As this summer and my time in Ireland come to an end, I have time to reflect on my internship and my entire abroad experience. I have had an amazing time this summer and don’t think I would change anything (except maybe the amount of sun that Ireland gets.) I got great hands-on experience through my internship and got to meet amazing people through it. My internship showed me that I really do want to work in the NGO sector as well as live and work abroad at some point in the future. I learned so much from my internship, both about the company and the entire sector and it made me much more interested in my future career. It also helped me decide that after obtaining some field work experience after graduation, I want to go to graduate school for a masters in global development.

As for my entire abroad experience, I couldn’t have asked for anything better. After visiting five countries in three months and exploring all of Ireland, I can truly say I had the time of my life, no matter how cheesy it sounds. I got to visit some of the places I have always dreamed of visiting and found new places I want to visit again. Also, through working and living in Ireland I was really able to immerse myself into a new culture, learning the business norms and the cultural differences and coming to really appreciate them.

I am really going to miss the Irish people, with how nice and helpful they all are. I will also miss my work environment because of how laid back and easy-going it is. I will also miss having the ability to explore new countries and places every weekend. However, the one thing I can say is that my wallet will be extremely happy to be back in the states.