The study abroad trip to St Gallen

The study abroad trip to St Gallen Uiversity, St. Gallen –Switzerland in the first week of Sept ’08 , was a lot of fun. I am sure in between all that fun, I have also gained some perspective on how European businesses operate, but that is hard to quantify.
The trip was very well organized, to say the least. The Swiss, I would say are really punctual, you can tell that from the ubiquitous presence of clocks on anything tall around the Swiss countryside. Our day would start with breakfast at 7:00 , classes from 8:15 , and a field trip or two from noon onwards.
Given all my classmates had known each other for the past one year, it really felt like a trip from junior high days. There was a lot of clowning around in the bus-rides around the countryside, lots of singing and dancing as well.
In terms of company visits, it was kind of light: Google offices in Zurich, Internationa Watch Company (IWC) and Lucerne Mueseum of Public transportation. The class work was interesting, got a great overview of how the Swiss banking system works. It was kind of relevant because they talked a lot about the current financial crisis. Overall, it was a long and fun vacation.