I can’t believe we only have a week left in Berlin. I’m definitely ready to be home again, but I’m getting sad that the program is ending. This week at my internship, I switched from the advisory team to the business development team because I didn’t have much to work on in advisory. It’s been nice because now that I have a lot to work on, it makes the day go by a lot faster than before. Since I switched teams, I’ve been doing a lot of compiling firm lists that Vencon can propose to clients. They do this by comparing the data they have for each firm and determining which data would be most useful to provide to each client based on what kind of analysis they are looking for. I also helped the business development team with finding client contacts for the United Kingdom and the United States. It’s been interesting to see the whole process of how they interact with clients and go about putting together projects. Vencon has a really important project coming up for a big client and they have to produce more than 400 reports. I just started working on the firm lists for that, so it’ll probably keep me busy for most of the week.

Outside of work this week, we had our farewell dinner with Britta and the rest of the group at a really cool outdoor restaurant. It’s always fun to get together with the whole group and hear about everyone else’s experiences. I got curry wurst, which has been my favorite food since being here. On Thursday, a few of us went to a really unique bar that was on the top of a parking garage. When we got there, we didn’t think we were at the right place because it just looked like a shopping center. We followed a sign to the top floor and were still confused when we got out of the elevator to a parking garage. We finally found the bar and it was one of the most unique places I’ve ever been. It had such a pretty view of the city and was such a cool location. On Friday, we went to another cool place right on the water. On Saturday, some of us went to a pizza festival with tons of local vendors. We tried a few interesting pizzas and hung out there for a while. After that, we went to Holzmarkt 25, which is an area on the river where you can have out and have drinks and food. We looked around a vintage pop up they were having there and then sat by the water for a while. My favorite thing about Berlin has been all of the cool outdoor places here. There’s so many places that are so different from the bars and restaurants in the U.S. and its really fun to hangout there with the group. Even the club we went to on Saturday had a huge outdoor area, which seemed unusual for a club. Since being here, I’ve heard a lot of people say that the winters in Berlin are so cold that in the summer, everyone wants to spend as much time as possible in outside and in parks. We’ve definitely seen that, because it seems like one of the biggest hobbies in the summer is going to a park. For dinner on Saturday, we went to a greek restaurant that we’ve gone to a few times and I absolutely love. I’ve found so many restaurants that I like here and tried a lot of different kinds of food that I haven’t had before.

In terms of success at my internship, I think an employee is considered successful if they are able to effectively work with the rest of the team to efficiently produce an outcome. The reports that Vencon produces require a lot of time and attention to detail, but they still have a deadline in which they have to be given to the client by, so it’s important that everyone is working efficiently. I’ve noticed that work life balance is much more valued in Germany than it is in the U.S., so employees tend to work hard consistently throughout the day so they can finish everything by the time they go home. Because of this, a successful employee manages their time at work so that they can get everything done in a timely manner. A successful employee is also one that pays close attention to details in the work they do. There is a lot of emphasis on ensuring that everything is done in a standard way and that even the smallest details are accounted for.