By sdemetry
Hello again!
As Facebook constantly reminds me, GW classes are now in session. The complaints and praises of new professors, a tough workload to come, and the waning excitement of a new year have finally set in, and social media is quick to remind me of it. In contrast, however, things have gotten off to a pretty slow start for me in Berlin. The past three weeks have been full of exploration, language acquisition, and an orientation course for four hours each day. It still hasn't set in that I will be here for an entire year, but I am already so happy that I made that decision. With courses starting in October and ending in December, the semester-long program is really quite short once the initial culture-shock wears off.
Berlin has been awesome. I have discovered new cultural things, already walked and biked more than I do in a full semester at GW, and really started to familiarize myself with my surroundings. I'm starting to feel like it's not such a foreign place- making the transition from tourist to student is one that I am very excited to be through with.
Although I could spend this entire post telling you how much I love Berlin, the purpose of this blog is more to share my experiences with the internship that I will be partaking in. Unfortunately, that hasn't started yet. I visited the office to get myself acquainted with the "Chef" (boss), and other than that, nothing has come into fruition. We decided it would be best for me to start work after my intensive-orientation course has come to an end and I am beginning to speak German more naturally and easily. So now, we wait!
My first day is prospectively October 14th. Initially, I was a bit disappointed by the month-long delay, but being here for the full year means that my internship will last longer than a semester regardless of whether I start today or in October.
At our meeting, nothing concrete was discussed. I was told that I would work on two main research projects and accompany the team to various events, sometimes helping out with event-planning as well. They are not used to having an intern in the office, so I will be blazing a new path for future interns. I find that both exciting and intimidating- I'm not sure what to expect, but I don't think that they are either.
Obviously, I can't yet say if my research with the Nature Conservancy will make a true difference. As of now, I haven't made any contributions to the team. However, they seem to be putting a lot of responsibility in my hands, and if I'm given the opportunity to customize the research, I will certainly run with it.
I am anticipating a few difficulties concerning the language barrier, but I am not going to let them get in the way of my research. We decided that it would be best to speak solely in German, however when a complicated task comes up, anything out of the ordinary will be specified in English as well. Other than that, I'm expecting it to be a great experience. The office is very small and intimate, and the staff was quite excited to see a fresh face.
I am sorry that there's not yet more to say about my internship experience. But, maybe this is important to see as well. When you try to get an internship abroad, you have to account for all of this orientation, and possibly being too busy to start as soon as you'd like to. It's an unfortunate reality, but once it all comes together, I'm expecting some great things.
Next time, I will surely have a lot to say. For now, I have only these few opinions and speculations to share. As before, please contact me if you have any questions... I would love to spend hours talking about every facet of Berlin- not just my imminent research.
Until next time,
SD