My top 3 skills/qualities I gained through my internship experience:

1. Ability to learn quickly

• Since my internship was only five weeks long, I needed to learn and assimilate information quickly, in order to make the most out of my time. I had to learn the    basics and navigate how to work the computer despite it being all in the Italian language. Having to learn key Italian words was probably the most important yet challenging aspect.

2. Ability to communicate despite language and cultural barriers

• One major aspect of my internship was to communicate with my guests and coworkers, regardless of their first language. Having to breakthrough these cultural barriers, and communicate with people of all backgrounds allowed me to learn new words, and gain new relationship building skills.

3. Perseverance

• There were many ups and downs throughout this entire internship process, and it has taught me how to persevere. The challenges with communicating, creating a schedule, managing work time and free time, and navigating cultural barriers forced me to be responsible and push through regardless of the difficulties. 

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Major Challenges:

This international internship presented many challenges for me that I was not prepared to face. The most obvious being the language and cultural barrier I had with my coworkers. This immediately made the experience more difficult than any other internship due to the challenge of impaired communication. In addition to the obvious challenges, I found myself to be personally challenged, as this experience was completely new and unique to me. It made me realize what I want my role to be in my future career, and what I am really looking for in supervisors, coworkers, and work environment in general. Working abroad is a real challenge that I am proud I accomplished, because it allowed me to learn a lot about myself along the way.

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COVID-19 Impact:

My overall experience as well as my internship experience were both affected by the  pandemic, but in very different ways. Negtively for my internship, but positively for my overall experience. Since I intern at a hotel, all of our business is based around tourism and vacations. Due to the restrictions, we did not receive as many guests as we normally would in the summer. I got to work with many European guests, but did not get the chance to associate with many guests that are from outside the EU. Despite this, I personally really enjoyed the fact that we were here in such a strange time. The lack of tourism this summer made me feel even more welcomed, like I was not just a visitor but I was truly in a new home. I felt much more respected for studying abroad during this time, because the locals were proud of the risk we were taking. 

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Future:

I am confident that this internship experience will impact my future in several ways, from professional experience to personal growth.  I learned how to network cross culturally, and feel that my experience working in a professional setting abroad will stand out to future employers. This experience has taught me how to problem solve, persevere, and adapt quickly to the ever changing environment around me.