Monday
Our experience in the Netherlands began after an explanation of the week’s events by the coordinator, Brechtine. After this contextualization, the first class we had at the Amsterdam School of International Business, with Roger Busser as professor, took place. Thanks to him, we were able to understand China’s economic development, as well as learn about some macroeconomic policies.
That afternoon we were scheduled to visit the facilities of ABN-AMRO, a popular bank in the country. On that visit Zijian Wang and Summit X. Ji showed us some important aspects of the Chinese economy; such as the annual growth of GDP, which they called «new normal».
We then enjoyed a dinner consisting of a variety of Chinese food personally chosen by Zijian Wang. It was an unforgettable experience because it allowed us to get to know better our colleagues from other cities and due to the food was very spicy! Despite the inconvenience, it was a very interesting and fun evening.
Tuesday
This day we had our first class with Claudio Perotti, who explained the main actions to be taken when building professional relationships in China. It was one of the most funny days of class because Claudio explain very well and we also had a practical Mandarin Chinese class.
That afternoon we were lucky enough to visit the Rijksmuseum, where we could see works by important artists such as Van Gogh, Jan Asselijn or Jacob van Ruysdael. At the end of the visit, we opted to take a walk through the central streets of the city.
Wednesday
On Wednesday morning we had our third lesson. This one was really interesting because we learnt about the thinking patterns, the open door policy and how the economy is being developed currently in China.
However, the best of the day was the visit to the core base of Huawei in the Netherlands. There, we listened to really interesting speeches of two intern workers of this company. They gave us some advices and told us some stories about their experience in this company. Later, they gave us a facility tour.
At night, we went to the vicinity of the soccer match. The Ajax of Amsterdam had a really important match and we really had a great time celebrating the victory with dutch people.
Thursday
Our four session was again with Claudio Perotti and we started talking about the sourcing from / market entry in China, and the do´s and dont´s that should or shouldn’t be done in this country. In addition, we really had a great time with the second lesson of chinese. It was really funny because besides learning some basic chinese skills, we also practiced a song all together.
As usually, we had the lunch break at 12.15 and then we had one of the best activities of the week: the canal cruise. We had a trip for two hours into all the canals of the city center of Amsterdam. We really learnt because it was a mix of history, culture and curiosities of this big city.
Finally, we just went to the center to have some beers with people from all the headquarters of Spain. We really got to know each other more deeply.
Friday
On Friday morning, we were visiting Amsterdam and buying some presents for our families and friends. We were in a very famous cheese shop, and it was very curious because the two workers were from Santiago de Compostela, and we were talking to them about where we could go that night.
After that, we went to the hotel to rest a little and at 6 o’clock, we went to the Cafe Fest, a very beautiful bar where Brechtine had given to us a 30€ ticket for each one, so we had to spend it all, drinking beers and eating whatever the cooker told us to eat.
Finally, we went to Escape, a very big disco with the problem that they only played techno music hahaha. The disco closed at 5 a.m. and we came back to the hotel by bus.
Saturday
It was the day we returned to our cities, so when we got up, we went to the airport to fly to Barcelona. When Sevilla students arrived in Barcelona with the students of Zaragoza and Barcelona, we had to stay there for 5 hours waiting for the second flight of the day.
Finally, we arrived to Sevilla at 22:20 and we could finally rest in our houses.
We are so grateful to Brechtine and with all the people that made this unforgettable trip possible.
Blog made by:
Marta Rosas Fernández
Diego Roig
Manuel de la Puerta