Why Madrid, Why??!!

It was about 11 o’clock at night on a Wednesday late November… We were about to find out our destinations for next year for this paid internship program supported by the Portuguese government and sponsored by the EU.

After almost two weeks of very intense training on international cultures, international economics and international marketing, with the best professors (for instance ex-ministers of finances, etc.) showing up and brainwashing us on these topics and saying we were the ‘crème de la crème de la crème’ and that the image of Portugal abroad depended on us, it was finally time to face the answer we’d been looking for since the day we applied to this internship: which company will I work for and where, for 9 months?!

I was sooo disappointed. After spending the past few days uplifting people’s morals saying: ‘it’s not the destination that’s important nor the company but what you make of your experience, your motivation, dynamism and will to learn that will make it rewarding and unforgettable’, I was probably the only guy in a room filled with 200 people that wasn’t celebrating….

My first thought was: ‘Out of all the places I’ve been and visited, couldn’t I have been a more distant country, a remote place, wishing to encounter a culture shock of some sort?? Most of these people haven’t even practically ever left Portugal and they’re off to China, Mexico and Australia!!’

The next, was even worse: A biotech lab??? Don’t put me in a lab, pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! No microscopes nor Petri dishes nor pipettes!! I’m no good at that!’

I was a wreck. Everyone popping up the champagne bottles (well, there weren’t any but you get the picture) partying and dancing and all I could think was why the hell I’d got into this program… The coordinator of the program tried to cheer me up along with other co-workers: ‘Go and have fun! Celebrate and don’t think about it now! You’ll see you’ll be able to do what you enjoy the most!’ But that wasn’t good enough for me…

A few weeks later, I started getting more and more information about the company I was going to be working for, IMBIOSIS, and the position attributed to me.

A laboratory specialized in the analysis of gluten, and apparently I was going to work in the marketing and commercial area of the company. After an interview over the phone and other emails exchange with people from IMBIOSIS I was happier but still had to wait and see…

The best part of this is that, unlike most of the other interns who had to be working during December and most of January for their company because it was either Portuguese or had a Portuguese subsidiary, mine had been set up quite recently and was fully Spanish. So I spent most of those two months surfing and socializing with my friends and family, which was awesome, and even went on a 4 day trip to Paris to see family and friends and my…

It also helped me get to know Madrid better, meet people who, just like me, were about to go and live there, and establish contacts with those who were already there. I was getting mentally prepared…

The date was set. I was leaving on the 17^th of January, and starting work on the 22nd. It was time to pack and set a good bye dinner!