C E M S
C l u b
B u d a p e s t
JOURNAL Fall 2014
IFUA
L’ORÉAL
BCG
PORTRAIT
A POSTCARD FROM LONDON
FLY OVER TO...
INTERVIEW WITH ZOLTÁN SZOLECZKI PAGE #14
FIVE CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST PRESIDENTS IN A ROW PAGE #7
INTERNSHIP AND TRAINEE PROGRAMME PAGE #16
THE STORY OF PETRA SIMON PAGE #20
ISTVÁN MAG - FROM BUDAPEST THROUGH ST. GALLEN TO LONDON PAGE #18
SANTIAGO, SINGAPORE PAGE #11
LISBON,
MILAN
AND
“I’ll change lives across the globe from wherever I am.” Discover Program How will you shape your world? Vodafone.com/careers to discover more.
Vodafone Power to you
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EDITORIAL Dear Readers, It has been a pleasure for me being in charge for the edition of the
Published by CEMS Club Budapest Hungary
journal this autumn. After finishing our CEMS courses, it’s been great to stay with the community in a more active way. I would like to thank everyone who helped me along the semester with the journal. In this issue you can read about exciting career opportunities ahead of CEMS students at three of our corporate partners. Two CEMSies from the previous years, who are currently working in Germany and the United Kingdom, have also shared their insights with us. You can find out more about the five latest presidents of our CEMS Club, and about a cooperation that has just been created with a student organisation. Finally, we brought to you exciting stories all the way from South America to Southeast Asia!
Editor in Chief Éva Forgács Editors Adrienn Barabás Dániel Drácz Éva Forgács Nándor Hajdu Zsolt Pap Bettina Tálos Graphic Design Éva Forgács Péter Oláh Gábor Trefán Email budapestcemsclub@gmail.com
I wish you a Happy New Year full of CEMS experience!
Club Budapest © CEMS 2014 December
Éva Forgács
Photos Corporate Partners // Members of CEMS Club Budapest // Hassan Abdalla // João Matias // Melvin Lim // Zsolt Pap // visitlondon.com // wall. alphacoders.com
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5-6
AN AUTUMN FULL OF EVENTS
7-10
PRESIDENTIAL PORTRAIT
11-13
FROM ALL AROUND THE WORLD - WITH LOVE
14-15
4
FROM CEMS TO IFUA
16-17
CEMSIES AT L’ORÉAL
18-19
FROM BUDAPEST LONDON - WITH BCG
20-21
A POSTCARD FROM THE CITY
22-23
IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING
20-21
ENGAGING NEW GENERATIONS
25-27
DID YOU KNOW...?
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TO
AN AUTUMN FULL OF CEMSATIONAL EVENTS
WELCOME BEERBIKE
CEMS INDIAN SUMMER: ROWING...
CEMS BUDAPEST GOING ROOFTOP
...AND BARBECUE
THE DEAN’S WELCOME AND OFFICIAL SEMESTER PHOTO 2014 // 2 Fall CC BUDAPEST JOURNAL
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CEMS CHARITY RUN: RAISING 377,385 FT FOR SUHANJ! FOUNDATION
VISIT AT GE GLOBAL OPERATIONS CENTRE
HOSTING CEMS CLUB STOCKHOLM
CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST PRE-PARTY AT THE CAREER FORUM IN VIENNA CEMS CHRISTMAS BALL
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PRESIDENTIAL PORTRAIT Year by year a new team stears the life of CEMS Club Budapest. What happened to the past presidents? We asked them a couple of questions and they were eager to reply. 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)
Where are you working now? What did you like the most during your foreign semester? What did CEMS give to you? What did you enjoy the most about being the president of CEMS Club Budapest? And what the least? Would you change anything regarding your CEMS years?
NÓRA SCHLEISZ
the Career Forum for 400 people, or the Alumni Night. Working together with the vice-presidents was also a very good experience. 5) The most difficult was, to please everyone at the same time. 6) I would bring out even more of it.
DÁVID SZÉLES
CEMS year: 2010/2011 CEMS term abroad: Rotterdam, The Netherlands CEMS internship: in Düsseldorf at Henkel Beauty Care in International marketing 1) Now I’m working at Unilever as a junior brand manager, on the brands Dove and Gabi. 2) I met fantastic people, who really inspired me, and from whom I could learn a lot both professionally and also personally. 3) CEMS gave me a chance to study abroad and get to know different cultures, to see the world from a new, more open perspective, and the possibility to work at companies such as BCG, Henkel and Unilever. Last but not least, lifelong friendships. 4) The challenges, for instance organizing a dinner at
CEMS year: 2010/2011 CEMS term abroad: Stockholm, Sweden CEMS internship: Mantova, Italy at IES Treasury part of MOL Group 1) MET Hungary. 2) Hard to name one single experience. The dormitory experience was great and totally new for me, since I was living at home during university. I also liked the city itself, kept exploring the islands until the end of the semester during my great weekend walks.
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Last but not least the professional atmosphere of the lectures, students and lecturers alike, was very inspiring and had a lasting effect on me. 3) Wow... Most importanty it made me realise that if you aspire for a goal passionately and have a sense of ownership for the things you do then, sooner or later, you will succeed. 4) Having a team, creating mutual goals and motivating people to reach these goals. I also liked to think of our CEMS Club as the ambassador of the CEMS brand. This gave me personally an extra load of determination and motivation. 5) Nagging people to complete their tasks that they have volounteered to do. It’s a Trap 22, that is really difficult to solve if you wish to do so without creating conflicts. 6) Would have applied for another semester abroad. At SSE of course. ;)
TAMÁS SVÁB CEMS year: 2011/2012
university. We spent almost all of our time together, studying, partying and some cooking filled our days. It was really like a family. The trip to Lappland with riding snowmobiles, dog sledding and watching the nordic lights was probably the most memorable few days of my semester. 3) It may sound like a cliche, but the people I’ve met made CEMS one of the best experiences of my life. After a few years, I’m still in regular contact with many of my former fellow students - some of them I can call real friends today. Also the CEMS events in Budapest provided many opportunities to get to know CEMS alumni and corporate partners, which was really useful as a student. The CEMS alumni network is a very valuable network, that can be used as an Alumnus for connecting with people working in different fields. 4) There are two great moments that immediately come to my mind. The first one was the CEMS V4 Conference in Budapest, where over 50 students gathered from all around Europe and spent a very intense long weekend together - filled with professional and leisure events. It was great to see and experience the result of our work - all together 20 people were involved in the organization of the event, including the CEMS Club of 2011, led by Dávid Széles. The second memorable moment was when I was in India for my CEMS internship in September. I remember the great feeling when I realized that all of our CEMS Club project teams were running with high intensity: the promotion team travelled to freshman camps to promote CEMS, the communications team launched our new website, the Charity Run organization was moving forward as well, while Gyuri, our corporate representative was working on involving new partners. I was really lucky to be part of a board of proactive and highly motivated people. 5) Well, sometimes the work was just too much to handle with all the other responsibilities as a CEMS student. 6) Maybe I would choose a warmer city than Stockholm. But all in all I’m really satisfied with my CEMS years.
