Hi everyone! I’ve officially reached the halfway point of my time abroad! Where did the time go?! I feel like I just got here. This week has been packed with fun and exciting things, and I can’t wait to share them with you! Along with that, my internship is going great. After about a month with my company, I’ve acquired new skills that I’m hopeful to use in the workplace back home. I’m going to share those with you, but first here’s a recap of my week!
To start off the week, I’ve still been trying to perfect my 5-9 after my 9-5. Most of what I did this week was food exploration. I went to this one dumpling place called Home of Dumplings in Kreuzberg (one of my favorite neighborhoods) and it was DELICIOUS. They have something called “Dumpling Tuesdays” where you can get 10 dumplings for the price of 5! After that, I ventured deeper into the neighborhood and found a delicious ice cream spot. I ordered a cookies and cream ice cream and walked around a little which was very relaxing. Later that week, I discovered a delicious Italian place called Pizzeria Trattoria Luna. The food was also incredible, and tasted very authentic. It was a great introduction to my incredible weekend ahead.
It was always a goal of mine to travel to Italy while I was abroad. I come from a very loving, Italian family, and I thought it was important to visit and explore my culture even further. My cousin had already planned a trip with her girlfriend to Italy, and she knew I was going to be abroad, so she happily invited me to stay with her for the weekend in Rome! I jumped on the oppurtunity immediately, and I”m so incredible happy I did. We explored the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, beautiful churches, Trastevere, and even attended the Pride parade there! My cousin had lived in Rome previously for a period of time, so she knew all the perfect spots to visit especially when it came to food. We went to this delicious restaurant on night 1 and ate some of the most incredible pasta I’ve ever had. I mean… eating pasta in Italy with family is all I could ask for! It was exactly what I needed after a work week. Here’s some pictures from Rome!:
As far as my internship goes, I’ve been with the company for about a month now, and I feel like I’ve already learned a bunch of transferrable “soft” and “hard” skills that are very valuable post grad. As far as “soft skills”, I feel like my confidence and communication skills have grown a lot since starting. I’m usually very introverted in situations that I am uncomfortable in, so I didn’t know how I was going to react in this environment. As the weeks have gone on, I’ve grown a lot with my confidence. I’ve been able to speak up in meetings, ask for help from my supervisors, and make light conversation with my co-workers. In addition to that, my communication skills at work have got a lot better. I am able to talk with my supervisor and coworkers in a professional manner and ask meaningful question when it comes to projects.
As far as hard skills, I feel like my business development skills, when it comes to market research and social media, have been strengthened as well. My assignments each week consist of of posting on the companies LinkedIn profile and conducting research on competitive companies. I’m tasked with researching the products that the companies sell, and comparing them to our own products. I feel like these tasks have strengthened my ability to research a company and pull out the necessary information in order to better the company. My writing skills have also grown a lot with drafting posts every week and learning more about our own products.
That’s it for this week! Tune in next week to learn more about leadership skills before and during my internship! Tschau/Ciao!