Well, what can I say about Chris, he has been fantastic. The guys here [at our radio station in Dublin] are already saying, “What are we going to do when he’s gone?” He has fit in perfectly with everyone here and works incredibly hard with all the staff and volunteers that I have thrown at him.  He has really helped a number of the Presenters with their shows, and is able to adapt to any show genre from the teenage shows to the documentary style programming to his own Wednesday morning show.  Also the Sunday night Sport View show he made substantial contributions to. Nothing has been too much trouble for him. He is the most helpful, open and friendly person I have ever come across!

Working with someone who has the kind of enthusiasm and eagerness not only to learn but to ‘muck in’ whenever asked has been a real pleasure for me. He is mature and extremely hard working. Above all, he is highly regarded by everyone on the team here. We will be REALLY sorry to see him go back to the States, and hope that he’ll return to Dublin someday,  I have to say, if there was any way that I could keep him here, I certainly would.

Its been an absolute pleasure having him here, and yes we will take someone next summer, but what a hard act to follow.  I’m tearing up so I’ll sign off.

Let’s talk soon.

Tina

This experience also led me to some wonderful people. The times we spent together having fun and going crazy. Taking trips to wonderful places like Brighton, Amsterdam and Barcelona. Celebrating my birthday, going clubbing and having dinner together: We learned so much about each other and supported each other with activities. I’m glad that they went to watch me play netball and cheered me on whenever I put the ball into the net.

I also managed to make friends with some locals and had the opportunity to spent time with them. It was really a great experience, meeting new people. I would never strike up a conversation first in Singapore but in London, it just comes naturally.

London is just a spectacular place to be. The commute is easy even though there’s a lot of walking to be done. People may find London’s weather crazy but I think it’s just fine. The temperature is nice apart from the super wind and the unpredictable rain.

I know for a fact that I will miss this place when I am back in Singapore. My friends back home will never understand why I love this place so much because you will never know how much you love London unless you experienced it on your own.

I know that this won’t be the last time that I’ll be here as there are so many things that I want to do in the UK but didn’t have the chance to do it. Furthermore, the football craze would definitely bring me back home as my family are planning to watch a live game in Old Trafford, Manchester.

Singapore will always be the place that I grew up in but London would always feel like HOME!

New Friends at our Apartments

Downtown London

Trip to Amsterdam

Playing Netball with the Locals

Old School London

GE Social Event

Unfortunately, as a minimum-wage-making college student, my funds are limited. The clothing and accessories designed by my host company are fantastic. I would like to closely resemble the fashion and styles represented in my host company which feature a lot of animal, tribal, and geometric prints, leather, tunics and surplice style dresses (to name a few items). While deciding what to bring from my own closet and shopping for clothes, I need to keep a few things in mind. I have minimal suitcase space with a weight limit to fly. There will be limited storage space in my apartment in Sydney. My internship only lasts two months. I am going to pack as many versatile pieces as I can so I am able to mix and match — always able to create a “new” outfit.

I have recently purchased four pairs of dress pants from The Limited (they had a Buy 1 Get 1 Free sale!) that I plan to bring. I also plan to bring a few jackets or blazers — these are items than can be worn many different ways. Jackets and blazers and can be worn with dress pants, jeans, over dresses, or with shorts as well as with many different tops. I am still deciding as to what shoes to pack and unfortunately they take ample suitcase space, so I need to choose carefully.

With just a little under two months left until my departure date, I still have plenty of time to sort this out. Wish me luck!

And who better to visit such a romantic city with than my boyfriend! Adam and I took the Eurostar from London and arrived in Paris only 2 hours later!   The train goes under the English Channel.  I must admit.. I was a bit frightened about taking a train under water.  But I did it!!

Once in Paris, we took the metro to our hotel, which had our own private balcony and an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower!  Couldn’t have asked for a better room!

Our time in Paris consisted mostly of enjoying the food, trying to see every major tourist attraction there was and trying to navigate out selves around with out getting lost.  Which may or may not have happened.

