“Living la vida loca”
Looking back at the time he spent in Barcelona, his memories are marked by the various beaches, the ocean and – of course – the yummi tapas! The psychology student from Germany also loves enjoying a glass of wine or two at Barcelona’s most famous rooftop bars. He is fascinated by the typical Spanish mentality, especially when it comes to dining out late with the whole family and friends and celebrating life with some tapas and good conversations. “Overall, life is more relaxed here than in Germany”, he enthuses. The people are more patient and seem to care less about daily life issues. He tells me a story about a painter who recently painted the wall at his office and although a dryer was missing, he just used a fan instead – Matthias is certain that this would not have happened in Germany.
Before he decided to go to Spain, he could not really imagine to live in a country of which he doesn’t even have basic knowledge of. The psychologist was very concerned about the big uncertainty, particularly about how the company would welcome him as a team member. Totally unnecessary! A long time ago, back in Germany, he started a Spanish course – but it has been a while and he was not even sure if his Spanish level is above A1. However, his English skills are more than enough and as soon as you move to Barcelona, you will snap a lot of Spanish vocabulary anyway.
Internship at a Marketing Networking Company
His internship is mainly in English. Matthias narrates about his company – a network of different Marketing agencies including many small-sized, motivated and creative companies lacking in international issues. Within this network, those agencies could find support and get along together to exchange their solutions and knowledge. Some of his daily tasks, for example, include the acquisition of agencies, drafting email campaigns, customer care and the implementation of a customer satisfaction analysis.
A usual day starts with an exploding mailbox, starting to answer all the incoming messages and writing follow-up mails. Depending on whatever is going on, he continues creating and designing both newsletter and campaigns. After all the work is done, his boss regularly gives a free 2-hour-marketing-workshop to all the interns. Those workshops are about different marketing methods and campaigns, so everyone could get a better understanding about marketing itself. Matthias is particularly pleased by those “extra-lessons” because he gets an impression about the different marketing fields and techniques.
The only difficult thing for him: Finding something negative about his internship! Even though sometimes he wishes for more autonomy to develop own projects, he is extremely happy with his job. But never mind, regarding his short internship period, creating own projects would have been difficult anyway.
Despite that, the German student also describes how he loves to explore the city. Living in Barcelona for a long time means getting to know the “real Barcelona” – Barcelona naked and not only its highlights and sightseeing spots. His favourite places are definitely the observation platform “the Bunkers” and the beach of Garraf, which is a real insider tip although it’s based outside the city. After all, his highlight was a sailing tour – of which he heard of through the “Barcelona Meet-Up group. The view from the boat across the coast – simply astonishing! Furthermore, he met many new people by attending “language exchange programs” and other events published by the “Barcelona Meet-Up” group. Matthias explains that “it’s very easy to get in contact with other like-minded people, as long as you are open-minded.”
Last but not least
Matthias wants to enjoy his last days to the fullest. What he is going to miss the most? Again he refers to the beach, the ocean, Spanish tapas and the rooftop bars. His personal tip for other interns: Try to look behind the scenes! Take your time to explore even the smallest alleys around la Rambla, especially in “el Gotic”, to discover the wonderful squares. Additionally, you should take a trip to the surrounding mountains to get an amazing view above this amazing city!
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