The International Internship Program gave me the opportunity to spend the summer in Madrid, a beautiful city in the heart of Spain where history, culture, and everyday life come together in a unique way. Thanks to the generosity of my scholarship donor, I was able to immerse myself in a new environment, gain valuable professional…
Tag: IIP Madrid
Post-Madrid Reflections
It’s been just over a week since I returned home from Europe. After I left Madrid, I spent a lovely three days with my friend and her family at their home in Naples, which included a day trip to Rome. Since then, I’ve been back in my childhood home in Clarksburg, Maryland, where I’ve spent…
What Madrid Gave to Me
Hola todos! I have been back in the United States for almost two weeks now, and I think I finally have enough distance from the experience to sit down and write this last post without running out of words halfway through. Coming home after eight weeks abroad is a strange thing. Everything looks the same…
¡Campeones del Mundo!
¡Hola todos! Before I begin my blog post, let me answer the question everyone has been asking: YES, it’s awesome being in Spain while they won the World Cup. Me and my friends got to witness the insanity that was Plaza Colón (pictured below), which apparently had over 800,000 people gathered around huge screens to…
What Winning Really Looks Like
Hola todos! Eight weeks ago, I packed a single suitcase, boarded a red-eye flight with my stomach full of nerves and my head full of expectations, and landed in a city I had only been in for 48 hours as a bright-eyed high school senior. Now, sitting down to write my final blog post of…
Success in Madrid
Working at Jaleo has shown me that there is no universal definition of a successful employee. Every workplace has its own expectations, and those expectations are shaped by the culture around it. During my internship, I have seen that employees earn trust by taking initiative and handling problems without waiting for someone else to step…
Not All Communication is Direct
Hola todos! Seven weeks in, and as I sit down to write what is one of my final blog posts of this program, I find myself reflecting on something that has quietly been one of the most important threads running through this entire experience. Communication. Not just the language barrier, which is its own ongoing…
Adjusting to a Low-Context Communication Culture (also solo traveling survived!)
¡Hola todos! As I’m just two weeks from the end of my internship, I have many reflections on navigating different communication styles both inside and outside of work environments. Many times throughout my experience in Spain, I have felt very grateful for orientations from Pitt and EUSA that explained “low context communication” culture. In the…
Context matters
Throughout my time in Spain, I have noticed several differences between the communication styles in Spain and the United States, and learning to adapt to them has helped me become a better communicator both personally and professionally. One of the biggest communication differences I noticed is that Spain tends to have a more high-context communication…
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