Day 11 - Wednesday - International Marketing

No site visits today, but we did cover a subject in which I am very interested. International Marketing. My undergrad major was Marketing/International Business and I was excited to learn more and to see it from a European/Spanish perspective.

The instructor, Marsal Gifra, was an entrepreneur himself on several tech projects. He had a fresh perspective to add to the International Marketing course. We discussed trends and how they change and the ability to watch the evolution of this in the marketplace. We also discussed using tools like Google AdWords to help in studying the market. We used the Google tools to predict where we would be most successful in bringing our example product of red wine to market based on demographics and where people's current interests lie.

A group of us went to a local cafe for lunch (at a bargain price!) and went back to catch a nap so we'd be ready for the evening's activities. For dinner, we found a seafood place together. There was a futbol game on televisions that were showing around the restaurant and it was funny to see how everyone stopped (even the kitchen staff) when a big play was happening on tv. Futbol is part of the culture! I opted to eat some octopus. Very good, sauteed in olive oil and paprika from what I could tell. For the second part of the meal, several of us split paella. This one was good, but not nearly as good as it was at our favorite spot. We had a group of 13, so there was some confusion on orders and with the translation, we had some issues to work out. Ernesto saved the day where some of our group were unable to communicate with the serving staff.

Some were going to check out one of the local night spots after dinner, but many of us were so tired at 11:30 when the meal was done, we were ready to call it a night so we headed back to the hotel. Because the Mitre was closing soon, we nearly ran all the way back to the closest station from our dinner spot. We made it back to the station in time and caught the last train back.

Barcelona changes tone at the strike of midnight. Danelle and I saw this the first night after dinner when we were heading back and everything but the street sellers were out. We saw the same this time, many of them immigrants making a living selling toys, souviners, and other things we found. They'd walk around selling cans of Coke and when they'd get close enough, they would ask under their breath if we wanted any of their other (illegal) offerings.

We made it back to the hotel in time to crash for the night. These late nights remind me of college, but also remind me I'm getting older and I need my sleep!