College of Business

Europe Day 9 – Council of Europe and Culture in Strasbourg

Published by College of Business on May 24, 2012 in Europe - Spring 2012. 0 Comments

submitted by Callie Prothero

Early this morning, we departed on our two-hour journey to Strasbourg, France. Our agenda today consisted of the Council of Europe and immersing ourselves in the French culture. At the Council of Europe, we learned the distinction between the Council of Europe (47 countries) and the European Union (with only 27 participating countries.) After a brief tour of the debating chamber, we listened to a presentation on the role of the Council of Europe. While the European Union is primarily an economic union, the Council of Europe is concerned with furthering human rights among the 47-European members. We also learned that the flag of the Council of Europe is based on the number 12 (12 stars) as this has historically been perceived as “the perfect number.” The number 12 is at the core of the building’s architecture with twelve beams at the center of the large meeting room.

After our visit to the Council of Europe, we ventured into downtown Strasbourg to immerse ourselves in the French culture. Because this was our only day in France, we wanted to experience as much as we could quickly. Some students ventured to the cathedral in downtown Strasbourg. They climbed the stairs to the top, and discovered a beautiful view of Strasbourg.

Other students spent their time walking around and experiencing the culture from a street view. They dined at French restaurants, and tried some French pastries. The downtown is filled with small restaurants and shops.

At the end of the night, we headed back to Heidelberg, Germany, where students went out to experience the night life. We spent the night enjoying ourselves and bonding as a group.

Europe Day 7 – Hamburg

Published by College of Business on May 23, 2012 in Europe - Spring 2012. 0 Comments

submitted by Jake Gross and Kate Thompson

After a successful day of traveling in Cloppenburg and Bremen we were ready for another day of adventure. We were off to explore Hamburg. Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany after Berlin, and the least densely million-person metropolis in the world. It is also known for being Germany’s largest port and one of the 10 largest ports in the world. One important tourist destination in Hamburg is St. Michaelis Kirche built in 1649. St. Michaelis is one of the most ornate protestant churches and allows tourists to climb to the top of the bell tower to see a panoramic view of the city.

We began our day with another extraordinary breakfast at the hotel where we enjoyed a magnificent meal and practiced a few German phrases we thought we had mastered. After breakfast, we made our way to the train station to get on our first train of the day. During our first transfer, we met a young lady named Daniella, who was very willing to answer any questions that we had about life in Germany.

One of the main questions that we had for Danielle was concerning the standoffish demeanor of most of the Germans that we had encountered. She explained that Germans do not often show their emotions, which leads Americans to perceive them as reserved and sometimes rude. Danielle also gave us some tips on food to try and places to visit with our free time in Hamburg. She also spoke very highly about the United States and told us that she spent time in Florida on a study abroad trip. As it turns out, Danielle is looking for another study abroad opportunity so we gave her our contact information and hope she’ll consider exploring UW Oshkosh for her final semester abroad. The time passed quickly talking to Danielle and before we knew it we had arrived in Hamburg and had to part ways.

Upon arriving at the train station everyone grabbed a quick lunch and then boarded a hop-on hop-off double decker bus for our tour of the city. The bus took us by all of the essential stops in Hamburg allowing us to see as much as possible with our limited time in the city.

We learned many interesting details about Hamburg and the changes that the city has seen during its over 1000 years of history. For example, the downtown was heavily bombarded during WWII, so many of the building were constructed after the war, but many redbrick historic 19-century warehouses, city mansions, and historic landmarks have been restored and now house banks, insurance companies and other big businesses. To have the full Hamburg experience it was essential to cruise Germany’s “ Gateway to the World.”

