Recently I started my internship here at Asia Lab in Seoul, South Korea. It has been barely a week, but it feels like I started working a lot earlier. To give you an idea on what it means to work at Asia Lab, I have prepared this article.
First thoughts:
In the beginning, we were a bit unsure of what would be expected of us, there is another intern working with me currently, and thus we were shy upon the first meeting. But everybody welcomed us warmly into the team. As we are both not Korean, we were happy to have people that speak English, and also our native language German to help us out when our Korean is not enough. The office space here in Seoul could not be better; it is an open space with a lot of natural light, and it is very modern.
We brainstormed some ideas that the company could use for the Instagram account so far and did some general research about Instagram and how the algorithm works. In meetings with the team and our supervisor, we talked about our results and ideas. It is very fun to be able to do research on topics I have never before considered relevant and thus grow my personal knowledge. Everybody is also very helpful and encourages us to do our best.
Have you ever wondered what a workday at Asia Lab looks like?
Then get ready to hear all about it!
We get to the office at around 10, usually a little bit earlier to set everything up at our workspace, and get the day started. We either prepare for a meeting in the first half hour or get to work immediately. This morning, we had to do some research for a new project our supervisor is planning for the first half of 2022. Since me and the other intern can do the work together, the time goes by fast, and we can discuss our results while we are working. For lunch, we come together with the team to eat. We only ever ordered the food as eating out is complicated due to the pandemic. We would rather stay safe in the office than going out. While eating, we also talk about non-work-related things to relax our minds so we can work better after lunch. We either receive new tasks to focus on then or continue the work from before. Unlike other internships I had before, everybody here trusts that we do our work and does not control our workflow. It is refreshing to feel that trust and actually gives motivation to work harder during the day. We communicate with our supervisor online through chat as we sit on different floors in the building, but it is not at all one sided. Before we leave at around 6, we say good-bye to the team and quickly get an overview about the next day. Overall, the day is over fast and while it is exhausting to sit in front of the computer for so long, it is also very fun to do so.
Overall, the first week was quite eventful but also fun. I am glad I have the opportunity to learn as much as I can here in the company and try to help the team out to the best of my abilities. I hope I can expand my knowledge further while interning here so I take the most out of it.
To say it with the words of Asia Lab:
We are here!
Written by: Teresa Lortz, Asia Lab Global Intern
