Welcome to Detroit!

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 basketball, as well as the American everyday life.

Since I arrived in Michigan, I have already experienced a lot of great things, met new people and became more familiar with the American culture and mentality.

Eishockey at the Joe Louis Arena

On my second evening in Royal Oak, I was invited to a farewell party of an intern that was leaving, only a few streets away from my new home. Consequently, I got to know many other interns and some Americans that live in my neighborhood, whom I will probably meet again in the next weeks and months. After three hours of sleep, my boyfriend (who accompanied me to the USA and is on vacation here for three weeks) and I got up early in the morning to be picked up by a friend of mine who is also doing an internship near Detroit to make a road trip through Michigan over the weekend. On this trip we stopped in Traverse City, played volleyball and relaxed at the beach of the Peninsula Township Park with the well-known Old Mission Lighthouse, climbed up the Sleeping Bear Dunes and took an off-road tour through the sand dunes at Silver Lake. To put it in a nutshell, it was an awesome first weekend that gave me an understanding of Michigan’s beautiful landscape.

The Heidelberg Project

After returning to Royal Oak from the amazing road trip, I spent some days on organizational things as I mentioned earlier. Nevertheless, I did some fun activities as well: I watched two ice hockey games and a baseball game, explored Downtown Royal Oak, joined a surprise birthday party for one of my roommates, went grocery shopping at Walmart for the first time and finally succeeded to register my car. At my second weekend, I visited the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Detroit, participated in the Ford Rouge Factory Tour and took a look at the street art of the Heidelberg Project.

To conclude, I had a great time here in Michigan since I arrived as I really enjoyed meeting new people and visiting new places. Thus, I am greatly excited for the next months which will probably entail many new experiences!