Update From a Past AutoCom-er!

>Hey AutoCom fans,

I am happy to write another blog entry today for AutoCom's intern blog. For those who don't know me: I used to work at AutoCom from October 2007 until August 2008. That seems so long ago when I think of the experiences I made since I left AutoCom but it also seems like yesterday every time I visit the office. I remember good times working with Andi, Holly, Christina, Paul, Emily, Lauren, Toni, Tedi, Jan, Maggie, Dee, Marty, Jack and Larry.

After I left AutoCom, I stayed in the states for three more weeks to visit Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. That was a great trip. For the first time, I did two days nothing but hiking. I was so exhausted... But hiking the Grand Canyon was amazing, the scenery was incredible.

After a goodbye party at my roommates house it was time to fly back home. In Germany, my family and friends organized a surprise party. And I'm telling you I was surprised!!! I had no idea... There were more than 30 people standing in my parents backyard. Since it was dark, I didn't see them and so I had no idea what was going on when all of the sudden 30-something people were screaming “SURPRISE” and then they switched on the lights.

In October 2008, I went back to the university to finish my master's degree. That was a lot of studying, several sleepless nights and hard work. My schedule was full of seminars and lectures, presentations, exams and portfolios.

During my semester brake (spring 2009), I did an internship at AutoCom's client Hella Electronics. That was a great experience. I worked in the marketing and business development department with Winfried. At Hella, I translated parts of Hella's webpage from German into English, prepared power point presentations for international meetings, created a poster for the SAE Japan 2009 trade show and did the research for news releases. A conference call with Andi and Marty reminded me of great times at AutoCom.

During summer break in 2009 as well as spring break 2010, I came back to the USA to visit friends. Also, a friend of mine got married and I experienced a wonderful outside wedding. I traveled to Chicago to see the old Chicago theater, very impressive! I also ate deep dish pizza because a friend of mine said that I HAVE to eat it! And she was right, it is delicious.

After finishing my master's thesis in October 2010, I visited Christina (also a former account assistant at AutoCom) in Austria. It was awesome. The nature is breathtaking and Vienna is beautiful. My favorite place to be was the Vienna opera house. We had a great time and a lot to talk about: our time at AutoCom as well as living in the states and of course about the past two years because we haven't seen each other since I left AutoCom.

I am now back in the states, I am staying in Illinois until February 24. This time I went to Chicago for its famous Christkindlmarkt, which is pretty common in Germany but not so famous in the states. It was great to visit this German tradition and prepared me for a German-American Christmas :)

That's it for now. But I'll stay in touch.

Silke