About a year ago, I had just returned from frolicking throughout London and Paris and, of course, spending some time in Germany for my GBE, also known as the “Global Business Experience.”

Background: The Global Business Experience is one of the mandatory classes you take in the ELMBA program and it is awesome. It’s like graduate school’s version of studying abroad. As a student who spent a semester abroad in undergrad, the GBE was one of the biggest selling points for me committing to Bentley. In our programs were two cohorts; one group went to Turkey and the other went to Germany. I was part of the cohort that went to Germany. Guten Tag!

Because your flights are already paid for through tuition, my bestie Meg and I took this opportunity to fly over to Europe a few weeks earlier and spend some time in London and Paris – BEST DECISION EVER.

 If you do decide to come to Bentley and have the opportunity to travel before your GBE, DO IT. A few other classmates of mine that were ending up in Turkey traveled to Amsterdam and Switzerland before their trip as well.

While in Germany, we spent the majority of our time in the city of Heilbronn; it’s in the southeastern part of the country near Heidelberg and Stuttgart (German wine country . . . YAY.)

During our time in Germany we visited a number of SMEs (small and medium businesses), including Bosch, a giant in the auto-parts industry, as well as having the opportunity to visit the Audi factory. These were definite highlights of the trip.

Aside from these tours that were part of the class itinerary, we also had non-class-related events, such as a tour of the Mercedes Benz Museum (including a five-star lunch that I can still taste if I close my eyes) and a midnight wine tasting and vineyard tour. So. Cool. Snaps for Bentley.

Overall this was such a great experience. I not only learned some great techniques to running a successful business and got advice on becoming a influential leader, but I also made some great memories with my classmates. WIN WIN FOR ALL.

This year the entire program of first-year ELMBAs went to Vietnam, so I am pretty excited to hear about their experiences.