I spent 2 months during the summer of 2019 doing something I never could have imagined before becoming a Buckeye, an internship abroad in Lisbon, Portugal. Living and working abroad with my fellow Buckeyes was an amazing experience as we immersed ourselves in Portuguese culture. The excellent food, wonderful nightlife, amazing sites and friendly people made Portugal an excellent place to spend the summer and learn about a culture, and more importantly ourselves.

Although going abroad for the first time was an amazing experience, the main focus of this STEP Project was my internship. I worked as a Finance Intern for a pharmaceutical company in Lisbon called Neutroplast. While at this company, I assisted the CFO in his daily and monthly tasks like financial reporting for upper management and creditors of the company. This was great experience for me as a finance major as I worked on a daily basis with financial data and analysis that will benefit me as I go forward. Of course, working in foreign doesn’t come without some obstacles. Despite most all of Portugal speaking excellent English, my financial statements and reports were often in Portuguese. This forced me to adjust to a whole group of people, and ultimately forced me to be adaptable in a way I’ve never had to before. Going forward, I’ll always be able to tackle difficult situations like this by approaching it with an open-mind and strong work-ethic.

While abroad, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel around to a few different places in Europe and within Portugal. Included in those destinations were Madrid, Paris, Porto and Lagos. The one thing all of these destinations had in common was they all had an entirely different reception of American tourists! In Paris, people were often rude and dismissive of us ‘clueless’ Americans, whereas in Porto, the glowing wine country in the north of Portugal, locals asked countless questions about our lives and culture. I would recommend weekend adventures like this to anyone going abroad.  Staying in hostels with people from all over the world is such an amazing way to learn about different cultures and perspectives. Reflecting on the charming receptions in Portugal and the less kind people from France, I realized that there’s no sense passing judgement because those different mindsets are what truly makes those cultures unique. Get off the beaten path of tourist attractions and take time to meet the people, because they’re truly what makes their countries special.

While in Lisbon, we had a guide who was from Portugal named Paulo. He assisted us in getting acclimated to the city with basic things like metro passes and getting to and from work. However, he helped us learn so much about his country. Paulo took us to the lovely Pena Palace in Sintra, about an hour from Lisbon. We learned so much about the history of the country while appreciating the beauty of the colorful castle and national park overlook the sea and western most point of Europe. On the last night of our trip, Paulo took us to dinner with his family and made sure we tried every last bit of Portuguese cuisine we may have missed during the trip. Wonderful seafood dishes, delicious thin steaks, and delicious wines highlighted some of the specialities that Portuguese people pride their country for. Having the opportunity to meet with his family and learn from people our age was a greatly valuable experience and has taught me to always seek to learn about other cultures, especially the food!

My favorite weekend excursion while on this trip was to Lagos, in the south of Portugal. This region, known as the Algarve, is famous for their beautiful beaches with stunning views of caves and rock formations. I went on a kayak tour of the caves and marveled at the natural beauty of the Algarve. So often, people want to see the marque European destinations such as London and Paris, but people so often forget to take time to admire the natural landscapes offered around the world.  After this experience, I’m going to ensure that whenever I travel I stay conscious of the natural beauty of these locations and spend time admiring them. This was my favorite part of the trip because we also met people from so many other countries who were also visiting Lagos to see the wonderful beaches Portugal offers.

This experience in Portugal is one I will never forget and other reason I’m thankful to be a Buckeye. This experience allowed me to grow professionally , establish cultural connections abroad, and learn more about myself. Employers greatly value international experience and the SGIP has certainly given me a leg-up on others while applying for future internships and jobs. I look forward to sharing my experiences with fellow Buckeyes and encourage them to go abroad and learn about other cultures.I feel this experience has given me new perspectives on personal relationships that will apply to my future career outside of Fisher College of Business. This experience fostered a love of traveling and I encourage all students at Ohio State to have a culturally enriching international experience.

By Reed Flynt – 7/25/19