My abroad experience has been a mix of in-person internship experience and once-a-week lectures for three of my classes. Our Big Kitchen (OBK) is a non-profit kitchen located in Bondi, and I work there as a supply chain intern. It was founded by Rabbi Slavin out of a synagogue in 2006 to begin to help food insecurity in his community. Two decades later, OBK has expanded its operations and even has a second location in Los Angeles. In the kitchen, I got hands-on experience working with other interns from Northwestern University, making meals and logging nutrition information for labeling and record keeping. Tracking what meals and donations go where is paramount to the function of the organization.

In the mornings, local organizations come to the kitchen with large donations of produce. It is my job to sort the produce by what is usable, fresh, kosher, etc. After sorting, donations are weighed, stored in NetSuite (data software), and put in the refrigerator. Local charities make orders for meals that OBK tries to meet every week. As a nonprofit, everything besides its very top operations is done by volunteers. People from all walks of life help out in the kitchen, and it’s a very sweet thing to see.

In the environment of my internship, roles are more relaxed than in the United States. If someone is done with their responsibilities, they will assume another role or help someone out with their job or projects. With the relaxed atmosphere, hierarchy isn’t as important as finishing tasks. A lot of the work and academic culture is much more relaxed in terms of direction down under. Larger assignments are scarcely given a detailed guide. There are a few sentences here and there outlining expectations, but interns are mainly expected to work to their best ability and help out as they see fit during the day. In my internship, there are daily tasks, of course, but during the lulls in the day, you are expected to work on your own projects or ask someone for an assignment.

Supply chain is an industry that requires a large amount of flexibility. It is an ever-changing industry with ever-changing situations, expectations, and experiences. On the scale of helping a business such as OBK, the roles flip between micro and macro multiple times a day. In the morning, you are weighing food donations; in the afternoon, planning their distribution to organizations all across Sydney.