Vision Hamburg 2010

Vision Hamburg, 13-18/04/2010

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ESTIEM Vision Hamburg was a part of ESTIEM Vision series organized this year under the topic of Efficiency in communication. The interesting sub-topic for Hamburg and promises of great case studies and awesome parties made it easy decision for us to join the event!

Travelling to Hamburg was more than easy this time. Both of us are studying abroad currently, Olli in Germany and Mikko in the Netherlands. Trains were relatively cheap and fast way to travel. First meeting point was Hamburg railway station where we met our host and got the week ticket for public transportation in Hamburg. Thanks for Birger for hosting us!

The official start for the event took place on Tuesday afternoon at the Max-Bauer Allee, where LG Hamburg nerve centre exists. The agenda was simply getting to know to the participants and event organizers and enjoying typical German fast food, Chinese noodles. After nice talks and some beers it was time to head to the Schanzenparty. The bar was great for the first night out. We had some more beers, nice humorous artist on stage and old and new friends getting ready for a week to remember.

Wednesday morning was sunny as the other days as well. It was time to get familiar with the city a bit better. We took a city tour bus where a robot sounding funny bus guide gave us some detailed information about Hamburg. Did you know that Hamburg is the wealthiest city in Germany...? Day continued with the lunch and after that the academic part was kicked off. First working group was arranged by Hanseatic consulting, which is a consulting company operated by students. The company itself is really interesting indeed. The topic for group working was about communication in ESTIEM on both European and local levels. Question was how could we improve our communication by usage of social medias. The participants found the topic very interesting and we hope, that the output of this workshop will give some ideas for further development to communicate more efficiently in ESTIEM. In the evening we continued to Hofbräuhaus Hamburg for a dinner. It was time for traditional Weißwurst and of course some famous 1l beers. "Ein Maß bitte" and the autopilot was on... at least the world is a bit better place again. 

On Thursday morning, as fresh as a mountain breeze, we continued the exploration of the city with a harbour boat trip. The boat guide spoke only German but our German ESTIEMers translated what was necessary. There seemed to be more to laugh to this guide than to his jokes so not much was lost. It was a sunny day and the atmospere was relaxed. The harbour itself was really interesting. Hamburg, having the second biggest harbour in Europe, has a lot of business, history and tradition related to trade. Thursdays working group was held by Arkwright consulting. THe topic for the case study was about a Swiss health insurance company penetrating to German markets. The task was to find a suitable marketing strategy for the company. The problem we found was that we didn't know that much about selling insurances or Germany as a target market but the workgroup was instructive and interesting. Dinner aftwerward was also hosted by Arkwright consulting and thanks for them for all. We're always happy with a fruity cocktail in the hand. The night continued paryting at the famous Reeberbahn...

Friday morning was planned for Michel church visit where a group of ESTIEMers had a look at Hamburg’s silhouette from the dom. In the afternoon we were introduced to the Hamburg University of Technology campus area, a student association and their own brewery at the campus. The brewery is situated in their chemistry lab. The student association is planning to establish a brewery pub, where they would relocate their brewery. Our task was to created a marketing strategy for their brewery pub and guesthouse. We came up with nice creative ideas and the outcome was interesting. After working and presenting we had BBQ at the back yard and beer from their own brewer. The “test group” found the beer really good (and not only because it was free). After BBQ we headed again to the Reeperbahn, where LG Hamburg organized a pub crawl and showed the famous sights of the partyhood.

Saturday started with free time for shopping but our Finnish delegacy, like most of the ESTIEMers used this slot in the program for sleeping for the whole morning. In the afternoon we met in the city for nice time in historical Planten un Blomen park. The weather responsible for the event had done some really strong magic since the weather was perfect for the whole week. The event got a memorable ending in a space party, where everyone looked like space tourists. It was easy to come up with funny costumes by just wrapping folio and duck tape together. The night passed fast and it was time for some wistful goodbyes. Addicted to ESTIEM spirit, it's obvious that we'll see around the Europe again.

On Sunday we headed to the railway station to catch our trains. Some weren't that lucky. Because of the volcano in Iceland, all the flights were cancelled and many ESTIEMers had to stay in Hamburg. Our trains were just late.

Thanks to LG Hamburg and all the participants! See you around!

By Mikko Hanski (and Olli Kytömäki)
LG Lappeenranta, Finland & LG Eindhoven, Netherlands