As our bus tour made a stop to pick up more tourists near the water we decided to hop-off and take a boat tour of the port. As a group of over 25 Americans entered the boat, we realized that the English tour ship had sailed, and our tour would only be conducted in German. However, we were okay as we had our own personal encyclopedia, Craig Jones, who gave us a custom tour of the port and taught us many interesting facts about ocean cargo ships. Although it was a Sunday, the port was alive with recreational and commercial activity. While on our tour, we learned that the Port of Hamburg employs roughly 160,000 people to handle and transport the approximately 10 million cargo containers that travel through the port each year. We were astounded by the size of the port, the commercial cargo ships, and the Queen Mary II. The sophistication of the equipment to load and unload cargo from the ships leads one to think of a futuristic movie setting.

After docking and disembarking from the boat tour some students traveled back to the St. Michealis and St. Nikolai cathedrals to explore the interior and climb to the top of the bell towers. Others headed toward the Rathaus to get a closer view of the architecture and enjoy dinner at an outdoor café on the water. After a beautiful day in Hamburg we met as a group at the train station and began our trip back at for our last night in Osnabrueck. While our time in Hamburg was brief, we enjoyed our stay and hope to visit again.

Internship Spotlight: Leah Watson, CARE

Published by Abby Schapekahm on May 23, 2012 in Internships and Marketing. 0 Comments Tags: CARE, College of Business, Facebook, internships, Social Media, Tumblr, Twitter, Your boss.

Leah Watson, CARE Intern, (Far Right)

CARE’s Background

CARE is an organization dedicated to raising awareness of how to have healthy relationships in a college setting and beyond. This means educating students about what abuse looks like, counseling survivors of abuse and working towards the eradication of the culture which allows this abuse to flourish.

A SWOT analysis for CARE will not look like a traditional for-profit SWOT because it doesn’t exist to make a profit. The strengths of CARE include the passion of the people who work there. It is unlikely a person would choose to work in a counseling center or a relationship education center if he or she didn’t deeply care about social justice, and this holds true with the interns and employees there. Other strengths include a student body that is willing to listen, as shown by the high turnout rates at our events as compared to similar events on other UW campuses.

CARE’s biggest weakness as an organization is that it does not always know what to do with its momentum. While it can fill seats for an event, often students forget or are unaware in the first place that we exist because CARE doesn’t leverage success when it gets it.

The opportunities such an organization has are many, and revolve around the mission outlined above. It has the opportunity to change a society, starting with students here at UW-Oshkosh by educating them about healthy relationships.

The threats are more nebulous: with a mission statement as lofty as “changing society,” the people who benefit from society as it exists currently do not like to see such a thing happen. CARE itself can be threatened by a lack of funding, which is always a possibility when budgets are being cut for programs that seem unnecessary.

My Experience

Leah Watson, CARE Intern (Right)

As one of two social media interns, my job is to keep the Facebook and Twitter pages updated with relevant posts about upcoming events and newsworthy happenings, such as Jaclyn Friedman coming to campus to speak. I also took the initiative to create a Tumblr page for CARE (at http://uwocare.tumblr.com), which contains posts about healthy relationships, healthy sex and resources for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

This internship requires its interns to be very self-motivated; the vast majority of work takes place on your own time and will be either posted directly to one of CARE’s social media platforms, or submitted to your supervisor for perusal. A typical day for me involves trawling news websites for relevant events I can post about, reading a bit of one of the books our supervisor assigns us each week and planning for the final project, which involves tying in what I learned in my internship to my major.

Advice for Future Interns

Your boss is your best underutilized resource; don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you feel you’re under qualified, don’t! Your boss knew that he or she was hiring an intern and that many of your skills would come to you as a result of the internship.

If you have the chance, hold out for an internship that involves something you’re passionate about. The old saying “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” is absolutely true. So if healthy relationships are important to you, why not stop by CARE?

Europe Day 8 – Osnabruck – Cologne – Heidelberg

Published by College of Business on May 22, 2012 in Europe - Spring 2012. 0 Comments

submitted by Megan Van Groll and Sam Buschman

Today was primarily a travel day. We started with a delicious continental breakfast at the Remarque Hotel in Osnabruck. We then loaded our things onto a luxurious Mercedes Benz coach bus and started our three-hour journey to Cologne.

