About My Internship

Hello All!

As a part of the academic element of my Internship, I am to keep a journal of my experiences and such. I figured that once I get it written up there, I will include it here as well to keep you in touch with what I'm up to "at work".

Love from NZ!
Gracie



Week 1
June 13, 2010

What I Did:

This first week of work was mostly dedicated to getting myself oriented to a new setting. For one, I had to figure out how the bus system worked. On the Queen’s Birthday (Monday the 7th), I didn’t have to work, but wanted to do a dry run of things so that I wouldn’t be late the next day. I asked the driver to let me off at the bus stop listed on my profile thing with Australearn. Well, he dropped me off alright…in the middle of nowhere. The address I had was fine, but apparently there are two Victoria streets around. I was very discouraged, but got my bus back to Wellington okay (the drivers here are very nice, if not always accurate about where they’re letting you off at). The second day, I asked the bus driver to let me off at a more specific location, which he agreed to …but he forgot about me. We drove right past where I am working. Again, I got very helpful directions on how to get where I needed to go, but it would have been nice to have it work out the first time. The third time I was on the bus, I got off way too early in all of my eagerness, and so had to hoof it for a while. Finally, on Thursday, I arrived right at the stop I wanted to get off at. Victory!

Work itself has been fine. I spent most of last week reading up on how the New Zealand government works, how Rural Women New Zealand functions and what it is focusing on right now, the whole bit. Good information, but by Thursday, I felt ready to start doing some actual work. My wish was answered, because Noeline asked me to make up a report on some surveys she had done in which respondents evaluated a recent Rural Women conference. When I handed it in, she said “well done, you!” This made me glad – I want to do a good job!

How Did I Feel?

This last week has given me a mixture of feelings, and has shown me a lot. For one, I have been struck with what it means to be a part of the work force. University doesn’t seem so bad! But at the same time, I wonder what college is doing to develop me? I mentioned this to Noeline (my overseer/supervisor) and she said “I know it…but it teaches you how to think.” I am excited to go in tomorrow to get a better idea of my specific project that I’ll be working on over the summer – likely, it will involve raising awareness or evaluating the policy of establishing a 20 km/h speed limit past buses that are letting children off after/ picking them up for school. More on that later!