Interns@AutoCom

Hi Everyone, Sorry that it has been a while since we uploaded our last blog entry. A lot has happened in the past weeks, and not only at work. We celebrated two major national holidays here in the States – Halloween and Thanksgiving. Let’s start with Halloween. As you know this holiday is a big deal over here. Weeks before the 31st of October people started decorating their houses, carving pumpkins and getting their costumes ready. It was fun to experience all those activities and attend some real American Halloween parties. On the evening of the 31st a few kids would come by for trick-or-treating in both cute and scary costumes.   We have also done a trip to Washington D.C. on the weekend right after Election Day (November 8). It was very interesting to follow the debates and to feel the atmosphere prior to the election and after the votes had been made. The capital of the U.S. is a truly beautiful city. We did a lot of sightseeing as the weather was incredibly ni

Hello Everybody, My name is Lisa and I am the second new intern at AutoCom for the upcoming six months.On Monday, October 3 rd , I had my first working day here at AutoCom. However, I arrived one and a half weeks before to have some time to settle in and to arrange important organizational things such as comparing different car insurance options, opening a bank account or getting an American phone number. Like many other interns, I live in a shared house in Royal Oak for the time of my internship. Road trip to Lake Michigan Originally, I am from a pretty small village a couple of minutes away from Leipzig in Eastern Germany. Shortly before I came to Michigan, I finished my bachelor’s degree in International Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Leipzig. It is my first time in the United States and I am excited about  the next few months here in Detroit, especially in regard to holiday festivities like Thanksgiving and Christmas, sport activities like football or

My first month here at AutoCom is already over. A lot has happened in the past few weeks. Firstly, I finally did some sightseeing. We went to downtown Detroit to explore the city on a very nice day. It is really beautiful which is a little surprising as Detroit tends to have a rather negative reputation. We walked along the water where you can see Canada on the other side of the river. Additionally, Marie and Florian both left AutoCom and Royal Oak at the end of August. Since Florian used to live with us, my housemate and I took him to the bus station the other night where he left for Chicago after having a farewell BBQ at home. Ever since, I am the only intern in the office until the new intern, Lisa, arrives in October. So far it’s been going great at work; Larry and everyone on the team are very nice and helpful. There is always something happening in the area so that it never gets boring during my free time. On Labor Day weekend for example, there was this festival called

This week Marie and Florian both had the last day of their six month internships at AutoCom. They have done an amazing job here. Due to their friendliness they were very much appreciated by all team members as well as by contacts outside the office. It was a pleasure having them around and working with them. Now it’s time for them to start their well-earned vacation before heading back to Germany for school and work. We wish them lots of fun on their trips through the states and the best of luck for their futures. Thank you, Marie and Florian for your time here at AutoCom, you will be dearly missed!

Hi everyone, My name is Kim, I am the new intern at AutoCom Associates. Currently I am pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Business at the University of Aalen in Germany.   As part of my studies I am doing a six months internship here at AutoCom in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. I arrived in mid August at Detroit Metropolitan Airport where Marie, one of the current interns, picked me up and drove me to my new home in Royal Oak. I am living there in a shared house with four other housemates, one of whom is Florian another current intern at AutoCom. I am glad that I get to work with him and Marie for two weeks before their term ends and they take off for their vacation. Ever since I arrived I have had some organizational things to get done, as in buying a car and opening a bank account. However, I have done some fun stuff as well. On my first weekend, I went with my housemates and their friends, who are also German interns, to an outlet mall in Troy, Michigan and last Thur

AutoCom got a surprise visit from Miriam Czichon at the end of July. She joined AutoCom as an intern in August 2009 as part of her bachelor studies in international cultural and business studies in Passau, Germany. Her internship at AutoCom raised her interest in communications as well as PR so she went on to complete a master’s degree in this field in Bamberg, Germany. Since 2012, Miriam has worked at the University of Bamberg where she is a lecturer and does research in media psychology while working on a Ph.D. on the topic of “Binge Watching”. She stays in touch with some of her former AutoCom friends  which is what brought her to Michigan this summer. Her friend and former colleague at AutoCom, Tedi Falvo (now Gershenson) recently got married. Thanks a lot for stopping by, Miriam! It was a pleasure seeing you and having you at AutoCom!