Adam and me in front of Les Invalides (The Military Museum and Tomb of Napoleon)

Every site we went to had some thing so unique and special about it.  The architecture of Notre Dame was absolutely breath taking!

The Sacre Coeur had the most amazing views of the city and was such an amazing view itself!

Beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower at night by the river My absolute favorite picture

The Eiffel Tower had blown me away.  In the day it was exactly what I had expected!  But once the sun set the Eiffel Tower lit up and basically put on a show for the city.  I have never seen anything like it and didn’t expect to fall so in love with it.  Every corner I turned, I had to stop and stare at it!

Paris is one of the most amazing cities I have ever seen!  The next chance I get to go back… I will be on the first plane! (Or train!)

It has been approximately 8 months, and I cannot believe that in less than two months I will be leaving for Italy. Barring my in-person interview upon arrival to Italy going poorly, I will be working at a journalism internship in Florence. This past year I have further worked on my grasp of the Italian language through courses emphasizing conversation and written expression in the vernacular. In addition, I have striven to learn more about Italian culture- this semester I am taking a course on Medieval and Renaissance Music, and have learned a lot about the history of Florence during the Renaissance and the Medici family. My term paper in the class is about the Carnival during Florence and carnival songs composed by Lorenzo Medici, among others. I cannot express how excited I am to actually see and experience all of the places that I am learning about, and be able to connect my newfound knowledge with a living, breathing place.

I have been making lists of places I want to go, stalking National Geographic albums, Wikitravel, countless travel blogs, and even photo-stalking albums of friends who have traveled to Italy. I am finalizing travel plans to and from Florence, and cannot wait to spend time in Rome, Assisi, Milan, and Madrid, in addition to my time in Florence. In addition, I am currently reading a novel by Giorgio Bassani, an Italian novelist, entitled  Il Giardino di Finzi Contini, which is set in the city of Ferrara, Italy. After some research, I learned that one of the powerful Italian families during the Renaissance, d’Este (Ercole), lived in Ferrara as well. The city is not more than two hours by train from Florence, and I am now looking forward to exploring around there too!

In short, my excitement increases as I learn more about the country and the number of days until my departure continues to dwindle. I have a feeling finals are going to be hard to face in the midst of daydreams of the unforgettable summer to come. Wish me luck!

I’m so, so happy you’re reaching out and asking these questions. Trust me, my mom was, of course, a little nervous when I threw out the idea that I wanted to work at an internship in Dublin for the summer so I completely understand all of your questions/concerns.

First, let me just say, I truly had an experience of a lifetime this summer. It sounds cliche, but with the way life works, it’s never easy to get this type of traveling experience while being able to gain experience working at the same time. If I didn’t take this opportunity, I honestly don’t know when I’d ever get to travel and really surround myself in a new culture, especially at this exciting time in my life — being young, ready to soak in everything, learn and just have a fun time.

The “Real World” your daughter is going to be jumping into in a few years is, as I’m sure your aware, competitive and difficult. I always knew I needed internships to give me that edge when I go for interviews but this experience tops the charts. Some students can say they’ve gained experience in internships. Other students can say they’ve studied abroad. But rarely can a student say to a possible future employer that they were lucky enough to do BOTH and have a lot to show for it. I’ve grown so much in this summer and I feel so much more ready to face the so-called “Real World,” and I’m not scared because this experience has shown me that I am ready.

So, now for the big questions you need answers for:

1. My internship was far more than I could have ever imagined. I promise you I am not exaggerating any of this. The two men I worked for were so welcoming, caring, and very intelligent individuals. They were businessmen and worked hard but never overlooked an opportunity where I could learn from their daily working lives. I worked for a video production company and helped by mostly editing footage they gave me. And it was so fun for me because they gave me very few guidelines, allowing me to be creative and show them what I could do. They were impressed by my work and put some of my promotional videos on the internet. Leaving the internship, I have a DVD, or video reel, to show future employers my work. It was very important to me that I came out of this whole experience with something to show for it and, luckily, I got that and MORE. They made sure I was getting the most of my time in Dublin, always suggesting places to go, things to see- they were awesome to work for and I built a great professional relationship and friendship with them that is going to be beneficial to me for years to come.