The main attraction in Cologne was the Kölner Dom Cathedral. This beautiful Cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe and has been Cologne’s most famous landmark for centuries, attracting an average of 20,000 people a day. Photos cannot do this cathedral justice – mostly because it is impossible to fit the entire cathedral into one shot! The cavernous ceilings and beautiful stained glass windows were a complete contrast with the seemingly dirty exterior. While we were there, a mass was starting so we got to hear the organ echoing through the cathedral.

After the group visited the Cathedral, we went our separate ways for a few hours. Our group enjoyed the shopping and dining Cologne has to offer. Many of the stores were unique to Europe, but shared similarities to stores in the United States. An example included Forever 18, which is comparable to Forever 21 in the United States. There were a lot of different options for shopping and eating, which made for a very eventful day.

Our group ate at a small café called Cappu Vino, which offered Italian cuisine. It was reasonably priced and delicious like many of the small cafés located in Germany. Others walked along the river and stopped for a meal there. We gathered on the steps outside the cathedral for one last photo before leaving the city.

Europe Day 6 – Cloppenburg and Bremen

Published by College of Business on May 22, 2012 in Europe - Spring 2012. 0 Comments

Submitted by Luke Engel

The day started out with our first experience on local trains. Within an hour, we were in Cloppenburg, Germany, home to one of the oldest and largest open-air museums in Germany. As luck would have it, the museum was hosting an art festival, Das Blumenfest, so we wound our way around the displays situated within the clustering of 50 plus buildings from the 1700′s. Among the attractions were numerous food tents and shops with clothing, trinkets, soap, and most importantly food (fresh cheese and bread, German pastries and sausages and the like). Luke made a decision to go with the fresh strawberry, waffle, and ice cream and was not disappointed.

The festival was full of historic components including wheat grinders, windmills, and farm equipment.

It was interesting to see the ingenuity and resourcefulness that people used in construction over 350 years ago. We learned that it was common for Germans to have “sleep closets” which were literally long closets, big enough to house a single bed. During the day they could close the closet doors to hide the beds. A very efficient use of space!

From Cloppenburg we proceeded via train to Bremen. There we gathered in the town centre which is composed of several impressive buildings, monuments, and statues. We stopped at the 600 year-old town hall for photos and touched the famous Bremen musicians statue for good luck. You may remember the story of the town musicians of Bremen in which a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster, cast out due to age, set out to find a new life together and handily takeover a theives’ den.

Many took this opportunity to enjoy some authentic German fare and enjoy shopping in Bremen’s lively downtown. The evening concluded with an uneventful train ride from Bremen to Osnabruck, returning around 11 p.m. Local time.

May 15, Day 5 – Osnabrueck, Germany

Published by College of Business on May 21, 2012 in Europe - Spring 2012. 0 Comments

submitted by Ashten Treankler

Today we started at Georgsmarienhutte, a large German steel manufacturer whose steel is used to make crankshafts, connecting rods, camshafts, drive shafts, gear and chassis components. Georgsmarienhutte’s investment in technology has reduced their workforce from well over 6,000 employees to about 1,300 over the past 6 or so years. As we started touring the facility, each of us began to realize the enormity of the operation – this happened for me in the room where they melt the scrap metal. The machine looked like something from outer space. Flames and molten metal shot out of it from all directions. The engineers in our group had many questions and our guide was very enthusiastic in his responses. It was clear that he greatly enjoyed his work and was proud of all his company has accomplished. Toward the end of the tour, we were able to ask several questions regarding management structure and practices. We learned that Georgsmarienhutte has a typical hierarchical structure but that it is relatively flat. We also learned that Dr. Großmann purchased the business for just 2 euros during the economic downturn. His dedication and that of his employees has turned Georgsmarienhutte into the successful business we were able to tour today.

After the steel plant tour we headed to a campus in Osnabruck where a local professor lectured on the European Union and students presented on the economies of Germany and Spain. Over the past decade, Spanish banks over-extended consumer loans, leading to a “housing bubble” of rapid growth, which burst in 2008. During this time, for example, dozens of unnecessary airports were built – one costing 60 million Euros which has yet to have a plane either take off or land from it!

