My past week in Madrid has finally made me feel good about a routine and navigating life abroad. Going to work every day has been a big part of that structure. The more I am working, naturally, I am given more things to do which in turn, has made my work experience more fulfilling. My days are going by quicker, and I have become accustomed to things I already know I will miss when my time here is done (Sunsets at 10pm, Tinto de verano on a restaurant patio, and my new favorite clothing store, Stradivarius). Now being fully settled, I have become used to some of the culture here, but as it is still the first half of my time here, I am not completely out of my American ways yet. 

Culture fatigue is an experience when someone becomes overwhelmed when immersed in a foreign culture. I think that although it is a tricky part of being abroad, overcoming those feelings will lead to an incredibly strong connection I will develop to Spain. Coming to Madrid was a big jump for me! I am not used to having to do things by myself, I have a close relationship with my family, and my twin sister especially. I knew going to Madrid would be a challenge for me. I like going to bed early, personal space, and air conditioning. With all this in mind, my first two weeks here were a breeze. This past week, however, I noticed myself getting overwhelmed at lunch with my coworkers, not understanding a word, and zoning out at times. 

I know this is a bad habit! Which is why recognizing it is important. It is, however, a realistic part of going abroad in a country where the language and culture is different to what I know. This is the part of my experience where I need to reflect and push through the overwhelming feelings of not understanding the people and the culture around me. Every day since my culture fatigue realization, I make an active effort to push through the uncomfortable feelings, taking more risks, and being patient with myself and what is happening around me. I came here to understand the Spanish language and culture. It is not a simple process! A lot of new things are happening at once. Being patient with myself while navigating a new language, culture, and job, is key. 

Working at my first internship has also come with challenges (with all of this talk of challenges I would like to mention: I love Madrid I promise). A big challenge I face on a daily basis, working in an office, is what to do with my time. My direct supervisor is an important woman with a lot of meetings. Sometimes, she is not there to guide my every single move. This has been a difficult reality for me to face. However, one of my goals before starting this internship was I wanted to improve my critical thinking skills, and working with little to no direction is an excellent way to speed up that process. My biggest project right now is researching a bunch of the same stuff. This I have done, for hours on end, nearly every day. There have been times where I felt there was nothing more for me to research, or I was stuck on what to do next. For example, my boss had a four hour meeting one morning. I had been researching stores all day all around Europe when I truly felt I had seen them all. However, I didn’t know when she would be back and I had a lot of time on my hands. What I did, in an effort to find more stores, was start to change my key words for what I was searching for. I started to look for more specific items, a specific type of store, and when I did this is when I started to pull more names of stores, growing my list and making my Excel sheet of store names look impressive. Although this is a simple change, it made a big difference for my research and the satisfaction of finding all those places by myself was really rewarding.

Little wins like that are the building blocks I need to develop my skills as I navigate the professional world. Thinking outside the box and being able to complete my work effectively without a lot of direction are valuable skills that will help me succeed in my future career. Although the challenges I have experienced thus far have been tough, they are the types of hurdles that only this type of program can introduce. The ability to overcome the difficulties and come out having learned something is what I strive to do each week I am here.