Back to Business..

Well its been a week since our plane landed in DIA from a long but worthwile 5 weeks in France. Since I have been back, the free refills, my car, and most importantly the lack of French speaking has reminded me that I live in such a great country. Being in a country for a month and a half has really made me appreciate everything we have here in the United States and also given me ideas of how I and others can make this country really "the best country in the world".

Paris it was NICE knowing you...

Well all good things come to an end. Studying in Paris for 4 weeks will be an experience that I will never forget. From when you get up in the morning to rush off to school to roaming the Paris streets late at night, the education doesn't stop. Being there for an extended time let you really see how life in another country works. From a business standpoint and just a citizen standpoint. As the CEO of Nissan motioned in his discussion on CNN the other day, one of the biggest qualities and skills an employer is looking for is there international experience, ability to understand different cultures and business environments. This is what I certainly gained from my stay in Paris and eventually my short stay in Nice, France on the Mediterranean sea.

As I anticipate my first few weeks at home, I will be bombarded with questions such as "what did you learn in Paris"? I must ask myself this, what did I learned? The answer to me is very simple, I learned to adapt to a new culture and lifestyle. Its no different than adapting a new product to a new market such as France. If you don't know how to adapt and understand different cultures you will not be successful as a global marketer.

To close it off I had a really good time. I met tons of new people, some were Americans others were French, Canadian, and Irish. Social interaction is an important part of education and listening to others and learning how they live their lives compared to you is so valuable. So long Paris...

We could of used a monster energy drink..

Developing an export plan for Monster Energy drink became more of a task than what we envisioned. As a graduating senior at the Monfort College of Business, projects are something I lived and breathed at my time at UNC. It would not be uncommon to have 3-4 marketing projects a semester, all taking lots of time and effort. Like everyone else we pushed off the project to the weekend before, only really brainstorming ideas prior. It was quite an experience trying to enjoy our last week in Paris while trying to produce a quality product for class. Specific research needed started to become hard to get our hands on and with time running out, 3:30am the night before marked the end of the monster project. We kept saying to each other a "BFC" a huge Monster Energy drink would be nice while working late hours of the night. The project really couldn't have gone any better, it looked very professional and out plan was certainly realistic. I do sure hope that Monster taps into this market. Red Bull is good but for anyone that has had Monster, well there is no comparison...

Where have I been....

Over the past week we all have been so busy working on our projects and trying to take every little thing in before we go our separate ways Sunday. I was on a blog role for a while but have came to the conclusion that there is so much to write about. I guess the one thing I can say is about this trip is the education lies outside the classroom. This is in no means a discount to the EBS school and its administration, but rather a complement to the city and country and how it can change perspectives on lives and create more opportunities professionally and socially. Every day you learn something else, usually something that can be attributed to business or behavior of people. You can't go one day without noticing something astonishing. Whether its French driving, weird advertising, people interaction, you name it.

Traveling in small groups

Alright, in my opinion traveling is not really a team sport. As we have tried and continue to do on somewhat of a regular basis is travel in a big group. This does not work!!!! You spend all your time waiting to make sure everyone got on and off the subway creating havic and adding extra stress. Nobody can ever make a decison about where and what they want to do, I don't know isn't an answer. Keeping groups under 4 or 5 is ideal, easier for cabs, getting into restaurants and pubs, and easier to please the parisians, meaning NOT LOOKING LIKE A TOUR GROUP. The smaller the better...........

FINALLY A REAL MEAL

It has gotten to the point where we all needed a real American meal in an American city. The only answer to this was Hard Rock Cafe. The no free refills on soda and small portions had to be put on hold, even if it was only for a couple hours. The whole experience of eating in a Parisian restaurant is much different than any American restaurant, service sucks in Paris, where in the States the idea is to get you in and out. Eating at the Hard Rock Cafe provided a mid-ground, we got the great tasting, large portioned American food but were stuck with the slow customer service. I guess you can't export everything. Regardless the food was amazing and provided us with some good energy to take on Napoleons tomb for the rest of the day.

Parisian Parking Part 2

Ok, I couldn't let this one go by without talking about it. So the other day we were waiting for a few of us to use the ATM and in the meantime we decided to watch this lady park her car into a spot barely big enough for a golf cart. Bare in mind slightly bumping into a car isn't completely unheard of here in Paris, but what she did was absolutely insane. She proceeded to back into this car several times until she was able to fit her car into the spot. A few of the times it seemed like it could of damaged one of the cars, but it did not even phase her at all. Do they have any respect for others property. We actually made eye contact with her a few of the times after she hit the car in back of her and showed no sign of concern, it was like almost she had no idea why we were even staring at her. I guess the moral of the story is, don't drive nice cars in Paris.

Now thats a great deal!!! NOT

1750 Euros is around $2700, this is what this Parisian is asking for this beat up, slow, unattractive two door car. Now how can a car that is constantly being hit from the front, rear, and sides be worth this much money. Now don't get me wrong $2700 for a car is not that much, but I have seen some nice Honda Civic's and Acura Integra's sell for this much at home and are much nicer. The only thing i can think of that would make it worth something would be its size, parking is nearly impossible so i guess I would say size does matter in this case.

Monster Energy Drink Gearing Up For Europe

For our project we have decided to market Monster Energy Drink in France. Just today there was an article in the local newspaper about the energy drink market and Red Bull's plan to dominate the French marketplace. The market for energy drinks is continuing to grow rapidly, but based on my observations I have only seen very few brands in the local stores including Red Bull. Monster Energy Drink recent dominace in the American market has made us optimistic of the potential success here in France and the rest of Europe. The brand pictured above "burn" is only one of the few brands being marketed in Paris.