CEMS term abroad: Stockholm, Sweden CEMS internship: I completed my CEMS internship in Pune, India with Tata Consultancy Services 1) I work for kancellar.hu, a Hungarian IT security company as an account manager. Besides, I am working on an own business, MotivNation, which supports high school and college students finding their motivation and purpose in their professional lives. 2) In Stockholm, most of our CEMS and exchange group lived together in a dorm called Saltis, just next to the
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GÁBOR TREFÁN
DÁNIEL DRÁCZ
CEMS year: 2012/2013 CEMS term abroad: Louvain, Belgium CEMS internship: I haven’t done it yet
CEMS year: 2013/2014 CEMS term abroad: Milan, Italy CEMS internship: I haven’t done it yet but I am working on it
1) I work for Microsoft, participating in the MACH program as a Junior Account Manager. 2) The great company and our trips in the BeNeLux. 3) The CEMS Club Board membership gave me great experience how to work with a team and lead its members. The whole CEMS Program: good friends, lots of professional experience and an international network. 4) What I most enjoyed is that there were no weekend without any CEMS event or at least a planning session with the Board for the next program. 5) That it had just lasted for a year and I had to handover the presidency in the beginning of 2014. 6) I would definitely try to go for the TriNational Track. Regarding the CEMS Club Board membership, I wouldn’t change anything, except one thing: I would start working only after I had handover the presidency not during the CEMS Club year.
1) At the moment I am working as a consultant at Deloitte’s M&A Advisory in Budapest. 2) Experiencing the pure dolce vita in Milan… ;) Jokes apart, what really amazed me at Bocconi was the sense of enthusiasm people showed towards CEMS. I believe studying at Bocconi is a prestige itself in Italy but the way our Italians treasured their CEMSie status was remarkable. These people truly recognized what an extraordinary opportunity it is to belong to a network that counts thousands of members worldwide who you share the same story with. Just to illustrate this appreciation: now that Bocconi’s rector Andrea Sironi has been elected President of CEMS for the forthcoming two years, former prime minister Mario Monti praised him and the whole programme in a public message. I think we still have so much to learn from our fellow Italians on how to estimate this unique chance to belong to this alliance. 3) The people – this is the biggest ’asset’ CEMS has and can give you. This programme is far more than a piece of paper you obtain at the end in a shiny ceremony or the soft skills you acquire in various seminars. It is not even (just) the business project, a fun semester abroad or a classy conference at some regional event. It is about your fellow CEMSies spread all around the world that might not know you personally though but have the same experience, the same sense of belongingness and are willing to give you a helping hand in need. It is fantastic to see that whereever you go around the world – CEMSies are there to grab a beer with you. 2014 // 2 Fall CC BUDAPEST JOURNAL
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4) Again the people. I really liked working together with my team, I think we learnt so much from each other. Sharing our best practices at the Dublin CEMS Club Conference was another inspirational part I will never forget. 5) To make people realize that they can exploit the most of CEMS when giving something to the community themselves. Corvinus students do so many things paralelly that it sometimes makes them putting participation in CEMS events (well…) not to the first priority. This is bad for our incomings who need company and irresponsible towards our corporate partners who are eager to get to know CEMSies. I believe this is the biggest challenge for the board to come: to increase CEMS awareness and thus participation in events. 6) I would have taken part in more regional events, they are so fun. But I am improving: I am just about to apply for the Waltzing Days in Vienna. Can’t wait to see my friends from all over the world again.
• Éva Forgács
This year’s graduating CEMSies at the Annual Events in Brussels
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FROM ALL AROUND THE WORLD - WITH LOVE Four students are telling us about how they experienced a different culture during their exchange terms. Fly over with us to Santiago, Lisbon, Milan and Singapore! What were the main reasons you chose this destination for your foreign CEMS semester? Dániel Drácz: An altogether of culture, food and art – la dolce vita. A big plus was that I already spoke the language so I could exploit much more from the months spent in the country. Csilla Virág: This is my first time in South America, I felt like being the part of something new and see how CEMS starts here in Chile would be great. Moreover, I have a really good Chilean friend from my previous Erasmus experience in Madrid, Spain; and the language also encouraged me for this choice. What were the most remarkable differences at the university, at the courses compared to your Hungarian experiences? Nelli Gyöngyösi: At Corvinus most of the students are grown-up in the sense that many of them work parallel with their studies, while it’s totally different at Nova in Lisbon. They don’t have a compulsory internship in their bachelor program like we do, so many master students have no work experience. Another difference is that we
were given so much to prepare for classes and missing one class was also a big issue so after a while I had a little high school feeling. Cs. V.: In general the classes are more interactive, class participation is a significant part of our final grades in almost every course. We discuss a lot of South American case studies, we learn a lot about the Chilean market and about other countries here in South America. D. D.: The final grading follows the Gaussian distribution meaning you are in constant competition with your
fellow students. For this reason, some students (many of them Italians) were extremely stressed out over the exams. Another remarkable difference at the university was the library. Instead of having one huge open space for students, the library is divided into smaller study rooms for 6-8-10 people. This is a huge plus when preparing various group projects when we need to discuss and elaborate a consensual solution. Éva Forgács: It was the same with the final grading system for us at the National University of Singapore, and as in Chile, at the classes active participation was required, which was kind of an offbeat for a Hungarian. :) I really liked that feedback for projects and assignments was always given, sometimes the professors even held extra sessions for us to check how we proceed. This way we could draw the consequences and learn from them, not only receiving the points, that’s something we could also use at home. Did you have a chance to meet and make friends with locals, thus learn more about their culture? Cs. V.: I am sharing a flat with two Chilean girls, who are coming from Valparaiso (one hour from Santiago). I visited my friend, Linda there and spent time with their families several weekends. I would say that I was exposed during these days to a lot of Chilean traditions, cultural artifacts and they are always open to answer all my questions regarding their traditions. :) I spent Chile’s fiestas patrias (Independence Day celebrations) in Valparaiso too. N. Gy.: Actually yes, as the seven of us lived together in a big flat and only three of us were CEMSies, the others were two German E r a s m u s students and two local
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students. I tried many Portuguese dishes as one of my flatmates was cooking a lot, and I also met their local friends, and of course the Portuguese CEMSies.
What was the biggest inconvenience you faced during the semester? Cs. V.: Without any doubt it is the public transport in rush hour.
