Another week down and I have a feeling these next 7 weeks are going to fly by! So, this is my first internship and to say I was nervous my first day was an understatement. I didn’t fully know what to expect, and you can only prepare yourself so much. My office is in a high-rise, and so I was a little overwhelmed and intimidated, but my supervisor was very welcoming and informative. He took me around to all of the different departments and introduced me, and I was met with an overwhelming amount of smiles. Throughout the week, there were definitely moments of unfamiliarity and not knowing the right things to do or say, but that’s all a part of this experience.

I was given a laptop and my own desk, which made me feel very fancy and important. The first couple of days were more introductory and informative, but by the end of the week I was given actual responsibilities and tasks to complete. My company is in the middle of being audited, and so my supervisor has been giving me tasks pertaining to that process, such as finding specific invoices and receipts from suppliers, and sending them to the auditing firm. Being able to help my company and more specifically my supervisor and make myself useful by taking something off of his overflowing plate has been rewarding. I’ve also been able to help my other supervisor in learning how to do more tedious tasks, such as booking bank confirmations and inputing invoices into their software has also been such an instructive responsibility and has put specific concepts I’ve learned in my courses at Pitt into a real-life situation.

Throughout the week, I’ve been getting to the office around 8:30 am and leaving around 4:00 pm with one exception where I was working on something for my supervisor, and I decided that I would stay for however long it took me to finish, which resulted in me leaving around 6:00 pm. However, because I stayed later, my supervisors allowed me to leave early on Friday, which was definitely worth it. I think that Germans really prioritize a work life balance, as I’ve been continuously asked if I’ve taken my lunch break yet, and that I need to take breaks. Also, when I decided to stay later, my supervisor assured me that it was not necessary, however if it’s what I wanted to do then it was fine. I’m confident that I will not find it difficult to find a work life balance, as not only do I have supervisors that have made it clear that they value taking breaks and not working yourself to death, but because of being a student, I’ve learned how to manage my time and how to be thorough and efficient. So far, I’ve been given multiple things to do at once, and I made sure to get them both done with an equal amount of attention and precision.

With relation to balancing work and my free time, I’ve made it a priority of mine to still do the things that I want to do, even if I am tired and have had a long day. For example, a big hobby of mine is running. While I have felt tired and unmotivated to go for a run after a day of working, I’ve forced myself to go because I shouldn’t let having a job take away from the things that I genuinely enjoy doing. Similarly, I don’t want to let my tiredness get in the way of experiencing Berlin, such as going to a beer garden or just walking around exploring.

By the end of the week, I felt accomplished and more confident in my role as an intern, and have definitely gotten increasingly comfortable with my daily tasks and with my colleagues. On Friday, I was able to go home early and walk around Berlin, and get some of my chores done. We also went out as a group and had a lot of fun on a rooftop bar. We also went to Olivia Rodrigo on Saturday which was just amazing. Being in Berlin and having a wide variety of things to do has made it easy to not just focus on the internship, but to make it a priority to create memories and to try new things. I think because this is such a short term experience, it’s made me more motivated to make the most out of every day, and tell myself that when this is all over, I’ll regret the things that I didn’t do.