Reflections of working in groups with IMK students

I must say that before coming to the IMK I was extremely nervous. I was wondering if the IMK students were going to be friendly? Are they going to know how to speak English? Will they even want to work with American students? And all the answers to my questions were YES! From the moment we walked into the IMK, the students were very inviting and were eager to meet us. Our first day of class, we had the opportunity to sit in on a Friday presentation while they spoke in German. Our class obviously didn’t understand exactly what they were saying but it was great to see how the team interacted with one another because I knew that we would be the next to present in the following week.
After our introductions, we were divided into the groups we would be working in for the Friday presentation. What I really appreciated was that the IMK had a lunch social for the F.I.U. and the IMK students because it gave us a chance to break the ice and get to know one another. The team I was chosen to work with was Cordula Scholdan and Malte Zeller. I had to opportunity to exchange phone numbers and email addresses and got to really know a little more about them. I had a wonderful experience working with them. Our first assignment was to travel to five train stations and research the Berlin Welcome Cards. Everyone in my group pulled their own weight and we finished the assignment on time. What makes this experience rewarding is the fact that we are advertising majors and in most agencies you have to work in teams. Without this experience of working in groups, you will not know how to interact with people or have any team building skills.
For the second Friday presentation I had the pleasure of working with Phillip Kapnick and Maria Carpio. Our assignment was to research and develop new campaign strategies for the Sabah Rhino Project. Again, my team members were easy to work with and we had an awesome time working together. Compared to Miami, the group members are chosen by the students so that doesn’t force us to work with people outside of our comfort zone. I also appreciated working on this assignment because it gave us hands on experience of working with a client, doing research on the project, and actually developing campaigns that they can use to better their situation.
I also had the opportunity to meet with other IMK students and they were so kind to take us around the city just on the first day of meeting us. We all went out to dinner and then to a few bars just so we can all get better acquainted with one another. I felt over-whelmed by their friendliness because I was always told that Germans were very cold and not inviting. But it was the complete opposite. Throughout the weeks, we all spent every day together either working with our groups, going out to eat, or to the local bars. One FaceBook friend request turned into 30 and most of us got along really well!
Overall, my experience studying abroad overseas is one of the best opportunities of a lifetime. But having the chance to work with the IMK students made the experience even better. I had the opportunity to learn someone else’s culture, I have gained great team working skills, and I got hands on experience of developing new campaign strategies. But not only have I learned things that will help me with my professional goals, I also made friendships that will last a life time.