Hi there!

I cannot believe my time here in Sydney is over 🙁 I am writing my final blog post from the airport and it feels like not too long ago I was just arriving here for the first time. It is crazy to think about just how fast this past semester flew by. Between my classes, my internship, and traveling all over Australia, there was always something eventful going on. Since being here, I have met some of the most amazing people here that I will continue to stay in touch with even after the program is over. This was truly the most amazing experience of my life and I am so incredibly grateful that I had the opportunity to come here. 

Throughout the course of my internship, I was able to expand my cultural awareness as well as my professional understanding of the workplace environment. I feel that having an internship internationally was an incredible way for me to gain a greater global perspective as well as expand my global network. I also feel that this was a great opportunity to continue working in the field that I want to enter and I was very fascinated being able to experience working in a completely different type of healthcare than what I am familiar with. I have another internship in healthcare marketing when I return home for the summer, and I feel that my internship here has greatly prepared me with the necessary skills for excelling in my future career in healthcare marketing after graduation. Some skills that I have developed throughout the course of my internship are adaptability, cross-cultural communication, and self-discipline. I also feel that I greatly improved my research and copywriting skills as well. I think that these skills will be heavily beneficial for me in my future career. I am extremely grateful for my internship as I was able to gain amazing professional experience from it as well as form a wonderful connection with my supervisor.

As far as my time in Australia in general, I did not believe that such an incredible place like this existed until now. Sydney was truly the perfect combination of city life while also being only 20 minutes away from the beaches. Some of my favorite places that I traveled to in Australia were Byron Bay, Whitsunday Islands, and of course the Great Barrier Reef. We also traveled to Queenstown, New Zealand over spring break, which was also an incredible experience as well. Over the past 3 months, I have traveled to so many places and seen so many cool things. I have grown immensely as a person and learned more about myself than I ever would have had I not had this opportunity. I have become a much more independent and self-sufficient person. I have also become extremely adventurous and learned to branch outside of my comfort zone and try new things. Overall, I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world. I can confidently say that this is the most incredible thing that I have ever done.

Thanks for coming along with me on my journey!

Olivia