On land and sea, 41 students from the College of Business Administration at Florida International University (FIU) experienced the business and cultural environments of Rome, Sicily, Athens, Ephesus and Crete . . . while continuing their coursework, taking one or two classes.
“During our three days in Rome, we visited the American University of Rome at which we had a guest lecture on Italian business practices, and Wyeth Pharmaceutical Company where we had presentations on its success,’” said Doreen Gooden, faculty leader of this study abroad program. The FIU Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) coordinates the study abroad programs.
“This was the most memorable presentation for me,” said international business major Robert Llanio, “It’s an American company that is run abroad, and has been successful on foreign soil. It can provide anyone with inspiration that anything can be done in today’s business world.”
First-time study-abroad cruise combines the proved and the new.
Throughout a seven-day cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas, the opportunities for cross-cultural enrichment continued. At ports of call, the group heard lectures at the U. S. Embassy in Athens and at the Ege port. On board, the captain, hotel manager and marketing and revenue manager gave overviews of their roles and the logistics of operating a cruise ship. Also, the students got to interact with passengers from other countries.
“It was awesome to have a moving classroom with all the extra features of a cruise in the same bundle,” Llanio said.
But it was even more than that.
“It’s not just a class being taught in a much larger ‘classroom,’ on a different ‘campus,’” he said. “It’s being able to share your time with new people who have the same interests and career aspirations.”
Helen Simon, director of the college’s Capital Markets Lab, who most appreciated “interacting with the locals, hearing what they have to say, enjoying their traditions and sharing ideas with them,” assisted on the trip, which took place from June 24 to July 5, 2009.
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