There are 287 steps to the top of St. Vitus Cathedral’s Great South Tower in Prague. Syeda Zaidi ’19, ’24MBA can confirm because, amid the bitter Czech cold, her group counted every single one. The climb was tough, she admits, but from the top, the reward is a spectacular view of the entire city — and that change in perspective is worth the extra work
This January, Zaidi and 70 other students from Bryant’s One-Year and Two-Year MBA programs, accompanied by faculty and staff, traveled to Prague and Berlin for 10 days through the Global Immersion Experience, (GIE), an important cornerstone of both programs where students explore other countries and learn about international business. In recent years, the program has also visited Chile, Panama, China, Germany, Iceland, and Dubai.
The 2024 expedition is the third led by Professor of Marketing Srdan Zdravkovic, Ph.D. An international business expert, he notes that having the chance to examine another country firsthand gives students an important advantage in the professional world, as well as an opportunity to see what they’ve learned in a new light.
But the GIE’s benefits, he says, extend far beyond the bottom line and even beyond the curriculum. “It is always wonderful to see the transformation in the students at the end of the trip,” Zdravkovic states. “They learn a lot and have a lot of fun, but they also feel more confident and worldly. This trip is something they’re going to be thinking about and turning over in their heads for a long time. They’ll be asking themselves: ‘What comes next? What’s my next big adventure, and how am I going to use this experience to move forward?’”
That philosophy defines how Zaidi, an assistant store director for Shaw’s Supermarkets who one day aims to be president of the company, and her traveling companions are approaching the trip. Her group spends much of their free time exploring, from touring Prague Castle to visiting the John Lennon Wall to sampling the local cuisine.
Plus, it’s a chance to test their adaptability in a new but supportive environment. Zaidi’s group is an eclectic bunch — including a farmer, an IT consultant, and a manufacturing executive — but, together, they are forming bonds that will last throughout their time in the MBA program and their careers. By working together, reckons Evan Urban ’24MBA, they can handle anything, in Prague and beyond.
Their mission to study the intersection of business and culture includes a deep dive into the Pilsner Urquell brewery — literally. From the aged catacombs beneath the brewery to the modern production facilities, the students receive an education in the time-honored process used to create pilsner since its invention in the Czech Republic in 1842.
On one section of the tour, the scent of beer ingredients hangs in the air, a sour miasma so strong that it seems to carry weight. “That’s the smell of business,” one of the students jokes to a cluster of laughs from his companions.
And then there are moments of transcendence. During one cold evening, the students gather to attend a classical music concert in the historic St. Nicholas’s Church. With a few heat lamps and a sound system as concessions to modernity, the students listen in silence as they are immersed in Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor and transported back in time.
Bryce Antoch ’24MBA is a classical music aficionado, a trait he picked up from his grandfather, who recently passed away. But he’s never been to a performance like this, he admits. For the entire concert, he sits with his head down in contemplation and remembrance. When it finishes, the corners of his eyes are wet. Hearing this music here, in this environment, truly carries a different resonance, he reflects. “You begin to understand what it meant to them,” he notes quietly.
The GIE trip has been carefully planned to the last detail, and the students have spent the previous semester learning about local customs, regional economics, politics, and history. But there are some things you can’t prepare for.
On a day trip to Dresden en route to Berlin, the group is beset by tractors. At first just one — seemingly innocuous — then a second — merely a coincidence — and then another and another, until a swarm of them clog the road. The German government has recently ended an important farming subsidy, and the people have taken to the streets.
Once the bus finds a place to park, the students take some time to explore — and discover more than they imagined. Upon turning a seemingly quiet corner, Diego Rodriguez ’24MBA and Gustavo Rodriguez ’24MBA (no relation) find themselves in the city’s historical center at the edge of a sweeping demonstration. As they take in the humongous crowds waving flags and signs and hear impassioned speeches in another language, Zdravkovic, also watching at the edge of the crowd, is there to offer context.
The duo finds the scene fascinating, and lingers for a while just to take it all in. But they also resolve to learn more. “This is what immersion truly means,” reflects Gustavo. “To be out there with the people, to see how they lead their lives, and to understand what is truly important to them.”
A guided tour through Berlin further drives that message home. If classical music is the soundtrack to Prague, Berlin carries a punk vibe. The city is young and built on a history of conflict and division that has left its mark on society here, and on the people as well.
Tour guide Pip brings students to the historic Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie, and the remains of the Berlin Wall — familiar sites come to new life when viewed in person. But she also takes care to show them “Trabi World,” a garish tribute to the Trabant, the small, largely unimpressive East German produced car that opened up travel to the citizens of Soviet Berlin. This is history as well, Pip reminds her charges: the hopes and joys and struggles of everyday people — the pieces of our lives that don’t end up as headings in history books.
That same day, the GIE group turns its sights from the past to something akin to science fiction at the state-of-the-art BMW Motorradwerk. There, they witness firsthand the motorcycle production process — from the automated warehouse to a new engine production line that just opened in November.
As they make their way through the production facility, the students observe the complex dance between man and machine as robots and mechanics work together to build up to 900 motorcycles a day.
“It’s like looking at the future,” notes James Galleher ’23, ’24MBA.
It’s not the only amazing sight the students will witness, nor the last that will leave its mark on them. Simi Bakare ’24MBA plays football for the Bryant Bulldogs, but soccer was always his first love. As he stares out at the Olympiastadion Berlin, he finds himself speechless.
A few minutes from now, he’ll be given an all-access, behind-the-scenes tour of the stadium, including the press and locker rooms, where the professional soccer team Hertha BSC plays. He’ll sit in the very same seats as the prime minister outside of the Hall of Honor. He’ll hear about the stadium’s history, from Jesse Owens winning four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games to Usain Bolt shattering his own 100-meter record to win the World Championship title in 2019. And he and his teammates will exchange information and questions with their tour guide, comparing their very different brands of football.
Right now, though, he’s overwhelmed, day dreaming about the glory he knows was won on the field before him. Suddenly, he cups his hands around his mouth and calls out a soccer chant down to the pitch. He can’t explain why he did it, he admits, it just felt like the right thing to do at the time — only to have his answer a second later as someone down on the field echoes the chant back to him, causing him to break into a wide grin.
And so the adventures continue, too many to share but each leaving a lasting impression.
On the second to last day of the trip — which is really the last, as the following day will be consumed by travel — Jihad Edmond ’23, ’24MBA sits quietly in the booth of a restaurant near the group’s Berlin hotel. He’s tired, the result of more than a week of adventures, but he has a gleam in his eye. He’s also taken so many pictures throughout the trip, and sent so many home to New Jersey, that he needed to purchase a bigger data plan.
In a little more than a day, he’ll be back in Smithfield, but the young man who’s never been overseas before is already thinking about his next international trip. For now, though, he’s in a reflective mood.
So much of what he saw and did, he says, will linger with him long after he touches down in the United States: from the old-world beauty of Prague to the futuristic BMW factory to the taste of the new foods he’s sampled and knows his mouth will water for back home.
What will stay with him longer than the pictures, Edmond says, is the opportunity he’s had to explore and grow, to discover new things about himself and the world around him. After traveling more than 4,000 miles over the course of the trip, he says that he feels like he’s on top of the world.
And the view is phenomenal.
