As my international internship at Fundación ACOBE in Madrid comes to a close, I find myself looking back on the many ways this experience has impacted me. Living and working in another country has been both challenging and rewarding, and it has taught me lessons that go far beyond what I could have learned in…

Spending my summer working in Madrid has challenged many of my assumptions about what it means to be a successful professional. In the United States, success in the workplace is often measured by productivity, efficiency, and the ability to meet goals quickly and independently. There is a strong emphasis on metrics, constant output, and ambition….

When I first started my internship at Fundación ACOBE, I did not expect that one of the biggest learning curves would involve communication. I knew that I would be speaking Spanish most of the time, which was already a big adjustment. But what I did not anticipate was how different communication itself would feel in…

The more time I spend at Fundación ACOBE, the more I realize just how much of my work depends on soft skills rather than technical ones. My day-to-day doesn’t involve complicated software or spreadsheets, but it does involve a lot of communication, patience, and adaptability—especially in a second language. At first, I didn’t think answering…

It’s officially been a month since I started working at Fundación ACOBE, and I feel like I’ve finally adjusted to the rhythm of Madrid—not just in terms of life outside the office, but in the workplace, too. At first, it was easier to separate the slow pace of Spanish daily life from my American sense…