It feels good to be back...

Hello, to all my lovely readers!

It has been a long while since I last posted.

During the month of June, I volunteered in Thailand. I taught English at a small school located in a rural part of the country, away from the tourist trial where English was rarely spoken by the locals. It was amazing. I meet some wonderful people, learnt so much about Thai culture, visited breathtakingly beautiful places and just embraced the warm nature of Thai people.

Whilst there, I got to meet and teach such lovely children! My young students were all very well behaved with impeccable manners. Despite the language barrier, they still made me laugh and I immensely enjoyed their company during my days at school. The teachers were just as lovely. Everyday, they used to offer me and my partner different fruits to try. They treated us so well, to the point where I felt like an important guest. I was not used to such impeccable manners and warmth anywhere else. Having met my teaching partner, during my time in Thailand, Lulu has become one of my dearest friends in such a short amount of time.  Lulu is a kind, endearing, sweet and very inspiring young lady. I really miss her and I miss the adorable school children. I wish I was back in Thailand. To sum it up, it was a fantastic experience, one that I will always remember.

Have any of you visited Thailand?

Do you have any stories to share of volunteering abroad?
How did you find it? What did you do?

In July, I started a Marketing internship with a social enterprise. It is going well and I have met a lot of brilliant people. So far, it has given me opportunities to learn new things, evaluate my current skill set and make improvement. I strongly believe it is essential to proactively engage in self reflection and development, only then can we progress and evolve into the person we want to be. Only then can we achieve the things we want to achieve. From undertaking this internship, I am more aware of my strengths and weaknesses. As challenging as it may be to overcome those weaknesses, with hard work and persistence, I will overcome them and turn them into strengths. What are your  strengths and weaknesses? Write them down. How can you overcome your weaknesses? What steps are you going to take to turn them into strengths? Start now.

To anyone studying at University, do an internship or two before you graduate and enter the job market. It helps to set you apart from the competition and gives you the experience recruiters now expect in applicants. Like me, you can intern after graduating, but I would say it is wiser to intern while on your summer break or part time around your studies. If you are doing a sandwich course, perfect! The extra year on your course spent to gain real work experience is highly beneficial.

Well, now that I am back, I am excited about the new posts I have lined up. Hope you are too!

Until my next post...

Sonal x