En serio...

I came to Barcelona not really knowing what to expect. I chose not to study abroad during the semester, so this internship opportunity appeared to me as a supplementary experience. I wanted the chance to step outside my comfort zone, doing something totally different from any of my friends, gaining work experience while improving my Spanish. I have always been a driven a conscientious individual, and recognizing the importance and value of obtaining global work experience provided the motivation for me to pursue an international internship. In order to address how I have changed this summer, I will need to delve into a few key topics:

Work - my work experience was probably the most surprising element of this program for me. I am confident that I am not alone in saying that many of us Intrax interns were shocked by the attitudes and customs in our respective offices. You always hear stories of the little differences between work in America and overseas, but hearing the stories is nothing like actually gaining the experience firsthand. While my office took some adjusting to, overall the experience definitely benefitted me, by teaching me how to adapt in a productive way. From the little changes such as using a Spanish keyboard and the retail and fashion vocabulary, to the more grand-scheme differences such as becoming accustomed to asking for work rather than being delegated assignments, I feel that my time as an intern here has left me better prepared to succeed in whatever work environment I find myself placed in the future.

Spanish - something I never considered prior to travelling here was how English, as such a widespread and commonly-spoken language, may inhibit my ability to become a fluent Spanish speaker. Because many of my co-workers, and all of my roomates, speak English, at times it was tempting to fall back on it, as naturally I have more of a challenge communicating in Spanish. I really had to try to improve my Spanish, contrary to my expectations. I thought that by living in Spain I would obviously, without any effort required, become fluent in Spanish. Looking back, my former mentality is similar to those students who believe that by sleeping with their textbooks under their pillows, they will learn the material in time for the final exam. Just as the textbook's contents cannot actually enter the students' brains without some kind of studying involved, I was not going to improve my Spanish just because I was in Spain, without actually putting forth the effort to get better. Once I recognized this, and took some small steps, I noticed a vast difference in my ability to comprehend. I joined a yoga studio here, adn while I have been practicing for years and already know most of the poses, listening to the instructors describe each one defintiely helped me to improve my Spanish comprehension as well as my overall health and fitness. I also bought a book in Spanish (my first that was not on a required reading list for school), and have only read magazines and newspapers that are in Spanish since I have been here. Our TV has about four channels, all of which are in Spanish, and pretty much all of the instructions on the labels of the food and products I buy are in Spanish as well. These minor occurrences, although they do not seem like a big deal at all, have helped me immensely in my ability to get by in daily life in another language. Often times when I leave yoga class, I find myself even thinking in Spanish, automatically.

Life - through the challenges I encountered while living overseas I have gained a deeper appreciation for cultural differences. I admire and truly respect any person who has the courage to move to a foreign country. I recognize that, with my years of Spanish lessons and my support system here with the Intrax group, I had it easy. I was only in Barcelona for a couple of months, and I always had somebody to turn to if I had a question, whether it was which line on the metro to take, or how to convert kilocalories to the calories I normally measure my food with. Even on early mornings, when my coffee had yet to kick in and I could barely function in English, let alone listen to incredibly fast, native Spanish, I would turn to Kindall, the intern who sat next to me and, growing up in Ecuador, was always able to tell me what on earth my manager had just asked me to do. Despite having so many people to turn to for help or just talk to if I wanted reassurance that somebody else was going through the same thing I was, I still had my frustrating days. There were the times I misconstrued a comopliment, or missed out on the punchline of a joke. The times I used the wrong bathroom (probably the most embarrassing thing I've done at work), or ordered the wrong thing at a restaurant. While each of these incidents could have built on top of one another, making my time here incredibly frustrating, instead they made me better appreciate a quality that I have often times lacked: patience. I now have a greater tolerance for the struggles that can occur when people of different cultural backgrounds interact and communicate, with or without a language barrier. This awareness is definitely something I will value in all aspects of my life.