Hello Everyone, please forgive this interruption to my blog so I can reflect on what I've been doing so far on my internship.
As I've discovered recently, it is really important in a workplace to have the skill of self-advocating for yourself. What does this mean? This means sticking up for yourself and what is best for you to be productive, happy, and comfortable. Without advocacy, you may find you are not able to do what you need to do or feel as comfortable doing it in your workplace. Specifically with my internship, it is most important to have this skill. Being that I am a foreigner to the country, do not speak Finnish, and am doing a project not so familiar to others at the school, there is lots of room for misunderstanding if I don't advocate for myself. In order to get the resources I need to made a great video, I have to speak up. In the beginning of my internship, I was a bit nervous to do this due to the language barrier. I was a bit disorganized and I didn't really know what to ask about or for the video. Towards the end of my first week, though, I started to form a plan for the movie and, doing this, I realized, made it waay easier for me to get what I needed afterwards. Once I knew what I wanted and needed to do, getting them came quite naturally. Additionally, my ability to self-advocate has not only benefited me at my internship but also in my general travels. I have found that I am much less afraid to ask questions if I don't understand something and, with my host family, get what I need to live comfortably with them.
As I've discovered recently, it is really important in a workplace to have the skill of self-advocating for yourself. What does this mean? This means sticking up for yourself and what is best for you to be productive, happy, and comfortable. Without advocacy, you may find you are not able to do what you need to do or feel as comfortable doing it in your workplace. Specifically with my internship, it is most important to have this skill. Being that I am a foreigner to the country, do not speak Finnish, and am doing a project not so familiar to others at the school, there is lots of room for misunderstanding if I don't advocate for myself. In order to get the resources I need to made a great video, I have to speak up. In the beginning of my internship, I was a bit nervous to do this due to the language barrier. I was a bit disorganized and I didn't really know what to ask about or for the video. Towards the end of my first week, though, I started to form a plan for the movie and, doing this, I realized, made it waay easier for me to get what I needed afterwards. Once I knew what I wanted and needed to do, getting them came quite naturally. Additionally, my ability to self-advocate has not only benefited me at my internship but also in my general travels. I have found that I am much less afraid to ask questions if I don't understand something and, with my host family, get what I need to live comfortably with them.