This week, I had a busy week in my internship and a fun weekend with friends.
On Monday, my coworkers had a welcome lunch for me to welcome me to Sirius Facilities. I appreciated this a lot and enjoyed spending time with them. We went to a local Indian restaurant called Amrit, which they love. They go to this restaurant multiple times a week, and the waiters and waitresses all know who they are. I have been working at Sirius Facilities for nine days, and we have gone for Indian food five times. I have never had Indian food before eating it with them, but it is delicious. They are encouraging me to try new things on the menu. Surprisingly, I have not had a lot of German food on this trip so far.
I went to Markthalle Neun on Thursday because it is only open on Thursdays. The market has many international food vendors and shops. I have been to this market before, so each time I go, I try to eat new food. This time, I ate vegan bao, which I liked.
On Saturday, some other students from Pitt and I went to the Strandbad Wannsee, which is a beautiful lake. I had a lot of fun at the lake, and there were some beautiful views. I have wanted to go swimming for a while, especially as the weather has been getting warmer. The water was actually pretty warm because the lake was very shallow.
After the lake, we went to a Greek restaurant for dinner near where we are living called Samos. I am Greek, so eating there reminded me of home. We also went to this restaurant during orientation week, and the waiters remembered us, which was surprising and very kind.
On Sunday, I went to the Charlottenburg Palace with my roommate. We are living in Charlottenburg, so it was not far for us to get to. At first, we were not impressed with the exterior of the castle. We almost left, but we decided to walk around before leaving. I am glad we did because the area behind the castle is beautiful. There were beautiful gardens, nature paths, and a pond.
In my internship, I learned how to use SAP, and I filled in missing information for our suppliers on SAP. Sirius Facilities has more than 500 suppliers because they have many locations, business parks, and offices. I have only been able to go through the first 50 suppliers so far, but essentially, I fill in the missing tax numbers, VAT identification numbers, bank details, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and IBAN numbers for each supplier.
I also created a PowerPoint presentation highlighting Sirius Facilities’ Pro Forma Financial Statements. My supervisor is giving a presentation to the Board of Directors about the expected financial performance of Sirius Facilities, so it is exciting working with him on this presentation.
I have experienced some uncertainty, unclear directions, and ambiguity in my internship so far. Sometimes, the language barrier between German and English is challenging. Fortunately, my coworkers all know English pretty well, but each of our accents can make it difficult to understand one another. For example, my coworker was talking about “Pharma” companies the other day and was explaining his experience working for a pharmaceutical company. However, I thought he was talking about “farmer” companies, which confused me. When issues like this occur, I tell my coworker that I do not understand, and they usually rephrase it or provide an example that clears up my confusion.
Additionally, sometimes I do not know exactly what I should be working on, especially when my coworkers are busy or on calls. I usually have one task at a time to complete, so when I am done, I ask for more work or clarification on what I should be doing next. This has worked well for me so far, but I hope as I become more established at the company and develop more of a routine, I will be able to determine for myself what I should be doing and what to do next.
Another way that I navigate ambiguity and unclear directions is by asking questions about my work and asking for feedback as I go. Some of the work I am doing is very important and sensitive, like verifying the information on Sirius Facilities’ invoices. If I do this incorrectly, Sirius Facilities will not get paid, or they could be paid the wrong amount. So, when I am stuck, or I am not sure if I am doing something right, I ask one of my coworkers for help, and they are always happy to assist me.
I am excited for the weeks to come and for the rest of my internship. I am planning to visit some other cities and countries nearby, including Poland, Amsterdam, and Prague. There are only five weekends left, which is crazy because it feels like we just got here, but it is already week four. I hope to make the most of these upcoming weeks.