3/3/09 Ruckl Crystal tour, flight back to London

We had to be ready to leave the hotel by 8am, which sucked. We got on a bus and headed out about 40 mins to the Ruckl Crystal factory. They make crystal glass in just about every size and shape possible for everything from cups to trophies. The representative of the company wasn't the best at English so it was hard to follow what she was saying, plus everyone was tired as hell, even Davis was doing the sleepy head bob. Although it was interesting when she started talking about how many other Crystal making companies were going out of business around the Czech Republic.

Furthermore, the representative said their business partner Waterford Crystal, the number one Crystal maker in the United States, went bankrupt recently and still owes Ruckl Crystal a significant amount of money. Crystal glass is the epitome of unnecessary luxury spending that is and will continue to have a huge drop in demand as the global depression continues. Waterford was able to sell their Crystal for higher prices due to their brand reputation, and probably had lower costs due to economies of scale. All of this means that Ruckl Crystal could very well not be in business a year or two from now.

Walking through the factory was fairly depressing as the working conditions were poor. On the glass blowing floor they wore no protective gear due to the temperature, even though they were working with molten glass. However, they were allowed to drink on the job, and the company provided them with beer saying that it “was the best for keeping them hydrated because of its vitamins”. Since when did that happen? The alcohol in the beer actually dehydrates you more. I also saw a worker light a cigarette off of the molten glass.

From Prague Trip

On the glass cutting floor the workers labored with no masks, protective eyewear, or gloves. The company said the workers preferred this because they lost precision when wearing gloves and other protective gear... but the glass particles floating in the air contain high amounts of lead and are not healthy to breathe in significant amounts of. For all this intensive labor, the workers only received 600-700 Euros a month. I guess as Americans we take for granted the privileges and opportunities we have compared to other places around the world.

I bought a souvenir glass bird in the gift shop and then we headed to a small town and the restaurant Restaurace & Penzion “Ve Stoleti”. We all had a traditional Czech dish of egg soup, beef with a sweet sauce and dumplings, and a cake that tasted like golden graham cereal. It was all very delicious, the Czech make really good food. Then I was dropped off at the airport with JJ and Nate at 2:30pm and waited around forever since our flight wasn't until 9pm.

3/2/09 jewish quarter, prague presentations, night out

At 9am we left for a tour of the Jewish Quarter of Prague. We stopped at a few museums and synagogues along the way and were given way too much background history information for so early in the morning. In particular the inside of one had the names of all the people who were taken to extermination camps in World War II written on almost every wall from floor to ceiling and it was a very daunting and somber sight. 90% of the Jewish population in Prague were exterminated, but the Nazis chose to leave most of their synagogues in tact and collected Jewish artifacts in order to make a museum for the “exterminated race”. We also visited the Jewish ghetto graveyard, which had 12 different levels of graves underground because the Jews were not given any other area to bury their dead. This graveyard was very unique because it had a multitude of tombstones basically leaning on each other.

From Prague Trip

After we headed back for lunch at the hotel, it was finally time to do the Prague Presentation. Overall I felt our presentation went well, we went a little bit too long and it was fairly boring at some parts, even Davis was nodding off, but we did the best we could with the material we had. My group performed well on making sure to speak slowly and clearly so the LEROS manager could understand us. The LEROS manager was very nice and after commenting on our recommendations he gave us a sample bag of a variety of LEROS teas.

For the most part I felt that the Prague Projects gave some valuable experience of problems that would come up in a real-life business consulting project like vague objectives, hard to find research, stressful deadlines, less than helpful group members, and presentations to the client. However, if we did something wrong it wasn't a big deal, since we couldn't be fired or anything. At the end Dvorsky said that there would likely be internship possibilities to live and work in Prague for a month next summer, and I definitely am interested in doing that.

After a nice nap I headed out with Andrew, Neil, Peter, JJ, and Nate to the Olympia Restaurant again to have a celebratory dinner. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed down for some re-flooring and so we headed to the nearby restaurant “Stara Praha”. I got a traditional Czech potato soup (“Bramboracka”), beef goulosh (“Hovezi Gulas”) with dumplings, and a dark beer (“Staropramen Tmave”). It was all tasty but not completely filling. After paying our bill we found out from Nate that Neil had been charged for his ketchup and garlic and the box he used to take home his ribs, and since Nate had to pay for it the guy at the counter said “your friend, he screwed you” which was hilarious.

We all got back on the tram towards the train station, but right as Neil was reaching for the pole to hold on to, the tram sprung to life, and Neil was instantly thrown onto the floor and crumpled into a ball. It was absolutely hilarious to see, and all of the Czech people sitting next to us were laughing too.

