It’s so hard to believe that we only have two weeks left in Berlin, because it feels like we just got here. This week at my internship, I spent a lot of my time working on a project that the data automation team is working on. I find the data automation projects really interesting, so I’m hoping that my automation project with the advisory team starts this week. In terms of communication at my internship, the only thing I can think of that is noticeably different from work environments I’ve been in in the U.S. is that pretty much everyone’s native language is different. As I’ve mentioned before, Vencon has employees from several countries, so even though it is an English speaking office, English is the first language of only a few of the employees. Because of this, sometimes it seems like things get miscommunicated and sometimes it is hard for me to know what exactly I am supposed to be doing. However, I think Vencon being a small, close-knit company helps to limit miscommunication because everyone is so willing to be collaborative. The whole company knows that it takes everyone’s work and cooperation in order to produce the reports by the time the clients need them, so everyone is always willing to help eachother, and they really emphasize working as a team. I really like that Vencon is really community oriented and everyone makes an effort to get to know each other well and become close.

This week outside of my internship, I spent time with the other people in the group, which has been really nice. I’m glad we have a group that spends time together and does things outside of work together, because it’s made the program a lot more fun. On Tuesday, we went to Tempelhofer Feld, which is an abandoned airfield that is now a public park. A few others that don’t go to Pitt but are in the same program met us there too. We’ve gone there before and it’s a really good vibe. The sunset is so pretty and there’s always so many people just hanging out and listening to music. One of my favorite things about Berlin is how nice the parks are in the summer. It seems like one of the most popular things to do, especially on the weekends, is to just relax in a park with friends which is really nice. On Wednesday, a few of us went to an ice bar in Berlin, which is something I hadn’t done before. It was really cool but we you can only stay for a little while before it gets too cold. I’m starting to get sad that the program is ending, because I’ve had such a good time hanging out with the group and traveling to other cities. We really only have one weekend left because everyone is leaving next Saturday, some of us really early in the morning. I feel like there’s still so much in Berlin that I want to see and do, so it’s hard to believe I only have one more weekend.

This weekend was my favorite weekend so far. I went to Paris on Friday and had an amazing time. On Friday, we did a history walking tour of the city, which was really interesting. I’ve tried to do walking tours at the beginning of each trip I’ve gone on, and I’ve found that it’s been a really good way to get a feel for the city and learn more about it before exploring it on my own for the next couple days. On Friday and Saturday, we explored Paris more and visited the Arc de Triomphe and the Rodin Museum. On Sunday, we went to Versailles which was bigger than I even imagined. It was cool to learn more about it and to see the Trianon Estate and the Queen’s Hamlet, too. We went early in the morning, so we still had a lot of the day to do other things. We went to the Musee d’Orsay for a little while, which was really cool because it is an old train station that was turned into an art museum. Sunday night, we wanted to see the Eiffel Tower lit up, we had a little picnic in the park by it. I was so excited to try the food in Paris because I love French deserts especially. We had macarons, crepes, galettes, croquets, and a bunch of other pastries, and all of it was so good. I’m so glad I’ve been able to take small trips within the program, because I really wanted to take advantage of being able to fly to other countries so easily here.