I apologize for the delay in material everyone, but it has been a whirl wind of a week. We've visited 17 companies and cultural sites in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. These have been 10 to 14 hour "go go go" days which is why there has been no content up this week. (That and a not terribly reliable Internet connection.) We will be traveling tomorrow, January 16th to Istanbul which will give me more time to edit the incredible amount of footage we have shot as well as type up the personal reflections of the students on the trip.
That said, enjoy the first of our visits. It is a visit with Hedley International, a civil engineering company in Abu Dhabi. Thanks to everyone at Heldey for the extremely warm. Through the personal relationship that Prof. Sidaoui has with the Baltaji Family one of our part time students, Gina Collins, MBA '10, arranged a meeting. She is currently the Planning Lead for oncology brand marketing teams at Genentech.
Special thanks to Mr. Baltaji, who arranged our meeting at Hedley, and Mrs. Baltaji, who is a USF alum and was our defacto tour guide/historian for Abu Dhabi, who have been so wonderful with their generous hospitality. You can see Mr. Baltaji very prominently in the video (he's the gentleman with the beard.) They are perfect examples of the kind of Arabian reception we have received at the companies we have visited here.
Also, we will be setting up a Flickr account once we get to Istanbul so we can share the immense amount of photos shot by the students. Please check back in the next few days as I add that account as well as get more video content uploaded to Youtube.
- Darcy Villere, MBA '10
