![\"Business](\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/St.-Peters-Basilica.jpg\")
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Students in the College of Business\u2019 marketing study abroad program spent a packed 12 days in Spain, Italy and France getting a first-hand look at important local\u00a0manufacturing and service-based companies including the\u00a0Codorniu Winery in Barcelona and the\u00a0L’Occitane\u00a0manufacturing facility in Provence, as well as the Port Authority in Nice.<\/p>\n
Their hotel: Royal Caribbean\u2019s Freedom of the Seas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trip offered the students a unique opportunity to learn experientially about conducting business in a foreign country as well as marketing and communication challenges and opportunities,\u201d said Tim Birrittella<\/a>, faculty co-director for this marketing study abroad program at the College of Business.<\/p>\n The Marketing Department<\/a>\u2019s professor Elisabeth Beristain<\/a>, who manages and oversees all aspects of the marketing study abroad programs, organized the business-focused trip, supported by FIU\u2019s Office of Study Abroad. Cultural outings included La Sagrada Familia and La Boqueria Market in Barcelona, the Vatican, Pompeii, Marseilles, and city tours at every stop.<\/p>\n Lessons didn\u2019t stop aboard the Freedom of the Seas. Students met with the ship\u2019s captain, hotel director and food & beverage manager, among others. A behind-the-scenes tour of the ship showed off the laundry facility, kitchen and theatre, where students met with performers who had trained at Royal Caribbean\u2019s training facility at our BBC campus before boarding the ship.<\/p>\n In Their Own Words:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n