Hello again everyone, welcome back! I can’t believe it has already been two weeks! As I mentioned last week, I was pretty excited for this week and although it didn’t go exactly as planned, it was still a fun week.
On Monday we didn’t have work because it was a bank holiday. A holiday on the first official internship week seems like a great opportunity to further explore the city but I was unfortunately feeling very sick so instead of enjoying the long weekend to explore Dublin and other cities nearby I had to email my supervisor and let him know that I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make it to the office the next day, as I was still feeling very ill. Having to stay home the first day was so disappointing, I was so excited to start working and meet everyone in the office but unfortunately my body was not cooperating and there was nothing I could do other than continue to take my medicine and rest to fully recover. My supervisors were very understanding and insisted I stayed home until I was feeling better. Rationally I knew it was the right thing to do, I obviously wouldn’t want to go into the office feeling sick and make other people sick but coming down with a cold during this first week felt like a failure – even though it wasn’t, you can’t control if you get sick or not but it still felt very disappointing. Because of that, having such a quick and reassuring response from my supervisors was amazing and made me feel really valued as a team member at work. As someone who never had an internship before, having to deal with being sick before officially starting at my first internship was intimidating and it felt like I was making mistake before I even started, but it was an important experience that, in the end thought me that, even if the thing I least expect happens, I can still get through it and it will be fine.
Tuesday wasn’t much better, I was still feeling very sick.
On Wednesday I woke up feeling significantly better and very excited that Thursday I would finally go into the office! Before heading into the office, I still had to get some things done, so I took advantage of my improved health condition to go out and find my footing with a routine again. I went out to get more medicine, go grocery shopping and organize everything for Thursday. Also on Wednesday, me and my roommates had a roommate dinner, with a home cooked meal which was really nice. During dinner we got a nice chance to catch up with each other and check in on how everyone’s internship had been going!
Thursday was the big day, I was finally going into the office, I could barely believe it! I got there 30 minutes early and went on a walk with one of the other girls that was also interning in the same place I was. We had met during one of the program orientation activities, and it was very helpful to have someone I had already met to show me around. She told me our supervisor wouldn’t be in that day but she showed me our workplace and the software I would need for work. My supervisor had already sent me an welcome email with instructions as well, which made my first day really manageable and fun! With it being my first day I had a chance to become more familiar with the company and start with an introductory assignment – drafting a blog post for the company website. On my first day I also got to go out for lunch with some of my fellow interns and we got a chance to know each other better which was really fun.
On Friday I worked some more on the blog post and then had the opportunity to explore the city more. At the end of the day me and some friends went to get a dessert which was a nice way to end the week.
This week, despite not being exactly what I had in mind for the first week of the internship and the second week in Dublin, it taught me a lot about time management, not just professionally but also in my personal life. Sometimes we have a plan, but things happen, and you have to change and adapt those plans, so learning how to quickly adapt has been one of the important lessons this week has taught me. It also taught me how to better deal with unexpected circumstances and I look forward to getting more work experience these next couple of weeks and having the opportunity to continue to improve my time management skills as I become more familiar with my routine in the company I’m interning for and with the tasks I’m participating in.