burger King, then to the meeting spot at Astoria street to go to our next event. The next event, was a visit to the Budapest Castle and King Mathis Palace (also known as Pratts' Palace) lol. At the Budapest Castle, the group took many photos of the city and the castle itself. Every few minutes, someone was snapping a photo, but the best photo is the one of the entire group holding the Northwest Flag over the entry way of the castle. At King Mathis Palace we learned much about the structure of the Palace and how Sigmund Emperor of Germany held the Palace and title as emperor for 50 years. The Palace consisted of many statues, dishes, and many portraits. Both the Budapest Castle and King Mathis Palace are moments I will never forget, and I am sure that the group won't either.
     The day was ended with a nice gesture by our tour guide Silva to a nice cafe where we were able to order coffee, drink, or pastry of our choice. I had a strawberry milk shake and an elegant piece of chocolate candy. Others had pieces of cake or other pastries, and scoops of ice cream. I am glad to be a part of this study abroad program, and I have learned so much about Budapest, Hungary. I wish I could stay longer, but I am also curious to see how the other cities will be that we are going to visit.

Brandon Pratt