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| A view of the Maas river in Maastricht. |
Summer in Europe--Entry 2
Photographs and text by R. Jon MacDonald
Maastricht's famous red church.
Related Links:
The
European Summer School
Oberlin-in-Europe Euro Summer
School
Maastricht--Time
to Get to Work
After arriving in Maastricht,
we were greeted by our contact for the stay, Jorg, and students from a
group called the Erasmus Student Network (ESN). The ESN group took us
shopping for anything we needed and tried to answer our questions. We
immediately became friends with them, especially Dennis, and they took
us out to a local bar. The bar is known to be international and hosts
'boat races' every time a new group comes into town. Our group managed
to come in second place, beating some students from West Point and the
ESN group--the reigning champions. Needless to say, the bar became the
main hangout for our group.
Since the city of Maastricht dates back to 250 B.C., there is a lot of history there. We toured what used to be a Roman Bath House and got a walking tour of the city's historic sites. There were dozens of churches inside the city limits--one for every time the city was taken over by a competing religion. Most of the churches are no longer in use because there are just too many to serve the population. In fact, we went to a techno club one night that was inside an old church. Since Maastricht is a college town with the University providing approximately 30 percent of the population, the night-life and attitude was great.
The next morning, our group was welcomed to Maastricht during a presentation given by the President of the Center for European Studies of Maastricht University, Mark. After lunch, Mark gave us a short course in Dutch manners and customs, an experience I will never forget. The following day we started classes. The Dutch professor we had for our international communication class was great. He explained how different cultures communicate all over the world, which made me more aware of my surroundings. I doubt I would have noticed half as much about the culture in the places I visited had I not been in his class. The afternoon class, taught by Professor Cleeton, covered international business. It was also interesting, and I learned a lot considering I was the only student in the class not to have had any economics classes prior to the trip.
Maastricht Continued--NATO,
the European Commission and DAF Trucks
During our last two weeks
in Maastricht, the group took many "company and official visits" (or,
field trips). We went to the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, where
we met with some members of the American team to discuss the current issues
facing NATO. After that, we headed over to the European Commission (EC),
also in Brussels. At the EC, we met with officials to discuss the growth
of the European Union (EU). The group had been discussing how the growth
of the EU would affect international business--specifically business between
the U.S. and the EU--during our classes, so this was a rewarding experience.
The following week took us to the DAF Truck Company. After a short presentation about their global marketing and global presence, we were given a tour of the plant. Although the tour did not have much to do with international business, it gave us all a good look at how other countries handle their companies internally. I must admit, however, that it was pretty amazing to see a truck assembled from the ground up.
The University of Maastricht was a great place--everyone there was from a different part of the world. The mixture of cultures made it that much better than most American universities. Apparently, the school has the best management and business program in Holland, a country ranked just behind the U.S. as a place where companies should consider investing. While I was there, I decided I wouldn’t mind getting my MBA at some point--and I was told that participating in our program was a huge 'foot in the door' for Maastricht’s MBA program.
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| Maastricht is known for its famous old buildings, and for being a leader in modern architecture. |
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