Hey readers, my name is Holly and I am an alumna from The Intern Group Dublin Programme! I arrived in Dublin on August 4th and my two months there have been filled with belly aching laughter, homesickness tears, the changing of life plans, indecisive life decisions, and the best new friendships a girl could wish for.
For my whole life I have been travelling and moving around the world. It has come to a point where home is no longer a singular place, but rather an intense feeling. One place in the world, other than my hometown Liverpool, that have given me this intense feeling is life in Dublin. Therefore, when I saw there was an opportunity to do an internship in Dublin for two months, to enjoy the Irish culture and get my work experience in – there was no way I would have turned this down.
Looking back now, I saw an 8 week internship as the perfect time to complete everything I wanted to. You don’t actually realize until you get over here that these weeks are going to fly by and yet drag on all at the same time. Putting it into perspective, 8 weeks is 2 months, and that is a very long time to be away from home and your loved ones. Therefore, the most important thing you need to remember is to surround yourself with things, people, places you learn to love and to do everything you want to do. Say yes, step out of your comfort zone, be open to learning a little bit of everything from everyone about life in Dublin, and most of all, always have grace knowing you’re lucky enough to have been offered such a great opportunity in life.
The most shocking outcome of this internship for me was learning how young I actually am. I am 20 years old, but forever apply self-pressure to be a ‘proper adult’, which is part of the reason I chose to take on a summer internship. Never did I expect for this internship placement to open so many other doors within my life.
I can proudly say I have changed what I thought were my set life plans to a whole different array of new and flexible plans for my future. On the first Tuesday of my first week at the Professional Workshop that all interns attended, a very smart woman said that you can change your career or even your life path whenever you want. There are no rules that tell you that you have to stick to one thing in life or that you have do something that doesn’t make you happy. Remember this for those of you who want to go on, have been on, or are still on your internship of a lifetime.
But for now, enjoy your time figuring everything out while you can. Do not be afraid to say no, and make as many memories as possible. At the end of the day, this experience changes you and your life in some way or other.
Photos and text by Holly Rabson