Spring Break
Immersion Experience - How Do You See Europe?
How do you see Europe: as one or two regions? Or perhaps just as a collection of different countries?
John Schmit (OE), Contributing Writer
Issue date: 1/26/09 Section: Features
One view is that Western Europe is a high wage, high skilled economy, and that the former Eastern Europe is only good for low wage production. This was the intended exploratory question for the 2009 European Immersion. However, the fifty HBS students who arrived in London from around the globe on January 2nd had a different question in mind. This question was not whether the European Union was truly integrated; that question would be left to BGIE. Nor was our question the location of the best pubs in London and Prague; that question would be left to our student coordinator Kevin O'Boyle. The critical question on the minds of the immersion participants was much more primitive and would test our geographic expertise. Our question was which of the below cities was closest to London: Athens, Budapest, Istanbul, Lisbon, Naples, Moscow, Prague, Rome, Warsaw, Zagreb?
The reason for such an odd question was to serve as a conduit to engage EU residents to assess how integrated Europeans were with one another. Typically individuals underestimate the distance to places they visit regularly or which they view as being similar. Conversely, people overestimate the distance to places that they rarely visit or which they see as being alien or different to their own environment. The students were asked to measure this bias to help gauge the degree of European integration.
This year the participants on the European Immersion were asked to complete several field exercises to help increase their learning from the immersion. These included the above distance survey as well as a photo essay that explored whether Europe is a single or a divided continent. Some students approached these exercises with a commitment to score that elusive "1" on the immersion. Even after others tried to explain to them that the immersion was not a component of one's transcript little could be done to tame some students' enthusiasm. Others used these assignments as an effective tool to engage members of the opposite sex in conversation. Either way, the newly added field exercises helped enhance students learning and engagement from the immersion.
The reason for such an odd question was to serve as a conduit to engage EU residents to assess how integrated Europeans were with one another. Typically individuals underestimate the distance to places they visit regularly or which they view as being similar. Conversely, people overestimate the distance to places that they rarely visit or which they see as being alien or different to their own environment. The students were asked to measure this bias to help gauge the degree of European integration.
This year the participants on the European Immersion were asked to complete several field exercises to help increase their learning from the immersion. These included the above distance survey as well as a photo essay that explored whether Europe is a single or a divided continent. Some students approached these exercises with a commitment to score that elusive "1" on the immersion. Even after others tried to explain to them that the immersion was not a component of one's transcript little could be done to tame some students' enthusiasm. Others used these assignments as an effective tool to engage members of the opposite sex in conversation. Either way, the newly added field exercises helped enhance students learning and engagement from the immersion.
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