Pre-internship Jitters

So, here I sit. Should be in bed. It’s 10 minutes to 1AM here. Elizabeth & I are meeting Joe at 9.25AM to go to our internship tomorrow.

But I am much too wired to sleep.

And my feet are cold.

But really, I’m just nervous/anxious/scared/excited.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the real reason we’re all here in Ireland; social work(care) internships.

I’ve spent the past year and a half working with children with autism, from ages 5 to 21 years old. On many occasions, I interacted with well over 20 kids in a day.

This school only has 7 TOTAL, ages ranging from 4 to 13 years old. Each kid has a one-to-one (or rather tutor, which I will be doing), then there’s the supervisor, and finally the director of the school. To clarify, this is as big as two classrooms at my old agency (which had about a dozen total).

I’m scared they’re going to run their school so much different than mine and thus I’ll have to relearn everything I thought I knew in a short time. I’m scared I’m going to do something that was acceptable at my old agency but isn’t acceptable now. I’m scared that they’re going to run their school in an awful manner and I’m not going to be able to deal with it. I'm scared I'm going to have no where to get back to the apartments (Joe's giving us a ride in, but my placement is over 3 miles away. I may have to take a bus, which I know nothing about.)

Mostly I’m just excited though. I’m excited for this new opportunity, to experience something I think I know in a whole new light. I’m excited to honestly just go in headfirst into an agency I know little to nothing about and meet new people and have new experiences.

Also, my kids back home make me melt on a daily basis. These kids will have Irish accents, so that means they’ll make me double melt probably.

I hope I love this place and the people in it. I hope my eyes are opened to new ideas and theories. I hope every moment, good or bad, I take in. I hope that this school allows me to take away experiences I will never be able to duplicate, or would want to.

I hope I come out tomorrow at 3PM in one piece, but with a lighter heart and even more excitement for the future.

To all my friends back in Brockport, enjoy starting back up classes tomorrow. Remember, for many of you it is your last semester at the college; there’s no going back now. May 15th will be here before any of us can even realize it.

If I could go back in time,
Wouldn't change a damn thing in my life,
Love the dumb things we do when we're young;
But the best is yet to come.

Oh! Go for it, run toward it, dive in headfirst!
Live life with no regret!
Put your heart out there, don't be scared, you might get hurt,
But it's all worth it in the end!
'Cause the best is yet to come.
[Hinder – The Best Is Yet to Come]

I think this about wraps it up for me.

Love you all,

Dana