Spain: Caroline Krell
Caroline Krell is a UW-Madison junior with a double major in Economics and Psychology and certificates in Public Policy and Sustainability. This summer, Caroline interned at Xross Connect, a sales, marketing, and administration consulting firm in Spain that was founded by a UW-Madison alum. Here’s what Caroline had to say about her internship experience!
This summer, I had the opportunity to grow many skills through my work with Xross Connect and living in Seville. Through my time here, I enjoyed getting to know and learning from the Xross Connect team while having the opportunity to work on their brand as well as do client research and improve the messaging on various platforms for their clients.
As an Economics and Psychology student, I was most interested in this internship to work on data analysis and to learn about work cultures in different places. While there were many chances to look at data and engage in client work this summer, what struck me most was learning about different companies around the world.
With Xross Connect, I had the chance to engage with people and companies in all parts of the world. While most of our work is done in English at Xross Connect, both living and working in Seville gave me the chance to improve my Spanish-speaking skills and learn practical Spanish skills in the workplace and in everyday life. Aside from practicing Spanish, having the opportunity to witness meetings with clients from across the world allowed me to see the cultural competency, logistical planning, and technical knowledge that allows international businesses to flourish.
From a technical standpoint, I practiced my writing and research skills outside of academics and explored different types of professional writing to craft mission statements, writing social media posts, remote collaborations and conducting interviews to write blogs. In these projects, I gained more practical experience and in doing client research, I learned how to adapt my strategies in prospecting to the needs of different clients. Specifically in the industry, I learned how start-ups are valued through different methods and how Xross Connect services are priced to be transparent and tailored to each client’s needs.
As I settle back into life back in the United States, there are many lessons and new aspirations that I’ll be taking with me. The most immediate is to continue to improve my Spanish as I saw first-hand how important it is to know multiple languages in the international market and in life outside of the United States. While living in Seville helped me improve my Spanish, I want to continue practicing whenever I get the opportunity, whether that is attending a Spanish club at my University or reading books or watching shows in Spanish.
Additionally, this summer has opened my eyes to having more experiences abroad and hopefully working abroad in the future. While I do not know exactly where I would like to work, I feel more open to the possibility of moving abroad permanently after this summer. When I wasn’t working, I had the chance to travel and connect with many new people and places. In my time abroad this summer as well as being in Sevilla, I traveled to many places in Spain and also visited Italy, Morocco, and Portugal. I hope to continue to find opportunities to travel and experience different places and my experience this summer made me more confident in my ability to do so. While I would be open to a wide variety of future opportunities abroad, I am currently very interested in doing a work-away program in Thailand.
Living and working in Seville this summer was a great experience that I would recommend to anyone. I think our passions in work exist outside of comfort zones and across the world and having this experience in college is not one I will forget. While I strive to figure out my career, I hope to explore new places and meet more wonderful people like those I got to know at Xross Connect this summer. Xross Connect excels in their industry of consulting but as people they are trustworthy, knowledgeable, and kind. I was lucky to get to know the work this company does and the people on the Xross Connect team with the help of University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Intern Abroad Advisors.
This UW Signature Internship was developed exclusively for UW-Madison undergraduate students by the International Internship team at International Academic Programs. Learn more about opportunities to intern abroad.