For this blog post, I thought I would write about experience interning abroad. During my second semester abroad, I decided to do an international internship while I was studying abroad in Prague in the Czech Republic. For my internship, I was at small company called EMAA International. The company’s main function was to connect buyers and suppliers in different industries. Some of the industries they worked in included the food and beverage industry, the health supplements industry, marketing and financial services, and the military and defense sector. While I interned there, I mainly worked as a market analyst and researcher for the military and defense sector. I would write reports on different countries and companies that could be a good fit for EMAA to expand their business to. The internship offered great hands-on experience, as I worked directly with a project manager to write my reports and prepare presentations.
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| View of the Prague Castle and Charles Bridge from across the river. |
Working abroad had its challenges, too. For example, being in the Czech Republic, not everyone spoke English. Though the people I worked with directly did speak English, I wanted to try to connect with my other coworkers who did not speak English. One way I did this included learning some Czech so that way I could at least say "hello" and "goodbye" to them every day. While studying abroad in Prague, I took a Czech class and was able to learn some of the basics of the language. As I learned new things in class, I would try to use them in conversation with my coworkers. This was great because it really helped my coworkers open up to me, especially since Czech people are known for being more reserved.
I really enjoyed my internship and I know I will be able to use some the skills I learned from it in my future career. After graduating, I want to move and work abroad, so learning how to work in an unfamiliar and foreign work environment was a great experience and is one I highly recommend to anyone looking to study abroad and/or pursue an internship abroad.