N. Gy.: The lack of heating! I knew about it, but until you haven’t experienced it, you just cannot imagine it. Right, it’s a Mediterranean country, but I arrived there in January, when it’s cold! Most of the houses have never been heated, we only had the little electric heater. It was really weird, but I survived. É. F.: We were really left alone regarding the housing situation. We ran into quite a few contracts with way longer rental periods than the actual, trying to hide this fact. In the end all CEMSies found a cool flat, but a little help from the university could have come in handy. Should the CEMS institution in your host country change something with their programme, why? N. Gy.: Well, some that I would recommend would mean changes in the whole university’s structure, not just in the CEMS’s. For example, most of the classes were for half-term, I had a course where I only had six classes, but still, they were trying to push all the assignments and the workload of a usual whole term class. I would change that, or just offer more whole term classes for the CEMS students.
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D. D.: Enable CEMSies to stay for a second semester as well. :) If someone as a tourist only had one day in your city, what would you recommend to visit, what were your favourite places? É. F.: It would be hard to squeeze everything into a single day. I would definitely take a walk in the Colonial District, visit Raffles Place with the skyscrapers, Marina Bay with the world famous Marina Bay Sands, the Merlion, and the Gardens by the Bay. Try some crazy-looking food at a hawker center in Chinatown, and go to the zoo, no wonder why it is said to be among, if not the best in the world. Meet new people at Clarke Quay and end your day with drinking a Singapore Sling cocktail or a Tiger at one of the rooftop bars with a breathtaking view on the island.
D. D.: I would start by climbing up to the roof of Duomo and having a look over the chimneys of the city. Then doing three magic rounds around the dragon mosaic in Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele is another must (brings you luck) – in the meantime you can have a look at the fanciest fashion boutiques. For the afternoon get yourself lost in the picturesque streets of Brera quarter – drop by the famous Pinacoteca di Brera to feel like in a Renaissance art school. I would definitely end the day by enjoying a play at Teatro alla Scala – you can buy last minute tickets at Biglietteria Serale. Watching AC Milan or Internazionale play at the legendary San Siro stadium would be another alternative.
What is your dearest memory? D. D.: Visiting Sicily and swimming in the sea in November. The island is beautiful as it is and you will get a food orgy from local cuisine (arancini, fish, seafood, cannoli and so much more).
N. Gy.: There are a lot, but maybe the one when we had a boat party. The perfect, shiny summer weather, 30 degrees already on the 1st of May, a little wind, we were just enjoying the view, and the music with a lot of friends.
Are you still in touch with your friends from the semester? N. Gy.: Yes, with some of them. We met at the Career Forum in Vienna and we talk from time to time. It’s quite occasional, but we are in touch. É. F.: I even miss the times when we were just having dinner or hanging out in a pool or jacuzzi – it is really common in Singapore that an apartment has one. I will never forget how amazing our travels with the friends
D. D.: Yes, I have met them at the Career Forum in Vienna and we are going together to the CEMS Waltzing Days in January. What is the biggest takeaway for you from your exchange semester? D. D.: Work hard, play hard. Sounds cliché-like but still valid.
were in the end of the semester. Maybe the dearest is trying scuba diving for the first time, and watching the incredible colours of sunsets in the Philippines while sipping Cocorum. :)
N. Gy.: I’ve learnt an important lesson from a failure. I wanted to learn Portuguese, but I didn’t really dedicate enough time for it. I realized that if you really want to do something seriously you have to dedicate time for it regularly, otherwise you won’t be able to progress, especially if it’s a totally new thing. I thought I would easily pick it up, but I should have just sat down, and learn it. Another takeaway would be the importance of belonging even when you’re abroad. We were like a family with my flatmates, it was such a nice experience. It made my time spent in Portugal so much happier and it was such an awesome experience living together with six other students. É. F.: Be open about new cultures, but that’s nothing I should explain to CEMS students. :) Go to places you’ve never been before and haven’t known anything about! • Éva Forgács, Nelli Gyöngyösi, Csilla Virág, Dániel Drácz
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FROM CEMS TO IFUA Zoltán Szoleczki started his CEMS year in 2011, spent his term abroad in Cologne, Germany. After graduating from Management and Leadership from Corvinus, he chose to return to Germany, and did his internship in Digital Marketing at Henkel. Now he is at IFUA Horváth & Partners, and tells us how it is to work as a management consultant!
you also can pay attention to your personal life, you can find here the work-life balance. Many of my colleagues teach at Corvinus, the company has very close ties with the university. When you join the company you participate in a 1,5 year Career Program that means all the newcomers belong to a big community. Within the program many trainings are provided and you become familiar with numerous industries and there are many common social programs as well. The flexibility is outstanding within the organisation and I have to highlight here that IFUA has a non-profit company, where the motivated consultants can work on non-profit side-projects as well. Did you find your expectations at IFUA?
Why did you choose to work for IFUA? After graduation I wanted to work either at the strategy department of one of the regionally active major Hungarian companies or at a management consulting company. I applied for a position at both OTP and IFUA. I received an offer earlier from OTP and 2 days as deadline for my final decision. Being under time pressure, my colleague Izabella Zábrák, principal at IFUA, organised the remaining 3 rounds of the admission process for me ASAP to be able to choose among the two companies. After experiencing this flexibility and investment in potential colleagues (the first personal interview itself takes an average of 2 hours) I decided to accept the offer of IFUA. What do you specially like regarding the company? The good thing in working at IFUA that you have a challenging work with a clear career path and steep development curve but beside your professional progress
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Absolutely! Intellectually challenging environment (both personally and professionally) and work-life balance. These two things describe why I like to work at IFUA. These values were very engaging and attractive. I like that I don’t have to do the same thing every day for years, the projects are very diverse, however despite the big amount of work I can have my private life as well. This is the golden mean, I think. Did you always dream of being a consultant or did you have other options in mind? To be honest, no. At least I hoped I don’t have to think on something else… I have always been interested in strategy as it is easier to think of, there are more cases on a competition related to this topic, but what really attracted me was the client orientation. A consulting company is very multidisciplinary; I enjoy combining the knowledge acquired from different business fields. As I had been an intern at a small Hungarian consultancy I knew what I can expect and I wanted to work with open, smart and enthusiastic people. So I wasn’t really thinking on something else.
What can you tell us about the opportunities abroad?
in the future.
