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Reserve Bank of India – Fourth Week

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DCIM100GOPROWeek four had a slower feel due to the lack of a mid-week adventure for the whole team, but it was just as exciting as the others. While the beginning of the week was rather uneventful, we were lucky enough to have our first hands-on experience with the Indian wildlife on Wednesday without even leaving our office. It caught us by surprise – we originally mistook the squeaking in the wall as a sign that our air conditioning system was failing us, until we saw a head pop out. It was horrifying and humorous, and nobody was sure how to handle it. What we thought was a rat soon spread its wings, and as it left the comforts of the wall, we left the comforts of our office, confused and amused. It was a bat, and nobody knew what to do until a brave local managed to corner it, capture it, and release it back into the outside world. Everything was well again until another bat flew out of the wall while a maintenance team was trying to fix a leak in the room.

DCIM100GOPROOther than Chris and Courtney conducting surveys and field work on Thursday, the team’s first outing of the week occurred on Saturday with a visit to Symbiosis International University’s School of Banking and Finance on the outskirts of Pune. Symbiosis was unique compared with the other universities in the area because of its very diverse student body with people from all around the world. During our visit, we observed many presentations from faculty members about their research on financial inclusion while many of the graduate students presented their field work on the issues of microfinance and financial inclusion. During the Q&A session, Vicki raised a question about whether or not India could adapt a similar system to Kenya’s mobile banking system. To our surprise, a Kenyan graduate student at Symbiosis was in the audience. He got up and spoke about Kenya’s system, mentioning how their decision to adopt mobile banking technology wasn’t based on extensive research and collected data; instead, people asked the mobile companies for the technology, and they made it work. In his opinion, India has the capability to do this as well, and he said that people just needed to act on it and make it happen. In other words, his philosophy was best summarized with Nike’s company
motto: Just Do It. Everyone in the room was very impressed with the way he spoke, and we were glad to hear his perspective on an issue relevant to financial inclusion in India. After the presentations, we were asked to come to the podium and speak about our own experiences in India and at RBI. We were asked about the differences and similarities between our homes, education, and life experiences, though as a member of the audience stated at the end, “we’re all human.” After all of this, we were treated DCIM100GOPROto a fantastic lunch at the Symbiosis guest house on top of a mountain
with fantastic views of the surrounding landscape.
At this point in the trip, we are beginning to realize just how little time we have left. We hope to make the most of it by continuing to immerse ourselves into the Indian culture, and it’s safe to say that we’re all very excited for Thursday’s visit to meet RBI’s Deputy Governor and see the DCIM100GOPROcentral offices in Mumbai.

Ashley Payne, Shanghai Internship

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ShanghaiInterned at Ogilvy & Mather, an international advertising, marketing, and public relations agency as a Public Relations intern in the OgilvyPR department. 

Internship: As an intern I was given many hands-on opportunities to learn about PR. I primarily helped to write case studies and press releases as well as create content for Chinese social media. I worked closely with the Shanghai VP of Corporate PR who pushed me to learn and gave me a lot of responsibilities, such as writing an application letter for the CEO of Tishman Speyer addressed to the International Business Leaders Advisory Council for the Mayor of Shanghai. I was also given the opportunity to help create social media content for the introduction of Lincoln Motors into the Chinese market, as well as work with other big name brands such as Chanel and Ferrari.

I Learned: Besides learning two semesters of Chinese in four months, I learned a lot about Chinese business culture, which is very different from American practices. The Chinese value strong relationships so it takes a while before you can gain their trust, whereas Americans value their time more than anything. It was enriching to experience this firsthand at my internship and it has prepared me for a possible future career in China.

What Surprised Me: I didn’t realize how international Shanghai is. I was meeting people from all over the world who were in my classes, lived in Tonghe (the international dorms at Fudan University), and interned with me.

