Kenadie’s Internship Experience

            As was expected, my internship “abroad” has brought many new insights to my future, as well as newly developed perspectives. Some of the NACE framework has been altered since my experience began and some has remained untouched. However, overall, there has been improvement in multiple areas of the framework.

            The area with the greatest improvement has been critical thinking/problem solving. Specifically, during the beginning of my transition back home, I had to adjust my internship schedule, schoolwork, living at home for the first 2 weeks, sudden changes in departure, and many other things. By dealing with those issues and solving problems in a short amount of time, I improved my ability to think quick on my feet and get things taken care of as quickly and efficiently as possible.

            Work ethic has never been a problem for me. I hold myself accountable and do what I need to do to prepare for class and finish my work. However, now that I have no physical body (outside of my parents) to keep me in line, I have put my work ethic to the test. Lucky for me, I have continued to follow through on much of my work and assignments. Even in group projects where I seem to be the only one doing the work, I do not let that become an opportunity to slack off and give up on the work.

            As it should go without saying, I have learned many new things about world and have improved my global and intercultural fluency. I have still been in close contact with people from Prague and other students that has helped continue my experience as much as possible. However, even from my short time abroad, I got to observe a different country’s response to a global crisis, which is a unique experience. What makes the experience even richer is that I can directly compare it to my current experiences here in Texas. Even if my time abroad was cut short, I still got to experience the Czech Republic, Austria, and Hungary and their different cultures. As Mario Norman, Pearl Chang, and Leon Prieto with Clayton University discuss, this opportunity has also stimulated better critical thinking skills as student with experience abroad.

            As I begin the second half of my time in undergrad, I will continue to grow my technological skills. In Texas, we can skip the computer technologies class to take on more AP/IB classes and looking back I wish that I had not skipped it. While I understand basic competencies in Microsoft Word and Excel, I would spend a lot less time figuring out how to manage documents and create formulas. I plan to take classes either at the community college or with Baylor during the summer to develop more of those skills.

            For my career, I look forward to continuing to develop teamwork skills. I am interested in working in a private legal firm, but there will come times where I will need assistance with verbiage in a contract or advice for working with different clients. When I take on certain roles in a team, I need to continue developing my relationship skills so that, as Lynda Gratton and Tamara J. Erickson with Harvard Business review point out, I can adjust in projects and help teams maintain effectiveness. As my mom has told me, ever since I was saying my first words, “I do it myself” has been a part of my vocabulary. I have struggle with changing my need and desire to do things alone, but as I approach my career, I want to continue letting go of responsibility and accepting help as both a student and friend.

While it took some time to get back into my internship, I have been able to salvage almost all of my opportunities remotely. Since nearly everyone is still staying at home, my conferences that I normally attend are now either Zoom calls or Facebook livestreams, both of which I can participate in from the US. Even better, the livestreams are recorded and posted so I can watch them after at a reasonable time.

This entire experience has definitely been a test of adaptability. There are lots of different ways a person can approach this situation, but there are really only 2 responses that will serve as a long-standing impact. Either one can do everything they can to make success for themselves, or let this virus take control of the situation and keep one from succeeding. It should go without saying that the latter will pose a problem in the future, but there are enough people who are opting for that choice that pushing for the former is something to be praised. Dr. Steve Nguyen in “Eight Common Problems Teams Encounter” would agree that a lack of communication and motive would creative a disrupt in accomplishing tasks. I could easily have not reached out to my supervisor to confirm that my internship was canceled since he told me in Prague that I would not be able to continue if I had to return to the US.

A simple email changed the fate of my semester. Things seem out of my control sometimes, but that does not mean I am going to entirely relinquish control to COVID-19. I am too stubborn for that. In looking for a summer position during this time, I reached out to my former employers to see if they had a spot for me. According to Jess Chen with ResumeGenius in “Job Search and Skill Strategies,” asking for help gets you farther than you might think. It is easy to say that life as we know has entirely changed and likely will forever feel the impact that the virus has had on our interpersonal relationships. However, if we take this hiatus from the world as something the hold disdain for, then we will not be able to make the changes in our lives that we may have been waiting for a break from life to make.