There are more and more projects abroad at IFUA, this year these projects will probably worth more than 30% of the total revenue. It is not only a Hungarian company anymore: Horváth and Partners has offices in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Romania and in the Middle East. The Budapest office has or recently had projects in Ethiopia, Russia, Romania and Saudi-Arabia too. Furthermore the company is a member of the international network of Cordence Worldwide. So if somebody would like to work abroad it is possible and the company is looking for people who desire to do so. What was the most interesting project you worked on so far? One of the most exciting projects was my first one, I have never thought of doing something similar. It was about strategy development for a big financial service company, whose revenues were declining mainly due to the depression thus it had to face downsizing. In order to prevent more lay-offs we had to develop rather unusual, new ways of strategy. It was very surprising for me that I had to use those tools I used for case solving competitions and see that they really are requested in real life as well. What CEMS gave you, how the program helped in your professional life? Mainly on the soft skill side of things. For example: sooner or later you have to present your work to clients and CEMS helps in this a lot. Without CEMS and case solving competitions it surely would have been more stressful and harder in the beginning of my career. During the CEMS program you face many similar situations and at the time when you have to prepare and present your slides to the client it becomes less stressful. CEMS and case solving competition slides are different from the ones you prepare for a university class, they are more alike to those used in the consultancy field. What did you learn from your internship at Henkel? Did this experience help you later on in your career? You can feel the „being thrown into the deep water” feeling. Studying a semester abroad is good; you go to classes and live a good social life. But working was different for me, different working-language, different culture, different methodology and mindset. There are more obstacles on the way, you are only a foreign intern in the headquarter of a big international company. It was quite difficult to bridge these differences. I learned many things both personally and professionally but it is maybe even more important, that it helped me learning more about myself and helped me deciding what I do and don’t want to do in my career
What would be your advice for CEMSies? Do you think working beside university is useful? I would encourage the students to either work or participate on many competitions beside university. Case solving competitions are imitating consultancy projects and it helps a lot in your career. You get familiar with the system and logic of a consultant. I think it is easier to face a negative feedback as an intern than in the beginning of your fulltime job when you put everything in it. You can learn many soft skills that helped me a lot. Internships and competitions empower you with confidence, which is crucial as a consultant dealing with partners. In contrast to career fairs or simple applications, they are also perfect opportunities to show your professional side to your potential managers even before an interview for a full time job. • Bettina Tálos
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CEMSIES AT L’ORÉAL
L’Oréal is present in 130 countries on five continents. To be as close to its consumers as possible, the group establishes its expertise in all the major geographical zones. For more than a century, we have devoted our energy and our competencies solely to one business: beauty. We have chosen to offer our expertise in the service of women and men worldwide, meeting the infinite diversity of their beauty desires. An international atmosphere, a great deal of autonomy and responsibility for all employees, excellent human relations and excellent benefits, a pleasant working environment even at the factory level….the American magazine Fortune had more than enough reasons to place L’Oréal on the short list of “10 Great Companies to Work For”. In Hungary, L’Oréal was chosen as one of the most desired company for the 5th time in 2013. The goal of the survey by Aon Hewitt and AIESEC is to know the opinion of entrants and employees with experience, and also to present which companies are the best choice, what they can propose for job seekers. At L’Oréal we empower people who are ready to take bets, think out of the box, defend their convictions, be resilient and leave their own mark. They are offered early responsibilities, numerous opportunities and fast-track careers. We offer at every stage of your career personalized training and support that will help you progress and develop your career. You hold the keys: it’s up to you to show who you are and what you can become. The two programs where you can show your talent: The Internship Program is designed to recruit university / college students with Marketing / Business / Economics / Communication studies in progress. Throughout the program participants have the chance to acquire knowledge and skills essential for their future career in the marketing departments. Being part of the program creates exceptional opportunities and gives a chance to learn more about the company and its way of functioning. The length of the Internship Program is 6 months. The Management Trainee Program is designed to recruit graduates with little or no experience. Throughout the program participants have the chance to acquire knowledge and skills essential for their career in the sales and marketing departments. Being part of the program creates exceptional opportunities and gives a chance to learn more about the company and its way of functioning. After approximately six to twelve months on the sales field, Trainees are directed to a target position within L’Oréal.
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Bence Barta and Stefánia Vág took part in these, what are their opinions? Stefi:
Bence:
In 2012 I decided to take part in the L’Oréal Brandstorm case study competition which was considered as one of the most complex marketing focused competition. The topic was The Body Shop and we had to design a new product range with a complete marketing strategy including market research, marketing communication and finance aspects. After our group was international finalist in Paris I was recruited as a PR intern as my first working experience at a multinational firm. I was amazed by the vibe of the company culture, the products which you can easily get engaged with and the wide range of tasks and projects. Also, as an intern I had important responsibilities and thanks to the PR position I was in contact with almost all division of the company. Later I was chosen for the management trainee program which is the graduate program at L’Oréal where you rotate between various positions and get knowledge about different business models. The special feature of this program is that you can choose your preferences regarding functions whenever it’s sales, finance, controlling or marketing and you work in a full time position which also respected by salary.
During my last year at the university I decided to get the most out of the strong academic background we have been gathering at CEMS: as a fresh graduate I wanted to embark on a long term career path with real responsibility from my very first day.
I currently work as a junior product manager at the luxury division and will go for my exchange semester to Bocconi, Milan. After my studies I would like to play the international opportunities at L’Oréal and try myself in another country. I choose L’Oréal because its colorfulness and the real responsibilities which you get when you work here. A challenging multinational environment where you really need your creativity as the tasks are always changing. And at the same time you can also go abroad to get international working experience and knowledge about different cultures.
Thus, the graduate job rotation programme of the worldwide and domestic market leader beauty company seemed to be the suitable place to start my career. During my time spent as a management graduate trainee at L’Oréal I got valuable insights in the daily operation of a much acknowledged multinational company, in the fields of retail and brand marketing, sales and key account management. After the 2 years of rotating between different roles, having had participated in various projects, I was offered a key account management position in the consumer product division. This role has suited me most and it has proven to be a mutually beneficial decision indeed. I am happy to work for L’Oréal and I appreciate the chance to have a glimpse of all the divisions. The product portfolio of the company scale from luxury products like Yves Saint Laurent and Armani, through hairdresser brands like Kerastase or Matrix, to active cosmetics like Vichy and La Roche-Posay. Capitalizing on the strengths of consumer product brands like Garnier, Maybelline or L’Oréal Paris, I try to maximize L’Oréal’s market shares by establishing strong and long term relationships with our partners. I enjoy my daily work, as it demands a holistic view on sales processes, covering both forecasting and planning, negotiations and analysis. Although reaching targets is a permanent challenge, the results give the company a decisive role in the Hungarian beauty industry. Meeting targets makes even the harder days worthwhile, however my colleagues at L’Oréal are the key factor for recommending the company! • Adrienn Barabás