2. Before this summer I never traveled alone or ever even traveled out of the country. Talk about being nervous. I cried at the airport when my family dropped me off because I was so scared. But the second I arrived in Dublin, I could barely remember why I even teared up. Everything fell into place and the transition was easy. I came there as a VERY inexperienced traveler, and now I’m back home and can say I’ve been to Ireland, Scotland, England and the Canary Islands (we took AMAZING weekend trips to close countries). My family was shocked when they heard how much traveling I did in just a short two months. I have a new love for traveling and I am dying for my next big trip. My nationality is American, I only speak English and so that was another relief that I went to Ireland instead of a Spanish speaking country or something.

3. I heard about Global Experiences by e-mails sent out through my college Penn State’s internship opportunity emailing list. I read the e-mail, thought, “Hmm, this could be interesting,” responded saying I wanted to learn more and I was immediately in touch with a person to answer all of my questions and give me all of the information I wanted before I even knew if I wanted to apply.

4. Before we headed off to Ireland, there were webinars where Global Experience helped give any more information they could — there was so much they provided us with so I felt comfortable going. One big thing they emphasized was to not go into this with any expectations because some people go in thinking one way and when they arrive and it’s completely different, they get disappointed and can’t transition as well. So, I’ll be honest, though I had very few expectations, I did have an idea of my living accommodations before I got there and, yes, at first the apartment disappointed me. But ONLY because our specific apartment had less features than the other apartments everyone else lived in when we compared. Overall, it was a nice apartment though. For example, we had twin beds, others had full. We had old carpets, everyone else had wood floors. These differences were basically simple aesthetic features that we lacked but of course, we weren’t going to get bent out of shape from them. ALSO, just to give you a better idea, GE gets its students in the best accommodations for the city they’re in. I know this because we actually went to London for a weekend and stayed with another fellow GE intern and they’re housing was unbelievable! It was so nice, comfortable, modern, etc.  But the best part about our apartment building was that it was in a safe location of Dublin and very close to almost everyone’s internship. Even my bosses were impressed with the location and said that it’s a nice, safe walk for me to come to work. And it was. As for its convenience to food stores, shopping, restaurants, night life, bus routes — EVERYTHING was a 5-20 minute walk. Food stores and bus routes, especially, were right down the road. It was perfect; I have a bad sense of direction and I managed to only get a little lost the first week.

5. Now for the cost — money is never easy to come by and I come from a lifestyle where it’s extra hard. So, my mom was not too thrilled with what it cost but to answer this question you really have to put you’re own financial situation into perspective. My outlook (that people may disagree with) is this: I do not let money stop me from doing what I want to do when it comes to advancing my future. For example, I applied to Penn State (my dream school) and, once accepted, dealt with how I would pay for it all. Granted, I had to apply to hundreds of scholarships and luckily ended up with a full ride but it wasn’t easy. So, I put this experience into perspective — rarely do any decent communications internships pay. Traveling is never cheap. I really want an internship in NYC so living there could easily end up being about $3,000 more or less and this is an opportunity to live in a different country. I will admit living there ended up costing a lot more than I anticipated but I have this mentality that a few couple hundred dollars may seem like a HUGE amount right now but when I’m 30 and looking back on my young life, a few extra hundred bucks was totally worth the memories I made. When you look at the cost of this experience, plan to spend more, especially if your daughter is interested in traveling to other places but if you think that you could handle the cost now, I promise it will pay off in her future. I already have other internship opportunities that are within reach after this internship that I wouldn’t have had a chance getting otherwise. You form relationships with people who have many connections and everyone at Global Experiences wants us to succeed. So, yes it may seem pricey in the beginning but no amount can be put on what you get out of it all.

