Do you think your program changed you as a person?
Tomoaki: Absolutely yes. I wouldn’t like to even imagine if I couldn’t experience the internship. The program has completely got rid of my "unnecessary concerns" that I’d had before I was on the job. I was a "typical Japanese", the ones just like around you and always felt too much concerns when I tried something new.
However, I'm now working in Tokyo, Japan with plenty of confidence and I've never felt inferior to any of colleagues because I’d got through the challenging tasks throughout the internship. Every single moment during the internship has been invaluable that my future career turned to contain a wide range of possibilities.
What made this intern abroad experience unique and special?
Tomoaki: When I consulted with one of the staffs in Australian Internship as to what I wanted to do was that I can’t experience anywhere but in Australia, she offered me the internship on Morton Island, which I realised later on it was exactly what I expected.
The island is the third largest sand-made island in the world and you can see very many sea creatures, such as dolphins, turtles, dugongs, vivid colored fishes and whales, around there. I usually joined staff-priced marine activities or inland tours on my day-off and sometimes colleagues invited me a BBQ party and we were chilling with beer, sunset and unlimited expanse of ocean. I really enjoyed the unique environment and had an unforgettable time with amazing friends on the island.
Describe a goal you set and how you went about accomplishing it.
Tomoaki: In the first couple of weeks, I felt really sorry that I got colleagues in a lot of troubles and took them a while to resolve my stupid mistakes. However, wonderfully kind people working on the island never made me hesitate to ask any questions in order to avoid the same mistakes.
I didn’t set such a special goal honestly, but I always took some memos with standing right behind colleagues to be able to behave what they handle each task, and then I was getting used to dealing with any sort of tasks in my own way.
What is one piece of advice you'd give future Australian Internships students?
Tomoaki: No matter how many mistakes you happen to make, all you have to do is just do your best and try not to do the same mistake. If you realised you’ve got any achievements each day, even which anybody could do, they were going be piled up and you'd step further forward from where you are, when you looked back the way you had walked on. I bet somebody watches your efforts as long as you never give up and I hope your experiences through the program will become extraordinarily fantastic!