Melissa's Blog

I am Melissa Kranyak, one of the five students from Nova Scotia Community College that is participating in the Doing Business in Europe program here in Groningen, Netherlands at the Hanze University.

There are only four days left in this three week program and it has been a steady onslaught of homework, sightseeing, Dutch cuisine and Dutch culture.

Last week we went to Amsterdam and visited the Rijksmuseum which I absolutely adored. I saw many works here, some by Rembrandt, Monet, and Van Gogh. The weather was beautiful for this event.

After the museum we were ushered to Philips Headquarters where we observed a presentation given by the CEO Frans van Houten and his global eye employees. At the end of the presentation three groups from Hanze university that are participating this program competed against one another in a mock “Dragon’s Den” event with concept products that Philips may be interested in making. Among them from NSCC were Bradley Cameron (First place winner) and Megan Holley. The prize was a sonic care tooth blasting type floss machine……? We then finished up at Philips with a drink and snack social where we were able to practice our 30 second elevator pitches (which I failed horribly at several times, but that has not discouraged me for the future)

After this long amazing day we went out for a wonderful authentic Italian dinner in the heart of Amsterdam and then retired to our Castle for the night. That is correct, it is not a spelling error, we stayed in a castle for the night. It has a moat that goes all the way around it.

The next day we went through the Anne Frank House and toured around Amsterdam sight-seeing and shopping. I also was able to locate a normal size coffee which made me very happy (Side bar: In the Netherlands and suspect all of Europe, coffee is sold in very tiny increments which does not work for me because I am severely addicted)

The last couple of days have been dedicated to presentation and project completion.

Overall, this is a great program that challenges you in ways that you would not normally experience in your own country. Seeing and learning about how multinational companies operate and restructure has been my favourite part of this trip along with the mentors that are teaching us in the many classes we have each day.

Thank-you Hanze University and Nova Scotia Community College for this opportunity and experience.

Melissa Kranyak
Business Administration Student
NSCC, Waterfront Campus