What a week!  This week was such a great experience in both the professional setting as well as the travel setting.  A group of us went to Rostock, Germany on Saturday and it was beautiful to see.  Not only was there the beach and the ocean but also this pretty town was very quaint.  The architecture was stunning and had a very German aesthetic especially with coloring.  On Sunday, we also went to see a palace and that was breath-taking.  The grounds were very nice, and it was very large.   This was in Potsdam, Germany and we also went to an impressionist museum, and it had Monet displayed.  It is so great that we can just take little day trips across Germany and see so many things.

Now for the professional setting, I feel like things are great.  I have been given three projects to work on that have multiple components to them.  I do not feel like there is uncertainty in what I need to complete.  Also, my boss and coworkers help me out if I need help and give me a lengthy description so I can understand what needs to be completed.  I am also far enough along in my architectural studies to have an idea of how to complete things even with unclear direction.  Also, if I do not understand something, I always ask to make sure that I will do it correctly the first time.

My workload is substantial but nothing I cannot handle.  In the beginning of the week, I was working on some diagrams and sketches for a presentation that was due on Wednesday.  I also went to my first site visit, which I was so happy I got brought along to this.  The visit was for the project that needed the presentation to be completed for Wednesday.  This project was for a residential complex with nine units and only has about five more weeks until it is supposed to be fully built and ready to be sent off to renters.  I got to tour and walk around the site as well as looked into the units.  There still was a lot more that needed to be completed and the contractors were behind schedule.  My job on the visit was to read the unit plans and make sure everything was built correctly and finished in a certain way.  It was a great first experience on a site visit.  After the presentation was finished, my boss told the other intern and I about the next steps and what we can work on for another presentation that is due at the end of June.

Later in the week, I also got to go on another site visit, which was unexpected, but my boss thought it would be great if I came along because it was not like the first one.  This was more of a sit-down meeting and then a tour of an existing campus of buildings.  I worked on this project last week, which was the machinery company and how the company wants to change the site into a campus and tear down the building they bought and rebuild it to meet their needs.  Even though my boss said I would not understand the meeting part because it was in German that I should still come and see what is there and envision what could be there.  I also took pictures and wrote some notes about what I noticed and what I think could be ideas on how to proceed forward with the design of the campus and the new building.  This was another great experience because this was more of the beginning stages of a project, which is different from the one before that is in the last stages of the project.

In addition to these exciting visits, I was given a little project at the end of the first week that I continued to work on this week.  This is not the biggest project but typically interns are given these smaller projects that they can do most of all the stages by themselves and with little supervision.  I have my coworker helping me out with this, but I am mostly doing the work.  It is nice to have these projects as an intern because this is a great way of learning fast and if I do mess up, it would not be a disaster like on a large project.  That is why large projects are done with multiple people, so it splits up the workload.

This week, I also had a work event!  We went bowling and out to dinner.  It was lovely to get to know my coworkers more, especially outside of the work environment.  It was also an amazing experience to see Berlin and its culture with people who live here and grew up here.  I am very excited to see where this journey takes us next.  Ciao!!! 😊