6. Would I do it again? No. Why? I went into this knowing it was going to be a once in a lifetime summer. And it was. Will I travel again — absolutely. But because I’ve learned so much about what I could see myself doing in my near future I am now looking for internships in cities like NYC because I may want to live there after college. It was amazing living in Dublin and I’m sure it’d be amazing to live in any other country but now I need to focus on figuring out what else I want out of a possible career and I don’t think staying in Dublin again could help me find those answers. But would I change anything? Yes. I wish I went into this knowing it was going to cost a lot of money because it was hard being over there and constantly needing to have my mom help me out with money. It took me about two weeks before I realized how quickly money can disappear when your having a good time out in a fun city like Dublin.

7. Believe it or not I actually did come home and recommend Global Experiences to all my closest friends and even my cousin. They are thinking about studying abroad but they know they can’t waste a summer traveling when the know they need to use that summer to gain valuable job experience so after they realized how much my summer in Dublin provided me with both, their doubts are gone.

8. Advice: Don’t be scared to travel. Don’t be nervous to hop off a plane in a new, unknown country and become a local. Make friends with the locals. Be a tourist for a week or two and then walk around like you’ve been there for years. It was so exciting after a few weeks because I genuinely felt like I lived there. And I loved it. No more walking around with a big book bag and a map. I was a pro. Get to know your employers. They’re there to help you learn and grow. Get out of Dublin and travel around Ireland. Get a feel for the countryside. TRAVEL AROUND EUROPE. Best decision my roommates and I made was to take a long weekend and go to Scotland and London. Have fun and soak in every moment and don’t sweat the small stuff because two months fly by!

9. My mom had a lot of questions in the beginning but she knew this was ultimately my decision. It is, after all, my future, and she trusts me. So, any questions she had she ran them by me and it was up to me to get all of the answers. When she knew I had my heart set she was on board and together we worked out any last kinks or questions she had or was concerned about. It was all pretty simple for us.

Hope this all helps. If you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to ask. Tell your daughter she won’t regret this!

Sincerely,

Leslie

Which brings me to the main topic of my blog for now on. My internship!

I have to make a note that my co-workers are so awesome. Only one is fluent in English; the rest can only say a few words and some nothing at all. Which is great for me, I am being forced to learn Italian. If I get stuck though my co-worker who speaks English will help me out. A few of my co-workers are very interested in learning English actually. So they will ask me how to say something in English, and I will ask for the Italian translation. Still… I can understand a lot more than I can speak. But being there makes me learn more, just by listening. Also my friend outside of work doesn’t speak much English, and he corrects me all the time. So between the two, I am getting better and better everyday.

I am enjoying my internship in costume design at the theater so far… but the hours sometimes are really late. For example I get out at 12:30am sometimes. Few days ago that happened. The opera is going on, so it’s not going to be like pulling teeth being there, but still… going to be rough. Especially when it takes me 30 mins to walk home. My friend thankfully said he would meet me to walk me home, the only catch was I had to go get a drink with him after I get out. Hard life here. When I first got to the internship we were working on the opera called “Tosca”  and few other little ballets; now we are working on “Anna Bolena,” which I must say the costumes are soooooo gorgeous. So we prepare costumes for them all. Some are sent in from other cities and we just have to adjust them to the singer, other costumes we have to make. I must say I have the best seat ever. We made some costumes for a ballet, and the male dancers came in for a fitting… right next to me. The men are different from the girls; the girls go into a private room to get fitted, the men? Well they just strip down right there in front of you, and I mean strip down to barely there underwear. These dancers? Yeah… they are young, very attractive, and have amazingly perfect bodies. I tried hard not to stare… but it was so hard. Being a blog and all I should stop about these dancers and talk about what I am doing in my internship. Also to note, I don’t write it down everyday since it would add that much more repetitiveness to my blog but my work is 2 miles away, so pretty much everyday to save time I run to work and back. I’ve been working out everyday and eating quite healthy too. So I am getting into great shape here. I don’t think my body has felt so good in a long time. I am really starting to notice the difference in it. I plan to keep this up once I am home too. …So skim on!

Day 43

The “Tosca” opera premiered this day. Also it was a observation day, so I pretty much sat around and watched everyone work. It was really boring and the time went by sooo slow. But it was really exciting to see the opera go on later in the day, see everyone get prepared and see how the show comes to life.

