Well!
I started my internship this Tuesday, and finished up my first week this evening! It’s been a whirlwind of a week, with a lot of learning about how the organization is run and meeting tons of new people (many of whom are named Siobhan), but I’m really enjoying the experience so far!
I’m interning at the Dublin Well Woman Centre, which provides reproductive health services at three clinics across Dublin. The services can range from simple pap smears to more serious things like crisis pregnancy counseling, all of which are incredibly important. I will be doing work with Well Woman’s website content, social media platforms (just Facebook right now – maybe a blog soon!) and governance/best practice. I still have a TON to learn and spent most of this week doing research to see how other organizations are run and present themselves, which is really interesting to see. I think Well Woman has room to improve, and I feel so lucky that they’re willing to let me try to help!
I work in their head office, with the CEO, the medical director, and the financial staff. They have all been so welcoming and are giving me some great suggestions for places to check out on the weekends. I definitely appreciate their patience as I learn how to do basic things like answer the phones – I successfully transferred a call without hanging up on anyone yesterday!
I’ve also been able to visit two of the clinics so far, which was a great experience. Everyone there is, again, super friendly and welcoming and patient when showing me the ropes. It’s also so valuable to be able to see the end result of the work that’s done by the staff of Well Woman, and to see how well-run the organization is.
I know I should be saving money and bringing my lunch from the apartment, but it’s SO hard to resist the endless cute cafes and restaurants around my office! There are tons of options that all look delicious and aren’t too expensive. I had to make a list of all of the places I wanted to try so I don’t forget! I’ve been doing that annoying thing where I take pictures of most of my meals, just because they look so good, and I promise I won’t Instagram all of them, but I’ve gotta share them somewhere!
At the end of the summer, I’m going to try to do a review of my favorite places to eat and get coffee around the city. It’s overwhelming now, but I can already see some places becoming my go-to for a quick lunch break!
I’ve been so tired coming home from my internship every day that I’ve been getting in the bad habit of vegging and laying around all evening. I know I should be taking full advantage of my time here and the fact that it stays light so late, but sometimes you just have to be lazy and catch up on your YouTube subscriptions! Luckily, Global Experiences got me out of the apartment on Wednesday night, as most of the giant group went on a small pub crawl with two Irish traditional musicians. We each got a complimentary drink (thanks, GE!) at the beginning, and had a great time listening to the history of Irish music and learning the chorus to some pretty fun songs.
It is now coming up on my first full weekend in Dublin, and instead of going out tonight (Friday) I’m sitting and blogging with another intern while drinking tea. I’m very glad to have found that there are some like-minded people in this program 🙂
Thanks for reading! Margaret