Poland, ho!

The few sessions we've had so far have gotten me really excited about our trip!

I learned so much from what Konstanty Gebert shared about the European Union, and I'll be interested to keep my eyes and ears open to hear what I can about the Polish perspective on the EU and what's been happening in the UK and France.

Our next session on the economic climate of Poland enlightened me that Poland has such a strong economy, and has endured quite some hardship, but has come out very strong business-wise and financially. I'd love to know more about specific industries and how they strategized getting through hardships such as the economic crisis of 2008.

I was looking least forward to our session on Polish history, but found it to be the most interesting to me. I was fascinated by how much the Polish borders have shifted throughout the years, and would love to hear how that's effected businesses, particularly in media. I'm also interested to hear how media survived the holocaust in Poland. Similarly, how Polish culture changed throughout this tumultuous history - what the Polish people have clung to, and what new customs they have adopted.

Concerning the reading I've done, I'm also interested to visit the Polish radio station, and hear about how Polish radio has been effected by the history of the country, and how it operates today. 

It's very interesting that so much media was banned during the holocaust, I would love to know how that has had an effect on the country.

More than anything, I can't wait to see what the people are like, and how much fun we'll have :)

Getting Ready for Krakow

We’ll be leaving for Krakow, Poland in only 5 short days! The last few weeks, we’ve learned about the history of Poland, its cultural heritage, its incredible food, and the evolution of its media landscape. It’s been a fascinating few weeks of cultural education, and I can’t wait to experience it firsthand.

From our visit with Ms. Klimek, we learned about Poland’s growing industries and international investors, as well as its rich culinary environment. I was interested to learn that Poland has many protections on its food products for their high quality and history. June is the peak season for strawberries in Poland, and I hope to experience them while we’re there.

I also hope to learn more about the way businesses operate in Poland. As an MBA student focusing on Marketing and Media Management, I would like to learn about their perspective on media as Poland experienced a significant transformation in its media environment. For my selected reading, I chose an article on the rapid growth of rock music in 1980s Poland. From this article, I learned about the complex media environment, and how its opportunities allowed rock music to thrive at this time. With this context, I’m looking forward to learning about Poland’s current media and music industries.

I was also impressed by our conversation with Ms. Klimek in the way that Poland utilizes place marketing to highlight its strengths and promote its businesses. As a marketing student, I would enjoy learning more about how Polish businesses leverage marketing strategies in the international arena.

Lastly, in addition to the wonderful cuisine we’ve all heard about, I would love to experience more of the Polish culture, from music to arts, architecture in Krakow, and its beautiful natural environment. While I first visited Poland during high school, I look forward to experiencing it now from a business perspective and immersing myself once again in its beautiful culture and surroundings.

Here we come, Kraków!!!

Czesc everyone!

I’m so so SO excited for our upcoming trip!! I’m sure it will be amazing! With every lecture, we immerse more and more deeply in the Polish history and life, so I just cannot wait to visit the country and meet Poles!!!

From the trip, I expect to learn even more about history and significant events that helped Poland become the country it is today. I also think that by being in Krakow, the center of Polish cultural and artistic life, we all will be deeply immersed in Polish culture, art, media, and many other academic and traditional landscapes of Poland. Ideally, I would love to attend a music concert of Frederic Chopin :)

After reading the article about Polish companies and how firm’s size affect their willingness to collaborate with other firms, I became more interested to discover the business side of Krakow. So I hope that we will get the chance to learn more information about business and trade environment in Poland. In addition, I would like to hear from Polish students what they think about Polish job market and if they plan to stay in Poland after graduating.

Finally, I want to discover similarities and differences between Poland, Russia, and the United States. As most of you already know, I was born and raised in Russia and I moved to the U.S. about 6 years ago. But only some of you know that my hometown is actually located on the Far East of Russia and is very close to the Chinese and North Korean borders. And by spending most of my life being so far from the West, I naturally became more knowledgeable about Asian countries, to which I traveled more often and frequently heard about from the news. And now when I’m in the US, I always look forward to visiting cities in the Western world so that I discover the culture and life here. Also, from what I know, Poles and Russians share common traditions and some similar food, so I really can’t wait to experience everything and finally eat that delicious food!

Do zobaczenia wkrótce, Krakow! (See you soon, Krakow)

Can't wait for the trip to start!

Hi everyone!

I'm so excited to finally arrive in Poland in less than a week! The past classes we had were very interesting in learning about the history of Poland, economics, and some of the culture. Actually being in Poland though, I'm excited to actually experience the culture there and learn new things about the media side of Poland. Being a media management student, I'm excited to learn the history of media, which will be on our first day, and how technology is shaping the country.

I do expect to see differences in the culture but maybe some similarities as well. I love learning and experiencing different cultures when I travel, so I'm excited to learn more about it with the Polish students we'll meet. As well as looking at our itinerary, the different activities and lectures we'll be experiencing is going to be a great overall experience in being in Poland for only a week.

And having the same feelings on Mariel on this but I'm excited in trying the different foods while we're there! The readings about Polish food offered when we had our guest speaker Sabina Klimek has been an interesting read in learning about different kinds of food in Poland, but as well as the different foods grown there, their exports and processing.

Have a safe trip everyone!