My physical Prague story and experience is very short, but I am lucky to continue a sort of Prague story from the United States. I am still able to work remotely and I am able to tune in to all but one of my classes. I feel like I am seeing and experiencing Prague through a screen. I am not going to pretend like I am not thoroughly disappointed by that. Yet I refuse to consider my experience ruined, even if that is how it appears to be. My experience was changed: that is an understatement. The word change is not enough to describe it, but a negative word like ruin does not capture the experience in its entirety. I would best say that the experience has been influenced. It may not be what I expected, but that does not mean that I have not found positivity and enjoyment in the experiences I have had. This again is brought back to the theme of this experience: adaptability. If I refuse to see the good in this experience, I will not truly learn everything I can during this experience.

The two seminar speakers have helped me remember that there are things to think about beyond the virus. There are things that need to be contemplated before things go back to normal: or at least begin the new normal. I have been able to review my LinkedIn, adjust my resume, and begin the narrowing down process of my interests for the future. This has definitely been influenced by my internship. I enjoy journalism, but more as a hobby. There is not much passion for what I am doing, except for when I see the end product. Journalism is not my end interest – I have shut that door. But a shut door is just as important, if not more important, than hundreds of open ones.

            Communication for the setting of my new internship is wonderful. I emailed my supervisor to get a formal recognition of my cancelled internship, but he was able to find a way to reinstate it. As discussed by “Digital workplace and culture: How digital technologies are changing the workforce and how enterprises can adapt and evolve,” moving to online work is more accessible now than ever. We emailed for a bit and he sent me a 12-page paper to edit for English. On Monday, we finally had our first call since my return to the US to discuss options for work and the tasks for the week. I was able to attend a webinar about the COVID-19 infodemic and the war on truth during this crisis. He has also asked me to write a sort of personal statement on the current state of the US, the differences of public response to the crisis, and how different companies are stepping up to help.

            My relationship with my supervisor and coworkers was steadily strengthening ever day I was in the office. If I had just a few more weeks, I would feel comfortable considering some of them friends. They all wished me a happy birthday on Sunday and told my supervisor to get a good report on how I was doing for the phone call. Even though we cannot meet face-to-face anytime soon, I still consider my relationship with my supervisor as relatively close. Despite the reputation of most Czechs, Petr is very chatty and we both had a reputation of getting into conversation for a substantial period. He loves to talk, and he made it clear that he is looking forward to our next call. Originally, our call was just over voice – he did not want to intrude on my personal space. However, I assured him that a video call may create a better connection for our extroverted personalities, so we decided to switch to video for our weekly Monday meetings from now on.

            I have tried not to approach this situation with any expectations. There is too much ambiguity in the current state of the world to make any assumptions about what I should be doing and what I expect to work on. According to “Nine Steps to Effective Business Problem Solving,” we had to roll with the punches and work with things that were out of our control. However, after discussing with the other interns last week, I realized that I am actually quite lucky to be in the position I am in with my internship. Petr is very responsive and has given me a lot of work to do – which does not seem to be the case for most of the class. Since the whole world (except maybe a few countries for political reasons) seems to be in the same position, the opportunity for differences in work techniques is not as present.

            Life here has become to feel normal. I have left the house twice – once for Chick-fil-a and once for a doctor’s appointment (they were not seeing COVID-19 patients). I went to HEB on the way home from the doctor and it was not near as hectic as I expected. Yet, there is one extremely valuable product at the moment: toilet paper. This country does not seem to understand that we will continue to have grocery stores open through this process and people are hoarding the stuff. For those of us who keep a regular amount; to run low is to nearly descend into chaos.

            I usually work as a legal intern/assistant in Houston and have offered to do remote work for the firm just to get some income going, but they have not responded. I have a feeling that things are slow for the moment, but in the event that times are too tough to hire an assistant, I am considering working at Target or Kroger just to make some money.

            As the weeks of my internship progressed, the work I did moved beyond the confines of research. I was given the opportunity to attend multiple events surrounding relevant topics as dictated by my supervisor. For a while, I was concerned my internship would only focus on research and writing. While it was a task that I was willing to do for the sake of learning to work in a  new environment, I was looking for something to spice up my work. Luckily, my supervisor and I sat down to find a few different events for me to attend: a debate on the integration of Balkan states into the EU, a lecture on Eastern Europe as a sanctuary during the 20^th century, and a day-long conference on the relationships between the EU, Visegrad 4 (the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland), and Japan. It was a nice change up to get to go into the field, take notes, and do a write up at home to discuss in the office either the next day or next week.

