This week, aside from my internship, I spent more time exploring Berlin and took a trip to Munich. After work on Wednesday, a few of us went to Viktoriapark. We first went to a nearby beer garden and got bratwurst and potato salad, then went to sit in the park. This week was the Fete de la Musique in Berlin, which is an annual music festival, so there were musicians performing all over. There was live music at the park when we were there, and we stayed to watch the sunset. In Berlin, hanging out at parks is a really popular past time in the summer. Even on week nights, the parks are full of people just relaxing and enjoying the nice weather, which is a really nice atmosphere to be in. This has been the case in the other cities in Germany I’ve visited as well, and there are so many other parks I still want to visit.
On Saturday morning, I went to Munich and stayed until Sunday night, so I had a lot of time to explore the city. There was a huge Pride festival there this weekend, so it was a really exciting weekend to be there. We got there Saturday morning and spent most of the day looking around the city. We walked around to see all of the cool architecture, and went to the original Hofbrauhaus. We also took a tour of the Munich Residence, which is a former palace of Bavarian monarchs. We got dinner at an authentic German restaurant and then walked through the English Garden, which is a huge park in the city. There’s a river that runs through the park, so there were a ton of people there swimming. Where the river enters the park, it creates rapids where people can surf, which was really cool to watch.
On Sunday, we went to the Dachau Memorial Site and took a tour. Being there was a really sobering experience, but it was really moving to learn about the inmate’s solidarity, strength and resistance. After that, we visited Nymphenburg Palace, which was beautiful. When we got back to Munich, we got dinner and hungout in the city center until our train.
This week at my internship, I finished the AI project I was working on and my supervisor used it as a basis for their company wide meeting about AI use. My next project is creating a glossary of terms for the terms used in client reports. My supervisor said I was going to be working on a data automation project eventually, so I’m hoping that comes soon.
On Friday, Vencon had one of their “VenConnect” events where everyone brought a type of food that was native to the country where they are from. Because the office is so diverse, there was food from at least 12 different countries. Everything was homemade and everyone had such a good time. The food was amazing and the event was a good opportunity to get to know everyone in the office a little better. I really like that the company puts in the effort to do events like this, because it really makes the office feel like a community.
In terms of skills I’m developing, I feel like I’m learning the most just from living in a new country. Living in a completely new place takes a lot of getting used to and I’ve had to be very adaptable since arriving here. This experience has taught me to be open minded about trying new things and to take advantage of the opportunities I have here. At my internship, I’ve definitely learned that effective communication is a critical aspect of the business world, and being able to work with others is crucial. Being my first professional experience, my internship has also taught me how to take constructive criticism and effectively improve my work. In terms of hard skills, I’ve developed skills in research and in creating a platform to effectively convey my research to an audience. I’ve also had to present my research findings, which is a skill I hope to continue improving. I’ve also learned a few basic skills having to do with coding and data automation in my time at Vencon so far, which has been interesting as well.
My time here is going by so much faster than I had expected, and I’m excited for what is still to come. All of my coworkers have been telling me to visit Prague, so I am planning to go next weekend. There is still so much I want to explore in Berlin, too, so I’m really looking forward to the next few weeks.