Sports in the United States are an important part of the country's culture. The most important professional sports leagues in the United States are the Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), and the National Hockey League (NHL) with all four being considered the best in the world. Detroit also has his own teams in all of those leagues: B aseball: Detroit Tigers Basketball: Detroit Pistons Football: Detroit Lions Hockey: Detroit Red Wings During our time here in the U.S. we had the opportunity to experience a few of those sports. We saw the Detroit Pistons playing the Dallas Mavericks in the Palace of Auburn Hills. Unfortunately, the Pistons lost but the game was still worth watching, especially because of Dirk Nowitzki. Listed at 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m), Nowitzki is considered one of the greatest power forwards in basketball history (and he is German) .   Additionally, we went to the Comerica Park in

Hi everyone, Last week the USA celebrated their independence from the British on the 4 th of July, and so did we – it was the Independence Day Weekend. Everyone enjoyed the holiday and a lot of people used the long weekend to go on vacation. Since Detroit is very close to Canada with their Independence Day on July 1, a joint festivity and fireworks were organized by both cities on June 27. The fireworks display was extremely elaborated even with the colors of the Star-Spangled Banner (the American flag) and attracted a huge crowd. Additionally, parades were arranged all over the United States. For us, it was quite extraordinary. First of all, we saw American flags and its colors red, white and blue everywhere. People wore shirts, dresses, scarves, hats and jewelry like necklaces starring the Star-Spangled Banner. Usually police cars and marching bands kicked off the parades, followed by different kind of groups. Examples are firefighters with their trucks, equestrian riders

Hi everyone, Yesterday was our long-time anticipated event Tech Crawl. We organized and planned so much the last couple of weeks: managing invitations, ordering promo items, preparing press kit folders and flash drives, setting up the location and much more. But eventually, the whole event went by so fast. Early in the morning, we took care of the last preparations at our office before heading over to The Stand in Birmingham. We set up our two locations, The Stand for lunch and afterglow as well as the Birmingham 8 Theater for presentations and press briefings. Clients and media representatives arrived around 11.30 a.m. Most of them mingled in the display room to see the clients’ exhibits while socializing and networking. Our second stop of Tech Crawl 2016 was the Birmingham 8 Theater – just a short walk from The Stand. Kiekert kicked off the media briefings followed by INFICON, Eview 360, HELLA and MAHLE. Additionally, Alcantara showed a company introduction video. T

Hi there, This is Marie again with some different news this time. A friend from Germany was here to visit last week. That’s why we did a lot of sightseeing and explored the city of Detroit. We got lucky and had a great time with beautiful weather. The summer finally arrived in Michigan! If you ever want to visit Detroit, this could also be a sightseeing tour suggestion for you. Riverfront Downtown Detroit We spent our first day together in downtown Detroit. We walked along the Riverfront from where we could see Canada and the Ambassador Bridge which lets you drive to Canada. We enjoyed the beautiful weather and ate a typical American burger. The next thing on our list was Belle Isle. Unfortunately, they closed the area where you can see Detroit’s skyline due to an upcoming race. But we got lucky and the guy from the Dossin Great Lakes Museum took us up on the rooftop. We had an awesome view of Canada as well as the skyline. Ambassador Bridge We not only saw

Hi everyone, A lot has happened over the past few weeks. First of all, the planning for Tech Crawl kicked off, which means there is some editorial and administrative work already completed, and a lot still ahead of us. However, we are excited for the upcoming tasks! I finally had the chance to visit the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant, in which the Model T, Ford’s first successful car for the masses, was built. It was an impressive experience because the cars the plant has on display have on display are in mint condition and the factory itself was saved and restored just a few years ago.  Additionally there were two important football matches the last two weeks and I got off work earlier to watch them with one of my roommates. Unfortunately, the outcome was not in our favor because Bayern München lost against Atletico Madrid. Nevertheless it was a nice experience to watch the Champions League here in the U.S. Now I look forward to the European Championship I June/July.