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FROM BUDAPEST TO LONDON It was a late autumn day, 8:00 o’clock in the morning. Before a probably long working day, one of our CEMS alumni, István Mag, dedicated his time to give an interview to the CEMS Club Budapest Journal. If you are interested in what memories and milestones have pawed his way from Budapest through St. Gallen to London, I encourage you to read on! ourselves in a cohesive community. We not only did trips and went skiing together but also moved to the same apartment during our CEMS internships in London. Secondly, St. Gallen is a quiet and small city, but since we lived quite close to each other we organized numerous house parties where we had the chance to release the steam. Thirdly, my exchange was great also from an academic perspective: the level Why did you apply to the CEMS of education was outstanding, every programme and what are your best single class was taken seriously, and memories from your CEMSie life? several lectures were held by renowned I was a BA student at Corvinus when corporate partners. I first saw a CEMS advertisement on the university corridor. After a How did CEMS contribute to your brief research of the programme on professional development? the internet, it immediately sparked I am very thankful to CEMS – without my interest for various reasons: my CEMS experiences I am sure I international experience, prestigious would not have the career opportunities academic members and impressive I do have today. CEMS offered position in the Financial Times ranking. tremendous possibilities to present and The most remarkable memories are communicate in international settings. definitely the CEMS Winter and We gave presentations to members of Summer Camps. The first things that the top management team of prominent come to my mind are the day long ball investment banks and consultancy games we played in the Lake Balaton firms on a weekly basis. With intensive followed by the crazy CEMS parties. practice, I established and gained We even invented our own game, “Hit the necessary confidence that is an the Bodoki” for which we created a inevitable element of consulting. Facebook group as well. You can guess The opportunity to participate in what the point of the game was...:) practical lectures given by corporate (Ádám Bodoki is one of the most active partners, and the widespread use of alumni of the CEMS Community of case studies as educational methods Budapest, and also a good friend of contributed significantly to my István – the editor.) professional career. Additionally, in St. Gallen I attended a corporate event Where did you spend your exchange with The Boston Consulting Group, the term and how did you enjoy it? “Boston Tea-Party”, where I learned I did my exchange semester in St. about the company and gained insight Gallen, Switzerland and can honestly into the luxury industry through an say I really enjoyed my time there. interesting lecture from a French Three things, namely the CEMS partner of the firm. community, the university, and the city itself contributed to it significantly. Where did you do your CEMS Firstly, I built close relationships internship? with Finnish, Portuguese, French and Before my CEMS internship I worked German fellows and we quickly found
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for a Hungarian M&A firm, MB Partners, which forms an international alliance with other M&A firms. This alliance helped me to get to London, where I worked for an M&A boutique, Clearwater Corporate Finance. It was a truly remarkable adventure, however, due to my educational background, I have a Business Administration BA and a Management and Leadership MA degree from Corvinus, upon my return I have felt that strategic consulting stands closer to me. What kind of projects and trainings have you had so far at the firm? In the past two years I took part in various consulting projects. From an industry standpoint, my projects covered primarily the energy industry including utilities and oil & gas. From a functional perspective, I have dealt with corporate strategy, corporate development, corporate finance, regulatory management, cost reduction and organizational restructuring. In addition, when BCG celebrated its 50th birthday in 2013, a companywide programme called BCG@50 was initiated. I was a member of the global team that developed and organized events associated with the birthday. For instance, together with a consultant and a project leader from the London office, we played an active role in the development of the first TED@BCG conference. This was the first time I learned about the London office. As for the trainings, during the first week of my BCG career, I took the European Basic Skill Training (EBST 1) in Munich. One year later I travelled to Barcelona to complete the second part of this training, EBST 2. These trainings enabled me to learn about the company in more detail, further develop my analytical, storylining and client handling skills. Moreover, I
participated in a presentation skills permanently or for a period of one-two training which equipped me with useful years. In January 2015 I am moving to tricks to improve the effectiveness of the London office for two years. my presentations. How did you learn about the transfer What do you like the most at BCG and opportunity to London? what are the dark sides, if there is any? Luckily, in the past few years the Although it may sound a cliché, it is the London office has experienced a colleagues I like the most at the firm. dramatic growth and therefore they The biggest surprise for me was how sent out a call for applicants from other easy-going and smart the people who BCG offices. This autumn I submitted work for BCG are. Today, I consider my application, and fortunately they many of them my friends. In fact the have accepted it recently. community is so good that we love to The selection process was primarily spend time together even in our leisure based on a phone interview as well time although one may think that we as a thorough assessment of prior spend enough time together during the performance at the firm. work day. This winter, for instance, we are going on a holiday to Transylvania How do your family, friends and together. girlfriend feel about your move? On the dark side, there is the long My family supported my decision working hours. Given the difficulties as they have been aware of my of the Hungarian market, we work international ambitions for a long time. relatively long hours in order to They all know that this is an important provide consulting services that pay step in my career, and they are assured off for our clients. In return, however, that I am moving back to Hungary after working conditions are exceptional two years. Friends reacted somehow and I believe they are well above the similar. Hungarian norms. My girlfriend has had ambiguous feelings. She is a CEMSie too, that is What kind of mobility opportunities why we have already spent long months there are at BCG? without each other. Again, now we are There are three types of mobility going to live geographically separated opportunities at BCG: (1) project for a certain amount of time, but I hope abroad, (2) associate abroad program, that she will also move to London as and (3) temporary or permanent soon as possible. transfer. Firstly, foreign projects are the most common ways of spending What are your career goals in the some time abroad. A lot of colleagues medium and long run? are working on foreign cases at the Over the next two years, I will really moment in locations like Dubai, focus on the successful completion Warsaw or London. Secondly, the of this two-year transfer period and I associate abroad program is a one year aim to learn more about the English ambassador program during which business culture and gain insight into you still belong to your original office, other industries by working on large but spend one year in another one. projects in an international setting. A number of colleagues have taken Furthermore, during my time in London advantage of this opportunity and I would like to decide what’s next for put their skills to the test in foreign me: consulting, industry or perhaps offices such as New York, Dallas, Kuala entrepreneurship. For the time being, Lumpur or London. Thirdly, there is this is not that clear, and therefore I the temporary or permanent transfer, want to investigate these options inwhen you really move to another BCG depth. This experience will definitely office (i.e. administratively as well) be of great help in making the best
decision. What do you think about Hungarian graduates emigrating abroad? From a macro viewpoint, I think this is a very harmful process for the country. Graduates are the ones the country invested a lot into, and usually they are the ones who are able to drive change. Hence, if the majority of them leave the country without the thought of return in mind, we lose a substantial capability and knowledge base that could have enabled the country to progress. Nevertheless, if the majority leaves temporarily, this can be considered an advantageous phenomenon since the country could hugely benefit from the international experience that our graduates acquire abroad. From a perspective of an individual, I believe amid the current weak Hungarian job market it is fully understandable if someone tries their luck in foreign countries. What career advice would you give to the current CEMS classes? I recommend you to participate actively in the CEMS community because I reckon the more you put into it, the more you benefit from it. This is true for almost every community, but in case of CEMS this principle is even more valid. You can do it in a way that you only focus on the requirements: spend a semester abroad, complete your internship, grab your diploma and that’s it. In this case, it is still a nice experience. Those, however, who actively participate in all the events during the CEMS year and also beyond graduation, get a completely different experience and undoubtedly benefit far more than others. From a career perspective, the most important is to work on things that motivate you and you love to do. If you stick to a job that does not stimulate you and you do not enjoy, you get lost and it becomes very deteriorative. • Nándor Hajdu
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A POSTCARD FROM THE CITY Are you wondering what career chances could CEMS bring to you? Two fresh graduates are sharing their stories and insights with us. Petra Simon, currently working at UBS in London, was a CEMS student in 2012/2013. At Corvinus, she graduated from Masters in Business Development and Masters in Accounting and she did her CEMS exchange term at the prestigious London School of Economics. With these studies and after having completed the CEMS internship at an Austrian bank, Petra found banking appealing, offering a nice career opportunity, especially in London – one of the financial hubs in Europe, where all the major banks are present. As she enjoyed living in the British capital during her CEMS term abroad, returning to the City seemed to be a great idea. When did you start working here, how did you find the job? At the time when I was at LSE I already started applying to jobs. Banks usually recruit graduates in autumn for programmes starting in summer/autumn next year, so you have to start applying well before you finish your degree. I was aware that the process was very competitive – there are thousands of applicants coming from all around the world –, thus I spent significant amount of time sending my application to several places and reaching out to people who were already working in banking. Finally, after interviewing with some banks and boutique advisory companies, I could land a 1-year internship with BNP Paribas, in their M&A team, which enabled me to enter the career I was wishing for. At the end of this internship, I had a great opportunity to join another bank, UBS, and this time as a full-time Analyst in Leveraged Finance. This role is similar to the previous one in many sense, but instead of advising companies on their sale / acquisition of assets, we are focusing on the financing aspects. What is the role of this area within the bank? Corporate Finance is a huge area, in our bank we have sector, geography and product teams. I work in a product team, Leveraged Finance, where we provide loan and bond financing solutions to our clients. We work usually on leveraged buyout and refinancing transactions. In a leveraged buyout situation, our clients are most often private equity companies who aim to buy companies with high amount of debt – so that they can realize a significant return on their equity investment. In a refinancing deal, companies try to refinance their existing debt, usually, to get better terms. I enjoy working in this area, because I can analyse business and financial performance of companies with very different business models from each sector, and at the same time, I am also exposed to capital markets, as we have to think about how to structure and price each deal. What are your everyday tasks? I work as an analyst, which is the entry-level position in banking. My role is really diverse: I work with a lot of companies from different sectors and different countries. A single transaction can take a couple of months, it starts