In the train station we briefly talked with a Bulgarian woman who was visiting Prague with her friend about how Prague was always grey and where we went to clubs. She was fairly fluent in English and had visited Boston and Washington DC in the United States.

The Beer Factory was really neat, in that you sat at a table as a group with a central tap, and each table could compete against other tables to see who could drink the most, and also the bar as a whole could compete against other bars. We played some drinking games and enjoyed the music. A bit after 11pm a huge group of young Czech teens, probably high schoolers, came in and started partying like crazy. They started an almost mini mosh-pit in the center of the floor and there was some crowd surfing. Czech people really know how to party hard.

We headed back to the hotel and then found out that there was a student bar in the basement floor of the hotel. This bar was pretty big, had 2 different areas a pool table and stuff and served pints of beer for only 25 krona (like $1.05 US!?). This was an astonishing discovery and we lamented over the lost opportunities we would have had if we knew this bar existed when we got here. I headed up to bed soon after.

3/1/09 resume lecture, prague work

At 3pm we had the “Cultural differences and human resources issues in central europe” lecture by Michael Mayer, the Managing Partner of MRI Worldwide – Prague. I thoroughly enjoyed this lecture, as he gave a plethora of relevant and applicable information in the ways for us college kids to approach job interviews, internships, and resumes. He also highlighted some of the differences in hiring and working between the US and Czech Republic.

Nate and I headed out to the city center afterwards to shop for clothes but there wasn't a great selection of deals in the stores there, so we headed back after eating a hot dog from some random stand. I came back, grabbed some Chinese food and worked with my Prague group for about two hours doing practice run throughs of our presentation and fixing issues.

2/28/09 Tour of Prague, night life

At 9:30am we got a guided tour of Prague's historical center including Wenceslas Square, the Old Town Square, the Charles Bridge, and the Lesser Town and Franz Kafka's house. Our group learned that the Czech Republic has the highest per capita alcohol consumption in the entire world (Ireland is 2nd) with 160 liters per person per year.

From Prague Trip

In the Old Town Square there was an interesting statue of Jon Hus, who tried to reform the catholic church and was burned at the stake. Apparently, I am related to him in some distant way. There is also an incredibly beautiful and intricate clock on the wall in the square. There were just so many beautiful sights and vistas in Prague it was almost overwhelming

From Prague Trip

From Prague Trip

At night we headed out to Karlovy Lazne, the club with a reputation, where apparently some SU students in the past had gotten rufied. This club was the best I have ever been to. It was 5 floors, each with a different dance floor and style of music. There was a rave/techno floor, a pop-music floor, an 80s disco floor, and a chill-out lounge up top. The 80s floor had the best dancing area, but some of the music sucked. We danced on the various floors until almost 5am and then took a taxi cab back to the hotel. While we were on the dance floor a fight broke out between two drunk guys but they were quickly dragged out by multiple huge bouncers. There were a ton of people at this club, and over the course of the night I danced and talked with different people, including some girl who was also visiting from England.

From Prague Trip

2/27/09 Lectures in Prague, out at night

At 9am our first morning presentation was “entrepreneurship in the czech republic” by Martin Lukes Ph.D. from University of Economics in Prague. He highlighted important culture differences between the United States and the Czech Republic in regards to the way people conduct work. Czech people tend to underestimate their capabilities, which contrasts the usual American's boasting and self-confidence.

Next we got a presentation from Villiam Gracz the Managing Partner of the consulting company “Brain Logistics”. It started out fairly boring, but once he got into issues dealing with company efficiency and the current financial crisis I got much more interested. He gave some really good insights into human nature and how companies that are failing should not be bailed out of their mistakes.

At night we went out to a club by the Charles Bridge called Lavka. It had 3 different levels and a good atmosphere although it was annoying that people are still allowed to smoke inside clubs in Prague. The beer was really cheap at 35kr (~$1.2) a pint. I also took absinthe shots with Francie and Alex. Even though we weren't certain it was the infamous hallucinogenic variety of absinthe, it was still the strongest shot I have ever taken and it was not easy to go down. After about 20 mins I definitely felt the effects of it. At some point I attempted to perform the dance routine I learned at the hip-hop dance class.

From Prague Trip

2/26/09 Flight to Prague

After arriving in Prague around 4:30pm we headed to the Hotel Masarykova and then off to our welcome dinner at the “Lucky Rabbit” restaurant. The food was very delicious but the portions were too small and I was still craving more tasty food at the end. My Prague group and I stayed up late working on the corrections Dr. Dvorsky sent to us for our paper and our PowerPoint Presentation.