This week was the first full week of working a job five days a week from 10-6pm. I have learned a number of things while commuting and working alongside coworkers. My commute is about an hour in the morning so I leave my apartment/campus at 9. Aside from work, a fun event that we had on Wednesday evening was for all of the EUSA. It was a trivia night and we got free food. It was definitely a fun way to unwind after a long day at work. 

I am a broadcasting intern for a small independent company called Babylon Radio. The company is all about integrating individuals into new cultures or finding a safe familiar environment when in a new culture. I understand that any person will face adversity within their career. The test is how you face adversity. At the company I work at there is very little communication between the interns and the supervisor/boss. Most assignments are not given to you, but instead you are expected to manage yourself and get the work done. This was very unclear to me at first because the only direction I got on the first day of work was to “control and manage the entire radio broadcast.” My boss is rarely at the office, but my work is still expected to be done, so I have had to figure out a lot about my role and responsibilities as time has gone on, especially during the first week. I would like to say I am more adjusted now because I have given myself daily tasks that I think are imperative to keep the radio broadcast happening and functioning smoothly. 

I am an individual who learns by example. I pick up on things fast as long as I have directions. The fact that I have had almost no direction my entire time here at Babylon Radio was a major obstacle for me at the beginning. I also think it was a good challenge and has made me more independent in the end. My first instinct when I had unclarity and ambiguity within my day to day job, was to panic. I used to be someone who likes to stick to a plan and gets very stressed or frustrated when that said plan goes off course. I think since being in Ireland, where I get to live and work within the culture, has made me more calm in situations without a plan. This applies to not just within work. When I am out exploring with my friends, I no longer need to be the one directing us to a specific place. I have found that I actually like wandering together and stumbling upon a place we might not have found without “going with the flow.”

In relation to my work at Babylon Radio, I think this experience is making me more equipped for a real professional environment. In the beginning I did not know how to manage not being given tasks directly or not really knowing what to do. At first I would just sit at my laptop thinking of things I could do for hours on end. A couple weeks in and after seeing how my coworkers fill their time, I make my own tasks. For example, I usually finish my given daily tasks within the first few hours of the work day. Now instead of sitting there I began putting my time to productive use. I put together documents of information/research that I do that I think could be helpful to the company to have and maybe implement into the workflow. My biggest research project that I have dedicated myself to is learning about Irish Copyright laws and licensing. I found that it is actually very similar to US FCC laws in some ways. With heavy knowledge about the laws in the United States, I was able to put together the guidelines for Ireland and how our company may or may not be following them correctly. Things like this is what I have been dedicating my time to. This way I am being productive to the company’s time, my own time, and expanding my own skill set. Overall struggling with having unclarity was a challenge and I am very grateful that I was able to finally navigate independently.

The Arcade