By: Chris Clott, Hamburg Committee Member and Director, Center for International Education, Saint Xavier University in Chicago
In March of 2008, a group of 13 business students from the Graham School of Management at Saint Xavier University in Chicago accompanied Dr. Christopher Clott on a travel/study tour of Germany centered on travel to Hamburg and Berlin. With assistance from Christophe Lichtenfeld, Kirsten Brandt, and other members of the Chicago-Hamburg Sister Cities committee, the business students were able to visit a number of businesses and cultural settings during the 10 day tour. The objective of the tour was to have a snapshot of Germany as it continues to develop as one of the leading nations within the European Union.
We began our travels in Hamburg on a Saturday with very agreeable weather. A tour of the refurbished Speicherstadt warehouse district, a meeting with a media firm, and a walking tour of the Hafen City area began our first full day. Later we took a ferry across the harbor to the Fischmarkt for tasty seafood sandwiches before touring the city. That evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the St Pauli district.
We left Hamburg for Hannover the next day to see the sprawling CeBit Information Technology trade show that is the largest trade show of its kind in the world. Torsten and Diana Kaminski who work for Siemens Corporation and who we hosted for two visits to Chicago, graciously showed us around the fair and provided the students with much up to date commentary on German business developments.
Monday morning we had an early visit to the Port of Hamburg for a visit arranged by the Hamburg Police Department to have a tour of the port, discuss security arrangements and meet with other officials at Police Headquarters. Three of the students traveling with our group were Chicago Police Department officers who were thrilled to meet their colleagues in Hamburg. The visits were arranged through Christophe Lichtenfeld and the Hamburg Police. Late in the day we had a private tour of the Rauthaus City Hall in the center of Hamburg arranged thru the Sister Cities network.
On Tuesday morning we visited the massive German facility of Airbus Industrie and received a tour of its immense aircraft manufacturing works. In the afternoon, we were guests of the Reederei Heino Winter shipping company, a small family owned global shipping firm that operates close to the Port of Hamburg. The students received a tasty lunch in addition to an interesting lecture on the world shipping industry.
We departed Hamburg on Wednesday for Berlin by train. The German passenger train system is among the worlds finest and we traveled to the capital city in under two hours. One sees numerous wind turbines dotting the countryside. Germany is home to some of the most advanced wind turbine technology. We arrived in Berlin to see reminders of the turbulent past and a most interesting present. The architecture was stunning and visits to the Checkpoint Charlie museum and remnants of the Berlin Wall presented a sobering reminder of all that this city has endured.
On Thursday we had a lecture on the marketing of Berlin and business development in the capital. One can only be impressed the massive strides taking place in redeveloping the city starting with Potsdamer Platz, a completely new city center developed over the last ten years on what was once wasteland.
Friday we went outside of Berlin to the Potsdam suburb to see the magnificence of Sans Souci Park and Castle, the summer palace of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. We spent all of Saturday wandering around the immense city of Berlin; the Olympic Stadium, the “Ku’damm” shopping district, the Zoo, and the Unter den Linden Boulevard. Unfortunately we had to finally leave for Chicago on Sunday. Speaking for all of the students and myself we felt like we needed another week in Germany! It was a tremendous learning experience for us all. Many thanks to the Chicago-Hamburg Sister Cities Committee for all their help in making our visit to Germany truly a special educational experience.
