An overview of my 'praktikum.'

This internship is certainly a far cry from any other work experience I have previously had. My first day began when a nice young woman named Nora picked me up at 9:00. We drove immediately to the chamber of commerce where I was to meet one of the partners I would be working under—Martin Dolling. Herr Dolling, however, was running late, so by the time he rushed into the building there was only time for a brief introduction before we ran (literally--this guy never walks) upstairs to a meeting between the various leaders of the chamber. It was a two and a half hour long meeting—in German. Quite the introduction.

After the meeting we proceeded to the firm, which is located in a nice area on the western portion of the Kürfsdamstraße. The firm itself resides in three levels of an old building just off the main road. Each floor is divided into a different partnership, all of which are jointly held together by E. Wagemann and his senior partner, Thorsten Stielow. The third floor holds the most employees, with three main partners and various accountants and assistants. The second floor is a law office of two partners. My office was on the first floor, with Wagemann +Partner New Consulting, which was jointly held by the two partners I worked for—Martin D. and Ferdinand Kögler--and two law partners.

The afternoon of my first day was terrifying. Ferdinand placed a thick consulting presentation on my desk and asked how much of it I could read. Of course, he was trying to determine where I stood in terms of my German. However, given that my single goal of the first day was to impress them, it was a terrible prospect. Naturally, given that the last German I had taken was in high school, I didn’t understand much at all.

Thankfully, the second day I asked for an electronic copy and ran the whole document through Google translator. (I thank God daily for Google!) It was far from perfect, but far better than my previous understanding. I was able to determine the nature of the document and begin doing more research based on my newly found grasp of the material. This now, is what I do, and it has worked quite well. Martin and Ferdinand both make sure to send me electronic copies when possible and I translate them and then begin doing more research for them.

That said, there were two major projects I was introduced to in my first week at Wagemann. The first was a German engineering company that created automatic detection systems for cosmetic defects on cars at the end of assembly lines. The second was a bioenergy company seeking a loan from a bank in order to solve liquidity issues.

In regards to the former, I drove with Martin (going 200+km/h!) down the autobahn to visit their operations site, where I was given a tour and then charged with the task of “doing something to help.” After several requests for clarification, I gave up and am now researching “ways to help.” Martin and I are still working on our communication!

Ferdinand, however, is the person I am working with on a daily basis. He has given me specific tasks in regards to researching the sawmill industry, wood pellet market and German governmental policies on bioenergy. The goal of our research is to determine the likelihood of success for this bioenergy company as it pertains to the risk the bank takes on by expanding their loan to the company. Towards that end, I am currently creating a (rather large) presentation that may or may not be given to the client.

And I am running out of time....so that is my internship thus far in a German nutshell!