1.This summer I spent my the eight-week global internship in London. This is a global summer internship program under Fisher College and I worked in a company called Vistra, a financial, accounting and law service provider.
2.This is my first internship and it greatly laid a foundation for my future internship and future development. I was unsure where I should go after my graduation and I was also feeling confused for my future life. This experience taught me a lot, not only improve those technical skills, but also develop my personal ability, most importantly, it led me a direction where to go. Through this internship, it let me know what’s my passion, what is right thing I should do and I became more confident for my future career development.
3.I met a lot of people with different background from different industry. This kind of various working conditions made me growth. I learned that how different cultural background affected their working environment and how to deal with different people under certain circumstances. This is a totally new experience for me working in another country. It became more comfortable for me to adjust to the changing environment.
I worked closely with my manager and he sometimes took me out for some networking events and internal conferences. What I have learned from him has greatly changed how I behave. As a business development manager, he had to deal with lots of clients and kept contacts with them. His professional in work showed me how to behave professionally in work place and how much effort you should put behind the desk. I was really shy to talk to other colleagues at the beginning. The manager always told me how important it is to interact with other co-workers, so I gradually tried to talk to them during lunch break and after work. I found it was actually not bad to talk to them as I was expected and I got much closer to other colleagues.
I went to some networking events with people from other industries. It was hard for me to at first to join their discussion because they talked a lot about their work, their clients and their trip. I felt so nervous talking with them; however, everyone is so nice and listen to me patiently. After all of these, I realized that everything is just not as bad as I thought to be, and I needed to have the courage to step out of my comfort zone.
The 8 weeks in London has been a wonderful experience of my first start of my career. The biggest transformation came from the support from my colleagues. Without their guidance and support, I would not have the courage to do the things I want to do.
4.The first internship brought me much more than a 8-week abroad experience. It taught me something that I would never learn from textbook. After this experience, I got to know how to behave in work place and what I expected to my future, so it’s more likely to help me find my way. And most importantly, I realized the importance of being brave and stepping out of the comfort zone, which is significant for work.
Wanxin I enjoyed reading your reflection about your experiences interning in London for 8 weeks. It’s great that you feel much more certain about your future career direction. It was also wonderful to read that you feel much more prepared to behave in a professional, work environment when you graduate and enter the workforce. Although you were initially nervous and shy about interacting with your British colleagues, you were able to step outside of your comfort zone and make some connections with people.