Generator Hostel Berlin-Mitte

We have been staying all week at the Generator Hostel in Berlin-Mitte.  Mitte translates to "Middle" and it is a centrally located neighborhood in East Berlin, just over the river from some of the most popular attractions in Berlin and a short walk from the Hackesher Markt train station.  We have been here all week and have taken advantage of the great facilities and the great location.  Visit the hostel at http://generatorhostels.com/de/reiseziel/berlin-mitte/

A few photos...

Tyler Plude getting a little work done in one of the nice alcoves for relaxing and working

The Reception Area

Space outside for a beverage and to watch the people of Berlin go by

The Generator has a bit of a functional / whimsical vibe going on

The breakfast room - also used for working - great wifi throughout the building

Negotiation Day ay Uni Potsdam

We had a wonderful day hosted by Universitaet Potsdam.  It was the second annual Negotiation & Culture Experience and it was a huge success.  We headed to Potsdam on the S1 Train and meet our counterparts at the Uni for a day of interaction.  We were greeted by Dr. Uta Herbst and her team (Melanie, Jonas and Timo) and the day started with a lecture on Culture and Negotiation and then the students were split up into buyers or sellers and the did a "Speed Negotiation" experience where they negotiated three consecutive deals with shorts periods inbetween in order to prepare.  The day finished with a group dinner and a great group dinner at Ulf's Bistro on the campus. 

Grant Heselschwerdt preparing for the first interaction

Sydney Lammers and Rosie Orchanian hard at work

The top buyers for the day including Kristen Kinney, Sydney Lammers and Brian Yarmak

The top sellers for the day including Natalie Cook, Grant Heselschwerdt and Erika Fojtik

The entire group proudly holding our WMU Flag! (Thanks Erika for bringing it!)

 

The Organizing Team: Jonas, Melanie, Timo, Dr. O'Reilly and Dr. Eckert

(Missing are Dr. Herbst  and the #1 organizer Birte, who was away at a wedding)

Erste Mai and a bike tour of Potsdam

Today is Erste Mai in Germany, which is the first of May, and known as May Day in much of the world. Worker rights and such are celebrated (like the US's Labor Day) and it is a national holiday.  Most of the group took the opportunity to go to Potsdam and learn a little Prussian history, see the beautiful grounds and palaces of the Prussian royalty and learn some WWII history.  OK, and we road bikes and had a great visit to a lakeside Biergarten for lunch.  Tomorrow we, and most of Germany gets back to work.  We head to Uni Potsdam for our 2nd annual negotiation experience with the faculty and students of Universitaet Potsdam.  A couple photos from today.

San Souci (without worry)

One of the Prussian Palaces

The facility that hosted the Potsdam Conference where Churchill, Stalin and Truman figured out what to do with German after WWII.

More San Souci

Volkswagen is fantastic (again!)

We had another great day at the VW World Headquarters in Wolfsburg.  We visited the manufacturing plant and saw the Golf 7 assembly (including some sweet models not available in the US).  That was followed by a great Brand Value Strategy lecture from Dr. Stefan Hoernemann who is with the Volkswagen Group's top marketing team.  We finished the day with a relaxed visit to the Autostadt and a great German Specialties dinner in the Savigny Platz area of Berlin.  A few photos... (none inside the plant as that is not allowed)

GBC 2014 Has Begun

All made Berlin safe and sound and we had a great first meal together.  Today we did the Fat Tire Bike Tour. We broke up into two groups so I only have photos from my group.  But by all reports the other group had just as much fun as we learned about European, German and Berlin history and culture.  And the bike is the PERFECT way to see Berlin!  A few photos to capture the day....

German Business & Culture is in the books!

We are back in Paderborn and ready to start the Global Negotiation Course portion of our trip.  We have settled into our apartments at the Campus Lounge boardinghouse.  I didn't pull out my camera much but the students had a great time in Koln.  Friday night we ate at Fruh am Dom and enjoyed a taste of Kolsch!  Then Saturday was the scavenger hunt which saw the teams explore Koln and Bonn and put together fun presentations.  The winning team was able to pull off the win by getting bonus points for including 45 germans in their group photos.  Although the creative highlight was the Harlem Shake executed by group #1.  Ah, the culture we bring to Germany!

Today we came back to Paderborn and attended a SC Paderborn 07 soccer match.  They won 2-0 on two well placed crossing passes that were finished by on-rushing strikers.  We had a grand time.  See the photos below.

We had a great time and now it is time to get to work.  Let the negotiating begin!

Catching Up... Paderborn & the Rhein

Catching up since I have been traveling on the Rhein and it has been hard to carve time out to update the blog.  So here are the last few days in pictures...

The winning case competition team at Uni Paderborn with me & Dr. Andreas Eggert on either side.

My daughter at the Deutsche Eck in Koblenz

The SBM crew representing Coyote who generously gave us scholarship money for the trip

Bacharach on the Rhein - it really is picture perfect

The group in Bingen waiting for the Ferry to Rudesheim

The group at the Neiderwald Denkmal above Rudesheim

Hiking on the Rheinsteig trail along the Rhein

One of the many picture perfect sights in Bacharach

 

The view down onto Bacharach during my morning hike