Here you can read the experiences of one of our German students with the Master TDM from the field research in Sydney.
After an intense preparation in Breda in January for the upcoming three months abroad, we finally all met each other at the airport in Schiphol and were excited to experience our first field research destination Sydney. We had a rough 30 hours journey ahead of us, but Singapore Airlines treated us well with movies and plenty of food, so that the flights were quite decent and all students arrived more or less rested in Sydney.
The first day Down Under started with an interesting guided tour by Ross from “Sydney Free Walking Tours”, who gave us an insight into the history and current developments in the Central Business District (CBD), Circular Quay and the Rocks. By the end of the tour we all got a glance at the Harbour Bridge and Opera House, which was definitely a highlight for all those, who have never been to Sydney before (including me).
The upcoming days were filled with presentations by tourism experts, hotel managers and representatives of the event industry. We had the chance to ask questions related to our research area and stakeholder group and received some great insider perspectives. After the first consulting meetings with the teachers, we developed our research goal and time planning and started with the primary research. Depending on the stakeholder group focus (Micro-Small Enterprises, Medium-Large Organizations or Public Organizations) we conducted formal and informal interviews with actors from these businesses.
During the weekends, we tried to explore as much as possible of Sydney and its surroundings, forget about research for a couple of days and soak in the sun (though for the majority this meant suffering from sunburn after the first weekend). It didn’t take us long to understand, why Australians are said to be so happy – they are spoiled with well over 100 beaches in and around the city and therefore we checked out a few of them in our free time. We went on the coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee Beach, took one of the various ferries from Circular Quay to Manly Beach and Cockatoo Island and longer bus and train rides to Cronulla Beach and the Royal National Park in the south and the famous Palm Beach in the north. Some of us even took longer trips during the weekend to Brisbane and the Great Ocean Road to see more of this beautiful country.
After three weeks in Sydney and getting used to the Aussie way of life, it is sad to say good bye so soon. Sydney is definitely a great place to stay for a while! However, new adventures await us to be discovered in Myanmar and Bali!
This post was written by one of our current students Finja Hansen.