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with a phase called pitching, more or less the marketing phase, when we go to the companies and investors, talking to them about the market, the investment opportunities, and propose them a financing structure. If we are successful with this phase, we get mandated and we start thinking together with the company/investor about the final financing structure. Besides the investor and the target company, we work a lot together with lawyers, consultants and financial advisors. As an analyst, I am usually responsible for writing presentations, running financial models and coordinating smaller projects. Is it very controlled yet, or could you work already kind of independently and use your creativity? It really depends on the situation / composition of the teams. In an average deal team there is one person from each level, so an analyst as the first level, an associate, a director and an executive director / managing director. Sometimes if the deal is smaller, I can work directly with senior colleagues. Obviously, in these situations I have more responsibility and usually less guidance which makes the situation more challenging, and that is what I really enjoy. My team already encourages me to take part in client meetings. Usually I am the one writing significant part of the presentations, so it is really nice to see how the clients are reacting to what I was doing. The seniors have the big picture on the project, but as they were not actually executing and concepting the slides, I can add value when clients are interested in the background analysis and calculation.
around forty, all the same age and in very similar situation. Everybody works at different departments, which is a good network in the whole investment bank. We often organize social events, last time we had Christmas dinner with my analyst class.
How was the training in the beginning? After joining investment banking, graduates usually spend the first summer on training, where they can pick up the technical skillset and they can get to know a lot of colleagues from all around the world. On the training we learnt about financial analysis, modelling, banking products and we also had the opportunity to talk to senior bankers who usually gave us some useful advice for our careers. In the UK if someone has a client facing role in banking, they also have to take the exams of the financial regulatory authority, the FCA, which means additional 2-week training after the 5-week analyst training. All in all, the first couple of weeks of work were similar to university with nice people and great atmosphere, but also high expectations to deliver good results on the exams and homeworks. What was the most exciting task you had so far? I have recently closed my first deal, which is a great experience. My team has been working on the largest ever German healthcare LBO and I have had the opportunity to be part of the deal team. Due to the tight deadlines we have been working very hard. We have worked together with several banks and law firms on the deal and had an intense communication with the management team and the buyers. The financing package consisted of bank loan and bond, which were very well received by the markets. At the end, the clients were very satisfied with our work, thus it has been a very rewarding experience. Do you also have further courses after the summer training? Yes, we have financial modelling course every second week and we also have to do homework. We have online trainings as well about policies, regulations, conducts etc. There are also many interesting sessions and panel discussions in the bank in various topics, everybody can find the ones which they are interested in.
What are your plans for the near future? I really enjoy my work and I feel that I have a really good learning and development opportunity here, for this reason I definitely plan to stay for the next couple of years. Then there are several options: some people stay in banking, some go to private equities, and there are some who do something absolutely different. I think the opportunities are quite diverse in this field. What tips would you give to recent CEMS students, how to start their international career? First, I think it is essential to be persistent, and apply to many positions. International job market is a really different market, a different level of competition. CEMS MiM is a very strong degree, but there are a lot of very competitive and good universities in Europe, and a lot of smart and competitive students. When applying to positions, it is also very useful to reach out to people who work in the career field you are interested in. Meeting people is especially important in an industry like investment banking, where network matters a lot. In my field, good technical knowledge is also an asset: in my experience, students from Hungary have strong theoretical knowledge – it is really something to leverage on. What did CEMS give to you, what’s the biggest takeaway from the CEMS years? I enjoyed CEMS a lot, honestly, during university it was one of my best years. I met a lot of interesting and really cool people, took part in many great events, I went to the V4 conference in Prague, and I had a very nice semester in London. LSE was a really good experience in a professional point of view as well: courses had very high standards and we had the opportunity to participate in networking events / career fairs / company visits almost every day. All in all, I would encourage everyone to take part in the CEMS programme and make the most out of it: it is a very unique opportunity both from a professional and a social point of view. • Éva Forgács
How are the social programmes at the bank, do you also hang out together with the colleagues after working hours? How much freetime do you have? Investment banking is a very work-intense industry; people very often end up spending long hours in the office. It means that we spend most of the time with colleagues, and we also hang out together obviously. I had the opportunity to meet a lot of people on the training, in my class we are
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IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING This autumn Éva Kadocsa is an intern at adidas headquarters in Germany, in the Sales Strategy & Excellence Team, at the Business Development Department. She went for an Erasmus semester to Paris during her bachelor, spent her CEMS term abroad last year in Singapore, and graduated from Leadership and Management MSc at Corvinus. Many of us are afraid, that start working after the carefree and joyful university years or especially after returning from an exchange semester, must be neccessarily less fun and quite monotone. She scatters all our doubts in the interview, read it on and see it yourself! How was your last year? Now that you can look back on the studies, what did CEMS give to you? My last semester was quite demanding as I was finishing the second CEMS semester and also the last semester of my master at Corvinus (Leadership and Management). I also had to write my master thesis, work on the CEMS Business Project and look for an international internship at the same time. Of course these are “just” the mandatory tasks, but you cannot focus only on them… So I tried to make the best out of my last semester…. By participating and winning the Scientific Students’ Conference (TDK), training for and running a marathon, attending as much CEMS event as I could or helping to edit the CEMS Club Budapest Journal. The semester seemed to be difficult at the beginning, but at least I definitely mastered my time management skills and learnt to really prioritize tasks. But what did CEMS give to me? An inspiring and amazing community, that always motivated me to keep up and do my best. Of course, it also provided me with valuable insights, professional experience and knowledge, but I believe the new people I met and who are now good friends of mine, the long evening talks, social events or last minute hardworking assignments shaped my path during this master the most. The passion and energy that CEMSies pursue always gave me new impetus and inspiration to strive for achieving my goals. And I think this is the most important; to be able to be enthusiastic and have the passion for life and for all the things you are doing. How did you find this job? I knew from the beginning of the year that after finishing this semester my last task will be to carry out an international internship so I started to screen through all the opportunities and job hunting pages I found. After applying to many different positions, I realized this is not the right strategy, so I sat down for a sec (rather for a few hours… ) to think about what I really want to do. At the end, I decided to combine my working interest with my passion for sports and applied for adidas and other sporting goods companies. I went through the selection process for adidas and got the job. Now, it might sound very easy and
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quick, but of course it wasn’t. Screening the positions and corporate websites, writing motivation letters or adjusting the CV takes an incredible amount of time. Still, I believe the most important step is to slow down a little bit, get to know yourself and try to find out what you are really good at and what you really enjoy doing. Afterwards, all the efforts produce good fruit.
