Pages

Thursday, April 28, 2011

A Night and Day in Tokyo


4/29/11 – 5:00 am (From Tokyo)

I had mentioned that I was hoping to spend a 1/2 of a day in Tokyo (capital city of Japan) before I head to Taipei (capital city of Taiwan) and it looks like I am going to get more than my wish. I arrived here at about 8:30 pm last night and will not be leaving until 6:50 pm this evening for Taiwan. I did not have time to do anything last night. By the time they (Delta) bused me around and finally found me a hotel it was midnight. I wish I was with the rest of the group because I know I am missing activities in Taiwan and because I know this is causing headaches for Dr. Peng who worked very hard to plan this trip and our itinerary. Nevertheless I plan to make the most out of my day here and hope to take a bunch of pictures of Tokyo that I can post tonight or tomorrow. I am with two other students that were on the same flight as me so I’m not completely stranded alone….. although we are the blind leading the blind. Luckily the Japanese people are extremely friendly and helpful, most of them speak English (kind of), and Tokyo is a safe city. We are lucky as traveling Americans. Many places in the world speak and label everything in English (as a second language), including Japan and Taiwan. I know someone from Japan traveling in the U.S. would not have it as easy as I have had it so far (assuming they could not speak or read English).


Here's some advise for you. Do not take photographs at customs (above) no matter where you are. I should have known that one! I'll blame it on jet lag. Luckily even the customs officers were very friendly and apologetically asked me not to take anymore pictures.

About My Study Abroad, MBA, and Blog Posts


4/27/11 – 7:00 pm (From Detroit)

Well, my adventure has begun……FINALLY. My flight was supposed to leave DTW at 3:25 pm, but we got off the ground at 6:45 pm. Problems with the plane. As if a 20 hour journey wasn’t going to be long enough.

This tin can sat at the gate for over 4 hours before we pushed off
I also say “finally” because I have been waiting for this day for almost 2 years. Let me explain. Whenever I had mentioned that I would be traveling to AsiaAsia? I decided to pursue my MBA almost 2 years ago in order to strengthen my leadership skills and help make improvements within my organization (Oakland County). When I applied for the program I was given the choice to pursue a concentration with my MBA. A concentration only required one additional semester so I figured what the heck. Of the concentrations available, the only one that interested me was International Business. Simply because I like love to travel and explore new/different things. This trip, towards the end of my MBA program, has been the carrot dangling in front of my face that has motivated me to keep going. Trust me, working full time, having a family with two small children, and working on a Master’s degree can be a little challenging at times. Anyway, this trip is exciting, but I am very glad I chose the international route for other reasons. From my recent studies I have learned how beneficial it can be to study business in other countries and cultures. We would all be ignorant to believe that the only productive way of doing business is what we are familiar with in America and that there is nothing left to be learned from international markets. I know my experience abroad will open my eyes to new business and leadership strategies, organizational cultures, and much more that one day will benefit my career and my organization….no matter what and where that may be. for school, I would get funny looks because I studied architecture for my undergraduate degree and I have been working in the architecture field for about 13 years. So why am I studying business in

About my blog posts

You may notice that the day and time I provided above do not match the day and time of the post. That will be the case for many of my posts, as I may have an opportunity to type a post but may not have the capability to get online and post it until later. Also keep in mind when reading these posts that I have a very diverse audience. Family, friends, co-workers, and my U of M Study Abroad professor (Dr. Peng). One of the requirements for my Study Abroad class is to make regular posts on this blog, so you may run across several posts where I am discussing business, strategic management, etc. I will be sure to mix in some other types of posts too and hopefully everyone will find something interesting to read at one point or another. Important: If you decide to leave me a message on this blog, please keep it somewhat professional/respectable. Your comments will be viewable by everyone who visits this blog.

Thank You

Thank you to all of my friends and family who have offered to help out while I’m away. I am truly blesses to have so much support without even having to ask for it. The biggest thank you of all goes to my wife and children. I would not have been able to do any of this without your support.

Sorry this post is so long. I’ll try to keep the rest short.

Only 6,450 more miles until Tokyo. I hope the departure delay causes me to miss my connection to Taipei, which might allow me to spend a half of a day in Japan before continuing to Taiwan.

不及物動詞

Friday, April 22, 2011

How to Contact Me.....

If you need to contact me, the data portion of my iPhone will be activated. That means I will not be making or receiving phone calls or retrieving voice messages, but I will be able to send and receive text massages and emails. Use the 721 number for text messages and the oakgov address for emails. I am also on Skype (Name: eddiepjoss). Please limit the number of texts and emails and keep in mind that Taiwan has a 12 hour time difference.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Updated Itinerary

Only 18 days until departure. I am starting to get excited. Here is my undated itinerary...