I have less than two weeks left in Prague, and the closer my departure gets, the more I realize how much I will miss my time here. It almost feels like a second home. My younger sister had the opportunity to visit me for the last few days, and I was able to create an entire itinerary for her (since I can’t hang out with her the whole time due to work). I didn’t realize how well I knew my way around the city, what cool spots to recommend, and how to navigate the once intimidating public transportation! After much weekend traveling, I am excited to spend my upcoming last weekend here in Prague and be able to fully appreciate my host country once more. 

Speaking of weekend travel, I was able to travel to Berlin this weekend with my sister. Lucky for us, we picked the perfect weekend to go! The Euros finale was held in Berlin this past Sunday, so the city was electric with fans all weekend as we explored. We explored Berlin’s vibrant nightlife, ate some German food, learned about the rich history of Berlin, and saw more beautiful architecture. It was great to be exposed to yet another form of European culture as well. The highlight of the trip was being able to watch the finale game at the Brandenburg Gate watch party, which was such a cool experience that I will never forget. It was my last traveling weekend, but I can’t wait to go abroad on my own time and explore all of the incredible places I learned of and heard about just from being in Europe. 

My prompt for this week is to talk about how my leadership style has been affected during my internship experience. I have a slightly different perspective than my peers because I began my internship right after the Leadership in the Himalayas program, where I became so in touch with myself and my leadership qualities and style. It offered me an indescribable atmosphere where I could easily explore who I am and how that transfers into being an effective leader. Then, I came straight into a completely unknown environment in Prague with new people and an internship that was not what I expected to be doing. Before this summer, I always saw myself as a leader, and my Himalayan experience made me so much more confident in those qualities. Yet I stepped into the unknown here, and my internship has been the hardest to adapt to. I am not doing what my job description was and have very little guidance while I work in fields that are not my forte. It has honestly been frustrating and demotivating since I am not in an area where I feel comfortable showing any of my leadership qualities. This has shown me that working with the unknown challenges my ability to be a good leader, but in a different way than I would have expected. When I was in the Himalayas or when I held any leadership position in the past, I definitely dealt with my fair share of unknowns or question marks. Yet, my internship feels different because I don’t have many resources to answer any of my questions. This makes it hard to feel confident in any decision I make, as I am used to being a collaborative and conversational person when it comes to making decisions. While I am usually a pretty confrontational person, this has really pushed me to go out of my comfort zone and have uncomfortable conversations with my supervisors so I can still get the most out of this experience. I usually have no problem having those conversations with peers or people who look up to me as a leader, but it is much harder to voice concerns with those in higher positions in an already unfamiliar culture. I also know I am a very adaptable person, and I have adapted to Prague and being abroad very well, but it is much harder to do so in a workplace that does not give me the space or confidence to learn and adapt. I wouldn’t say this internship has improved my leadership skills much, besides pushing me to have uncomfortable conversations. I am a little upset that I wasn’t given the environment to fully be myself and put my newfound leadership style to the test in a real-world scenario, especially in a professional setting. I hope to use these skills in my next professional work experience though.