Day 44

Fix sleeves on jacket; shorten cap, arm hole; gusset added to armhole; cut strings for tail; put away Pinocchio costumes; label costumes; dress actors and actresses for “Tosca”; dressed the little kids in cardinal costumes.

Day 45

Hand sewed hem for chorus members; sewed conductors pants – whip stitch; sort clothing from the other ballet and label; sew tights; dress tenor and bass men for “Tosca”

I must say dressing the men was hilarious. They are little kids. They had an Ipad and thought it was the greatest thing. There was an app on it that had a bird that would record your voice and sing it back all weird, they could not get enough. Also beyond it being funny… it was sooo awkward. They just walked around naked. They had underwear on… but I hardly count it as such. I just stared up at the ceiling for the whole time pretty much, except when they would come talk to me… I had to look.

Day 46

Sew under trousers; fix seams; match socks; sew tights; put clothes in artist room; label socks.

During work my co-workers got into a argument. I tried to keep up on what they were saying, but they were talking so fast in Italian it was hard to. They were arguing about how many extra hours they have to work and the extra pay they don’t get. It was very intense and long.

Day 47

My Birthday!!  Me and a couple of friends went to a beautiful villa for a picnic. We walked around the grounds and sat on the ground and had nice little spread. We had cold pasta, strawberries, bread, etc. They also brought me a birthday cake! A match was forgotten but it was the sweetest thing still.

Day 48

The play “Tosca” was going on so I dressed the women’s choral members.

Day 49

Home! Finally a day off, so I did some much needed cleaning and relaxing. I felt like I had not gotten any sleep for ages.

Day 50

Iron cravats; matched socks; check choral members costumes; check Pinocchio costumes.

Day 51

Fix and steam garments

Day 54

Remove sequins from garment.

Day 55

Gathered and stitched leotard for a ballet.

Day 57

Fitted ballerina men; mended chorus men costumes.

Day 59

Mended chorus members outfits; dart and label; fixed choral members outfits; label.

Day 60

Fix choral outfit; dart; hem; waist.

Day 61

Continue hem work; “Anna Bolena” run through.

Bar for the night

Day 63

Fix artist hat and hem choral white dress.

This day I had no power for a couple hours, only because it was my fault. I turned too many things on… my landlord had to come over and tell me where the switch to turn my power back on. Whoops.

Day 64

“Anna Bolena” late night

Day 66

Adjust length on choral arm outfit; attach cuff to armhole; “Anna Bolena” dress rehearsal; dressed women chorus.

Most of the time during “Anna Bolena” I sat around and listened to music. The women’s had only to get dressed once, so it can get kind of boring. But still enjoyable nonetheless.

Day 67

Fix choral hat; fix choral outfit – hook, reattach skirt; add tie to back piece.

Day 68

“Anna Bolena” late night.

Day 69

Fix choral outfits.

Day 70

Sequins on prima ballerina outfit; fix hem and rips.

Day 71

“Anna Bolena” late night.

Day 73

Sort artist clothing, steam ballerina outfit; check artist outfit; sew arms.

Out to dinner with co-workers; it was really enjoyable. It was a Spanish restaurant so we ate and some of us got up and danced. I, of course, had pineapple pizza… My co-workers just made fun of me the whole time. I thought it was quite delicious. I had a typical Tuscan dish for a first course though; it was some lean meat and fried bread with cheese. SO amazing.

Upon deciding to participate in a Global Experiences internship, I was told, “Take the image you’ve created in your mind and throw it away.” Whoa. That sounds scary. As expectations formulate in my mind — I (try really hard to) throw them away! I am ready to be challenged, to be taken out of my comfort zone, and to soak up as much new knowledge as possible.

I have not even left yet and I am already learning things: I learned how and why to apply for a Visa. To acquire Australian dollars before I leave the States, I learned that (at my bank) I will need to order a pre-specified amount of money about a month in advance. Although it is Australia’s winter, I learned that temperatures will be between 40-60 degrees Fahrenheit.

