The Concluding Introduction

After eight weeks in Europe, my journey is complete. Ten weeks in total, if you include the few days in France and the two in Dublin when my connecting flight was delayed. I’ve spent the majority of my summer out of my home country, and I feel the experience has aged me more than just two months. I feel more confident. I hesitate less often to talk to the people I see, and when the chance arises to do something new I seize it more eagerly. I’ve emerged from my odyssey a changed man, one ready to work towards my professional career. While you read about it, see some pictures of the my best moments in Spain interspersed throughout.

The Job

My internship is best defined by the work that I did. I wrote many blogs, newsletters, and landing pages. I designed many Instagram posts and stories. I must’ve scrolled through a hundred teacher forums and blogs, academic papers and articles, to find the best tips and crafts to appeal to educators. Whether it was choosing fonts and color schemes or rewriting a list of top five tips to make the classroom home, I learned invaluable skills through my work at Smile and Learn.

The people I met are also integral to my experience, both inside the office and outside. By working alongside my Spanish colleagues I learned how a Madrid workplace functions and how I could fit into it. Namely, how Spanish coworkers balance being friendly and professional, how superiors delegate to subordinates, and how subordinates update and make suggestions to their superiors.

How I’ve Grown

Outside the office I learned how to form personal relationships by meeting and observing the locals. At social venues, on the street, and through my host family, I met students and professionals alike. I benefited by becoming more adept at communicating with different cultures. I acclimatized to interrupting instead of waiting, using formal and informal conjugations, and expressing appropriate cultural body language for befriending versus networking. For example, I referred to my elders in the Spanish third person and learned a gesture that communicate caution.

Those skills are how I write for different prompts or settings and how I make that writing visually appealing. I achieved the first by rewriting using smaller and fewer words when I had less space, such as on social media versus a blog. I achieved the second by choosing artistic and appropriate design templates and adding creative elements to make the content distinct to Smile and Learn. I also improved my ability to research the internet. I learned how to keyword search and skim websites for key information.

Before beginning my internship I elected to focus on improving my professionalism, critical thinking, and leadership. I improved my professionalism by learning to continue working through long hours with breaks, demonstrate my commitment by dressing professionally, and give constructive criticism.

I improved my critical thinking by sitting by overcoming problems I thought impossible. I couldn’t imagine myself creating my own designs for an Instagram post being as unartistic as I am. Likewise, I thought myself completely unqualified to write a single article to represent a company. However, by breaking down the problem and setting deadlines, I made an insurmountable challenge surmountable. By starting with what I knew how to do and getting help with what I didn’t, I learned until I could do the entire task myself.

What’s Next?

Culturally, socially, and professionally, I have grown my understanding of the world. Through making friends and colleagues I’ve learned to foster relationships in different settings. Through working in a corporate office I’ve found confidence in my professional capabilities. Through living in another country alone I’ve become independent and ready to navigate a foreign landscape. I am now well-equipped to travel further in preparation for a career in international business.

As a business major, college student, and human being, each aspect of my growth will serve me well in future experiences. I’ve started laying the foundation for a business expertise I can use in marketing across the world. I’ve brought my second language up to semi fluency while working on a third with plans for a fourth. I will use my multilinguality to live in different countries.

I’ve rediscovered my interest in people by the friends I made interning abroad. I’ve become even more open to experience, having seen many beautiful cities and eating amazing food while knowing there’s hundreds more countries to explore. I’ve even awoken a new hunger for learning after finding I love excelling in my work. These new interests drive me forward to new places and opportunities. Now, I can only look forward, towards my next adventure, language, and people.