Week two has been a good mix of work and exploration. One main highlight of this week was watching Korea play their first round of their World Cup qualifiers with the entire team. We took a long break to watch the match together, and when Korea won, another intern and I went out and bought ice cream for the whole office to celebrate. Outside of work, I visited the COEX Mall and checked out the famous library and aquarium, where I got to see penguins and otters which was a genuinely good time. On the food side, I tried authentic Korean fried chicken for the first time. I had no idea how to order so I just pointed at something on the menu, and 30 minutes later a whole chicken showed up at my table. I finished it, but I was extremely full afterward. I also tried Pyongyang style cold noodles, which I was told is a well known dish in Korea. Personally it was not really my thing, but I am glad I tried it.
On the first day of my internship, all the interns were assigned an end goal project that is expected to be completed by the end of the internship. Whenever we are not doing another task that was assigned for the day, or when we finish the task that was assigned to us, we slowly chip away at the cumulative end goal project.
In an 8 hour day, the first couple of hours are routine. We sit in on a meeting held in Korean, which is definitely an interesting experience. There is a TV in the room that sometimes displays the more important points being discussed, so we are able to inference some information from that. After the meeting we are given a summary of what was covered, which directly correlates to the work we are assigned for the day. It is a good system and makes the transition from meeting to actual work pretty seamless. Around 11 AM the entire team goes on a lunch break, and typically the interns eat together. For this internship there are 2 from the US and 2 from Seoul, who currently attend Yonsei University, one of the top 3 universities in Seoul. It is very fun talking to locals, sharing our personal experiences, and comparing how things are similar and different from each other. We talk a lot about how school life differs between Korea and the US, how we each manage stress, and our hobbies. With each lunch I feel our bond increases and we get more comfortable with each other, even with a language barrier between us. After an hour we head back to the office and start to wrap up the assignments we were given for the day. After we finish, we immediately pick back up on the large end goal project.
This is a typical office job so we are sitting for the majority of the day. Personally I prefer to stand up and take a walk around the building every hour or so to stretch my legs and fill up my water bottle. We also have a building lounge area where we are able to sit with people from the other companies and talk. For this company, as long as we complete our task for the day, we are free to have as many breaks as we like. It is stressed that we keep our physical and mental health conditioned, so it is very nice to have this flexibility.
On a more personal level, the two things that have helped me stay on track the most are a simple to-do list and music. I write out what needs to get done for the day and work through it one thing at a time. It keeps me from losing track of where I left off, especially when switching between the daily assignments and the end goal project. For music, I have been listening to a lot of lofi while working. It helps me stay focused without being too distracting, and on the longer afternoons it really does make a difference.
Overall week two has been a lot of fun both in and out of the office. I am getting more comfortable with the rhythm of things and looking forward to seeing what the next few weeks bring.
