Internship in Dublin, Ireland

One of the main things I learned is to have a good work-life balance. I am the type of person that likes to work a lot and overworking can lead to burnout, depression, and anxiety. My supervisor and co-workers would often recommend me to take small breaks throughout the day to avoid working too hard. Once I started having a good work-life balance, it allowed me to travel around Ireland which was my second goal. During my travel, I visited a museum, Cliffs of Moher, Cork, and many other places. I learned that Irish people are generally calm and take most things one day at a time which prevents a lot of stress. Many of the locals in Ireland have been here their whole life and travel on vacation occasionally. They love being here and are content with staying here. One of the locals informed me that her main reason for staying here is because the crime rate is extremely low. In addition, I noticed the police officers do not carry guns which was surprising to me. While at St Margaret’s Network, many of the employees like to tell friendly jokes to ease the tension and reduce stress while working. In the beginning, it was difficult to tell if someone was joking or not because of the accent, dialect, background, etc. For example, one of the co-workers was joking with me about working on a certain Friday and I thought she was serious. After about 2 weeks, I began to understand the humor and mood of the environment. They like to relax and enjoy working. Whereas in the United States, many people like to just work and go home without any interaction.
This internship has allowed me to gain cross-cultural communication skills by directly interacting and collaborating with Irish people. I was able to achieve all my goals and helped put the company in a better position for tracking training. The biggest benefit I got from this program is global networking. I was able to make many connections both professionally and personally which could help if I want to work overseas in the future. In addition, working overseas and having the cross-cultural communication skills on my CV might put me ahead when applying for a job because only a small amount of people study abroad and even a smaller amount work abroad.