Real World: IMK

In one word – interesting. I honestly didn't think that working with foreign students in a foreign country would be a challenge. After all, I had studied abroad before and I grew close to many of the people that I met abroad. I didn't think that actually working with them in a professional context would be so different from hanging out with them and having a drink at a bar. Man, was it different and unexpected. I truly expected them to be much more uptight with their school work than I was, but it was quite the contrary. With the exception of one or two students, I found myself being the nagging, “hard-working” one. That was quite the slap-in-the-face. In fact, I encountered students who shamelessly dodged work or were not willing to attempt to write a sentence in English! Thankfully, some of their work ethic didn't reflect on their overall personality. Many of them were giving and self-less outside the classroom. Over all though, one can't judge an entire country based on one or two students (who may or may not have been German anyway.) Additionally, it was wrong for me to expect an entire country to share one work ethic – as if they were all programmed. I wouldn't work in a group in the United States with that same expectation. I wouldn't be surprised if one of my group members stuck me with all the work. I would be angered, but not insulted. It was somewhat stereotypical of me to expect every student at the IMK to share the same professional approach that I had envisioned in my mind. Again, I wouldn't expect the same back home.

Thankfully, the German stereotype that each student did uphold in my mind was their punctuality(except for a handful of students at our lecture). I was surprised that so many people could be on-time to virtually everything – from presentations to weekend outings. Again, there was a slip-up here and there but for the most part, I concluded that being on-time for a German is arriving to the destination five minutes before, not parking in the parking lot five minutes after the time (as I do.) Working with the Germans also gave me perspective on how UN-punctual I can be. I considered myself pretty good in that department, but when my group members were somewhere before I was, my heart would sink.

What I did like was not worrying about the power-point. I didn't mind writing or proof reading most of the handouts simply because I actually enjoy writing so I believe it was a win-win situation for both parties. However, as previously mentioned, I didn't appreciate feeling like me or my group member were the only ones in the team. Writing the handout didn't automatically mean I would only include my ideas. Thankfully, I never had a nightmare group as others seemed to have had. I could always manage – even with the lack of wireless internet in the hostel.

As far as my global skills are concerned, I think this experience with the IMK students did me well. It definitely improved the patience needed to communicate ideas with foreign individuals. Usually when I'm brainstorming, I'm used to blurting out ideas as they come with my group members. At IMK, I actually did some brainstorming of my own before we met so I could jot down some ideas we could discuss and stem from. This way we wouldn't literally get “lost in translation.”

All in all, it was really nice to integrate into the professional life of Germany. In addition to student-life we also made site visits which also added another dimension to my overall impression of professional life in Germany. Again, here too the idea of punctuality was reinforced.

Despite the shortcomings that I may have experienced working with the IMK students it was an experience I really value because they are new challenges I had never been faced with before. We just jumped into it.