Intern to Intern: Acclimating to the Unknown
Friday, June 4th, 2010
Editor’s Note: Stacy Oliver has turned over her blog to the interns again. This week’s post is from Dillon Wyatt, a graduate student at Western Carolina University, who is interning at Indiana University South Bend for the summer.
Stacy’s Note: Supervisors, stop reading here. This post is for other ACUHO-I interns. Or you can keep reading to learn more about what your interns are going through (like I did), but make sure you share this.
When I got to my intern site two weeks ago, I thought I was ready to for the experience to start. By the next evening I felt that it wasn’t the place for me. Then I started to remember a few things.
- Things should feel foreign. I conducted my search partially with the goal of ending up at an institution that was in a different part of the country than my own grad school. I did this because I wanted to experience a different region and to try something new. I go to grad school in the same state that I grew up in, so that was very important to me. Then I got here and felt that it was strange and alien, unlike home, and didn’t like it. That was when I remembered I wanted this, to test myself, to see how I would do somewhere new, and to experience new things.
- I should feel uncomfortable. I wanted an internship that was different than my graduate assistant position. This meant I wanted something different than a mid-sized public institution with traditional students and a decent-sized, well established residential living department. I am at a brand (almost) new, tiny department at a mid-sized public institution with a lot of non-traditional students. I got an internship with a lot of different traits than my grad school; it should feel weird and uncomfortable. It should take me awhile to fit in. I have started to learn how the department and institution work. I have started to find my niche. I am learning my role. It’s, a different one than my graduate assistantship, but it’s my role.
- I need to learn the area. My grad school is in a rural area, I am interning at an urban institution, once again by design. The first couple of days I felt that I didn’t fit into the area, I didn’t like it, it was dirty and strange (Stacy’s note: My poor interns moved in during the rainiest week of the year. Now that the sun is shining, they both promise they’re happier). Then I found a couple of grocery stores, learned a couple of streets, and found a couple of places to eat. Now I am much more comfortable there. You shouldn’t know the area, which is one of the great things about the internship exchange; you get to discover a new place. (more…)







