Throughout my life, I have learned that I am very indecisive. Through my relationships with everyone in my life and deciding between simple to complex things have always been a challenge for me. Like I couldn’t choose when and where I wanted to study abroad (I ultimately made the best choice). Being indecisive can be frustrating. I like to go with the flow, but I tend to overthink my options and if I am making the correct choice. Coming with this is that I love advice from others to help me make my decisions. I am challenged by those close in my life to decide on my own because I should make my own decisions. I am still growing to get better at being confident and realizing that things work out as they are meant to in the end.

Although I am indecisive, I struggle when others are indecisive, forcing myself to make decisions. It sounds complicated, but this can transfer to my leadership style. It makes me a stronger leader when I notice indecisiveness with others.

I have been used to working in groups and relying on other people’s opinions before this experience. I have a leadership position in many sorority around girls who I am comfortable being around and relying on their opinions. I just started that leadership position on the executive board this past semester, so this experience abroad will help me do a better job when I return in the fall. In addition, I have been surrounded by many co-workers and people who help me make decisions in my jobs as well.

I feel like I have pretty good leadership skills, but they can always be improved. I have learned to become a better communicator in different aspects of life and speak up when I need to. My view and approach to leadership have been further extended here because it is evident that communication is really needed. Especially when being in a new work and culture, communication is critical. This is a different leadership experience because I started in an ” uncomfortable ” place at first. Since, at first, I was the only intern, I had the option to come up with ideas and be creative because there was more pressure to do so since we are a small marketing and communications team. Now there are two more interns on my team from the United States. I must be a leader to show them what to do and other aspects of our internship. In addition, I want this experience to help me immensely and to have my co-workers and managers as references. I want to go above and beyond.

In addition, being here has allowed me to become more decisive about things I want to see and visit in Germany and Europe. I thought two months would be a long time, but it is going way quicker than expected. Therefore I need to be a leader in making decisions and doing other things outside of work in my time.

I am still witnessing how Germany and Berlin have so much to offer. There are many parks, restaurants, and sites to see. This past week, I was exhausted from my trip to Munich, but it was worth it, so I caught up on sleep. I also spent a lot of time outside. We tried a new park called Viktoria Park, where we had a picnic and watched the sunset. It is nice to do things during the week besides just work, although I do enjoy where I work, which is a plus. There seem to be so many people out and live music at many of the parks here. On Sunday, we went to Mauerpark. Mauer Park had a fun flea market and a karaoke show going on. I had terrific tacos and other foods. It was a really nice Sunday. I love outdoor events. I also went to an art festival in Neukolln. On Saturday we went to a lake and swam in fantastic water. There was a cute boat dock area. It felt so good to be outside and experience this part of Berlin. All my co-workers continue to recommend going to lakes.

I also explored a new neighborhood with cobblestone streets and cute places to get coffee. For the first time, it has been really rainy this week and hot pretty much the weather was all over the place.
The people I work with are great leaders who support each other. I am learning how to be a leader in a different country. I am adapting and gaining more cultural awareness.