Luckily enough, Monday was the Czech holiday Jan Hus Day so I had a nice long weekend for the Fourth of July. While I didn’t have a hot dog and didn’t get to see any fire works, it was still a fun weekend in Prague. Not traveling this weekend allowed me to explore more of the city, so I tried out new restaurants, visited the Prague National Museum, and walked through new parks. I did find that our Fourth of July celebrations when we were out was met with a lot of boos, but it was all in good fun.
As my time at my internship goes on, I’ve found myself becoming more comfortable and my coworkers having more trust in me and giving me more responsibility. I am getting a hang of EARCH’s style of writing, allowing me to write out articles faster. I’ve gotten used to the language barrier, using Google Translate to run all my emails through first before sending. Last week, I had fun researching cafes for an article about Prague’s new coffee spots. This week, I’m focused on researching an architectural parallel I found between Pittsburgh and the Czech Republic.
Honestly, the biggest soft skill I’ve picked up working in a Czech office is reading the room in this different office culture. Czechs operate a little differently than people are back home: less small talk and less direct feedback. I’m used to my editor at school tearing apart the article I wrote, which I have come to appreciate since it’s how my writing has gotten better. Here, my editor seems more timid with giving me negative feedback. I had to ask lots of questions about my drafts to learn what’s actually wrong with them. I’ve also gotten a lot more patient, I can’t just assume one conversation cleared everything up, I usually have to circle back and double check. And bouncing between translation, writing, and editing all in the same work day has honestly made me way better at switching gears fast without getting flustered.
Being the intern and doing a bit of everything in the office has strengthen my technical skills. Most importantly, my writing is being tested in a new way. Writing for a magazine in a foreign country on a topic I knew little about coming in was definitely interesting, and hard. I had to learn how to pick up a new style of formatting and writing, as well as doing a ton of background research on my topic to understand more of the technical and architectural wording. I’ve enjoyed researching potential partners for EARCH, which has given me new skills that I’ve never had to use before. I’m also strengthening my editing skills when I read through their English content, trying to catch little grammar and structural mistakes that non-native English speakers miss.
Most of my “cross-cultural navigation” has honestly just been in the office, day to day. I’ve learned that a short or blunt response isn’t someone being rude, it’s just how people communicate here, and it took me a minute to stop bracing for it. I’ve also gotten way more comfortable just asking when I’m confused instead of quietly guessing, which felt awkward at first but people here seem to actually prefer over me nodding along and getting it wrong later. It’s made me pay a lot more attention to unspoken norms instead of assuming my instincts from home automatically apply.
All-in-all, I’m starting to see just how great of an opportunity this internship is. While I was unsure at first, since I was afraid my lack of Czech and architecture knowledge would prevent me from doing a good job, I’ve learned it was actually the best thing that could happen. Throwing myself in this uncomfortable work setting has allowed me to get the hang of being extremely adaptable. I’ve had fun writing for EARCH and getting to know my coworkers, and now I have new fun facts about European architecture and design. It’s crazy to think that I only have a little over two weeks left here!
