Doing both an internship and classes has been a super rewarding, but definitely tiring position. I am working for a fashion company in London, called The Fashion Library, as a marketing intern. On top of that, I’m taking Marketing, Organizational Behavior, the Internship course, and a Human Rights class. The work environment is different compared to my past internships in America, but all of my skill sets have been applied the same. I think the most important skills to be successful in the fashion industry is communication skills, being able to pivot from one task to another and multi-tasking, and being open to trying new processes. Doing things on my own, but also coming together with my boss at the end of the day and working together is a big part of my role. As for the classroom, I believe adaptation skills are very important because at Pitt most of us are used to 50 minute classes, maybe an hour fifteen, but at CAPA classes are three hours and fifteen minutes, which is very intimidating at first especially because all of your information is in one days worth of class. As time has gone on, I have been able to get more comfortable with it now and have learned how to be more efficent with my work. One of my main Clifton strengths was Woo, which has a big emphasis on communication. Moving to a new country with a new culture comes with challenges that you can’t really prepare for, but having good communication skills and a willingness to learn and try new things helps a lot. Working in the fashion industry, I have learned a lot of new dynamics within a new industry. It may be stereotypical, but I have realized stylists are very very busy and schedules are very hectic, so I found that some of our clients have scheduled appointments, then not shown, which I feel does not happen often in America because America is super strictly business focused when it comes to working hours. This requires me to be adaptable and ready to pivot at any moment. On the academic side, my classes focus a lot on collaboration and critical thinking, which aligns with the more open-ended and creative approach I’m seeing in my internship. Both environments emphasize flexibility, multitasking, and strong communication, which has been key to my success so far. All of my classes are project based, with no exams, which is different from America. I’m used to usually having one or two classes that have exams. My internship and academic experience has been amazing so far, and I cannot wait for what the rest of this semester has in store for me!

SchwegmanE01

SchwegmanE02