Hi everyone, welcome to week 3! I’m happy to say that this week has been one of the best ones so far. It took a little while, but I have finally fully adapted to a routine and I’m more familiar with work, which is great.
On Monday, I got to meet my supervisor in person and have a conversation with him about the company, their goals and what their expectations were for the interns. Everyone in the office was so nice and welcoming that it made starting out not as intimidating as I thought it would be. I’m currently interning at the Global Undergraduate Awards, a non-profit organization that helps celebrate and recognize top undergraduate work, through its undergraduate award programme. With a submission deadline fast approaching, this week we were working on communicating with universities we had a partnership with. We were updating them about our new deadline, that had to be extended due to increasing demand, so that more people could still submit their work. In addition to updating them about our new deadline, we were also trying to increase publicity about our award program to different universities across the globe. For the first couple of days, I helped communicate with different Heads of Departments in various universities across Europe, which was really interesting. Since most of the communication was done over the phone, I was a little scared to start. I had a script with the basic information I needed, but before completing my first call, I was so nervous! What if I messed up? What if I somehow ruined the company with a bad phone call?!
Well, I’m happy to report that I didn’t ruin the company and that my irrational fear of ruining the company with a bad phone call was just the nerves talking. Despite it being a little scary and sometimes getting nervous making the calls and emailing the Heads of Departments the whole experience was actually very interesting and it taught me a lot. Due to the company’s smaller size, I’ve had the chance to be very involved which is very nice but also a little intimidating. As a first-time intern sometimes, I felt like I needed more information, or needed clarifications to do my assigned tasks and, in the beginning, going up to my superiors or other interns felt, as I’ve mentioned before, a bit scary. Despite being intimidating, in order to help me figure out how to best conclude my assignments, it was important for me to talk to my coworkers, especially to the other interns who had similar tasks as me. Checking in with them to see how they were doing a certain task was very helpful as it allowed me to get a different perspective while trying to figure out how to go about the situation without troubling my superiors with minor questions. While talking to my coworkers has helped me a lot, reaching out and asking clarifying questions to my superiors has also been very important to ensure that I’m doing the tasks I’m assigned in a manner that meets both the company’s expectations and my expectations. While I like to think I’m handling things well so far, I’m still trying to figure out a good balance between trying to solve things myself and learning when to ask for help. Learning when to push through by yourself and when to ask others for help can be a tricky line to walk, but I believe after trying to solve the problem by yourself, if you are still struggling, it is better to ask for help than to just keep struggling alone. Asking for help can be a little intimidating but it’s important to remind yourself that no one knows everything, and people won’t mind if you are asking clarifying questions that help you improve your work!
In addition to my time at work, this Saturday, me and a friend went to explore the city some more, especially the more famous areas such as Temple bar! We found some really interesting vintage stores and even a Brazilian food store, which, as a Brazilian abroad, was really fun! I bought some Brazilian snacks that I used to get as a kid in my hometown, and I got to take some of them to my friends so they could try it as well. Being abroad has so far been an amazing experience, and getting the chance to be in contact with parts of my culture while abroad has been very comforting, adding a feeling of familiarity to my experience in Ireland.
I look forward to what week 4 will bring !
