I have some fun news to share!

I had an appointment at 9:15 this morning with the Director of Consumer Practice in the Madrid office of the public relations company I had an internship with last summer in Chicago. Just my luck that the Madrid office also has a large food and nutrition practice. The director and I had exchanged e-mails a few times, but so far had been unable to figure out a way I could get some experience in a Spanish company without a work permit (legal, health issues, etc.). We decided to meet today just so that I could hear about what the company is working on and learn about their clients.

I was a little nervous at first because I have only been in more informal settings so far in Madrid, and didn´t want to make a bad impression. I arrived at the reception area and stated that I had a meeting at 9:15 (all in Spanish, very proud!). The Director had not yet arrived, so the receptionist took me to a conference room so that I could wait. She gave me a newspaper and some water while I waited, and was so courteous to me and even offered to speak to me in English if I wanted. But I told her Spanish was just fine! When the Director came in, he had a spiral bound packet of information to give me about the office. It was so interesting to see how the companies they work with here differ from those in the States. He said that the Consumer Practice team was very excited to learn that I wanted to come there because they wanted to also be able to collaborate with someone from another country that would have different views.

The office is a lot smaller than the one in Chicago, but that is also because the Chicago office is the North American hub for consumer accounts. For example, in Madrid they only have 7 people on the consumer team with about that many accounts. There are three other practice areas with about the same amount of people in each. In Chicago, the company occupied three floors of a building! The Director and I spoke in a little English and a little Spanish so that we could fully understand each other. I can not emphasize enough how nice he was, and I didn´t feel in the least bit intimidated when I was talking to him. It really made me feel better because I was pretty nervous this morning! He introduced me to the Consumer practice group and they (like in Chicago) were all pretty young. Some of the girls looked at me with an "oh isn´t the little American girl so cute" look haha, they all seemed super friendly. And of course they all said HI instead of HOLA to practice English!

Apparently during the year, an English teacher comes into the company and offers lessons, but it stops in the summer. Since I want to improve my Spanish and the Director and others in the practice group want to improve their English, we decided that it would be best for me to come in a few hours a week to help out. I will be able to observe what they are doing on the accounts and talk with the employees in Spanish and then help them with their English. We will talk mostly about work and industry-related things, but I´m sure we will discuss other stuff too! I think this will be a really neat experience for me to be inside a Spanish company and also a way to meet more people here in Spain.

Well, I´m out to meet a friend for tapas. Hasta luego!