Student Comments

Frank said...
We, the students, arrived in Tetovo (Tetova - in Albanian)Sunday afternoon and have already attended an opening ceremony for a new Medical University, met the Vice-Prime Minister, visited two universities (both the State University where we are having class and the Private University that is home to the Business Incubator), and started our classes with the local students.


Emilie said...
So far our trip to Macedonia has been wonderful. We are really enjoying taking in the culture and learning about their economy. It is interesting to see the similarities in thoughts toward entrepreneurship, and the differences in culture. When meeting with the director of Macedonia's Incubator, he shared many ideas of economic development through promoting entrepreneurship much like the ideas we got from interviews conducted in Wilkes-Barre's Incubator. It is neat to see that two very different places can have the same takes on business expansion.
The people of Macedonia are VERY hospitable, especially to Americans. You cannot go anywhere without being offered (and expected to accept) a drink or something to eat. They love having visitors, and showing them all that Macedonia has to offer. We have been given the opportunity to meet with a handful of government officials, as well as being invited to the opening day ceremonies of the new medical school at the State University of Tetovo.
We did fit in some time to do a little sight seeing. While in Skopje (the capital of Macedonia) we visited the older part of the city, stoppig by a few churches and architectural structures to really get the feel for the lifestyle. The mountains and landscape here are beautiful. It is like seeing a postcard picture live - Amazing!
We have more meetings and class time scheduled for the rest of the week. I am definitely enjoying my time here and looking forward to the days ahead.


Eric said...
We, the students have arrived in Macedonia. It has been both an educational and culture adventure. Our first day we spent in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, relaxing by eating ethnic pizza (a little different than American) and drinking local beer (similar taste to Miller Lite and Coors Lite mix).
The second day Aleksandar Angelovski, brother of Maki McCann, gave us a tour of Skopje and the surrounding area. On our tour we visted a church that was built in the 12th century that overlooks the city. The paintings on the wall were beautiful and in very good condition. From there we went to the city fort and had lunch at a local restaurant. The food was very good.
Our third day (Monday) we went to the opening of The State University of Tetovo's Medical School. We had a chance to speak with Vice-Prime Minister of Macedonia. That position would be the same as the Secertary of State in America. During our conversation he revealed he attended the University of Pittsburgh for his master degree. We then attended class were Dr Shumansky discussed what entrepreneurship, economic development, and public policy was in context of the U.S. and Macedonian government. After class we visited the Macedonian Business Incubator. This incubator is just starting and is currently in the review of the business plans submitted phase. When comparing the incubator in Macedonia to the incubator in Wilkes-Barre I found that they both offer the same services to the start up businesses. Some services are; low rent office space (which include utilities, desk, computer, and internet access), tax support, and business planning support.
Our fourth day started with class where we defined social, economic, and political objectives within our regions. Region for the American students is defined as Northeastern Pennsylvania with a population of 1,500,000 people, and for the Macedonian students the region is the country of Macedonia with a population of 2,500,000. Although there is a difference in population both defined regions are looking for their "economic" niche by promoting entrepreneurship with public policy. Both regions need to determine their resources such as land, labor, capital, and entrepreneuship when establishing their public policy.


Billy said...
After months of anticipation we are finally here in Macedonia.The mountains (many snow covered), scenery, and people (very pleasnt and kind) are all amazing. It would be a crime for me to forget the food here. Fresh fruit, vegitables, and bread, are the connerstone to any meal here. Also when you are waliking up and down the streets you are bombarded with the pleasant smells of gyros, meat, and other Macedonian cusines I cannot pronounce. After two days in the capital our group moved to a smaller city, Tetovo. Here we continued our alcuturation in Macedonia while begining our studies. At the university, we had the pleasure of meeting other economic students like oursleves as well as meeting with the director of the business incubator here in Tetovo.
Comparing our observations of Macedonian business here with business back in the US, it is safe to say we are not that different. For example, both our countries look to influence the economy through business creation. Furthermore, both our incubators provide simmilar services like: cheap rent, phone, internet, and consultants. These services represent the common problems most business have when they start. Wehther they are in North America or Eastern Europe.
Tetovo and Macedonia are exciting plaes to vist. I mean today we are looking to travel up a mountain to vist a very old Turkish fort. Back at the capital we had the chance to vist a very old church and fort before comming to Tetovo. I hope to have more information to post over the next few days in terms of what we are learning about public policy and economic development so I can continue my comparison to the United States. Also I hope to have more cultural experinces here to write about.


Frank said...
There were a few noticable differences between the capital Skopje and the city of Tetova where we are studying. The first is the language; with Macedonian being the primary language in the capital, while Albanian is much more prominent in Tetova. We had a conversation or two in the capital concerning local business, as well as, possible business ventures into Macedonia. The tone was were very encouraging; with little concern of beaurocratic hinderance nor legal issues. An established networking system appears to in place amongst the business community. While we were eating at the resturant owned by a friend or our contact, we discused other businessmen in industries that were of interest to us - all of whom were also personal friends. I was given contact information for a small CNC machining facility - (which relates to my business responsibilities in the US).The description we were given of the business enviroment in Tetova was not as "rosey." This is not to say that it was negative, but, probably just more realistic. There was more mention of beauocracy concerns. I should note however, that much of this description came from an ex-patriot who was pointing out differences between the local system and usual expectations of US businessmen. As we met in class and discussed the economic concerns of the area, it is interesting that they are not really that much different than those of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As such, there is a similarity between some of the entrepreneurial development programs starting here with those in the US.