They have a nice program installed for us. A good mix of being serious and relaxing with dinners, social activities and stuff. I’m looking very much forward to this experience. Oh, and did I mention that it’s the first time I’m going to Paris…;o)

Take care here from Switzerland / France.

And in the words of Mr. McCain:

Back in 1962 Stan Lee (the writer who gave life to the comic book superhero Spider-Man) wrote “With great power, comes great responsibility”.  The corny-“ness” factor set aside for a moment, this reverbs through current thoughts on business behaviour and has done so for a decade or so. Corporations are slowly realising that they need to take more than just their owners into consideration in decision making, as their actions impact more than just the wallet of their investors.  These corporations are beginning to realise that driving a sustainable business by also being environmental and social aware is demanded from the world around them, including, but not limited to, their customers and the society.

Now the question that arises is whether these customers and the society are aware that responsibility is not only a subject for corporate agendas? As with all political campaigns, the promises and discussions in the US election campaign has evolved around the citizens’ desires and needs, with only a few squeaks of the Super Power’s impact on its environment surfacing. The subject might seem irrelevant, awkward or misplaced in a presidential campaign, but nonetheless seems to signal that there are fewer votes in general responsibility for the surrounding world. Provoking, yes. Speculative, maybe. But it’s is interesting that responsibility only seems like something we impose on others, and not something we strive to achieve in a broader sense.

Personally I hold my breath for the US to go in front and make a responsible choice today. At least by getting out to vote.

My thoughts to all those @ home!

Exactly a week ago, around this time last Sunday, I met up with a group of other CEMS people waiting for the bus to Filzbach. We were going on a 6 day seminar as a part of the CEMS programme. The bus took off from the main station in St. Gallen heading in the direction of our first destination, the Hydropower plant near Lake Garichte.

The subject of the seminar was sustainability and corporate strategy, with primary focus on the future energy and climate challenges. This is somewhat outside my field of expertise. The programme for the week was ambitious, consisting of a combination of company visits, lectures with leading professors within the field of sustainability from different European universities, company presentations by Shell, Vestas and Novo Nordisk, break-out sessions, and group presentations. The seminar was run on a tight schedule with activities from 9 o’clock in the morning often ending late in the evening with dinners with corporate partners, which of course saw this as an opportunity to get in contact with potential new employees. It was 6 very intense days, getting to know new and interesting people and definitely a lot of food-for-thought.

The setting in Filzbach was amazing. For pictures please visit the website of Lihn where we stayed. The hotel was set on the side of a mountain looking down over the valley with the clear blue Lake Wallensee in the bottom encircled by the surrounding mountains. This place created a calm and almost tranquil mood with its clear view to the distant peaks in the west and thick layers of fog filling the valley in the early mornings, and thus creating a splendid offset for the day to come. It was as if nature had crept in under the floorboards and created the perfect framework for the seminar especially with its subject on environmental issues.

The subject on sustainability was very new to most of us. One of the wonders of the CEMS framework, the diversity across theoretical, practical and cultural backgrounds, really surfaced during this seminar. Sustainability has many components. Putting it simple it is the corporate challenge of balancing economical, environmental and social impact of your operations on the company’s physical and social surroundings. Of course this has many aspects. The primary focus of the seminar was that of environmental impacts on the climate with focus on the world production and consumption of energy. The diverse backgrounds amongst us - the participants - gave the seminar an edge, which, adding to the contributions from the competent lecturers and company representatives, both expanded my horizon greatly and made me realise the actual complexity and the real challenges this subject contains.

I think it was Thursday – right around the time where I was starting to catch a cold – we ran out of the somewhat standardised subjects of “Where do you come from?” and “Why did you choose to come to St. Gallen?” and the togetherness really began to emerge. With the many different origins and cultural backgrounds (from Sao Paulo to Russia and Italy to Norway) there were lots of interesting things to talk about – and so we did. I think most of us got a pretty good idea of each other. For me as a newcomer this was especially great.

