This blog post is slightly overdue but I needed the time and the distance to be truly reflective. The last few weeks in Kingston were filled with an abundance of activity such as report generations, handover meetings- a general flurry of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s if you will. The fact that it spanned over two weeks was because July and August are vacation months, and all the meetings and deliverable due dates were staggered as a result of people being out of office/away. 

In all honesty, I do not know where the last two weeks went. Some days moved painfully slowly, others flew by. When I look back on that time, however, it seems like a blur. 

Amidst all these work-related undertakings, there were pockets of everyday life. A surprise party with cake and popcorn, gifts and souvenir, a few tears (totally normal for me) all made an appearance. There were night market trips, last minute beach trips, dinners and lunches and coffees. 

There are places where my work is the main topic of focus- my blog posts have not been this space. This is not because the work I did was mundane, administrative, or uninteresting and therefore warrants less page-time. It’s because, for me, internship was larger than just the “projects”. Everyone’s work/project/supervisor is going to be what it is: this is a variable that changes. Summarized in one line: I created the curriculum, corresponding content, and assessments for a professional development program to be administered online for school leaders across the Caribbean. This was modeled off an existing initiative implemented by my host organization. Some of this work was done as part of a team, some of it was my individual contribution, and some was just observing and providing feedback. The first week back, I was still emailing and calling and texting everyone in Jamaica every day, multiple times a day- there was a reluctance from my end to detach and let go. Occasionally, the conversations were about work; but more often they were about the people and the happenings. I build a little community and home there- a routine for myself which I missed. This brings me to my main take-away from internship- make it count. Whatever that looks like in the moment, whatever it looks like for you, you do what you need to do to make the most of it.