I am very excited about the project, we have a lot of innovative marketing ideas that will hopefully convince our judges of the validity of our proposition. Extreem sports and obviously team sports like soccer are very popular in France and if Monster Energy Drink can allign with this market like they do in the United States, they should have tremendus success here.

"I don't need a spot to park"

Coming to the end of the second week in Paris I have came to the conclusion that the Parisians idea of finding a place to park is much different than us Americans. They will park literally everywhere, sometimes backing into cars just to barely fit in a spot that they have no business in. Almost every car has hundreds of dings and scratches on it and it doesn't seem to bother them at all. Just today on the way to school a car decided it would park in the middle of the road, at the time it wasn't really blocking anyone in but for sure would eventually. Just the other day I overheard a conversation with an english speaking parisian and how much he pays in parking fees. I wanted to tell him, have you seen how you all park? Those smart cars can literally park in a spot in any direction you want, today I saw one backed up over the curb with the front of the car facing the road. What are they thinking? I guess we can say we park better.

"Do You Wan't Fries With That"

McDonald's in Europe, why? They are everywhere, malls, side streets, airports, strip malls, basically everywhere they are in the United States. I would of liked to think that McDonald's would only be an American thing catering to the busy lifestyle of North Americans, but that is not the case. In fact, every McDonald's I have been to over here has been really nice, and offers a gourmet style menu. They are always very crowded with business people and of course travelers. Everyone recognizes the "arch", brand recognition is what keeps this company rolling even in countries that you wouldn't think would accept a greasy fast food restaurant originated in the United States.

Now This is Marketing

When I first got to Paris I did notice that advertising is certainly different, but not necessarily better or worse. One of the first things that caught my mind is the sidewalk cafe advertisements they put on outdoor tables for customers to see. The cafe where I noticed first was very close to the EBS school. Passing this cafe every day you begin to notice that the ads are different each day. What I found funny about this particular advertisement for Ford is the location of the coffee shop. With the cafe located on a busy street and customers being exposed to hundreds of brands and models of cars, what better way for Ford to reach them while they have cars on their mind. If this ad was in a train station it may not have as good of an effect because the customers state of mind is different. To me this is great advertising and I am excited to see more of it.

"Do they need that big of Guns"

One of the first things I noticed about Paris is the military police, or whatever you want to call them. They walk around with large automatic weapons similar to the police in Mexico, trying to install fear in visitors and local Perisians. Could you imagine if police in New York City walked around with big automatic weapons, I think the city would destroy its self. I guess this is just how they do it, but it does make you wonder.

Italian Food and French Fries

I didn't expect to see as much Italian dishes in France as what we have experienced. Pizza is everywhere, some good some bad but always available. Almost all restaurants I have been to have had Italian dishes and French fries. The Italian food is actually really good, very similar to food you would get in Italy as I visited "Italia" 2 years ago. The cheese actually has some taste, not just the stretchy cheese you get at "Domino's" back home.

A lot of people ask, "Do they have french fries in France" the answer is "Yes they do". They have them everywhere, nice restaurants and hole in the walls with every type of entree. The French EBS students said they everyone loves them. Its funny that they are called French Fries but are actually Belgian. I think that was an American mistake. We tend to think of French Fries as Burger sides but not here, they are with everything served. I guess i have been basically eating italian and belgian dishes for a week.

UNF vs. UNC "The battle of Blogs"

Instead of just "us" doing our own personal blogs, EBS and Desmond thought it would be a good idea if we had a blog competition between the two schools. Competition is always fun, and it will hopefully bring everyone closer throughout the trip. It will be fun to combine blog postings from everyone and compile them into one blog for UNC to show everyone. Every second of this week something crazy has happened, lots of drama, fun, and adventure. It will be interesting who will win out in the end, "Game on Everyone"

"We don't know whats on the Plane as far as luggage"

This is what the pilot of the plane informed us when leaving denver, after reboarding the plane like 3 times. This is not the news you want to hear when you are traveling across the world. They had to recount all of the bags and then load them. The whole air port exerience is nothing to be surprised about, as I stated in an eariler post, the "airport" experience sets the trend for the trip and it certainly has.

With all the trouble leaving denver and eventually running through the Chicago airport to catch the connecting flight we still made it to France only an hour later. As bad as United Airlines and basically every other airline they still manage to get you where you need to go no matter what circumstances. Austin was the only person not to get his bag when we landed, but eventually got it later in the week when they felt like getting it to him. As the week goes on, still the day of flying is talked about and will continue to be talked about throughout the trip.

Survived the "Week From Hell"

Finished finals today, now its time to rock and roll. Sunday is two days away and packing has not been completed. Saturday will consist of graduating, checking URSA every 2 minutes for final grades, and last of all packing. Making sure I have everything will be a challange, I know I will forget something.

"You have like a week left and you havent packed"

As you could imagine, life as a Monfort Student does not allow for much free time to plan and pack for such a great trip, such as studying business in France at the European Business School. All I ever hear is " You have like a week left and you haven't packed".Well it is true, and I think that's what will make the trip great, not much planning but just reacting to what comes about each day and living it up.

Studying in Paris is the chance of a lifetime, learning and experiencing a new culture, while meeting new people, will polish my interpersonal skills, as well as broaden my education. Throughout the trip I would imagine blog post may follow a trend, starting off will the wonderful airport experience that I hope everyone is ready for. As I have found, the beginning airport experiences set a trend for trips, sometimes good and other times bad. But a week from know we will find out. Until then.. Back to life at MCB...