Saturday, June 7, 2008
Post Departure Blog - Priscila Sousa
One of the biggest things I learned on this trip was not not look at something completely one dimensionally. I know this isn't the purpose of this blog but the reason I say this is because prior to coming on this trip I had a very narrow view of women's leadership and a certain disregard for cultures that valued anything in women that was either physical or bilological. It IS important for women to place priorities in their family lives and their interests in things that are not involved with professional goals. There, after all, must have been some kind of a reason for all of the cultural artifacts in some of the cities we visited to have indication of this. Of course there was a strong male influence in the developing of these cultural ideals, but there must have been a reason why women were so apt to just comply with the cultural norms seeing as how women have ALWAYS had complete ability to do things otherwise.
Post-Departure - Sylvia Corfman
It has been almost a full week since our return from Central Europe. All too quickly I reintegrated myself into family, school and work life. Now I must consciously stop to think about the 11 days of travel, which seemed like a month en route. As I view the various photos taken by travel mates, I am taken back to a time and place that seemed both anachronistic and ahead of its time.
I was surprised to learn that, as diverse as our backgrounds are, women in the former Eastern bloc behind the ‘Iron Curtain’ have the same fundamental obstacles to achieving leadership positions as women worldwide. These obstacles seem to stem from women’s biological ability to bear children and almost universal inherent nuturing nature. However, with family guidance at a young age and family support when older, women are able to open new pathways to achieving the leadership positions that are their prerogative.
Perhaps the most enjoyable woman entrepreneur for me was our Prague tour operator, Sarka Kacabova, owner of Personal Prague Guide. She expressed her view of the issues with the current work force with refreshing honesty. Her perspective is that pervasive in the Czech culture is a resistance to change, a vestige from the false security of socialism, In spite of her family’s admonishments, Sarka followed her instincts and started a locally based tour business that has since become a world-renowned operation (via Rick Steves’ travel guide). Sarka displayed entrepreneur qualities when she was the first tour operator to offer a detailed and attractive tour map free to her customers, at the disbelief of her competitors. This map is a service winner for Sarka’s business.
Sarka has a plan and is on schedule. She is pregnant with the first of two children she hopes to rear. She will take advantage of the generous national maternity benefits (six weeks at 60% of earnings, and three years at 20% of earnings) augmented with the commissions she receives from her tour operation. Sarka has cleverly formed her business so that all of her operators are entrepreneurs, avoiding the overhead of employee administration.
I look back on my trip, thankful for having been, pleased at the new connections made, both long-distance and closer to home and once again learning life-lessons unexpectedly. Thank you to all for contributing to my experience.
I was surprised to learn that, as diverse as our backgrounds are, women in the former Eastern bloc behind the ‘Iron Curtain’ have the same fundamental obstacles to achieving leadership positions as women worldwide. These obstacles seem to stem from women’s biological ability to bear children and almost universal inherent nuturing nature. However, with family guidance at a young age and family support when older, women are able to open new pathways to achieving the leadership positions that are their prerogative.
Perhaps the most enjoyable woman entrepreneur for me was our Prague tour operator, Sarka Kacabova, owner of Personal Prague Guide. She expressed her view of the issues with the current work force with refreshing honesty. Her perspective is that pervasive in the Czech culture is a resistance to change, a vestige from the false security of socialism, In spite of her family’s admonishments, Sarka followed her instincts and started a locally based tour business that has since become a world-renowned operation (via Rick Steves’ travel guide). Sarka displayed entrepreneur qualities when she was the first tour operator to offer a detailed and attractive tour map free to her customers, at the disbelief of her competitors. This map is a service winner for Sarka’s business.
Sarka has a plan and is on schedule. She is pregnant with the first of two children she hopes to rear. She will take advantage of the generous national maternity benefits (six weeks at 60% of earnings, and three years at 20% of earnings) augmented with the commissions she receives from her tour operation. Sarka has cleverly formed her business so that all of her operators are entrepreneurs, avoiding the overhead of employee administration.
