A Month Away...

It's hard to believe that we depart for Asia in exactly one month today - thank you February for being so short!  Amid all this snow, I surely do hope you have been staying warm.  Not to brag, but here are the temperatures at our destinations...
 

 
My class has certainly been keeping busy this semester, going to classes, giving presentations, assisting at incoming freshmen interviews, and planning our trip! 
 
So here's the breakdown:

• Depart Cincinnati on 3/6
• Hong Kong 3/7 - 3/12, flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand
• Chiang Mai 3/12 - 3/20, flight to Singapore
• Singapore 3/20 - 3/25, flight to Beijing
• Beijing 3/25 - 3/29, flight to Shanghai
• Shanghai 3/29 - 4/5, flight to vacation destination or Cincinnati

Here's where groups are vacationing:

• Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia
• Sydney, Australia
• Koh Samui, Thailand

Have any suggestions on places to visit in any of these cities?  Comment below!

帮助 [Help]

Hello there friends!

It's been too long, and we really need your help.

We have received a few details about our upcoming trip to Asia!  We will be flying in (March 6th) and out (April 14th) of Hong Kong and need some help planning the extra 10 days.  We will finish the required portion in Shanghai.  So here's where you come in...

Have you ever traveled to Asia, whether it was for business or vacation?  What are the best places to visit?  We searched hotels, resorts, and spas in Bali, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, and even Australia.  In fact, we've collectively viewed more hotel websites than hotels we will actually visit in our lifetimes.

So tell us, where would you go and what would you do if you could spend 10 days anywhere in Asia?

The Big Apple

One post for all of NYC?  I think so.  Sorry for the huge delay, we had a bit too much fun hotel hopping and ended up without internet. 

 

So we arrived in NYC Wednesday night, and after a few hours moved from one hotel in the Upper West Side to the Marriott Marquis in Times Square... Why yes in fact we could see the filming of Good Morning America from outside our window.  Needless to say, the hotel was awesome!  We all ate some good New York food Wednesday night and explored the city a bit.

 

Thursday morning - visit with CBX and Adam Hildebrand.  It was so exciting and the atmosphere of CBX was so much different from all of the other visits we had.  We learned about the different brands CBX works with through a variety of case studies, and I can assure you that you will never find a store more uniquely New York than Duane Reade.  The number of Duane Reade stores in NYC:  TOO MANY to count.  We had a delicious lunch and got out picture taken with Adam (see below).

 

Thursday afternoon - visit to Apollo with Adam Eling.  At Apollo, we learned how the company saved everyone's favorite childhood snack - the Twinkie!  We also learned about the investment process and how competitive the market is.  We then spoke with Mr. Stein who was head of investor and media relations where he stressed the importance of integrity and credibility for the corporations and ourselves.   

 

On Friday morning, we went to Jefferies to meet with Robel and some of his coworkers.  We were able to speak with the HR team and went through the Manchester United case study, which was extremely interesting and made us all want to go invest in the soccer team - not something you hear everyday!  We also got our picture taken with Robel outside the Jefferies office at the Berlin Wall.  The picture with Robel will be posted soon, but below is a picture of our class before the visit.

 

On Friday afternoon, we met with Deloitte to learn more about their advisory group and their Washington D.C. policy advisor.  We also had a tour of Rockefeller Center, thanks to Deloitte.  We all had a great time learning about the history of Rockefeller Center, looking for men in walls, learning about the significance of the architecture, and playing with our headphones. 

 

Friday night - some went to Julianna's (next to Grimaldi's) for a good slice (or two) or New York pizza.  They chatted with Grimaldi himself about his business decisions and pizza cooking history.  Others went to Newsies on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre and went out for sushi after meeting the cast members.

 

Saturday was a free day in New York City and the possibilities were endless.  I went with a couple girls to the Plaza Hotel for breakfast (obviously we pretended to be Eloise) and then walked through Central Park, where we almost adopted a child.  We then took the subway to The High Line, as it was suggested by Mike Magazine.  It was such a beautiful urban park, and we followed it up with shopping in Chelsea, the Meatpacking District, and SoHo before hopping in a cab to go sit on the steps of The Met. 

 

We wanted to try out one more hotel (this is #4 in case you lost track) before heading back to Cincinnati, so we travelled on Saturday night to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to rest up for the long journey home on Sunday.  Have you ever heard of Bethlehem, PA?  Yeah, neither had we.

 

Some members of my class went to the 9/11 Memorial, walked through Grand Central Station, and took a ferry out to the Statue of Liberty. 

 

Number of macarons eaten by a certain group of four ladies (you know who you are):  30.

Number of slices of pizza eaten:  76.

Number of stops at the 200+ Starbucks in New York City:  121.

