Absolute Scholarship – Malika Braz – A Day at My Madrid Internship

17 Sep Absolute Scholarship – Malika Braz – A Day at My Madrid Internship

On the first day of my internship I was extremely open, yet extremely nervous. I wanted to make a good first impression. My commute from the residence took around 45 minutes. I took the metro, which I found much easier to understand than taking the bus. When I arrived at the building I would be working in, I noticed that there were many other small businesses within the same facility. I made my way to the office where my internship would take place and when I walked in it was smaller than I imagined it would be. Everyone worked in the same open-plan room. There were many other interns too. My supervisor was not yet in the office, so a woman greeted me in Spanish. I am not the greatest at understanding Spanish unless the individual speaks slowly, so I was perplexed. Luckily, I happened to be at the internship with another participant of the Absolute Internship, and she spoke great Spanish. Lauren helped me so much with finding my way around the office and making me feel comfortable. She had been there a week or two already so she was very helpful.

Soon enough my supervisor Jorge arrived at the office. We introduced ourselves to each other, and over the coming hours I discovered that he was a remarkable individual. My nerves began to subside, and I was put right to work. My first assignment was to explore products that we were distributing for other companies. I had to research things that these companies posted about the products on social media and beyond, and based on what I found interesting or funny enough to capture the consumer’s eyes. I felt accomplished when I saw my supervisor using my work after less than two days of me being in the office. Something I loved the most is that everyone in the office ate lunch together and took turns washing dishes, whether they used a plate or not. A real sense of community.

My other assignments included translating documents from Spanish to English, and creating spreadsheet of businesses and investors in Spain that would help my company expand their project! I have been learning a great deal of Spanish being here, and that was one of my top goals being in Spain. I like how they challenge me and allow me to be creative with my work.

Follow Malika’s Experience

Read her final blog entry here.