Time Management
This week concludes my first official week working the internship while in Dublin. During this week I participated in hands-on work for my internship and began immersing myself in the work environment that I will be in for the next seven weeks. It was a very exciting week.
On Monday, we had off due to the bank Holiday here in Ireland. But starting on Tuesday, it was an early morning and straight to the office to begin my internship. Tuesday morning, I headed out to the bus stop near my accommodation and began my route. My placement is about an hour away by bus, so I took two buses to get there and left around 8:00 AM hoping to get there around 9:00 AM when the office opened. As I arrived on Tuesday morning, I was greeted by my supervisor who let me shadow her for the day. I was handed a schedule that enlisted all of my meetings and duties for the week. In my role, I will help accompany service users to and from job interviews and meetings, host workshops, and have catch up meetings with the people that are in the program so that we can go over their personal progress plans. During the first week I was tasked with a lot of different assignments. Some of them were going to the library for reading hours, taking people to their job interviews, attending a workshop on program feedback, touring the facilities available to our company, and speaking with clients over many meals. So far, it has been a great experience because my day is always different, it is a very social role as I try to get to know all the different people at the program, and there are a lot of crossovers between doing my job well and getting to explore new parts of Dublin at the same time. One majorly important part of this schedule is making sure that I am structuring my days well and keeping good track of time. The meetings that I am going to would be important if they were just for me, but punctuality is made even more important because these meetings are for other people. I would never want to jeopardize someone else’s opportunities just because I was late or incompetent.
As this internship will be 9AM-5PM for five days a week, it will be a true test of my time-keeping abilities as well as maintaining balance in my everyday life. Within my day-to-day life, I am successful at planning the tasks that I need to complete, as well as setting aside time for activities. Whether it has been at school, work, or in my personal life, I am skilled at making myself available for the events and people that have needed my presence. I also like to think that during these times, I am productive and efficient with my time, barring the occasional desire to procrastinate, as it is something that I have been working on for a long time. However, for as long as I can remember, I have struggled a bit with scheduling my life so that my present day benefits my tomorrow. Oftentimes, I will get everything done that I need to in a single day, and do good work, but by the end of the day I will feel too lazy, tired, or uninterested in preparing for the next day. This flaw manifests itself in my inability to go to bed early, say no to social gatherings, or do small tasks like packing my lunch at night so that I don’t have to do it the next morning. While this is not a horrible trait, it also does not set me up for success. Over the course of my time in Dublin, I hope to improve my preparation skills and adequate sleeping habits so that each day is easier. This is an important goal for me to have as a focus for myself.
Aside from the work that I have been doing, we have also been having a great time in Dublin. My roommates are awesome and this past weekend we got to explore more of Ireland outside of Dublin. On Saturday my roommates and I walked around the City Centre, through St. Stephen’s Green and did some shopping. We walked through the streets and ended of grabbing dinner at a random Italian restaurant that we found but it was delicious, I had a great pasta. The next day we woke up early in the morning and boarded a tour bus that would take us to the Cliffs of Moher and Galway. It was truly unbelievable. When we arrived at the Cliffs, we were able to walk around and look at the gorgeous views. There were two young women playing the violin as we walked down the steps from the view. It really set the scene. In the grasslands of the Cliffs, there were cows and sheep that we got to see, and it was so beautiful. Continuing the drive, we headed to make a quick stop at Burren where there is a gorgeous view of these limestone cliffs along the ocean that are breathtaking. It was one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. From there we stopped at a Pub for food and drink and then headed along the coast to Galway where we got to see the adorable town and shop at the village market. It has been wonderful to explore the country while also experiencing working in the city.