Number of last names we can create to replace Rosfeld:  The limit does not exist.

 

 

Yes, we did have to wear those headphones out in public... Looking good.

 

The random kid we almost adopted in Central Park... before he had to leave for his 2 year old birthday party at the Central Park Zoo.

 

 That's it for now readers.  If I hear from any classmates who want to chime in, I will certainly update.  Otherwise, you'll hear from us again as we near the #Asia2014 trip!  Thanks for reading along with our journey!

 

 

Monday in Washington DC - Morning

Submitted by:  Betsy Emmert

 

The Lindner Honors-PLUS Class of 2016 hit the streets of DC bright and early Monday morning to begin our first of many company visits of DC/NYC Domestic Trip. After a
quick breakfast, we hopped on the Metro a block from the hotel to McPherson Square
where the US Chamber of Commerce is located. There, we met with the Chamber’s
Executive Vice-President and COO David Chavern. Mr. Chavern, a graduate of the
University of Pittsburgh, shared his insight on the Chamber’s interactions with
business leaders around the nation and world, and how the Chamber affects policy in
the nation’s capital. Mr. Chavern spent an hour with us answering our questions
concerning topics such as the ongoing tax debate, border security, and membership
growth and challenges facing the Chamber. We discussed at length the importance of
free enterprise and taking principled stances in effort to maintain its broad base of
300,000 members. Since the 1970s and 80s, the Chamber of Commerce has
shifted from serving as simply a voice to the public about business, to playing a
critical role influencing important policy in Washington. While Mr. Chavern
touched on the primary functions of the Chamber, he also shared his personal
perspective on management, team work, and organizational trust. As the first
visit of our trip and the first time in DC for many of us, the Chamber gave us a
taste for the kinds of issues that dominate Capitol Hill and our nation, setting
the scene for the remainder of our trip! After we finished with Mr. Chavern,
we took a short lunch break at Founding Farmers and Pike’s Place Market
before heading to PwC for our second visit of the trip!

Oh What a Night! - Monday Evening in Washington D.C.

There is something to be said about dining with friends.  It's truly a great experience no matter what restaurant or time of night.  But a dining experience with crab cakes and filet mignon at one of Washington D.C.'s premier restaurants, it doesn't get much better than that.

 

On Monday evening, we attended dinner at Old Ebbitt Grill to listen to Stephen Moore speak about his time in Washington D.C. writing editorials for the Wall Street Journal about the U.S. economy.  He spoke of the richness of North Dakota with its supply of energy, the importance of luck, and some of the current problems in the U.S. government.

 

Following Mr. Moore, we heard from Bob Fealy, an extremely proud University of Cincinnati graduate.  Like any Midwesterner, Mr. Fealy spoke about his humble beginnings and his experience at UC.  He spoke about being passionate about the work you choose to undertake and to always give back when possible. 

 

Dean Szymanski was able to join us for dinner and he spoke highly of Mr. Fealy saying that he was one of those people that upon meeting really can change your life.  I think that we were all impacted by Mr. Fealy's willingness to speak to us about his success. 

 

 

On the Road Again

You know you're going to have a time in New York City when Somewhere in Brooklyn by Bruno Mars plays on the drive from Washington D.C. to The Big Apple. 

 

Somewhere, somewhere
Somewhere in Brooklyn
She's somewhere, somewhere
Somewhere in Brooklyn

 

I mean, it's close enough, right?

 

We're so sorry for the delay in posts.  The details from Washington D.C. will be posted soon as we are finishing them up on the ride to NYC.  We have just been busy having too much fun at visits, dinners, and visiting monuments that we completely ran out of time.  Thanks for your patience!

Tuesday Morning - Washington D.C.

Sorry for the delay in blog posts - yesterday was extremely busy, but we are hard at work getting updates for you!

 

This morning, we walked to the Capitol Building and were greeted by CHCA alum, Tommy Andrews.  He works for Speaker Boehner and gave us a tour of Boehner's conference room, office, and balcony.  Talk about breathtaking!  We also loved that Boehner had a picture of his desk, with a Skyline Chili menu on it of course!

 

We then moved throughout the Capitol Building and saw the inside of the rotunda and stood at the center of Washington D.C.  Apparently no one else was allowed to stand on it because it was blocked off, so we felt pretty cool!

 

After our tour finished, we met with Cynthia Herrle, Boehner's Policy Assistance.  She spoke to us about appropriations, debt and defaults, continuing resolutions, and the sequester. 

 

We then met with Rob Portman's Chief of Staff, Robert Lehman.  He concentrated his talk on Ohio and our issues, concerns, and strengths.  He assured us Cincinnati was a great place to live and work due to its location. 

 

More about our afternoon to come!  Off to the Washington Nationals game now!

 

The view from Boehner's balcony