Recently, I completed my internship here at Asia Lab in Seoul, South Korea.
First thoughts:
In the beginning, we were a bit unsure of what would be expected of us, there was another intern working with me, and thus we were shy upon the first meeting. But everybody welcomed us warmly into the team. As we were both not Korean, we were happy to have people that spoke English, and also our native language German to help us out when our Korean was not enough. The office space in Seoul could not be better; it is an open space with a lot of natural light, and it is very modern. We brainstormed some ideas that the company could use for the Instagram account and did some general research about Instagram and how the algorithm works. In meetings with the team and our supervisor, we talked about our results and ideas. It was very fun to be able to do research on topics I have never before considered relevant and thus grow my personal knowledge. Everybody was also very helpful and encouraged us to do our best.
Have you ever wondered what a workday at Asia Lab looks like? Then get ready to hear all about it!
We would get to the office at around 10, usually a little bit earlier to set everything up at our workspace, and get the day started. We either prepared for a meeting in the first half hour or got to work immediately. In the morning, we would do some research for a new project our supervisor was planning for the first half of 2022. Since I and the other intern could do the work together, the time went by fast, and we could discuss our results while we were working. For lunch, we would come together with the team to eat. We only ever ordered the food as eating out was complicated due to the pandemic. We would rather stay safe in the office than go out. While eating, we also talked about non-work-related things to relax our minds so we can work better after lunch. We either received new tasks to focus on them or continued the work from before. Unlike other internships I had before, everybody here trusts that we do our work and did not control our workflow. It was refreshing to feel that trust and actually gave us motivation to work harder during the day. We often communicated with our supervisor online through chat as we sat on different floors in the building, but it was not at all one-sided. Before we left at around 6, we would say goodbye to the team and quickly get an overview of the next day. Overall, the day was over fast and while it was exhausting to sit in front of the computer for so long, it was also very fun to do so.
I am glad I had the opportunity to learn as much as I did here in the company and helped the team out to the best of my abilities. I was able to expand my knowledge further while interning here.
To say it with the words of Asia Lab: We are here!
