I have had an amazing experience so far here and Berlin and I am really sad that it will be coming to an end soon. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to Frankfurt to visit my good friends that live in that area. I met these friends about 4 years ago while I was in high school. I took part in an exchange program with the school that they went to in Gladenbach, Germany. I was lucky enough to have two exchange partners and I was able to live with these two people for a total of one month and I was able to go to school with them. Then they came and lived with me in America and they went to school with me. We became very close friends and they essentially became members of my family. I have come back two more times to visit them here in Germany. Last year, I got to come to Frankfurt and stay with them for a week here and then we drove to a lake in Italy for a week. 

This past weekend, I flew to Frankfurt to go to a festival in their hometown with them. This festival is called Kirschenmarkt, and the whole community comes together to celebrate. It was so much fun for me because I got to see all my old friends from the first exchange program that I hardly ever get to see. Most importantly, I got to spend time with my good friends that I only see maybe once a year if I am lucky. As soon as I found out that I got into the IIP program, I knew I use this opportunity to go and visit my friends. My German has gotten a lot better since the last time I was around all these people, so it was really fun to be able to speak in only German with them. In the past, I wasn’t good enough at German to only speak in it, so we would end up using English most of the time. After being in Berlin for nearly two months, my German skills are at the best that they have ever been. They were all really shocked when they figured out that I could hold a conversation just fine in German, and it is really gratifying to be able to see the results of my German studies. Even though I had a blast with my friends, it is always really sad when I leave because these are people are some of my closest friends. Not knowing the next time that I will see them sucks and I don’t know if it will be 2 years, 5 years, or even more. I plan on coming to Europe after I graduate from college and if I do then I will definitely go visit them.

Germany’s definition of success is different from the United States’ idea of success. In a professional sense, I believe that Germany thinks a person in successful when they are doing work with something that they are really passionate about and that they are excelling in. Working hard is really important in all cultures, but it matters more why you are working hard in Germany. In Germany, it is important that you are working hard at your job for the right reasons. The main one is that you are passionate about the work and that you really like to do it. In America, you often see people that work really hard but they don’t care about that actual work that they are doing and they just want to make money. This focus on money can cause people to fall into a trap thinking that money is the only key to happiness when in reality it is not. In my internship, there really isn’t a secret thing that will make you successful. It comes down to being willing to work hard and put your best foot forward with everything you do. Working hard and staying engaged throughout shows your dedication to the work, which crucial to be successful in any internship role there is. However, in the sports industry, it is much more complex than just hard work and dedication to be successful. One thing that I noticed is that networking and having strong connections is really important in the world of sport’s business. It is really hard to get essential aspects to sporting events like sponsorships and stadiums without really solid pre-established connections. Without these connections and networks then it would be impossible to make these things come to fruition.