I look back on my trip, thankful for having been, pleased at the new connections made, both long-distance and closer to home and once again learning life-lessons unexpectedly. Thank you to all for contributing to my experience.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Post departureblog - Lamis Nahas
Hey everyone , there is a lot to say about this adventure we just had together, it’s a trip to remember ,,,I loved the countries and the historical places, however it was so interesting for me to see different women who use with different approaches in their businesses, and it was interesting to know their successful stories and the obstacles they faced.
This trip taught me tolerance and taught me that there is no place like home !
I never thought that 11 days would cause a cultural shock , or would be tiring , but the truth that it is tiring and needs a lot of adaptation…
The part that I liked the most was seeing Central Europe in reality ! as I learned a lot about the economic transition , the new members of the EU and the obstacles they are facing and putting them behind other big EU members in books, but this trip allowed me to sense it better …
Oh and I loved the b-day celebration the group threw me , it was so nice and it made my day a day to remember …
Great meeting you , and it was a great trip,,,wish you all the best, and if I got the chance to do this again I would definitely do it...
This trip taught me tolerance and taught me that there is no place like home !
I never thought that 11 days would cause a cultural shock , or would be tiring , but the truth that it is tiring and needs a lot of adaptation…
The part that I liked the most was seeing Central Europe in reality ! as I learned a lot about the economic transition , the new members of the EU and the obstacles they are facing and putting them behind other big EU members in books, but this trip allowed me to sense it better …
Oh and I loved the b-day celebration the group threw me , it was so nice and it made my day a day to remember …
Great meeting you , and it was a great trip,,,wish you all the best, and if I got the chance to do this again I would definitely do it...
Post departure blog(Lamis Nahas)
Hey everyone , there is a lot to say about this adventure we just had together, it’s a trip to remember ,,,I loved the countries and the historical places, however it was so interesting for me to see different women who use with different approaches in their businesses, and it was interesting to know their successful stories and the obstacles they faced.
This trip taught me tolerance and taught me that there is no place like home !
I never thought that 11 days would cause a cultural shock , or would be tiring , but the truth that it is tiring and needs a lot of adaptation…
The part that I liked the most was seeing Central Europe in reality ! as I learned a lot about the economic transition , the new members of the EU and the obstacles they are facing and putting them behind other big EU members in books, but this trip allowed me to sense it better …
Oh and I loved the b-day celebration the group threw me , it was so nice and it made my day a day to remember …
Great meeting you , and it was a great trip,,,wish you all the best, and if I got the chance to do this again I would definitely do it...
This trip taught me tolerance and taught me that there is no place like home !
I never thought that 11 days would cause a cultural shock , or would be tiring , but the truth that it is tiring and needs a lot of adaptation…
The part that I liked the most was seeing Central Europe in reality ! as I learned a lot about the economic transition , the new members of the EU and the obstacles they are facing and putting them behind other big EU members in books, but this trip allowed me to sense it better …
Oh and I loved the b-day celebration the group threw me , it was so nice and it made my day a day to remember …
Great meeting you , and it was a great trip,,,wish you all the best, and if I got the chance to do this again I would definitely do it...
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Post Departure Blog 2
The blog that starts off "I just finished writing my paper", right below this posting is Lindsay Douglas's. I forgot to put my name on it. I posted it on June 5th, around 2pm. Sorry!
Post Departure Blog
I just finished writing my paper and I have had a lot of time to reflect on my trip. I am amazed by how much I learned and how much I have been able to share with my family and friends at home. I still can't get over their maternity leave and how it really (although it may not have been designed that way) does keep women out of the work force. It looks really good on paper, but just promotes women staying at home with the children. I am so glad we got to meet with women who overcame this invisible barrier and were able to get back into the labor market and become extremely successful. I think one of my favorite speakers was Eva who give the conferences to women and teaches them how to become successful women. I really enjoyed how humble she was and what a respected buisness woman she is. I liked how she didn't want to be like most Czech companies and wanted to keep her clients happy, even if it meant sending them little notes or presents in the mail.
