At first, the idea of living and working in an entirely new city with a completely different culture overwhelmed me. South Korea’s fast-paced startup environment is one that totally differs from what I’m used to back home. Additionally, with this being my first real internship experience, I was anxious about what the structure would be like, having nothing to compare it to. Nonetheless, I stepped into the program with excitement and an eagerness to learn and adapt to a new environment.
To prepare myself for the first day, I made sure to do a trial run on the subway line that was convenient to where I’d be working, so I could map out the commute and the specific location of my building. The first day of my internship was extremely nerve-racking, as I didn’t know what to expect coming into it. My initial instinct was to simply be on my best behavior, ask plenty of questions, and keep myself constantly busy throughout the day. However, I quickly realized there was a major interference with that plan. Unlike the highly structured jobs or school environments I was accustomed to back home, there was very little immediate direction. It felt as if my boss had simply handed me a broad roadmap for the entire eight-week internship and expected me to navigate the day-to-day route entirely on my own.
To keep myself on track for the next eight weeks, I decided to break down the roadmap my boss gave me into manageable pieces. I realized that treating the entire internship as one giant project would be a lot to think about, so instead, I started looking at it week by week, and then day by day. The end goal of my internship would be to outreach to the organizations and scheduling meetings to hopefully drive new partnerships for the startup. To reach this goal, I split up the tasks into weekly sections with the first two weeks focusing soley on researching organizations and putting them into a comphrensive list. By creating my own daily structure, the lack of detailed directions stopped feeling like a hurdle and started feeling like a space where I actually had room to take ownership of my work.
This environment required a major adjustment, as I was given a lot of independence and often found myself with significant downtime between tasks. In a startup, there isn’t always someone handing you the next project, and I quickly realized how easy it would be to let those empty hours slip away or get lost in unproductive rabbit holes. To adapt, I had to completely reframe how I managed my time. Instead of waiting for direction, I used that open space to hold myself accountable—whether that meant proactively organizing our shared files, meticulously tracking data in Excel sheets, or teaching myself how to separate simple busywork from tasks that actually added long-term value to the team. Learning to stay driven and structured when the day was completely wide open was one of the biggest changes I had to navigate, but it taught me how to create my own momentum.
Another major adjustment was learning how to navigate communication within this unstructured environment. At first, I was worried that asking for help would make it look like I couldn’t handle the independence. But I soon learned that there is a massive difference between asking someone to do the work for you and asking for clarity so you can do the work correctly. Instead of guessing what my boss wanted and wasting hours going down the wrong path, I started using our quick catch-ups to show what I had done so far and confirm I was heading in the right direction. Spending five minutes getting feedback early on saved me days of backtracking later, which completely changed how efficiently I used my time.
Ultimately, adjusting to this style of work was initially challening, but has so far been very rewarding because I’ve learned the importance of real-time management. It’s about being comfortable with uncertainty, learning how to create order out of a little bit of chaos, and trusting myself to figure things out on my own. Mastering that balance at the office is also what allows me to completely shut my laptop at the end of the day and truly enjoy being here. By staying focused and driving my own day during work hours, I leave myself with the mental energy to fully immerse myself in the city, explore new neighborhoods, and make the absolute most of this international experience.
