I survived my first week as an Ashoka intern! “Survived” might be the wrong word, as it was actually really enjoyable. Regarding tasks, it was a lighter week as my supervisor took time to get me oriented with a new email and access to all their documents and spreadsheets. I was placed on a team where my direct team leader works from Madrid, Spain, so we communicate mostly through email and WhatsApp. He is very helpful and responsive with any questions I have, and makes sure to prioritize check-in calls throughout the week. Together, we are working to plan, coordinate, and invite changemakers to the Ashoka Summit hosted in Hamburg, Germany! The event is in September so unfortunately, I will not be in Europe to attend the final product.
I also sat in on my first couple of team meetings, where I noticed despite roles in the company, all of my co-workers seem to view each other as equal and prioritize fair task management so one person is not too overwhelmed. One main topic of the meeting this week was vacations! It seems normal for Czech employees to take a month off in the summer to disconnect from work, which I thought was very interesting since a consecutive month off in the US is practically unheard of. I have also noticed that most important business activities happen towards the beginning of the week, and Thursdays/Fridays are far more relaxed. One exciting upcoming event is this Wednesday; my company is shooting a video to try to entice Ed Sheeran to come speak at a future event! His latest album aligns really closely with the research of one of Ashoka’s fellows, so although a long-shot, it will be cool to take part in the filming!
Outside of work, I took my first-weekend trip! A couple of friends from IIP and I took the train to Berlin, Germany. It is about a 4-hour journey from Prague, but I much prefer the space and views provided by the train rather than a flight. We left Prague Friday after work, and after a lovely 4-hour discussion with our seatmate (shoutout Gabriel) we arrived in Berlin! We opted to stay in a hostel and I have stayed in Generator Hostels in the past, and they always are super clean and safe.
On our first day, Saturday, we visited a local cafe and tried the breakfast, which seemed to be an assortment of various pastries and cold cuts. It was a rainy day, so we planned to visit Museum Island! The island is a small area carved out by two rivers hosting five museums. You can get a single ticket to see all five. Our favorite was the Egyptian museum, which housed many artifacts, notably the bust of Nefertiti. The museums are surrounded by big green lawns and we saw at least six different brides taking wedding photos, so you know its a beautiful location.
Fitting the clueless American stereotype, we did not realize that Berlin is a host city for the Euros! The Euros are a soccer championship played amongst all the European national teams. The city hosted two games while we were in Berlin, so it was packed with tourists celebrating and dressed in full fan gear. We watched Spain vs. Croatia match at a local restaurant, and the atmosphere was great! We tried the bratwurst and mash which is similar to a lot of the traditional Czech dishes we tried. Later that evening, we went to a local spot to watch the Italy Vs. Albania match, shoutout to our hostel mate ALSO named Gabriel for explaining the rules of “football”.
On our final day, we went to the Berlin Wall memorial as well as a local flea market. The market seemed like it went on forever, and it was made up of various stalls selling homemade items, as well as some garage sale-type stalls. All of the sellers were speaking various languages and it seemed like a really cool cultural meeting point in the city.
The wall memorial and the check-point Charlie museum were the highlights of the trip, though. I love history and museums and I felt like I could have spent the whole day in the Checkpoint Charlie museum. My mom told me I had to go because when she visited in the 90s the wall had just fallen, and they allowed tourists to chisel their own pieces off to take home! It was cool being in the same spot my mom had visited in college, albeit the wall has long since been removed, and gone are the days of the chisel. You can only purchase pieces of the wall in the gift shop. Overall, our weekend getaway to Berlin was full of surprises but I’m happy to be back in Prague, ready to start my next week of work.
