It has been nearly two weeks since I left Dublin, and I am already reminiscing on all the memories I made during my time there. Dublin greatly exceeded my expectations, and I am so grateful for the time that I spent there and the internship I worked at. Over the past two weeks of being home, I have been able to reflect on my time in Dublin and I am able to identify some of my personal, academic, and professional growth already. Also, I believe that my experience in Ireland will help me at Pitt and with my future career goals.

During this program, I have been able to grow personally, especially by becoming more independent. By moving to another country for two months, I forced myself to be more independent and step out of my comfort zone by being far away from family and friends and traveling in a new city where I did not know anyone. I was able to prove to myself that, even though it was uncomfortable at times, it was worth immersing myself in a different culture on my own, and it even allowed me to meet so many new people from different schools and backgrounds. After completing this internship, I feel more comfortable stepping out of my comfort zone, especially when the rewards make it very worthwhile.

This program also allowed me to grow academically. I have not taken any summer classes in the past, so having blog posts and discussion posts each week gave me more academic structure to my summer than I have had in the past. I believe that having work to do over the summer will definitely help me transition smoothly into the fall semester since I have struggled with this in the past. I believe that I will feel more confident that I will perform well in the fall since I have caught up with schoolwork throughout the summer. The credits I will earn from this program will also allow me to go easy on myself for my final year at Pitt, and I will be able to take fewer credits this upcoming year, giving myself more free time for my senior year.

I find that the professional growth that I have accumulated over my time at Dublin is the most significant growth that I have accomplished this summer. I believe that my internship at Headway gave me great experience in a field similar to what I am interested in working in in the future. I think this was a unique experience for me, and I hope that it will help me out with future jobs and experiences I will have in the future. My internship gave me important experience in the psychology field, and it truly was unlike any experience that I have had in the past. I think this would have been difficult to find elsewhere, so I am very grateful for this internship, and I believe it will greatly help me with my professional goals after I graduate.

As a psychology major, I believe that my internship experience will help me at Pitt. My internship gave me a unique perspective on brain injuries that I can use in future classes I may take during my final year at Pitt. The information I learned about brain injuries at my internship will also give me a new perspective that I can apply to cognitive psychology classes that I have taken at Pitt.

I truly believe that my internship experience will help me in my future career goals. If it simply helps me interact with people in a workplace, then that is still something that will help me in the future. It also gave me important insight into Headway, how they operate, and the activities that they planned with the patients there. It allowed me to see if a job in a field similar to this is something I would be interested in, which is very helpful for my future career goals since I have been very indecisive about what I want to do in the future.

My time in Dublin greatly exceeded my expectations, and I am very happy that I participated in this program. I was able to complete an internship, make friends, and explore Dublin and other cities in Ireland. The two months I was there went by in a flash, but I truly think that I made the most of it. Although I had a grand time in Ireland, I am excited to return to Pitt and start my final year!