I’m currently done with my first week as an intern at KVA!

It’s been very hot and humid here in Seoul, South Korea lately. My office building doesn’t usually turn on their air conditioning, but my desk has a personal fan so I’m staying as cool as I can.

Some updates about this week: 

I am really enjoying the location of my office! It is located in Insadong, just a short 20 minute commute from my accommodation. Insadong is a recognized artistic and cultural hub, with streets lined with cute shops, art galleries, dessert cafes, and traditional Korean restaurants. It’s colorful and full of delicious food for lunch and dinner. My lunch break is from 11:30am to 1:00pm and at first I thought that the length of time was way overdoing it. I’ve been so used to 30 minute lunch breaks at all of my part-time jobs in the U.S., I figured an extra hour is nice, but unnecessary. Well, I’ve come to report that I was very much wrong. In Korea, everyone starts their lunch break around the same time everyday, so by 11:35am, there are swarms of people going to sit down and eat their lunch at any of the restaurants nearby. My coworker and I always make it outside and into our chosen restaurant before everyone else, so we just sit there and watch the many many groups of Korean office workers filter in. The lunch breaks here are a completely different beast, and so I do appreciate having the full hour and a half to find, eat, and pay for my meal before making my way back to the office. But by witnessing that rush, I have been able to scope out all of the popular and traditional-looking restaurants around town, where everyone likes to order their first, second, or third iced Americano of the day (that’s their drink of choice), and what Insadong is all about. 

At my internship, this week is all about figuring out the flow of the work. My main tasks are to research potential partnership organizations in the U.S. and talk with Korean students who are using my company’s English study services to improve their English and prepare for upcoming interviews in different fields. As per Korean business culture, the first full day on the job was just being thrown into my tasks. I was told to pick up the calls of two different students, one small talk session and one as a mock interview for the hotel industry. My company, KVA, has outlined scripts to follow and topics to use for discussion already prepared, but I felt very nervous and underprepared when I first started. However, the English sessions got easier and the partnership research was just doing a lot of searching on the internet, as to be expected. 

I’ve found that managing my time and tasks are very easy. KVA has a google calendar updated with the week’s scheduled English study sessions, each labeled with what student I am talking with and what we are to be talking about. It’s very straightforward and nothing is unexpected when it comes to my tasks and what is expected of me. When I am not on calls with any of the students, I use that time to do the research and fill out an Excel sheet with all of the information I have found. The English study sessions are the only tasks that need to be done on time—so far, the partnership research I am doing doesn’t have a definite deadline. I come to the office 9am-6pm or 10am-7pm depending on the day, so there are definitely times that I feel stuck during my research and have nothing to do until another call is scheduled. During those times and for this first week, I’ve been looking forward to next week’s scheduled English study sessions and preparing to talk to those students. I usually take a look at their resumes and past English evaluations, just to prepare myself for that call and to try and foster a valuable and helpful conversation. Also, when I am expecting a mock interview, I make sure to look at their work experience and try to come up with more questions that an interviewer might ask them based on the industry they are working in. 

I am hoping to get more tasks in the future to fill my time a bit more and to be of more help to the company, but with all things considered, I would call this first week a success—I can’t wait to explore more of Insadong, eat more delicious food, and get even more experience at this company!