Hardest Part: The hardest part for me was the language barrier. Going to China with no previous Chinese language lessons, it was hard to connect with the Chinese natives I worked with, and to communicate in general. I often had to rely on hand gestures and my classmates to help me get around. After a couple of weeks, I was exploring the city on my own and didn’t feel so uncomfortable communicating with people. I was able to practice the Chinese I had learned and they were able to practice their English.

Best Part: The best part was being able to go on trips around China thanks to the BU Shanghai Staff. They planned every trip and made exploring China so easy and so much fun. I loved being able to toboggan down the Great Wall of China, have authentic Peking duck, climb 10 km up Huangshan, and watch Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon with the villagers of Chengkan. Also, bargaining at the fake market is super fun.

My Tips:

  • Don’t be afraid to walk around and explore on your own
  • Always order eggplant

Jamie Zakalik, Madrid

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Group visit to Barcelona with Tim Barramen, Grant Bacchuber, Sarah Noyes, Jamie Zakalik, Bea Lorenzo, Ryan SheaThis past Spring (Spring 2014) I studied abroad in Madrid, Spain.  Because of my Spanish literacy (or lack thereof), I was in the Level I Madrid program.  While I did not have an internship, I did live in a Spanish household and all of my classes were in Spanish, or as they say, Español.  Upon my arrival, I quickly realized that I had a large task ahead of me if I was going to not only survive my classes, but function in society at all.  The first afternoon, a group of girls and I walked around the corner for lunch while we were still all staying at the Hotel Regina for orientation.  After our meal I proudly waved down the waiter and asked for “el cheque.”  My other friends gasped and pulled my hand down.  The puzzled waiter walked over as my friends quickly apologized and asked for “la cuenta.”  After that, I sat down with my Spanish books and class notes and studied my culo off.

Living in a society that speaks a different language than my native language and has a culture different than what I am used to was the hardest, best, most rewarding, and most frustrating part of my semester.

The culture shock took a little getting used to.  Three days into the semester we were thrown into Spanish speaking households.  My immediate interaction with my host mother was first, her embracing me into her arms like we were old friends who hadn’t seen each other in quite some time, and then second, dragging me around the house giving me all the house rules and information… en español.  Now  I don’t want to say I didn’t understand any of it, but I didn’t understand any of it.  Luckily, I was living with another Boston University student who was basically fluent and who then afterwards filled me in on all the important parts I missed.  The second culture shock was the buzz around meals.  Not only do Spaniards not eat dinner until around 10:00 at night but they also put a lot of importance on spending meals together and not leaving ANY food on your plate. Needless to say, I spent this semester eating a lot more than at school, a lot better than at school (my host mom brought in another woman to do our cooking and it was absolutely delicious), and a lot later than at school (except maybe Saturday night T Anthony’s).

Not being able to always understand what others were saying or project exactly what I wanted to say was extremely frustrating.  It also led to some of my best stories.  One night, my roommate abroad and I were attending a Spanish person’s party.  One of the boys got up to open the door to let some air into the apartment. To start conversation, I asked the boy “estas caliente?”  He began to laugh at me and I immediately started wondering what was on my face or in my teeth.  He then explained to me that what I wanted to ask was “tienes calor?”, and that I had accidentally asked him if he was turned on.  Little discrepancies like this (that make a huge difference) are some of the many things that I learned in Spain that I would not have learned otherwise from studying Spanish from a textbook or speaking it twice a week in a Spanish class and then walking out the door to my English speaking world.

If I had any tips for those of you planning to study in Madrid, I would say go for it and really immerse yourself in the Spanish culture and language.  My semester abroad was my favorite semester so far; I met over fifty new people, I learned a language other than English (contrary to my stories I can actually converse in Spanish now pretty fluently), and I learned about a culture that I didn’t even know had so much to teach me.  Most other students outside of the United States learn multiple languages and, until you do, you don’t realize that it is not only extremely rewarding but also truly opens up your world.

If you have any questions about studying abroad in Madrid or in general, feel free to send me an email at jzakalik@bu.edu.

Thanks for reading!