This past week has been extremely busy in terms of work as well as out of work activities. To start, it was nice to have the first full week of work that could help me to see how a normal full week would play out while I am now officially settled into my job. This gave me the opportunity to incorporate things like the gym, hanging with friends and eating out into my regular schedule. In addition, I have had a lot of time to explore the city on my own and look further into the shops, bars and parks that make Berlin such a cool area. A highlight of my weekend activities was a small group trip to Wansee lake which was a large beach-like environment with games, vendors and a large international crowd. These types of environments are so exciting to me because I get to see how Berlin is a conglomerate of so many different cultures and languages; just at this lake I heard about 10 different languages being spoken throughout the day. It made me feel at home in a way because this sort of experience is very familiar to me being from the east coast and attending beaches with a large crowd. It is common to make random friends and join in their volleyball or spikeball game at any time. 

In addition to enjoying life outside of work, the work I am doing for KIEZConnect has challenged me in a way that makes putting my full effort into everything very rewarding. I know what is expected of me , and even if everything is not 100% clear I still do my best to make informed decisions about the task. That being said, there are many times where I feel as though directions are unclear and I want to call my supervisor to make sure I am on track for the specific  goal in mind. I have never done this, because I know that if I think intuitively about what needs to be done I can make educated guesses about what is expected. This sort of intuition is expected of me and my supervisor knows that I am capable of thinking for myself. For example, I finished making a flyer for the upcoming energy conference that KIEZConnect is hosting in the Reichenberger neighborhood. There were many details I was unsure about in terms of the design. I second guessed myself many times while wondering if the text is placed in the correct area, if the picture is useful and even if the German is understandable given I do not know the language. What helps me navigate through these doubts is knowing that if I think logically and less about what I think it “should” look like, I know that the flyer will be at least acceptable given a few errors. This sort of logical thinking has helped me to not be paralyzed by worries of messing up and just allows me to do work in a flow state without constantly second guessing. 

I have found that this idea of intuitive thinking without getting bogged down in the details has worked well for me. Most of the time, the final project that I present to my supervisor has mistakes here and there, but what matters is my thought went into it and I created a great blueprint for the final draft. The flyer, for example, ended up not looking exactly like what I initially created, but my work acted as the beginning phase of the process that my supervisor – Fiete – then gradually edited to add the missed details. This makes sense to me because he knows the audience better than anyone – he has worked within this community for many years and I do not expect him to take my first draft as the final blueprint. In a way, I know that what I do with creating first drafts of these types of projects helps to give him material to then bounce off of and add to. It helps me to know that my product is not final and is only a beginning point. I have started to see the ambiguity as something that empowers my work and gives me independence to read between the lines. It is important for me to learn this because there are many times, both in and outside of work, where receiving unspoken messages is key to reacting to a situation. It helps to create a proactive persona that does not wait for the input of others, but instead creates the path.