What are your tasks day by day? I’m working for the Business Development Department in the Sales Strategy and Excellence Team. Our Business Development team is a very small one (four people) and functions as a support team for the Chief Sales Officer and as a small inside consultancy. This means that we are the primary support team of the CSO and we receive all the daily tasks from him, which makes the job very exciting. I have the chance to be deeply involved in the business and also to get close insights in the daily life and work of a board member. Given the various fields the CSO is engaged in across brands and functions and the fast paced environment he works in we don’t have many regular tasks, but a lot of diverse ad hoc requests with tight deadlines. My tasks mainly involve carrying out research and analysis, preparing reports on the company’s sales performance, preparing presentations, collaborating with external parties and supporting the team in any request.
And it is very diverse, that’s what I enjoy the most. Last week I had to carry out a research about NFL and pitch courts for a top-to-top customer meeting, but I’ve already attended a monthly head of meeting with the Brazilian market, as a fresh intern or led a meeting with an external market research company. So it is diverse, indeed. We barely see what tasks the next day or week will bring, which can be challenging, however knowing that your work directly supports one of the most influential people of the company is amazing and extremely motivating. How is social life at the company? Well, social life at adidas is amazing. And unbelievable. Life on the adidas headquarters’ campus is something I could have never imagined before. It doesn’t feel or looks like a working place, at all. The brand new offices are surrounded by huge green fields, a tennis court, beach volleyball courts, basketball courts, a stadium and anything you could wish for as a sport fun. Looking out of my window I see people playing beach volleyball. Waving to some friends playing tennis when I’m heading for lunch, is also a usual thing now.
My schedule also contains spinning during lunch time or a casual run in the surrounding forests with some colleagues. I feel like I’m at uni again. Something is always going on. In the past few weeks, I have met Thomas Müller, the FC Bayern Basketball team, the Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake and Ana Ivanovic the famous tennis player; and these are just a few examples of the daily guests. A couple of weeks ago there was a diversity day organized with speakers and workshops. I have met Helga Hengge, who has shared her experiences about climbing up to the Mont Everest, it was incredibly inspiring. Last Friday we had the Track Suits day. Everyone was walking around in track suits, quing up for free lunch, donuts or pop-corn, no matter what position they worked in. I find this amazing how adidas employees get the chance to be inspired every single day.
What are your plans after the six months long internship? I would like to go back to Hungary and start my career there. If I look back in the last two years I spent more time abroad than home, so it seems to be time to settle down for a while and stop moving from one city to another and from one exchange semester to another. Even though I enjoyed it a lot, I miss my home, family and friends. Budapest, as well. Currently, I’m applying for jobs, have some great plans (for example start playing ballet again) and can’t wait to see what the next year brings after all. Any tips for recent CEMSies? Yes. Challenge yourself. That’s what one of my instructors told me on a training session- just to stay consistent with the topic - and increased my weights almost to double. He saw I’m capable of doing that I was just going for the for sure demanding, but not too exhausting option. But he was right and I still keep this in mind. You need to challenge yourself. And not only when doing sports, but in your daily life, as well. Try to always give just a little bit more and be all in. Push your limits and move out of your comfort zone. Be passionate about achieving your goals, both personal and professional, but don’t forget to delegate time for the people who are important to you. At the end of the day, people who make you happy.
• Éva Forgács
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ENGAGING NEW GENERATIONS The CEMS Club Budapest and the AIR student organization decided to establish a new, prosperous and hopefully long-term cooperation. As members of the two organizations are motivated students with international interests, it is already a platform for a connection. AIR members could learn more about CEMS by the time they finish their
bachelor studies and arrive to the master applications. Find out more about AIR in this article! The International Week Coordinating Organization is a worldwide network of student unions and student organizations that promotes cultural, economic, social and business exchange between students from all over the world. Over the past two decades, these student unions and organizations of young, aspiring students have been joining the International Week initiative in order to advance this exchange of culture and business through a one-week long project: the International Week (IW). At the moment 26 student organizations are involved in the project from 23 countries, mostly Europe and Asia, however the number of the member organizations is continuously growing and the global penetration of IW-s is set as a long-term goal. The Association for International Relations (AIR) student organization is the only member of the IW-CO from Hungary and thus responsible for organizing the Budapest International Week, which is usually held in the last week of April. Each IW is organized and produced by the local students and
from their country and presents it with a personal story. The social potential of the IW-s is great and many friendships, important connections and social networks are created through these weeks. The AIR student organization held its annual election this November and the new board decided with the CEMS Club Budapest to establish a cooperation. The basic idea was, that both organizations consist of students with similar interests, furthermore - we are concerned that – the local CEMS Club and the AIR share a number of great values which can be a good platform for a cooperation. Currently on the short run, we agreed on supporting each other in different fields like participating on each other’s programs, presentations, to provide networking opportunities with our corporate partners and to encourage the freshly graduated AIR students to apply for the CEMS MIM programme.
hosts students from IWCO member student unions. During the IW there are many opportunities for the exchange of ideas and information amongst the international participants. Country presentations, lectures by host university’s professors, local company visits (in IW Budapest e.g. Prezi, Törley, Zwack etc.) and tours of the local city are some of the ways this exchange is encouraged. Although each week is flavored by the local culture, other nations are conveyed through activities such as the International Dinner in which each participant prepares a traditional dish
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In the long run we strive to launch a major project, what aims to establish a two sided agreement with a university where both a CEMS Club and a student organization involved in the IW-CO - are present. The project would be characterized with the uniqueness of an International Week, however most probably it would not last a week only 3-4 days and both CEMS and IW related people could participate on it. So far we have found enticing opportunities in Poland (Warsaw School of Economics) and Spain (ESADE Business School) however research is still going on, in order to find the perfect partner institute. • Zsolt Pap
DID YOU KNOW THAT...? Studying abroad for half a year might bring you chances you couldn’t have so easily otherwise. If we mapped out where our CEMSies have been, it would cover an incredible number of countries. However, the CEMS experience besides the professional side is also about experiencing new languages and cultures, facing surprising habits. Here are the most interesting, funny or astounding facts from all around the world students have seen or heard of!
