Blog of the 1st ESIC Spring Programme at the Amsterdam School of International Business (AMSIB)
Por Salvador Vázquez, Manuel Linares y Diego Medina
Monday
The ESIC Spring Programme at the Amsterdam School of International Business (AMSIB) started in the morning, and we were really excited. The moment we arrived we were amazed by the stunning facilities of the campus. Then the first half hour our guest Brechtine received and explained us the programme schedule and presented us our first lecturer of the programme: the dean of the AMSIB Roger Busser. Roger gave an introduction lecture of History and Economic development in the last millennia. The class was very interactive and most of the discussed topics were new and fresh to us. In the lecture Roger explained us how China has been able to manage being such an economic force nowadays by the long-run GDP (Gross domestic product) growth method based in three main forces: the physical capital, the human capital and the investment in new and more reliable and precise technologies for their industries.
Right after the lecture finished, we ate in the AMSIB’s canteen, and right after that, we took de metro to go to the headquarters of ABN-AMRO, the most important bank in Netherlands. There were waiting for us Zijian Wang (ABN-AMRO’s Head of Learning Partners Office) and Summit X. Ji (ING’s consultant). They gave us a great welcome and gave us a couple of lectures: one about ABN-AMRO’s vision and mission and another about Chinese economy. The second lecture was focused mainly in the “new normal” that is the 6% growth of GDP, a new era in Chinese economics after several decades around an 8% of growth. After the lectures we left ABN-AMRO to rest a couple of hours because we had a welcoming dinner that Zijian Wang had prepared for us. The dinner started and we enjoyed menu designed by Zijian that represented the best of the food culture of the Sichuan province. Despite some of the dishes were very spicy we enjoyed a really nice evening.
Tuesday
Tuesday morning started full of energy after resting in the hotel near Johan Cruyff Arena. We arrived to AMSIB early in the morning, around 8:45 and we had our first lecture (of two) with Claudio Perotti about the Do’s and Don’ts to making business relationships with Chinese counterparts. The class was entertaining as it advanced, we learnt with real cases and gave us a big picture and a toolbox of tips to implement in future businesses. The lasts 45 minutes, we had our very first class of Chinese Mandarin (simplified), we learn about phonetics and the 4 different tones and even we learnt to present ourselves.
In the afternoon we went to the Rijksmuseum and we spent most of the evening there. At night we went for a walk around the centre of Amsterdam enjoying the canals, what a pleasant day!
Wednesday
The third day of our travel was magnificent. In the morning, we had the honour to learn about “thinking patterns and open-door policy in relation to the economic development of China”. It was imparted by a Chinese professor, which made us learn a lot of things from a first hand of the Chinese way of thinking. We were all very comfortable during the session and we had a great time.
After the lunch break, we went by bus to Rijswijk, a nearby city where the company Huawei is located. There, we attended to an explanation about what the company does and its plans for the coming years. We also listened to an important person that was working for the company and explained us his experience. Then, we visited the showroom. Really enjoyable!
As the perfect ending of the day, most of us went to watch the football match between Ajax and Heerenveen in the arounds of the stadium. We run out of words trying to explain the joy, emotion, and extreme happiness we felt during the league championship title celebration with the rest of the fans there, out site of the stadium, but also in the city centre. Not even the rain could with us!
Thursday
In our fourth session, we finished to learn important Chinese concept as “Guānxi” or “liǎn”, that refer to a complex concept of personal relationships and honour, respectively. After that, we continued our Chinese lessons, and we have no need to say more than we finished singing a traditional Chinese song, in Chinese!
In the afternoon, we went to the city centre to make a boat trip through the canals of Amsterdam. We were lucky because the weather was fantastic. A picture is worth a thousand words, so we show you one of the numerous places we saw from the boat. After the hour it took us the trip, we strolled around the city. It was a really nice day.
Friday
In our last day in the morning, we did assessments and reviews about our experience in Amsterdam. It was cool because apart from the tests, we were able to talk with teachers about which things were being good and bad. After that moment we were free to do whatever we wanted, in our case we went to the city centre to buy some souvenirs to our families. Personally, I bought local cheese and some tulips for my family.
In the evening we went to a pub near to the city centre, it belonged to our university, but it was located in another campus. There, each of us had a free ticket of 30€ for food or drink. The music was great, with a DJ playing hip-hop and techno music.
At night all the people from the different campuses went to a disco called “SCAPE”. There we were drinking cocktails and dancing techno music. At 5:00AM the disco closed, and we came back to the hotel by bus.
Saturday
Saturday was a day of farewells, each campus had a different route to return home.
The farewell was very affective, since the relationships established during the trip had been very intense and we were all very sad to say goodbye.
We were taking home a unique and unrepeatable experience. We got to know a very beautiful and fun city. We made contacts and learnt a lot about a culture unknown to us so far, the Chinese culture.
We would like to thank ESIC and all the people who made this trip possible, especially Brechtine, who took care and helped us throughout the trip. She has shown us values and know-how at all times.