Pursuing a degree in Classics and German, I have long embraced the idea that a liberal arts education should not limit one to the academic realm. My career interests have always tended toward the creative industries, and I hoped to find an opportunity to deeply engage with projects that add value to others’ lives. During my ten-week spring quarter in Berlin, I studied German, European politics, and local Berlin history while exploring the area’s rich culture and learning how to navigate the complex Berlin transportation system. Having arranged my internship with the innovation agency “…and dos Santos” through the Krupp Program before even arriving in Berlin, I truly hardly knew what to expect in the concrete sense—I was inspired by the future-focused attitude, creative drive, and not least the promise of an office dog to greet me on my first day.
Commuting between Berlin and Potsdam every day was an ambitious venture for my first summer living on my own in a city, and navigating the differences between Germany, the US, and England (where I completed my other quarter abroad) proved an added challenge. However, splitting my time between Potsdam and Berlin allowed me to gain insight into two vastly different cities, and provided me with a broader understanding of German workplace and community culture. Potsdam is small, incredibly historic, dotted with local bookshops, fancy cafes, and bordered by lakes and the grand Sanssouci park, where I could walk during my lunch breaks. Berlin—a cosmopolitan mishmash of history, urbanity, and hipster-ness—is a place I could always count on to find a new food to try, grungy flea markets to peruse, and street music of all kinds. Soon I learned that “…and dos Santos” represents many of the same values as Berlin and Potsdam—a blend of traditional business wisdom with new, innovative ways of solving old problems.
What impressed me from the start is how unique our projects are—every concept, workshop, or story we developed was truly “made with love.” Even for the prospective clients with whom we did not necessarily continue working, I saw my colleagues and supervisors devote authentic and inspiring consideration to the needs and motivations of the people and brands involved. While I was familiar with content creation, social media, and quick critical and analytical thinking from my previous student and internship experience, I had never applied these skills at an agency level. I couldn’t wait to dive into the fast-paced world of the company, with constant new projects, varied clients, and the focus on innovating for good and constantly bettering the lives of those around us.
I was especially grateful, if at first overwhelmed, to be included in major projects and every aspect of company culture from the beginning, without any dull moments of boring “intern duties” such as every college student dreads. And while I certainly spent a lot of time at a computer creating social media content, researching trends and industries, and compiling information into collaborative presentations, I had plenty of chances to expand my horizons out and about, visiting exciting new places in Berlin for various interviews and errands, and sitting in on fascinating workshops. Ultimately, I was able to learn how to channel the commitment of my host to bringing positive energy and innovative thinking to our clients and partners no matter what we were working on.
The mix of German and English in the workplace gave me a good base of comfort with my coworkers and supervisors but added incentive for me to continue working on my language skills. I realized quickly that two years of college coursework in German means very little when wading through technical studies or websites that require very specific vocabulary sets, but over the course of the summer I became more and more familiar with German expressions for different kinds of technology, innovation, business, and other relevant topics.
While my goal this summer was simply to learn more German and gain professional experience in a foreign country, my learning was truly three-dimensional—new skills and industry, a new city and language, and high standards of performance. The friendliness and candor of my office atmosphere, the meals shared with coworkers, the long commutes home spent making plans for the weekend—these made my time at “and dos Santos” one that I will surely miss. My greatest enjoyment was assuredly the certainty that my research and analysis was a key factor in acquiring and helping our clients, as well as the feeling in general that I was positively contributing to the internal and external operations of the company.
Carolyn Manion (Classics, German Studies) studied in Berlin in spring and interned in Potsdam in summer 2018.