In Spain little candies are always served with fresh orange juice. In Barcelona 80% of the population have piercings and/or tattoos. Including the most innocent-faced girls, indeed.
Even by the very end of the summer people in Copenhagen go to the beach and swim in the 12-degree cold water.
The Finnish claim sauna was invented by them (just as the Swedish), but approximately there are 1,5 million saunas in Finland, practically that means every family has one. The land of thousand lakes actually means more than 188.000 lakes, with 98.000 islands. According to an old Finnish saying: if sauna and alcohol cannot help, probably the patient is going to die.
At the darkest days of the year already around the Arctic Circle the sky brightens up from 10 am to 2 pm, but you cannot see the sun. A bit more to the North there are completely dark days, while in the summer the sun never disappears! This picture was taken in Narvik at half past two in the afternoon, in one of the darkest days, before Christmas.
The Swedish surströmming – a fermented Baltic sea herring – smells so disgusting, that it is usually eaten outdoors and many airlines list it as a forbidden item to bring on the plane. Then why would someone eat it at all? A long time ago people up in the very far North couldn’t get any supply from the South, while surströmming was very easy to preserve for the whole winter.
In Reykjavík having dogs is only allowed with a quite expensive permit, you even need two referees for an application. If you live in a flat in an apartment block, others have to agree to the dog residing there.
One in five overnight stays in the region is triggered by the HSG.
According to the Economist Global Liveability Ranking, Vienna is the second best on the globe place to live in. In early 1913 both young Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin took frequent walks in the gardens of the Viennese Schönbrunn. They might have passed each other and watched the old Emperor Franz Joseph in his horse drawn carriage without knowing of each other’s existence. PEZ candies were invented in Vienna in 1927. In fact, the name PEZ comes from an abbreviation of the German word for peppermint “Pfeffermintz.” The PEZ dispenser was also invented in Vienna; in 1949 smoking was prohibited and the first PEZ dispenser was created to look like a lighter. The company’s new slogan became, “No smoking-PEZ allowed!” 2014 // 2 Fall CC BUDAPEST JOURNAL
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On the Smurfit Campus, the university’s library is within a former church’s building.
Boycott on tourism to Myanmar was only abolished in 2010. Before that the country’s leader asked tourists not to travel there, and locals should have avoided unnecessary contact with tourists.
The word ‘grand’ means OK and ‘shifting’ means kissing in Ireland. Many people find Guinness much tastier with black currant syrup. Google’s building is the highest in Dublin. At some parts of Ireland, people speak Irish and learn English in school while around Dublin, no one really speaks Irish. St. Patrick was not actually Irish.
In Lisbon when you ask for a take-away coffee in the local cafés you get it in a beer glass.
Though most of us would assume a country from the Middle East, Indonesia is the country with the largest Muslim population.
On the streets of Hong Kong you should beware of the uncensored chicken peep-show.
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Singapore has some of the world’s strictest laws, with penalties starting around 500 Singaporean dollars (~100.000 forints), you could get one even for eating, drinking water on public transport, or opening your door to the pizza delivery guy in underwear. Caning is also present as a punishment, and death penalty goes for drug offences.
In the Philippines people eat chicken embryos out of the egg.
The level of crime and corruption in Chile is the lowest in Latin America. On the streets of Bangkok, Thailand you could taste any kind of fried, and deep-fried insects.
In Brazil voting is compulsory for the literate between 18 and 70 years old,otherwise you have to face some punitive measures (e.g. you cannot renew your passport, you are going to be fined). Brazil was the last country in the Western world to abolish slavery. By the time it was abolished, in 1888, an estimated 4 million slaves had been imported from Africa to Brazil, 10 times more than to the USA. Brazil have a 30 percent tax on imported motor vehicles, as well as import levies on goods ranging from computers to smartphones and semiconductors, what angered Japan, the United States and the EU. So the costumer prices vary from 150% to 300% comparing to the Hungarian (e.g. a MacBook Pro 13” (with student discount) approx costs US$1,353 in Hungary, while in Brazil approx US$2,156.) Owning an imported car in Brazil is almost a luxury. (A lot of the car manufacturers built their own factory beside Brazil’s boarders to avoid the taxes (e.g. Fiat, VW, Chevrolet(GM),Ford, Hyundai).
Did you know, that our CEMSie, Csilla Virág was the only Hungarian this year applying for a Student Visa in Chile? Annually 2-300 Hungarians are working over there, but not too many students.
Japanese never say „no” directly as they form their opinion in a different way and they always make a decision in a group. For example if someone doesn’t want to go for movies he wouldn’t say it directly that I don’t want to go, he would rather say something like: it might rain so maybe it is not the best time to go out. During rush hour (meaning HUGE crowd) the trains’ first couch is reserved for women in order to protect them against perverse harassment like touching or making photos. Japanese women like miniskirts as legs are not symbol of sexuality... The toilets in Japan are “plugged in” as the rim is heated, you can select music and adjust all sort of thing to your requirements.
You can find makeup rooms in the women’s’ toilet in most of the metro stations. Trains are never late, they are shining clean and it is forbidden to use your mobile phone and talk so it is quite like a soundproofed room.
Chile is really a country of extremes: - In Chile, you can find the driest place on Earth, the Atacama desert - Chile is the longest north-south trending country in the world at over 4,600 km in length, however on average it is just 150 km wide from west to east. - The world’s tallest active volcano (6064 m, Galyatiri volcano) is here as well. There are stray dogs everywhere, even in the university campus, which is in the mountains and has nothing close to its buildings.
There is almost non existing crime rate and theft. Most of the people carry their fat purse in their trousers’ back pocket. Every day at 17:00 there is a tune for 1 minute which represents the end of the working day, but this is only a gesture as most of the people work till late night. • Éva Forgács, Nelli Gyöngyösi, Nándor Hajdu, Zsolt Kovács, László Lélek, Angéla Német, Annamária Németh, Bence Nyikus, Tamás Racskó, Eszter Sánta, László Székely, Máté Széles, Csilla Virág
2014 // 2 Fall CC BUDAPEST JOURNAL
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