            The internship followed my expectations that I had set after my first week in. I began to make friends with everyone in the office. I enjoyed the work experience but going to lunch was an opportunity to create bonds and learn about my new coworkers. We compared each of our respective cultures in such a way that we were able to learn from each other rather than decide which is better. As discussed in How to Handle Cultural Differences in the Workplace, we all seemed to do very well with identifying our cultural baggage. My coworkers were kind enough to extend a vulnerability about the Czech culture, and I did the same with both my American heritage and Texan heritage. One woman, Kristina, took me around and showed me the outside of the Parliament building, as well as the peacock that made its home in the gardens. It’s the little moments like these that made my internship so much more enriching.

            I have encountered a few challenges along the way. I have been an athlete since I was very young, and one of the biggest lessons I have learned is that “if you aren’t early, you’re late.” I realized that I was unknowingly inconveniencing my supervisor by showing up to my internship ten minutes early. It was a hard habit to break in the morning: I always like to leave the apartment with 10-15 minutes of wiggle room just in case of an accident or problem. However, every time I showed up early, Petr made a comment that I at first brushed aside, but then realized was an effort to imply that I should be more punctual rather than early. I adjusted my perception of time and did my best to ignore the urge to leave early. I was able to arrive either right on time or only a minute early. The lesser issue was simply getting into the building. I had to go through metal detector and my supervisor had to personally check me in, and if he was late, I had to wait for him to show. We eventually improved my schedule to accommodate with his so there was less delay.

            Despite these two challenges, there is one large elephant in the room: my internship has come to an unexpected end due to the spread of COVID-19. While both my employer and I would like me to be able to continue my internship in the United States, he informed me that, unfortunately, my internship must end. This was one of the biggest heartbreaks of leaving the country – I had so many plans for my internship that will go unfulfilled. However, this falls right in line with what is discussed by the World Economic Forum – things do not always go according to plan, and sometimes that is actually a bad thing for a certain period of time. This may feel like a huge setback now, but I will bounce back and find more ways to improve myself for both the personal and professional world.

             My internship is much more laid back than I expected it would be. I showed up to work in my usual work outfit – full makeup, hair straightened, slacks, boots, and a sweater. I did not expect that would be nearly over dressed for a position in the EU Communications Affairs department of the Government of the Czech Republic. The people I work with are some of the friendliest Czechs I have encountered since being here – my own supervisor is well-known for his extremely talkative nature, which fits right in with my own tendency to talk endlessly.

             I expected my work to be what it is – lots of research and drafting articles to review with my supervisor before publishing to the English section of the CR Government’s own news site. I have been researching while I am in office and writing my preliminary draft for review. This is what 65% of my day is filled with, but the other 35% contain conversations about politics, life, and cultural differences between myself, my colleagues, the US and the CR. While it may not look like explicit work to an outside viewer, these kinds of conversations have helped me reevaluate my perspectives on my country as well as the one I currently reside. Each worker openly discusses their view of the current government and state of affairs, whether positive or negative. It is hard to compare this to the US – I have never worked inside of a government building, so there is no way for me to know if workers who are employed by a government entity not dictated by political parties would openly praise or criticize or current sitting president.

             The amount of physical work I do each day is drastically less than the US. Even though it may seem like it is due to my condition as an intern, most of the office takes their time in enjoying conversations, breaks, and leisure throughout the day. I am not sure if it comes down to tax wedges or desire for leisure, as Douglas Clement discusses in his article about to hourly work average comparisons of Americans and Europeans, but it is obvious that my current coworkers are much more likely to get caught in a long distraction than my previous bosses at home. I have not decided if I like the difference yet – some of what Clement talks about rings very true in my home life, so I must readjust to the atheist-leaning persona of the Czech Republic.

             The language difference is difficult sometimes with my coworkers that do not speak English, but I have been able to speak German with a few of them. Like many Americans, I am fast-talking. That adjustment has been hard but has really paid off in connecting with other workers. We have talked about stark differences in American culture, specifically openness to change and language barriers. The US’ isolation makes the necessity for different languages less prevalent, but the lack of language variance is extremely obvious across the globe. What makes it more frustrating for other nations is that not much has been done in US culture to counteract this difference until the South Korean movie Parasite became so successful. We compare and contrast both of our countries in both positive and negative ways and it enriches my internship experience to receive and outside perspective on my regular workplace.

             I completed my work that was asked in a timely manner while still developing relationships within the department. My first week was enriching in both work and personal experiences and I expect to continue exploring each of these aspects of my internship.