When thinking about my experience in Dublin so far, I realize how it has helped me improve overall. When it comes to my internship, I believe it has aided me in developing my soft skills and hard skills in the workplace. Besides that, these past few weeks have also made me more independent and outgoing, while also allowing me to travel to various new places. It is now week five of my internship and week six in Dublin overall, and reflecting on these past few weeks has made me realize how much this program is helping me develop in the workplace and personally.
This past weekend, my friends and I traveled to Cork. We left early on Saturday morning, and took a three hour bus ride. The weather was quite gloomy and the trip there was long, but we were all excited to get to Cork and explore the wonderful city. We first started by getting breakfast at a place called Spitjack. I ordered the french toast with bacon, and it was one of the best breakfast meals I have ever had. After settling into our hostel, which was fairly nice and in a good location, we set off to the infamous Blarney Castle and grounds. Once we got there, we immediately headed straight for the castle to go kiss the Blarney stone. It is an Irish legend that if you kiss the stone, you will receive the gift of eloquence or “the gift of the gab.” Besides that, exploring the castle and learning all about its history was really interesting. We then went to see the poison garden, the fern garden, the caves, and Blarney house. There was quite a lot of wildlife as well, including cows, horses, and bees nests. After our trip there, we headed back to Cork city and got dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Once again, the food was delicious, and we went out to explore some pubs around us. Once Saturday was brought to a close, we began with a Cork harbor cruise on Sunday morning. We saw some amazing houses and learned more about the history of Cork while floating down the harbor. Our final stop on the trip was a great sandwich shop where we ate and listened to musicians playing in the street. Once our trip was finally over, we took our bus home and I began to prepare for the next week at my internship.
This past week at RCSI was definitely the most progressive and it helped me develop my skills the most. I was very much on my own most of the week, with my supervisors either in a lot of meetings or having to work from home. It provided me with the challenge of having to figure things out by myself for most of the week, but it helped me grow as an intern and increase my soft and hard skills. With little to no in-person guidance, my only form of communication was through email or Microsoft Teams, which can be hard when trying to conversate with your coworkers or ask questions. When it comes to my hard skills that I have used and developed this week, I am starting to easily maneuver my way through databases called Agresso and RIMS. In the beginning, I had to ask my coworkers where everything was and how to use the specific tools, but I can confidently work through it on my own now without any assistance. I have also figured out the shortcuts and methods on how to insert grant numbers and how to work with them and alter them, so that was a great achievement for me. Additionally, even though I knew how to use Microsoft Excel before interning with RCSI, I have learned so much more about it. My supervisors have taught me a great deal of new functions and shortcuts in Excel, and I feel like I am starting to become advanced in it. On the other hand, my soft skills have developed substantially as well. I am much better at communicating and working with my coworkers, and I have also gained more confidence in speaking in a meeting and giving my opinion. My time management has also increased, and my social skills have even gotten better as I now often conversate with my coworkers and enjoy taking my lunch breaks with them. Overall, my skills as an intern and as a person are clearly improving due to this program, and I am so grateful for it. I can’t wait to take what I learned here and apply it to my work and social life back in the US. I look forward to the next couple weeks ahead because I know I have the ability to grow even more.