We met with German students for an evening of socializing. The difference in language was very apparent in our conversations, as we attempted to learn some German words and phrases. However, the most important part of the experience was recognizing that laughter is universal and a crucial part of getting to know someone else – regardless of where in the world each originates.

Spending time with the students helped us to realize how fortunate we are to have opportunities such as this, both as a way to learn more about another culture but also about ourselves. One of our favorite moments was the realization that we take the beauty of the United States for granted – yet people from across the globe want to travel to it for that very reason…for the forests and deserts we perhaps do not appreciate as much as we could.

Internship Spotlight: Tasha Gosselin, Deloitte

Published by Abby Schapekahm on May 21, 2012 in Accounting, Finance and Internships. 0 Comments Tags: Co-Op, Deloitte, Internship, LinkedIn, Networking, Taxes, The Big Four.

Tasha Gosselin, Tax Intern, Deloitte

Company Overview

Deloitte is one of the leading professional services organizations in the United States, specializing in audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory services with clients in more than 20 industries. We provide powerful business solutions to some of the world’s most well-known and respected companies, including more than 75 percent of the Fortune 100.

How I Got the Job

Everybody says that networking is the key, and its true. None of the “Big 4” accounting firms will recruit at UW Oshkosh because we are too small for them. I first applied online, but to a recruiter, those applications all look the same. Luckily, someone I knew through my previous internship had started working at Deloitte as a first year. I contacted her via LinkedIn and asked her if she would mind connecting me with the recruiter. If I hadn’t had that connection to make me stand out, I never would have gotten my foot in the door.

My Role

My internship was in the audit area. Our first week was training in the office, after that we got assigned to our clients. I learned different methods to test areas of the audit and how to document support for each area. Because I was on private clients, our teams were smaller and I got exposed to several different parts of the audit that I might not have had the chance to otherwise. My favorite part of the job was when I got included on some of the conversations about how to apply theory to a particular accounting situation.

My Experience

They aren’t kidding when they say you will be working long hours. Once “busy season” got into full swing, I was working 70 hour weeks. I though it would be really difficult, but when you have so much to do, the time flies! I think the most difficult part of my internship was living in a hotel for 7 weeks straight. All of my clients were out of town so we stayed in hotels. On Saturdays, we worked from the office so I only had Sunday morning and afternoon to do laundry and get ready for the next week. There are some perks to being out of town; all of your meals are paid for and you don’t have to worry about doing stuff around the house after you work a 14 hour day. In the end, all the work was worth it because I got a job offer. I start in September of 2013 after I graduate and pass my CPA exam.

My Advice

Get involved in a club and go to campus events. Anybody can get straight A’s but it takes a lot of hard work to do well in school and be involved in other activities. Employers really look at those things because showing you can balance those things in your life right now shows them that you will be able to do it when you work for them.

Europe Day 4 – Amsterdam to Osnabrück

Published by College of Business on May 19, 2012 in Announcements and Europe - Spring 2012. 0 Comments

submitted by Nicole Donahue & Kelsey Waldschmidt

To start our day off in Amsterdam, we had a Dutch breakfast. This breakfast consisted of Dutch pancakes, the Dutch version of Nutella, salami and a bagel. To drink, we had coffee (that was very, very strong), orange juice and water. When we were finished with our breakfast, we started our journey from Amsterdam to Osnabrück.

During the three hour drive, we got to observe the agriculture of the Netherlands, which is the largest in the world. Also, along the way, we saw a lot of windmills and bridges that are similar to those in the United States.

Upon our arrival in Osnabrück, we checked into our hotel and took a walk to the City Center where we got the opportunity to see a few historic churches and the town hall. The town hall was top to bottom filled with hand carved wooden benches and walls.

