I started this week with a lot of excitement and hope. Monday was a great experience. I met my three other interns two are graduate students both around the age of the 30 and the other is an American student completing a similar program at his university. We were given time to introduce ourselves and get to know each other while our boss frantically scrambled from meeting-to-meeting attempting to find time for us. Eventually after about an hour our boss sent over the first semblance of a project plan for each of us.

This was my second time receiving one in less than a week. My focus was changing to another part of the company. Eagerly we got on with this work and we began creating our own action plans amending the plans based on our experience, etc. This did not take too long and eventually we were just waiting for our boss to return to go over the few bullet points he sent each of us. After another hour and a half my boss finally returned to the office we were in just to explain that my project was changing again. It would be a combination of the three previous things we had discussed. While not a terrible start the vague description and the constant changes meant even with 4 days in the office I was starting from scratch again. I also found out that I would be working remote part of the time because they over hired interns and lacked the necessary office space for us to all be in at once. 

The rest of the week flew by fairly quickly. I was remote Tuesday. The workday was fairly short when I realized fairly quickly I would not be able to complete the tasks assigned until I was in the office since it required me to work directly with people in the office, at least initially. Fortunately I headed into the office later in the week and was able to actually start working on my project although progress was definitely slow.

Friday evening I met up with my fellow American intern. Saturday morning I caught an early train with two of my group member two Vienna. The trip almost ended in disaster before it even started. Our 6am direct train to Vienna was canceled. Luckily, we were able to catch a 7 am train to Nuremburg then a connecting train to Vienna. To add to the difficulty since our first train was canceled, we did not have seat reservations for the second one. Due to the coming Monday being a holiday the train was packed with people. After spending the first forty – five minutes standing I was able to find a seat. The rest of my group wasn’t so lucky. They had tried to find space in the dining car and spent multiple hours sitting on the floor before some seats opened up by me for them to sit.

Exiting the station, I was immediately extremely impressed by Vienna’s train station. Although its modern and new. The size and the selection of places did not compare to anything I had seen so far during my travels. Since Monday was a holiday in both Germany and Austria the city was mostly empty. The weather also happened to be pretty terrible. It rained off and on for most of the weekend. This combined with many places being closed either just on Monday for the holiday or also on Saturday made the city seem very quiet and. However, I had a great time visiting and exploring the city.

Vienna was beautiful. The Hapsburg architecture was very well maintained, and the city did not suffer a lot of damage in WW2 like Berlin. Most of the buildings were at least 200 years old. I enjoyed my there and would recommend visiting the city to anyone who has the opportunity too. The return train Monday was definitely an experience. The ride took about eight hours and by the end I was exhausted.

The next week is Tuesday – Friday. Only four days but it will be tough at my internship. With four interns and a lack of space and time from our boss I am not entirely sure what I will be doing. I need to go in to the office consistently for my project however, the commute is very long and there is not enough desks and chairs for everyone to be there consistently. Asking questions and constant communication is key for me to be successful.