From the Intern’s Desk: Learning to Slow Down

By: Stacey Miner

Stacey Miner is a student at the University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth and is completing a 10 week internship placement in Australia with GlobaLinks Learning Abroad.

Three weeks in and my body is finally yelling at me to stop and take a break. I did not realize how difficult it would be to study as well as travel while being in Australia. I figured I wouldn’t get to worn down from doing my internship for four days out of the week and that I would be ready at the end of every week to go exploring. As excited as I am every week to go to a new part of the country, my body is not as excited. Monday morning I finally succumbed to all the running around I have been doing for the past few weeks. As much as my mind is saying “Go Go!!” my body is saying “Slow Down!!!”. I obviously have not been listening to my body because I am finally sick and not able to do too much without feeling completely exhausted.

This is one of the first major difficulties I am running into while being here. There is so much I want to do and I want to take advantage of every opportunity but I am starting to realize that it may not be possible to do that. Sometimes (unfortunately) I am going to have to say no and let myself recuperate. I have never been one to relax and rest up. I have always been on the go and I always push myself until I am so worn out that I become ill. I was hoping that this would not happen in Australia and that I would be able to be like the energizer bunny and keep going and going and going. I guess regardless of what is going on in your life and regardless of where you are, your body can only handle so much.  This is one of the lessons I have learned here. I need to take care of myself and allow myself to relax.

In South Bank, with the Brisbane River and Brisbane City in the background.

Relaxation is difficult for me when I am at home let alone being in a different country. It is so difficult especially in a new country because I am taking in all these new experiences, I am trying to do anything and everything I can while I am here. I am doing an internship, I am doing an academic portion to complete the requirements to get academic credit, I’m trying to explore this country, and trying to make friends here while also staying in touch with family and friends back home. I never realized just how busy I would be while here. Even when I am exhausted and I need to relax there is so much that has to be done before I can. I am constantly checking my bank accounts, uploading pictures on Facebook for everyone to see what I am experiencing, keeping track of how much money I have on my phone and my GoCard, and talking to people on Facebook and in emails. This is all so time consuming and mentally and physically exhausting.

Luckily for me I am an organized person and have always been good with communication, paying bills on time, and keeping track of other necessities. It is so much more difficult to do this in a different country though. When talking to family, I can’t just call whenever I want. We need to plan on a time that is convenient for all of us which is difficult due to the time change. When an issue arises with my bank account or a cell phone bill I need to go through my family to get it figured out due to the amount it would cost me to make a phone call to get everything sorted. This is also difficult because it means I have to rely on my family to take care of certain issues. I do not like putting this extra stress on them but there is really no other way to handle certain issues.

I have noticed that since I have been in Australia, everyone that I have ever come in contact with or  have been friends with at one point or another wants to hear about all my experiences.  It is great to see how many people are interested in my life and what I am experiencing here however, I spend an hour or 2 a day just updating people on Facebook and answering emails. Even though I get out of work every day around 4, I don’t finish with everything that needs to be done until about 7pm than it is time for bed and then the next day it is the same routine.

Although this blog may make it seem that I am not enjoying my time here, that is not the case. I am just realizing the difficulties that arise with doing an internship abroad. I am still having an amazing time and this is still an incredible experience. I learn something new about myself everyday and I know this is going to have an incredible impact on my life. For now I just need to remember to allow myself to take a break and not get myself to worn down! If I do, I will spend the rest of my time here in bed and I certainly do not want that to happen!