Many interns do not confirm their internship placement until four to eight weeks before they leave.  However, a prominent fashion label became interested in me in the beginning of the year; I interviewed with the brand manager in February and got the job! Global Experiences does a great job at laying groundwork for their candidates. My host company already knew my name and background (by speaking with GE representatives) and had my resume and cover letter. I have enjoyed checking out my host company’s website and receiving weekly e-newsletters. I cannot wait to start my internship in June!

Here are some pieces from the line:

What I know about my host company:

· They do everything “in house,” meaning: They create, sketch, design, sew, price, sell wholesale and retail, advertise, promote, etc.

· I will be able to learn anything I want (because everything is done in house!).

· I will be working with approximately 20 co-workers, including Lynette — with whom I’ve already spoken on the phone.

· The designer is originally from San Francisco, but fell in love with Australia and moved there, where she started her line.

· and…that is it for now!

I cannot wait to arrive in Sydney and start my internship in June!

I am loving my time here, I am really enjoying the culture. I can understand Italian more than I can speak it still, but I hope with my internship only speaking Italian, I will learn to speak more. Also, it’s really great that everything is in walking distance, seriously. I know I have said that before but I really enjoy it. The pub everyone goes to is literally a 3 minute walk from my apartment. Mostly I am meeting amazing people. Each one brings a different dynamic to the group. Some I have become very close to, and sadly a lot of them have already left. Each time it’s just getting harder and harder. When it comes to leave this country, I know it will be the hardest goodbye. The ones that have left already I will see in July, so that makes me extremely comforted. The others that are still here and have to say goodbye to sooner or later, I really hope I see again.

Now for the things I am missing…

1: My Family

2: Friends

3: “Free food”

4: Home cooked food

5: Not doing dishes

6: Not having to dust every two seconds (for some reason my apartment makes dust bunnies on an assembly line)

7: My queen sized bed

8: Having all my clothes

9: Not doing laundry

10: Having my laundry come out the same color it went in

11: Not grocery shopping

12: Working (Hate retail, but man I really don’t like seeing my account just go down all the time, I want money)

13: My car (With it being cold all the time, I wish I had heated transportation)

14: Having the heat on without feeling like I will get yelled at

15: Shower head that is on the wall

16: Shower that has a higher ceiling

…That is really it actually. When I look back at it, they are all trivial  things. I am making out pretty well then.

Day 32-34:

In the afternoon, I met with a good friend for some Asian food and met her mom. Her mom is the sweetest person ever. I will be staying at her house with her daughter (my friend) in July and she was already saying what she was going to make me. I have to think of something to bring to her for letting me stay in her house and just because she is an amazing lady.

But YAY! Weekend away. So this weekend me and my friends went to a little mountain getaway. We went to a town called Faidello. We left from the Florence train station at 4:30 in the afternoon.  We had to take a train then a bus. In total it was about two and half hours from Florence. We rented an affordable chalet for 9 people. The transportation was very cheap too. It cost 3.70 euro for a train and 4.30 euro for a bus. After we were on the bus for awhile we found out we took the wrong bus. The bus that was supposed to go to our chalet was not running due to the bad weather. When we got to Abetone (a few miles away from our chalet), there was a bar we could go to in to get warm and figure out what the heck we were going to do. I got a bit nervous since I really did not want to spend the night in a bar, and could not afford night in a hotel too. The snow was falling hard and the bar called Lupo Bianco (White Wolf) was really really nice.  We sat around drank and ate. The two girls who were really good at Italian started to find taxis for us. The staff gave us some small sandwiches and things to munch on while we waited. Eventually a taxi was willing to take us through the snow. While some people grabbed drinks, we realized the man who owned the place we were staying at was there! He was such a nice guy and once we got to the chalet he even built us a fire in a wonderful fireplace we had. We made some food from what we had come with and the rest of the night we drank wine, played some card games, and sat by the fire. My bed I slept in was a bit awkward… It was too short for me and the middle part was dented in… so you can say I had a hard time falling asleep.

