Nicole Moesslacher at GACC, San Fransisco, USA
Preparation for the internship
Before I started to study at RheinAhrCampus Remagen I knew that I wanted to spend my practical semester in the United States.
During by basic studies, I tried to attend as many intercultural and English classes as possible. I also had the chance to take part in the summer school programme of my university and spend a couple of weeks at the Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. After this experience, it was clear I needed to spend more time in the United States to learn more about the country, language, and people. I just had no idea how to reach my goal yet.
The first step was to contact Sprachen/Internationales at my university. There I got more information about the scholarship program from InWent. Fortunately, I was accepted by InWent for the program “Praxissemester im Ausland,” but I still did not have an internship position during this time. I started to spend more time in front of the computer looking for internships than doing anything else. It took a lot of effort and patience to find the right internship position. Here are a couple homepages I can recommend:
After sending out an enormous number of applications I opted for the German
American Chamber of Commerce (GACC) in San Francisco. I found this position by an unsolicited application. After a couple of phone interviews with the GACC, I thought this one would be the best internship for me. At the end I could choose from several internships. My advice for you: Stick to it and don’t give up - it will pay off in the end!
After I signed the contract for my internship position, I had to arrange the formal issues with my university. After that I thought the main things were done, but the paperwork just started.
First of all, I had to fill out all the different forms for the consulate in Frankfurt. CDS International was very helpful during this time, and they sent all of the information I needed on time. Everything went very smoothly and within ten days after my consulate visit I received my passport including my visa in the mail. All I had to do was book a flight, and I was all set.
My advice for you is to get all the paperwork done as soon as you sign the contract. I found my internship just 2 months before my departure, and I was worried not to get everything done on time. If you are planning on receiving money from Germany, it is very important to open a banking account in Germany which doesn’t charge fees every time you try to withdraw money in the United States. I can recommend Citibank or Bank of America which work together with Deutsche Bank. Not so important for me was an international student ID. I applied for it before my departure, but I haven’t used it.
Departure and arrival in the USA
Just one day after my last exams at the university I had to move out of my apartment. The last week before my departure I spent time at my family’s house and tried to get ready for my time in the United States. Two nights before I flew to San Francisco, my friends surprised me with a farewell party. It was very touching to say goodbye to all of them, but at the same time I was very nervous and excited about the time ahead of me.
Before my departure I decided not to pick a room over the internet. I wanted to see the apartment first and then decide if I wanted to live there or not. I stayed the first couple of nights in a motel. After almost one week, I found a room in Concord, California. If you are looking for apartments, I recommend picking up a renter’s guide which you can find in every grocery store. They are for free and have all the new offers. Another homepage I can recommend is “Craig’s list”. This page can be helpful for finding an apartment as well as furniture, bikes, cars, and other stuff you don’t want to buy new. It is also a good site to sell your stuff again after your stay in the United States. Another homepage I can recommend for San Francisco is www.vantaggiosuites.com
Fortunately, I didn’t have to buy a car to get to work everyday. That is the big advantage of living close to a bigger city like San Francisco. The Bay Area offers a lot of public transportation. Even most of my colleagues don’t own a car, because it is not necessary and inconvenient in the city. Another point besides that is that prices for monthly parking and rent for apartments in San Francisco is ridiculous. That was the main reason why I decided to live a little farther away from “the City.” Now I commute 45 minutes everyday to work. It sounds worse than it actually is.
Especially at the beginning, it was very interesting to learn more about the different people in the Bay Area. I could see a difference in the customs of Americans and Germans. For instance, the people wait inline to enter the train. At the beginning I cut this line. I was so nervous about taking the right train that I didn’t notice that the people were queuing. After I finally moved into my room and settled down a little bit, I began to use my time to see more of San Francisco. I still had a week left until my internship started, and I wanted to explore the city. As a good-bye gift my friends booked a bus tour for me.
This was a good opportunity to get a first overview of this amazing city. Of course the bus drove me to the world-famous Victorian Houses, to Fisherman’s Wharf, and to the Golden Gate Bridge. The first time I saw this bridge I couldn’t believe that I was really in San Francisco. It was an amazing feeling to realize that I will spend the next couple of months in California.
My host company, workplace and responsibilities
There are ten German American Chambers of Commerce located in the United States. Their main focus is to help and support German and American companies to do business together. Every chamber has its own specialization. The reason why I wanted to obtain my internship at the GACC in San Francisco were the industries they are focused on such as the solar industry, nanotechnology, and biotechnology. These fields are the ones with the largest expansion rates in the last few years. Experts predict an exponential progression in these fields for the coming years.
The office of the German American Chamber of Commerce is located in the Financial District in San Francisco. Due to this location, the GACC has its main concentration on the before mentioned industries. The close location to the world famous Silicon Valley helps the GACC to get in touch with American companies which are specialists in these fields. To bring the German and the American companies closer together, the GACC organized various events. One of my first projects was to help to organize a “Solar Delegation” trip to Berlin. We invited 13 American companies to meet almost 30 German companies in one-on-one meetings. From the beginning of the project, I had to do research on the various companies attending the delegation. It was my job to find out which American companies would be interested in meeting which German companies. I learned a lot about the diversity of the solar industry, and it was very interesting to see that there is a real “Green Movement” in California.
After we got the confirmation, from all the different companies, it was my job to schedule all of the one-on-one meetings. In these meetings, the German companies had 45 minutes to talk to one of the American companies. The meetings took place over the course of one day. There were meetings scheduled from 9 in the morning until 5 at night. At the end I scheduled almost 130 meetings. While two of my colleagues traveled to Berlin a week before the delegation to oversee the meetings, I remained in San Francisco andensured everyone stayed in contact between the United States and Germany.
Fortunately everything went very smoothly and the delegation trip was a big success. To document this success I developed questionnaires and sent them to the participants. The feedback was enormous. One hundred percent of the returning questionnaires said that they would attend an event like this again and eighty percent think that the meetings helped their company. What I really enjoyed about this project was that I was part of it from the beginning to the end, and it felt like we really helped to bring both countries closer together in doing business together.
Of course not every task is as exciting as this one was. There are also routine things I have to do for example answering the phone, responding to emails, getting the mail etc. Answering the phone was a big issue for me in the beginning. I was always glad when my colleague picked up the phone first. It was difficult because I didn’t know enough of GACC’s daily operations to answer all the questions, but after a while it became a normal part of my daily work.
Conclusion
The first three months I needed some time to get used to the new business culture, the daily operations, and the whole new situation. The beginning was tough, but when I look back now I am more than glad that I have had the opportunity to spend half a year in a different country.
Nicole Moesslacher
