The past 2 months that I have spent living and working in Madrid have been such an amazing and once in a lifetime opportunity. Throughout my time in Madrid, I have grown personally, academically, and professionally. To start, the opportunity I was given to work at SegurCaixa Adeslas has greatly impacted my professional and academic development and goals. My internship at SegurCaixa Adeslas has been my first professional work experience as well as my first internship. My role at Adeslas primarily consisted of social media marketing as well as lead generation for the company. My daily tasks usually revolved around posting premade marketing material, creating original informative videos regarding Adeslas products, and sending emails to potential leads. I think these tasks as well as the experience of working in a professional environment have greatly assisted me in developing my professional goals. I now know that when it comes to my professional goals, I intend to work in a corporate setting and I prefer working in a medium to large office. Aside from my professional goals, this internship has helped me gain more professional knowledge, especially regarding marketing. Although I do not study marketing, I think it is essential to have a basic understanding of it in order to be successful in any professional business setting. While working at Adeslas, my supervisor always mentioned how learning how to market yourself is a crucial skill to have. I also got a very useful insight into how social media marketing campaigns are run and how useful it can truly be. For example, a week-long marketing campaign on Facebook costing 40 euros can result in the generation of multiple new leads. Seeing this process has greatly developed my understanding of marketing and its importance. I also firmly believe that an international internship such as this will help me stand out on my resume. This experience has prepared me to work in an international environment and has deepened my understanding of communication. As a Global Management major and somebody who intends to work in a global/international setting, the skills of cross cultural communication and understanding that I have gained are crucial to professional success. 

When it comes to my academic development, I can confidently say that this internship experience has certainly enhanced my academic goals and progress. I have seen this development most in my Spanish skills. Although I am still not fluent in Spanish and have much to learn, I have definitely noticed a big difference between my skills before and after this program. I am a lot more confident in my speaking and comprehension skills. I am not as afraid to make mistakes now which I believe is a mindset that I can transfer to other areas of my education. This experience has strengthened my goals of becoming fluent in Spanish. Seeing how useful speaking multiple languages is in a professional setting, and how many more opportunities those skills will create for me, has further motivated me to stick with my Spanish minor. 

I have also developed personally throughout this entire program. Similar to my academic goals, one of my personal goals is to become fluent in Spanish. I think this program marks an important milestone in my journey to fluency as I now feel much more confident in my skills. Following the program, I have been continuing to practice my Spanish skills daily. Additionally, I have gotten a taste of what it is like to live and work abroad, something that has always been one of my biggest goals, both professionally and personally. I was able to explore Madrid and Spain like a local. I traveled to Valencia, Segovia, and Malaga. At the end of the program, I truly felt familiar with Madrid.

In terms of my future academic and professional careers, I have taken much away from this program. Like previously stated, this experience has allowed me to have a better idea of what I want to do professionally. I have also discovered what I do not want to do in my professional career. Although I enjoyed making content with my supervisor and coworker, I do not intend to do work related specifically to social media marketing. I have also left this internship and program with a new academic mindset when it comes to developing my Spanish skills. As I stated before, it is okay to make mistakes (and I feel more comfortable making them now) because that is ultimately how I will learn to improve. I think this is also applicable to professional and academic settings. On the surface, this program has helped me fulfill my credit requirements for my major, Global Management. However, I have walked out of this program with much more than just 6 credits. I have now gained crucial insight and knowledge regarding my professional, academic, and personal goals that I truly believe I would not have developed without this program.

Hasta Luego,

Olivia