With a short detour into Austria to see one of the largest producers of gondolas in the world (Doppelmayr), we headed back to St. Gallen Friday afternoon, just in time to have ice cream on the shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee) in the town of Rorshach. I was pretty beaten when I arrived back in the apartment around 19.30. It had been a long week, and I had been sneezing my way all afternoon. I should probably have stayed at home in stead of going out Friday evening.

All in all – the seminar proved a great way to begin the stay here in St. Gallen. Meeting people and getting the opportunity to flex the academic muscles – a warm up for the semester to come.

My calendar is lying open on the table besides the laptop. The language courses start next week together with a range of social events coordinated by the university buddy initiative. More new and interesting people to meet and the opportunity to really test my high-school German. It has stopped raining now. I have a “learning experience paper” to write. Should probably start reflecting a bit more on the seminar.

There is actually not much to tell. I met my two room-mates - Dani and Mark - which are both very nice guys. It has now occured to me how far away my german is, while I on the same time surprises myself by speaking longer coherent sentences. I look forward to getting used to swinging the old language sling and uncovering what else I might have stored away during the years in elementary and high-school.

All for now. Goodnight.

Br, Kasper

Very small changes seem to generate contingent smaller changes in its immediate surroundings. Jakobs absence has changed us back home a bit, as my absence might as well. Changes like these doesn’t just occur - they fill the hole left by other changes and evolve in the direction we let them.

In many ways I look forward to my trip, aware that changes will occur in my absence. I do not fear these changes, but I am curious to see how they evolve. I leave both Nina and Erik, whom I will miss deeply along with the rest of my family and friends. They might all change a bit while I am away, but I am confident that these minor changes will all be good.

Changing of the guards is closing in - Jakob is returning and I am leaving. New changes are coming.

Arriving at Madrid at 1 o´clock this night was not as troublesome as we had expected. After a small detour with the metro we arrived at our hotel, found something to eat and were in bed by 3 o´clock.

Today has been very active. After an Andalucian style breakfast we went down to the Museo Nacional del Prado for some great views of spanish medieval and rennesance painters such as Goya and Velazguez - a very interesting experience. Amongst many exciting paintings we got to see the “The Third of May, 1808: The Execution of the Defenders of Madrid“. Fantastic painting.

From here we went straight for the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, which contains modern paintings and of special interest to us a big collection of Miró, Dali and Picasso paintings and scultures. The museum closes at 14.30 on sundays (but as with the Museo Prado the entrance is free on sundays) and arriving not until 13 o´clock we were in a bit of a hurry. We went straight for the permanent collection and started exploring the Picasso and Miró exhibitions. After being dazzled by the horror and intensity of the famous “Guernica“, by Picasso, we went on to explore a painter that has caught Jakobs interest quite a bit: Dalí. He even got the chance to look at his favorite painting, but I´m sad to say that I don´t know which, and can therefore not tell you.

The rest of the afternoon has been used wandering the streets to get an impression of the city, which seems much nicer now compared to the impression we got last time, and in the park just relaxing.

Originally we should have met up with a good friend of mine, José, here in Madrid. Unfortunately it didn´t work out. I hope  to see you sometime in the future my friend and wish the best for you and all your loved ones until then.

Now we are going for something to eat. Tomorrow, after doing the last bit of shopping, we are heading back to Denmark, where we both long to see family and friends.

Hasta Luego!
Kasper

So, we have now reached the final night in Granada. Kasper and I did the last shopping after school, and we have actually reached the point where every store and shop have been searched.

As a last goodbye we invited Justo to dinner´and we met up at the cathedral around 21:15. We went out for some tapas and beers at various places and we have really grown accustomed to the spanish way of having many light dishes. Justo is a really nice guy, attentative and patient, and we have enjoyed his company. After a few tapas we decided to get a coffee and Justo let us to a plaza at the foot of the Alhambra. We had the view of Alhambra, a coffee and amazing company… a good way to spent the last evening.

Before saying goodnight to Justo, we had one of the amazing icecreams that Granada offers and strolled slowly back to the appartment.

Thank you for everything Justo, you have been an important part of our trip here. Give our best regards to Manolo.

Br.

Kasper & Jakob