Somes informations:
Form of government: Constitutional monarchy Parliamentary Unit
King: Philip VI
Government President: Mariano Rajoy
Area: 505 911 km2
Population: 47 265 321 inhabitants

1. Geography

 

Communities in Spain

2. Economy

3. Culture

 

Beach in Costa Brava

But there is also typical “fiesta” here during the summer for almost each district like “las fiestas de Gracia”. it lasts one or two weekend and the street are customized. 

You can find also really great food in Barcelona, and the most popular are tapas restaurant! You may choose from thirty different tapas in the restaurant! But as a cosmopolitan city, you can find mexican, greek or italian restaurant … But spanish food is really, just to give you an idea, look this picture:

 

Tapas restaurant

So for now I saw a lot of place, meet a lot of friendly people from worldwide, i did not expect that, but I hope I will keep discovering a lot of thing and share it to you through this blog! Hasta luego

Romain Carlier

Here in Toronto, I am a member of the SSCA (Soft Solutions Canada) team. We are working for a big client in Canada; Canadian Tire. As the Soft Solutions on-site team, we support Canadian Tire in its development by delivering software solutions. In the Laboratory in Lebanon, a whole team is dedicated to this project to deliver code drops, patches, and new applications when it is needed.

On a daily basis we are in contact with the Laboratory to make sure the deadlines are respected so what is delivered by the Laboratory corresponds to CTR’s expectations in order to manage the project.

Let’s talk about what I am really doing here. As an Iteem student, I have this ability to relate with both business and technical projects. This significantly assists me with my internship.

What am I doing from a technical perspective?

• In order to assist CTR with all their questions and needs, I have become an expert in the applications that CTR currently uses.

There are currently 5 applications which have been delivered to CTR. For instance, I am currently working on several application that manage their promotions (Create a media by selecting which products have to be allocated in which slots for which promotions), their pricing (Manage the pricing of products in function of which strategy), and file integration into their legacy system.

• Be involved in the current projects and deliveries such as working on requirement books for applications, and attending workshops with the on-site team, the Laboratory, and CTR.

• Testing defects, bugs and assuring they are reproducible and no fix is possible before escalating it to the Laboratory.

What am I doing from a business perspective?

• Report on the Canadian retail news on a weekly basis.
  • Set up web 2.0 tools to improve efficiency in researching news about the market
    • Netvibes
    • Paper.Li
    • Twitter
• In relation to what is occurring in the market, identify what are future needs of Canadian Tire in order to be ahead of changes and developing trends. In addition, suggest applications offered by SoftSolutions that will assist Canadian Tire.
• Identify potential clients for Soft Solutions in Canada

What did I learn so far?

• Efficiently search for information on the internet
• How to gather information that corresponds to a requirement book
• How to work with an international company.
• The ability to respect the work and time of all parties in order for the project to move forward.
• All the credentials and crucial steps needed to efficiently manage a project.

Vianney Dhalluin

Firstly, I think before describe all things I was thinking about, you must remember Ecuador is a developing country which includes there is not the same standard of living as in France. Furthermore, Ecuador country has an economic backwardness in compare to France. The best way to describe it is the fact that you can still see some low service jobs where there has not been yet in France for 40 years I think about some jobs like gas pump attendants, human parking meter, etc. Consequently, there are more opportunities to create new business ideas (focused more on new services and new technology) in Ecuador than the opposite, but some local examples can obviously work too in France if we take into account of cultural standards.

So, the first part that I will introduce you is more concentrated on the cultural aspect of Ecuador and its people, meaning some cultural aspects could develop innovations for the society. It’s easier to show it with an example. Main part of Ecuadorian people loves its homeland, and do not hesitate helping economically the country into the Government’s Investments. Any Ecuadorian people can invest into government’s projects without low limit of amount. It’s a way that impulses faster economic growth because people feel committed in their country’s future and want to help it. Nowadays, this way of investment won’t work in France because French people are not patriot enough to trust economic government affairs but it could be one day if French people see good changes fighting crisis’ problems. Moreover, an other example could be the fact that in order to stop economic work of the country, all public holidays are moved to Fridays. All private companies and government’s institutions follow this unofficial law for the economic effectiveness of the country.

Then, the second thing that I could not escape the attention in the streets was the human parking meters because they were in all streets near central business places and for all the day. They get responsibility on one or two streets and not just watch cars parked but also wash the cars on owners’ demands. I know it’s a little thing to start a business but it also represents a service for owners who do not need to go wash their car yet. This kind of business needs to be analyzed as we do in ITEEM courses (market study, need study, Business Plan, …) but I think it could be a beginning for a new business of parking cars in France. Not just park his car but also offer services for customers.

Benjamin Soufflet

No podía hacer sin escribir mi último artículo en español! Estoy muy contenta de haber podido aprender este idioma que me resulta tan agradable a escuchar y a practicar : ).
Y volviendo a leer mi primer artículo, la verdad es que tenía buenas sensaciones “I have the real sensation that I can make it an inspiring part of life forever”.

