To be honest, I’ve been putting off this blog post. Not because I don’t want to do it, but because I don’t want to think about my time in Germany being over.  This was one of the most unique and amazing experiences of my entire life, and I am so grateful for everyone that made it possible.

I have grown so much during my experience. I developed new friendships with people I would not normally interact with on campus and I learned things about German culture that I would not be able to fully understand just from my classes.

To start off, it is impossible to sum up my experience in just one blog, but I want to just go over the highlights one last time. One of the best parts of the trip was the ability to travel all over the country with simply 1 train. My favorite places I was able to travel to, in order, was Munich, Rostock + Warnemünde, and Potsdam. All of these places have incredible architecture and provide a great day out. Experiencing how Germany operates outside of Berlin was so interesting to me. Interacting with people in these other cities also provides a fun challenge, as there are not usually as many tourists there and you need to rely on a bit more German.

Some of my favorite experiences however were when I was wandering around the city alone. Before this trip, I never really did things on my own, especially in Pittsburgh. I always felt like I would be judged for going out by myself, but what I learned is that people really don’t care. The only thing that was actually holding me back was myself.

I am proud of the personal growth I was able to achieve on this experience as well. I feel like I got to just be with myself some days and that was really enjoyable. I learned that I do not necessarily need to have other people around in order to have a good time.

Academically, it is hard to really note any growth. However, I do think some of the habits I picked up in Berlin will help me with classes. First off, I finally started really using a weekly planner. I know it sounds silly, but I never could keep with a planner in the past. I would always use it for a week and then I would just leave it in my bag. With the need to balance two internships and trip planning, I really found myself using my planner very often. I would even write down which tasks I would do on which day. I hope to continue planning weeks and giving myself time to breathe in the upcoming semesters.

Professionally, I have grown a lot. This was technically my first full time professional internship. I learned how to do many things that I did not really know how to do. I mentioned these specific tasks in some of my previous posts, so I won’t reiterate, but I feel that I have a new knowledge of and a different way of viewing the business world. I was challenged to think about how to make the business better and how we would be able to fit into the correct markets for the future.

I think the main takeaway I took away from this experience is the value of balance. Some days I felt overwhelmed by trying to get work done for two internships while also taking some time to relax and actually experience the country I was in. I was lucky to have a supervisor as great as Severin. From day one, he told me that if I needed to take a day to go experience the country, I could. I took advantage of this multiple times in order to go to the watch parties for the European Championship.  I think that in order to do your best work, you need to have a healthy work-life balance, so that is mainly what I am taking away from the experience.

I feel that I can implement a good balance mainly with classes and definitely in my future career. Sometimes I let classes run my life with the work I am given and I let it stress me out. I plan on spacing out work, rather than trying to get it all done at once.

I am so grateful for this experience, as it has been a dream to go to Germany. I learned so much about the world and about myself. Thank you to all who made this possible.