“Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living” -Mary Ritter Beard

This, as you all know, is my second study abroad trip with Dr. Morris so when I see these words on the itinerary for day eight: “Market Research Exercise—Practice your business intelligence skills by observing consumer behavior in retail environments,” I know its going to be a fun day.

“Market Research” was our objective this morning and while I didn’t necessarily do it in retail environments, I did manage to see a lot of Venice. Lauren and I started the morning as usual with a nice short breakfast and afterwards we were off to see St. Mark’s Basilica, the very one that the huge square next to our hotel is named for.

We got in line around 9:30 and awaited to enter when it opened at 9:45. While I wasn’t able to take any pictures of the inside, the amount of detail along the outside of the building is incredible.

After viewing the Basilica, Lauren and I set our sights to the Ponte Rialto (Rialto Bridge) which is famous in song and film as it stretches across the Grand Canal of Venice in the northern part of the city.

There is a switch on the bridge to turn off the sun to get a night shot

Once we gazed at the magnificence of the bridge, we grabbed a quick pizza lunch (with legitimately “ice cold” Coca-Cola…Europe has a problem with proper refrigeration) and were off to meet the group at the designated point for our boat ride to the mainland to the bus and head to GEOX.

GEOX is an Italian shoe company that has revolutionized footwear. How you ask? Great question! The founder of the company, Mario Moretti Polegato was walking along in the desert in Reno when he noticed that his feet were sweaty and wanted to get the moisture out. He therefore took a knife and dug out a hole in the sole of his shoe to release the moisture so his feet would dry. This idea transpired into a business idea by creating the proper technology to develop a slim piece of leather to allow moisture to exit the shoe while preventing water from entering the shoe.

We arrived at the facility and were welcomed by several workers who led us into a room where the communication’s director for the company talked about the history of the company and how the company started. He proceeded to tell us about market forces and the logistical structure of the company before leading us out into the R&D labs. Once there, a technician led us through the various rooms and explained the process of not only testing the prototype shoes for GEOX but also the competitor’s shoes in order to compare and improve the design. After a short Q&A, we were back on the bus and back in Venice.

That night was the second round of the sponsored dinners so after freshening ourselves up, we all gathered in the lobby of the hotel and were off to Al Vecio Canton. Thanks to the directional wiz that is Elli Havelka, we found the restaurant with absolutely no problem. Our meal consisted of a pasta dish, roasted chicken and asparagus and tiramisu for dessert and of course, was absolutely delicious. After Lauren, Crista and I wondered around the city to unwind after dinner, we were back at the hotel packing our bags in preparation for our morning transfer to the fashion capital of world, Milan.