My name is Taylor Caudle and I currently have a virtual international internship with EcoLocal, a tech startup located in Barcelona, Spain! EcoLocal focuses on connecting their shoppers to local artisans and farmers near them through their app EcoLocal Market. The platform utilizes B2B and B2C to help support sustainable and organic farming practices: it’s basically a techy farmers market!

 Barcelona is 6 hours ahead of Arkansas, so there isn’t as much availability for communication. Spanish business practices are drastically different than they are in the United States. Business communications are much more formal, and, in the afternoon, citizens take a siesta where they enjoy a break from work, can take long lunch, or a nap. Most communication is done via email, aside from our weekly “face to face” meetings to discuss the week’s tasks. A lot of my working is during whatever free time I have, but in order to make this experience feel more real I try to carve out specific times during my week to work, which is mostly on the weekends. I still dress business casually and work from my office desk (as opposed to the couch in my pjs) in an attempt to recreate a work environment.

What’s been really interesting about my internship is that Barcelona is located in Catalonia, which is a region of Spain that has their own dialect and version of Spanish that is completely different. A lot of my job is translating the product list into English, and there are a lot of products that we don’t even have in the states and many words that do not translate over. I have studied Spanish for 8 years. One of the easiest words to learn is “with”, which is “con” in Spanish, or “amb” in Catalan. Catalan is to Spanish what British English is to American English. Bit confusin’ innit bruv?

I recently just finished a marketing campaign to promote a new product on our website/app. EcoBaula is a company dedicated to eliminating plastic waste through their cleaning products. The company sells cleaning tablets that can be used for laundry, cleaning your house, or even cleaning the bathroom. One tablet is equivalent to one liter of cleaning products when mixed with water. Pause: you may be noticing there is a similarity between my company name, EcoLocal, and EcoBaula. Through my internship I have learned that in Spain and some of the European Union that companies will put “Eco” in front of their products or business names to symbolize that they are organic and sustainable. This is an immediate indication to consumers that their company is environmentally focused. I find it so interesting that customers are so environmentally focused in the other half of the world that this has become a common and standard trend. It’s been incredible to experience firsthand the different business practices.

At EcoLocal we have really been focusing on launching the website with Shopify. Before I joined the team, it was difficult for EcoLocal to operate both an app and a website, as the company is relatively small, so they solely focused on their app. Now, we have launched the website and it is incredibly fulfilling to know that I have helped accomplish that. I am halfway through my internship and cannot wait to see what else is in store for me. I went into the internship with the intension of strengthening my Spanish speaking skills, and I have already noticed a change. I have more confidence in my speaking abilities because EcoLocal fosters a very friendly and empathetic environment where practice is encouraged, and mistakes are expected. It is incredibly fulfilling that after only 4 weeks I have accomplished so much.