Ahoj everyone! This past week was kind of my last full week at work as my supervisor, Dominika, is going on vacation in Greece (super casually and cool) for the next two weeks. It also felt like my last week because EUSA (the Prague internship placement team) hosted a farewell boat cruise and dinner on the Vltava to celebrate our time together. Beyond that, my other sister, Jordan, her boyfriend, Noah, and my parents all came into town to see me, experience Prague and the Czech Republic, and do the fun touristy activities and hidden gem experiences. In the span of 2 days, we were able to get to a lot of the tourist sites and I am very grateful that I was able to enjoy the entirety of the city before the end of the program and that I was able to share it with (most of) my family.

We got to go to the Prague Castle Complex, the Royal Gardens, the Waldstein Gardens, the John Lennon Wall, Little Venice, the Charles Bridge, into Old Town where we got Chimney Cakes, the Old Jewish Quarter, and Old Town Square with the Church of our Lady and Astronomical Clock. We also went to see the art installations of the World War 2 Plane Butterflies and Franz Kafka’s head near Národní třída, visited the Národní Muzeum and Wenceslas Square, went on the longest escalator in Europe at Náměstí Míru, went to the rooftop on Dancing House, and went down to Vyšehrad for dinner on the waterfront. I am beyond grateful for the experience I have had in Prague thus far and was able to show my family how wonderful and underrated the city of Prague is.

I also was able to go on the boat cruise which took me onto the Vltava for the first time this summer where we were able to see the city from a completely different perspective. Furthermore, I booked myself a reservation to finally see Klementinum which is the Czech Republic National Library, a beautiful Astronomical Tower and Baroque Library, and the Mirror Chapel where the Royal Czech Orchestra plays. Then with my family coming to Prague and me essentially giving them a tour of the city, I was able to see so much of the city – some of which I have seen before and wanted to share, and some of which were new and was exciting to see for the first time.

With regard to work at PSA BDP, I have been able to be increasingly independent in relying on others for delegating me tasks and instructions on how to do the processes. This has been nice as I now am feeling more confident about myself at work as well as my role and tasks at work. Unfortunately, the IT outages on Friday did slightly impact the work I was intending to do, which was frustrating but it is important for me to remember that although global logistics of getting mass supplies to the right place at the right time with the right type and right amount is important, it is not a lethal situation and that I must remain calm to handle the issues.

Because my supervisor is leaving for holiday, I set up a feedback session between the two of us prior to her leaving for Greece. This allowed me to hear feedback about the internship experience as a whole and my role as an international intern at PSA BDP. I received valuable feedback that I ask the right questions and am not afraid to ask them and that I have good initiative and take it upon myself to ask my coworkers how I can support them both personally and in their jobs. Furthermore, Dominika mentioned that sometimes I overlook the little details and there is opportunity for me to strengthen my detail-orientation. Throughout this internship experience my attention to detail has been getting better because I often overlooked them at the beginning and it would lead to some mistakes, which I then learned how to fix and ensure they did not happen again. We also spoke a lot about our individual and group communication. It was something that I noted that I appreciated about this experience is that Dominika would often communicate in detail so I could understand each step of the process, which helped me grow and learn quickly. She mentioned that my communication with her and with the team was good as I would often reach out, ask questions, set and respect boundaries, and offer my help.

I will speak to you soon about my official last week of work and the last week of the program. Čao!

Eliana Goodman