He pasado nueve meses de encanto, me lo he pasado genial! Y cuanto más lo pienso,  más me digo que ha sido un conjunto mágico, un país precioso, una cultura de las más ricas, he hecho buenos amigos, unas prácticas de lo más gratificantes profesionalmente. Y con mi curiosidad y ganas de descubrir, me he zambullido totalmente, haciéndome al ritmo de la ciudad ¡De tal mañera, que tengo ahora algo de alma Pucelana! ; )

La vuelta en Francia no ha sido fácil. Bueno por lo menos, me he quedado con el pan tumaca por las mañanas (para gran desesperación de mis compañeras de piso), el café con hielo por las tardes y algunos episodios de José Mota : )

Pero tengo tan prisa por volver allí! Y poder disfrutar otra vez de un paseo en el Campo grande, de jugar un partido de pádel entre amigos, tomar algunos pinchos por el centro  acompañado de una copa de vino de Ribera del Duero, de la cecina de León, sentarme en la plaza mayor…bueno, algo me dice que no tendría que tardar mucho!

Si, con ganas de volver a España y queriendo trabajar durante el verano, mi perfil ha sido retenido para unas prácticas en Madrid en las oficinas de Michelin, en la división de la Supply Chain.

Deseo mucha suerte a todos los compañeros que van a irse de prácticas este año, que se realicen mucho tanto personalmente que profesionalmente!

I could not help but writing my last article in Spanish! I’m very glad have been able to learn this language, that I find so pleasing to hear and practice. When I read my first article again, the truth is I had quite a good feeling “I have the real sensation that I can make it an inspiring part of life forever”: ) .

I have spent nine lovely months; I have had such a wonderful time! And, the more I think about it, the more I say to myself that it has been a magical whole, a gorgeous country, one of the richest cultures. During my internship I have met great friends and had a most rewarding professional experience. And with my curiosity and desire to discover, I have immersed myself completely, living to the rhythm of the city. In this way, I have now some Pucelana soul⁽¹⁾! ; )

Coming back to France has not been easy. Well… at least, I keep some pan tumaca⁽²⁾for breakfast everyday (to my flatmates’ dispair), iced coffee in the evening and some of José Mota⁽³⁾’s chapters : )

But I am longing so much to go back there! And also to enjoy once again going for a walk in Campo grande, playing a padel match with my friends, having some pinchos in downtown (along with a Ribera glass of wine), meat from León, or just sitting in Plaza Mayor… Well, I somehow have the feeling that I will be back soon!

Yes, looking forward to going back to Spain and working there during the summer,  my dossier has been retained for an internship in Madrid at the offices of Michelin (Tres Cantos), in the Supply Chain division.

I wish good luck to all of those fellows who are leaving for an internship this year; and I hope they will feel fulfilled personally as well as professionally!

Hasta luego Lucas ⁽⁴⁾!!!

Sophie Herbin

⁽¹⁾ Pucelana: informal demonym of Valladolid

⁽²⁾ Pan Tumaca:  it’s a traditional Spanish recipe invented in Catalonia. Its refers to a big slice of toasted bread that you season with olive oil and garlic (a lot of ! ^^), and that you rub over it a tomato picked.
And the best of the best improvement, adding a slice of “Jamón Serrano” : )!!

⁽³⁾ Jose Mota: he is a Spanish humorist. He is very well known for its show “La hora de José Mota”, broadcast by TVE. He is always playing being another person, parodying personalities to speak about present news. His humor is appreciated because the actor is able to deal with serious topics in a balanced way.

^{(4) “}Hasta luego Lucas!”: It’s a common Spanish expression. This one comes from a Spanish TV comedian of the nineties (Chiquito de la Calzada), which are now part of Spanish slang.

This country has been invaded so many times by people from very different cultures and religions. With all these wealth in the country, Muslims first, then Mughal emperors and finally the British have control this enormous country and you can see today the results in everyday life.

Little examples are better to explain this:

• With all the religions (Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism…) and the different traditions according to the different part of India, there are more than 100 public holiday days during the year. To adapt to this problem, the government is allowing the firms to decide of 12 days on the 102.

• The Indian constitution is recognizing 23 official languages at this time and with all the dialects, there are more than 4000 languages spoken. The 3 most spoken are the Hindi, the Tamil and the Bengali. These languages are very different and can’t be understood directly nonnative speaker even Indian.

• We often say that we have, in France, a huge panel of the different possible landscape with Middle and High Mountain, plain, forest, coast, islands, extinct volcanos. All these are present in India but you also have desert, tropical jungle, steppe, paradise beach, higher mountain and some you can pass from one to another in 2 km.

To resume, India has a great diversity at all the possible level but it also creates lots of inequality depending of the area, the beliefs you have and the castes you attribute to. I agree that the castes have been abolished few years ago but they are still present in minds.

A little example? No problem:

You know that the arranged weddings are still very popular in India, right? But do you that each Sundays in the Times of India (and the major part of the Indian newspaper) there are 4 or 5 pages at the end with dozens of marriage adverts? In these ads, you many information like the religion, the revenues, the dot but also sometime the castes. Even if they are abolished, it is still very important to marry someone from the same castes as yours.

To Finish and conclude, the biggest difference in India is still the money gap between rich and poor and you can mostly see that in the very big cities like Mumbai or New Delhi (see attached picture from http://www.20minutes.fr/monde/338002-Monde-Les-bidonvilles-une-destination-a-la-mode.php)

D’HONDT Sylvain