Hallo alle! I had a very interesting week…Definitely full of ups and downs. A few of my days were especially challenging, but I’m coming out of these past seven days with a deeper appreciation for the little things. Los geht’s!

To start off, I went to Berlin’s Botanischer Garten on Monday, as I had a day off of work. Back in Pittsburgh, I love going to Phipp’s with friends and family. I was especially excited to go to the Botanischer Garten, since my ticket with a student discount was only drei Euro and the gardens are supposedly beautiful and expansive. I have to say that this was by far my favorite part of the trip. These gardens were truly the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. I really can’t express just how huge this place was. I wandered for hours and rarely ran into other people. It was silent except for the sound of birds and bugs. I was in absolute awe! It was a beautiful experience for me, and I appreciated the time to just sit and think. I also saved multiple slugs along the way and transported them from the dry and brittle gravel to the lush grass (I felt quite connected to my inner child at these times; I’ve always been one to save worms from hot sidewalks!). At the end of my trip at the Botanischer Garten, I walked from one end of the park to the opposite end to see a small lake. I am absolutely going again. I’ll include some pictures below!

I forgot to mention in last week’s post, but I went to Das Schwules Museum, or the Gay Museum. They had an exhibition about Berlin’s history of sex work, and I found it very educational! I was especially surprised to see a transgender man’s Transvestitenschein from none other than Magnus Hirschfeld himself! I really couldn’t believe I was seeing such an influential artifact in the history of fighting for accessible gender-affirming healthcare. I will certainly be telling my GSWS professors about this when I’m back! This past week, I also attended a pride flag raising ceremony with several of Berlin’s queer organizations. I even met one of Berlin’s most influential gay monetary providers for queer organizations. Pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

The most challenging part of my week were Wednesday and Thursday when my phone stopped working…I’m on an international Verizon plan, and on Wednesday my phone lost all service. It was essentially a brick. I couldn’t call, text, or use any apps. I had to resort to emailing my parents on my laptop! It was abysmally horrific. Apparently, Verizon was having some issues with their international service and needed a few days to sort it out. So there I was, stranded and isolated from the rest of the Pitt students. My roommate was also busy spending time with her family, so I felt especially alone. It was a bummer, I can’t lie. But I knew I couldn’t just sit around wasting time. I took myself to dinner, discovered a very quaint park outside of a church, and tried my best to stay busy. Over these two days, I couldn’t even listen to music, as I typically do. However, I grew to enjoy walking around and listening to the sounds of the people and cars around me. I grew to enjoy sitting there on the park bench and just observing. I felt very in tune with my body and my surrounding environment. Even though my phone is now fixed, my screen time has been drastically lowered. I’m actually very grateful for this experience, as I now feel more appreciative for the nature and strangers around me.

Now, on to the actual prompt for this week’s post! Throughout my life, I’ve been in a few leadership positions, particularly in high school. As a leader, I’ve never been afraid to be assertive. The only way to fix things is to first acknowledge that things aren’t perfect. Oftentimes, I think leaders are afraid of hurting other’s feelings, which ends up sabotaging the entire team later on. Now I’m not saying that there isn’t a line between assertiveness and abrasiveness. In fact, mutual respect may be my top pillar of leadership. However, I’m goal-oriented. When there is something that needs to be improved upon, that is my main concern as a leader.

Since interning at L-Support, I definitely don’t have any sort of leadership position. However, I have been entrusted with certain responsibilities. For example, I’m playing a much bigger role in their social media than I initially anticipated. I have a lot of freedom regarding what I want to work on regarding my time at the office. With this freedom comes a need for accountability. I am expected to finish my Instagram posts on time and continue planning my workshop. I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m being a leader in any sort of way, but I’m certainly responsible for myself and my actions.

I wouldn’t even necessarily say any of my coworkers are in a major sort of leadership position. They are all in charge of specific things, like finances or counseling. Their expertises are so drastically different from one another, that they are in a similar personal-accountability-situation as I am. If anything, I’ve learned to mind my business. Even outside of the workplace, Germans don’t really interact with one another unnecessarily. I can certainly apply this tip to my values as a leader. For example, I’m in Pitt’s marching band. It’s a very team-oriented environment with everyone working towards a goal that is bigger than themselves. It’s very easy for me to become frustrated or annoyed with others, but at a certain point, it’s not my concern. Obviously, context matters. But the best I can do for myself and others is to worry about what I can control. That’s how it is at L-Support, too.

Anyways, that’s all from me this week. I really can’t believe we’re making our way into our final weeks here in Berlin. I’ve certainly learned a lot thus far. Tschüßi!