I still feel that this trip never happened, and I was just dreaming through its whole duration! This was my first time in America and the first time that I was only with me, myself and I. It was so scary in the beginning! I had to prepare all the necessary visa paperwork (US bureaucracy can be more terrifying than a horror movie!) and I thought so many times to abort the mission. I could always have a summer internship in Greece, where my mum would feed me until I burst! Right?

So, my main question was always: “Is this trip to America truly worth it”?

After my days in America the answer is always: “Of course!” (sorry mama)

My internship was based in Pieris Pharmaceutical, located in Boston. Pieris is a pharmaceutical company that discovers and develops drugs for cancer and rare diseases. Although my comfortable zone is to work in a research lab, this time, I decided to focus on an office-based work, related to business development and drug portfolio management. In this position I collected information from the laboratory research and the clinical trials and combined this knowledge into the pharmaceutical business future decisions. In other words, the drug portfolio management is an innovative, valuable tool to monitor, discuss and understand the important projects into pharmaceutical companies to increase the efficiency, safety and commercialisation of potential future drugs.

Through these three months, I was able to better understand and apply the theories, that I have learn in the classroom, in the real world. I was also introduced to employment avenues, that I have not considered in the past, and some of them I didn’t even know that exist! I was. therefore, able to create an amazing network and observe people in positions that I might like to hold in the future. This great work environment encouraged me to work harder and enjoy what I was doing through my days there. I feel that this placement was a significant advantage for me to share my work to people from different backgrounds and I believe that I had the opportunity to be a vital representative for raising the institution’s profile abroad.

Most importantly, this internship was a great chance for me to experience how it is to live in this amazing country across the Atlantic Ocean! I leant many things about different cultures and traditions. I finally admitted that baseball is, indeed, a super entertaining sport and that American food portions can truly make a person happy! I am sure that these memories will follow me for the rest of my life!

“If it doesn’t scare you, you’re probably not dreaming big enough.” Tory Burch