When I woke up I ate some wonderful breakfast by our own personal chef (a.k.a. our friend who is a cook). The weather was not good enough for skiing so we decided to go for a walk into town. After layering up A LOT, we headed out. We looked at the scenery, took photos, and had a snowball fight (of course). We found a ski shop that told us prices for rentals and lift ticket, it was sooo cheap!! Once we got back to the chalet we cooked chicken over the fire, and played cards again. I had a tendency this weekend to just sit in a chair by the fire and fall asleep. I loved the smell. It was interesting though: the upstairs was an inferno and the downstairs just comfy. I stupidly wore all my running gear to bed and woke up in the middle of the night in a sweat. The next day we couldn’t go skiing again because of the weather, so we just cooked some more and sat by the fire. Eventually we had to leave. It was really sad. I was just a nice relaxing weekend away. The people I spent the weekend were just as wonderful. The only draw back from this weekend was that everyone got sick….

Day 35

Chocolate festival week!

This place is just amazing. It is just stands of chocolate everything. I loved it. Pretty much spent the afternoon there. Best thing I had was a strawberry kabob covered in chocolate. 

Day 36

Night out for a friends birthday! Dinner out at an aperitivo, which was amazing. The food was sooo good and was only 10 euro and then to her apartment for some wonderful cake and drinks

Day 40

Today I went to Chianti! It was soooo beautiful. We took a walk through the vineyards and then went to see the cellar where the wine is made. We eventually made our way into the wine makers house, where we had different courses of food with wine. I loved every moment of the day… except I was freezing every moment. I dressed for the weather in Florence, not for this area.

Day 41

I woke up with a cold… Fantastic! I went to an American brunch though with my friends. I ordered blueberry pancakes and bacon. It was amazing! Then after went home, did a few things around the apartment, then went out to the movies with some friends. We saw “The Descendants.” It was so good, but also sad..

Day 42

Went to the store, and did laundry. I was invited out for dinner, but decided not to. Need to save money and plus, this cold is making me feel soooooo lazy. Anyways tomorrow… finally… starts my internship!!!!!! Also in a few days… Saturday is my birthday. It’s actually quite depressing for me. 25 years? What happened???????

When/what/where was your internship? How was it?

I worked for a start-up company in Dublin, Ireland. Because the company I worked for was still in the beginning stages, I was given a lot of responsibility, which was an aspect of the internship that I liked. The people were very friendly, and willing to give me advice and help me with anything I needed as I got used to living in a new environment. Overall, it was a great internship!

What did you gain while living in a new environment?

I describe the time abroad as “the freest I’ve ever been in my life.” I had the opportunity to travel often, and I saw many different landscapes, ate new foods, and experienced a variety of cultures. The coolest thing about being abroad was making last-minute plans to do and see new things. I loved it! It was also invigorating to meet new people from new places almost every day, and I enjoyed getting to know them and learning about their cultures.

How did your international internship help you once you returned?

Going abroad was a huge growing experience. Between navigating foreign airports, learning the streets of a metropolitan area, and figuring out which stamps to use to send postcards home to friends and family members, I became much more self-reliant and confident in my ability to navigate a new city. In a broader sense, the experience of living abroad and experiencing a different culture gave me a more global perspective on American policies and social norms.

What do you do now, and how do you think your experience helped you reach this point?

I am currently a senior at Penn State University, and am applying for full-time positions. As I have gone through the interview process, I have noticed that employers are very interested to see that I took the initiative to work for a company abroad. The global perspective I gained from being abroad has been an asset in critical thinking exercises in several classes I have taken since arriving back in the US.

What would you say to someone thinking about working abroad? What advice would you give?

Working abroad is an amazing experience. It’s really cool to not only immerse yourself in the social culture of another country, but also in the vocational culture. The concept of work-life balance is so much different in Europe than it is in the United States, and being able to witness that was an eye-opening experience for me.

My advice to those who are planning to do an internship abroad is this: make sure you talk to your employer about the possibility of scheduling a few long weekends and days off to travel and to explore the city you are based in. I was able to do this, and it definitely enhanced my experience abroad.