Seeing 4 countries in 12 days was incredible. I would do it all over again if I could, I honestly can't believe I am already home! Touring the cities and really taking everything in was so benificial, I feel that I got the most out of the trip I possibly could have. My two favorite cities were Vienna and Prague. In Vienna, we went out one night and met up with a family member of Diana's. He took us to the museum district, which was this huge square were all college kids hung out, drank casually and sat on the benches. I was thinking to myself when I was there, if we were in America right now, doing this, college kids would be running around like crazy, getting wasted, probably distroying property, playing drinking games and getting crazy. There, everyone was so calm and low eye, just hanging out, having a couple drinks, talking and socializing. In America, it would have been "go, go, go", its such a fast paced environment here, its very rare that people our age could just sit on a bench and talk for the night, we always need to be doing soemthing. It was a really relaxing night, not to mention we got to talk to students who were traveling abroad and studying at Vienna University.
Visting the Prague palace and seeing the churches lit up at night was another one of my favorite memories. I will always have that image in my mind and when I look at my pictures, I can't believe I was there!
All around, I had a great trip, with great girls and great instructors. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Seeing 4 countries in 12 days was incredible. I would do it all over again if I could, I honestly can't believe I am already home! Touring the cities and really taking everything in was so benificial, I feel that I got the most out of the trip I possibly could have. My two favorite cities were Vienna and Prague. In Vienna, we went out one night and met up with a family member of Diana's. He took us to the museum district, which was this huge square were all college kids hung out, drank casually and sat on the benches. I was thinking to myself when I was there, if we were in America right now, doing this, college kids would be running around like crazy, getting wasted, probably distroying property, playing drinking games and getting crazy. There, everyone was so calm and low eye, just hanging out, having a couple drinks, talking and socializing. In America, it would have been "go, go, go", its such a fast paced environment here, its very rare that people our age could just sit on a bench and talk for the night, we always need to be doing soemthing. It was a really relaxing night, not to mention we got to talk to students who were traveling abroad and studying at Vienna University.
Visting the Prague palace and seeing the churches lit up at night was another one of my favorite memories. I will always have that image in my mind and when I look at my pictures, I can't believe I was there!
All around, I had a great trip, with great girls and great instructors. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Post Departure Blog-Pamela Griffin
I can not believe the trip is over. The trip seemed so much longer than ten days which was great because I felt I had more time to take in the cities and experience. We got back on Saturday evening around 5. Since I last posted we finished up our time in Vienna. We got to speak with the scientists which was a great experience. They were very different from all the other women leaders that we have meet because they were so focused on science and how science enable them to enhance there leadership abilities. Then we traveled to Bratislava which we only got to spend one day in the city. However we did get to meet with women from the UNDP which was great to see a more global fight to the inequalities in women leadership. I wish we were able to spend more time because it looked like a great city. Our last city was Prague. Prague was the city that I was most looking forward to visiting. We got to meet with the editor of a women's magazine as well as a fashion designer both which were really interesting because of the different perspective that we heard compared to the other women we were able to talk to. Our last night of our trip was great because we went to a medieval feast for dinner which was very fun and a great way to end the trip.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Post-Departure Post (Brienne Black)
Today, I reflected on my trip and time in Central Europe, mostly because I just got all 600 of my pictures developed. I had such a great time and I wish it didn’t have to end. I learned so much from my visit and time there, and from all of the amazing and inspiring women we met with. Each one of them had some great advice to offer, each on a little bit different than the other. I learned a lot about myself from this trip and from what I want and expect from my life. I was able to look up to the women we met with and picture myself in their positions five or ten years down the road. I met some great people on this trip, from Simmons and not from Simmons, and I saw some amazing places. I wish that everyone would be able to experience something as great as this trip was. I believe society could learn a lot from a trip like this and from the women that we met.
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