While we were walking from place to place we noticed that the square was decorated, filled with food stands, stages, games and rides. We discovered that today, May 17 is a national holiday in Germany and the Netherlands. The holiday being celebrated is Ascension, or in German “Maiwoche.” This year marks the 40th anniversary of the celebration. Ascension, as described to us by natives of the town, “it is just another holiday, like Christmas.” We got to spend the rest of our afternoon walking around the festival enjoying what a “real bratwurst” tastes like (with curry ketchup), potato pancakes, crepes filled with real Nutella and taste the German beer and other drinks like wine filled with real fruit. More importantly we spent time being immersed in the German culture and getting to know one another better.

Day three in Amsterdam

Published by College of Business on May 18, 2012 in Europe - Spring 2012. 0 Comments

submitted by Liz Gerharz

After leaving Gassan Diamond Factory in Amsterdam, the rest of the day was free time to explore the city on our own. Everyone split off into their smaller groups; our group of seven girls (Bree, Taylor, Tyra, Megan, Katie and Sam) and one guy (Jake) decided that shopping should be the first thing to do. (It was a little strange to us that the majority of stores close between 6-7 p.m.) We started at the Magna Plaza, which is right by the Dam Square and Royal Palace. These are two amazing buildings, like nothing you would be able to find in the United States.

Next, we visted the Anne Frank House, which was the hiding place where Anne Frank wrote her diary during the WWII. There is a set route through the museum with photographs, short videos, quotes from her diary as well as original objects to illustrate the events that took place there. It was a chilling experience to walk through the museum. One part that stands out to me is the movable bookcase that concealed the door to their hiding place so it could not be seen from anywhere in the front of the house. There were markings on the wall showing the growth lines for Anne and her sister, Margot.

Finally, we had to experience the nightlife of Amsterdam before leaving in the morning for Germany. Our first stop was to the Xtracold Icebar where the temperature is -10°C. You are only allowed to stay for a maximum of 30 minutes because it was so cold, but they provide you with coats and gloves before entering the icebox. They played music as well as a 3D movie that served as intermission between your choice of an alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverage. These were served in a glass made of ice. It was a pretty COOL experience. After warming back up and grabbing a bite to eat, we headed for the famous Red Light District of Amsterdam. It was an indescribable, once in a lifetime, experience. I would not advise anybody to take their children there. By the end of our short walk around the main street, we were almost running to get away from it all. Never the less, Amsterdam was a good time. Now off to Osnabruck, Germany!

Internship Spotlight: Jonathan Wylie, Idiomas 247

Published by Abby Schapekahm on May 18, 2012 in Finance and Internships. 0 Comments Tags: Abroad, Germany, Internship, Spain.

Jonathan Wylie, Finance Major

I was in Germany for the Fall Semester and was planning on coming home in Spring, but a Canadian friend told me they had internship openings in Spain. I got the recruiter’s contact information. I had a couple of Skype interviews and before I knew it I was on my way to Valencia, Spain instead of returning to the US.

I started working at Idiomas 247, a company that teaches different languages, on February 20^th, and will finish at the end of our 6 month contract on August 20^th. I was really excited to come live in the 3^rd largest city in Spain, situated on the Mediterranean Coast, while trying to learn some Spanish and complete my internship.

Dinner with Co-Workers in Spain

My position consists of conducting one to one conversational English classes, assisting in the creation of new business English lessons, and attending my individual Spanish lessons biweekly. I am in the office Monday through Friday at 10:30am, have a two and a half hour “lunch” typically around 1:30, and finish at nine.

I have been here for about two months so far and feel a bit overwhelmed with the amount of time I am working, and have had to adapt to the Spanish clock–yes, they actually do take siestas in the afternoon. In fact, much of the city shuts down every day around 1-4 in the afternoon, including many businesses. They also tend to stay up much later.

However, I am enjoying this more laid-back lifestyle, and interacting with the diverse group of teachers and employees working at my internship site. I only knew a few words of Spanish before I arrived, but I can already have simple conversations, and I’ve been soaking in the sun every weekend at the beach since I got here.