It’s now been one week since I’ve gotten to Seoul, and it’s been fun! The food here is just as good as I remember, and the coffee is so good and so cheap compared to the United States. The weather is a little more humid than I’m used to, but it hasn’t gotten too too hot yet which is great, and there is always a nice breeze. So far I have done a lot of exploring in Insadong, an area of Seoul with a ton of traditional Korean food, clothing, and buildings. I have eaten samgyetang (chicken and ginseng soup), kimbap (like Korean sushi but without fish), jeyuk bokkeum (stir-fried spicy pork), and Vietnamese food! Everything has been great, and the service is really fast, especially around lunch time when all the office workers go out to eat. I also explored Myeongdong, because although I have been a few times before, it’s the kind of place you keep going back to as there is so much to see, do, and eat. It is also right next to Insadong, so the walk is pleasant from my office building.
Something interesting about this time being here is that I take the bus everyday! When I studied abroad, there weren’t many buses close to campus, so I went months without ever riding one and just stuck to taking the subway which I got really used to. Now, the nearest subway station is about a ten minute walk, and there are bus stops all over around our accommodation. So instead of taking the subway everywhere, I’m getting to see Seoul from a different perspective in a way which is great.
As for my internship, my original schedule of nine am to six pm has changed to be from ten am to seven pm two days a week for the convenience of our clients. There are two parts to my job: the first is to research international internship and volunteer opportunities for Korean students, and the second is to conduct calls in English with the students via Zoom. There are three main types of calls: English evaluation, mock interview, and small talk. All students begin their experience with our company by doing an English evaluation call, then they move on to either small talk or a mock interview depending on if they want to practice their English skills generally or if they want practice for an upcoming interview.
My tasks at my internship are quite simple. Therefore, time management and task prioritization are not incredibly important. Eight hours everyday is more than enough to complete all the work, and my supervisor assigns me and the other staff to the student calls, so I do not even have to consider how to manage all of those. However, there is a little prep work to be done for the student calls, as well as the tasks of downloading the audio from the calls and completing the English evaluation rubric for the relevant calls. These are the tasks I prioritize, as being prepared when speaking to students sets the tone for the calls, and shows professionalism, encouraging the student to take the call seriously. So far, all of the calls I’ve conducted have been with people older than me, so this aspect of presenting myself as put together and intentional is really important. Other staff may also need to refer to the notes I take during calls, so I prioritize the organization of all files related to each student in order to make everyone’s job a bit easier. I also utilize a few methods of communication while working, so I make sure to check all of them frequently so as to not let any message remain unaddressed for too long.
I am the type of person who works very diligently and quickly while creating a quality outcome, as growing up I had very little time to do homework or study due to my extracurricular activities, however my grades remained strong. Now, that translates into my work, allowing me to complete a lot of work in a short time period. Due to this, I often find myself with not much to do, so time management for me sometimes means taking more time to do tasks rather than doing things quickly.
Overall, the internship is going well, and is neither too difficult nor incredibly boring. I really enjoy the phone call aspect of it as it allows me to learn about different Korean people’s lives as we have small talk conversations in English, and I can utilize my developing social work skllls to make students feel comfortable so that they do not stress about making mistakes and just focus on speaking and practicing as much as possible.
The pictures I’ve added are of Insadong, me in Incheon from our day trip, and traditional Korean rice cake from a cafe in Insadong!
