Moin!
Week 3 in Berlin is complete, and it has been wonderful. This week, I feel like my work has picked up a little bit. I have been cleared to work with more data related to the Human Resources department, so I am able to help with more tasks that involve sensitive information.
My main task so far has been researching the new EU directive regarding equal pay and equal work. This law is interesting because it requires you to break down individual jobs and categorize them based on specific criteria to help evaluate positions without bias. It has been interesting to read through because you can clearly see how companies across the EU are going to have to adjust.
Additionally, I have been working on helping explain a payslip to employees. Since I come from a finance background, they thought it would be useful for me to help explain what all the different numbers and deductions mean. This task was given to me with some pretty unclear directions. I was basically told to do some research and given a redacted payslip. At first, I probably went a little too deep into the tax side of things. Maybe a lot too deep. But in the process, I found some interesting information about taxes and pensions in Germany, so it was not time wasted. The problem was that once I found all this information, I was not exactly sure what I was supposed to do with it. So, I decided to start putting together a presentation to better explain my findings to my managers. That is one of the projects I am currently working on.
I also have another project in Google Sheets to help sort and organize some data. I cannot get into too much detail, but they gave me very little information on what the final product should look like. I have been working on it for about a day now and hope to get some feedback by Tuesday. My biggest concern with the project is that it relies on a lot of Google Sheets functions that I have never used before. There has been a lot of trial and error. However, I am grateful for the opportunity to learn. Finance and accounting are always going to involve Excel or spreadsheets in some form, so these skills transfer.
For my 4–10, I have a pretty funny story. Although it makes me look a little silly. I was out exploring Berlin and grabbed a falafel. Then I thought to myself that I should go eat this in a park. I was planning to go to the park I normally visit, but I accidentally got on the wrong bus. At that point, I figured I would just find another park nearby. So, I sat down, started eating, and noticed this huge barrier like structure covered in graffiti. It was cool. There was artwork everywhere and a lot of powerful messages spread across it. I was wondering where I could be in Berlin. Then it clicked. I was sitting at the East Side Gallery. For those who do not know, it is the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall. So yes, I accidentally found one of Berlin’s most famous landmarks. I felt a little silly for not realizing it sooner, but honestly, it has become one of my favorite places I have visited so far.
Additionally, I visited the DDR Museum this week. Compared to the museums I visited last week, it was easily my favorite so far. It was very interactive and had a lot of exhibits you could walk through and experience. There were videos, recreations of apartments, displays showing different forms of currency, food products, and information about daily life in East Germany. It also covered the influence of Karl Marx and Lenin and how East and West Germany developed differently over time.
On Thursday, I must admit, I had a lazy day. One thing I have learned while abroad is that you have to give yourself a day to reset every once in a while. Clean your apartment. Put some music on. Watch a few YouTube videos. Just relax. I want to explore as much as possible while I am here, but I also do not want to burn myself out.
This weekend was also a lot of fun. A couple of friends and I decided to take a day trip to Hamburg. It was cool to see how different German cities can be from one another. Hamburg felt more familiar to me in some ways based on how it looked and felt. Being located on the water, we were able to take a ferry around the city, which was a great way to see everything.
My favorite place we visited was a church that we stumbled upon. It had been bombed during the Second World War, and instead of rebuilding it, they left it as it was. Only parts of the structure are still standing. Seeing that level of destruction in person feels very different from reading about it in a textbook. It makes history feel much more real.
Even though Berlin and Hamburg are both major cities, they felt completely different. Berlin feels busy, international, and constantly moving. Hamburg felt slower paced. More like the image of Germany that I had in my head before arriving.
This week, I am going to continue working on my projects while hopefully exploring more museums and cultural sites. I also want to start visiting more neighborhoods around Berlin because every neighborhood seems to have its own personality. It is honestly one of my favorite things about the city.
Hopefully, in my next blog, I will have even more places to tell you about. I need to start making a list or something because I am beginning to lose track of where I want to go
Auf Wiedersehen!