What I learned during my summer internship at IrishCentral

As an Irish immigrant, who struggled for a long time feeling disconnected from home, it’s encouraging and inspiring to see fellow Irish and Irish Americans thrive

I had no idea what to expect for summer of 2017 but I knew I wanted to spend my time doing something that would push me to doing something new and out of my comfort. During the school year at university, I write on and off for Spoon University, an online platform dedicated to all things food. For the summer, I wanted to find something to do where I could develop more experience writing and invest my time into something I enjoyed. IrishCentral felt like the perfect place for me. Often times, I have a lot to say about all things Ireland/Irish and having the opportunity to broadcast my voice to IrishCentral readers was an incredible experience.

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I could have worked a job at any old place for the summer and made a few extra bucks but I knew I wanted to invest my time into something that seemed interesting, creative, and valuable to my growth as a rising junior in college. There’s a lot of pressure in college to know what you want to do when you get out of school for ton of obvious reasons. For one, I plan to be stable enough out of college to secure a job and rent my first apartment and that won’t happen without determination and an idea of what I want to do. As of right now, I have yet to find a path I see myself going down. However, what I’ve learnt so far at IrishCentral is that there are a lot of paths for me to go down. I don’t have to be limited if I work hard enough.

There are some people who have one career path in mind and they work tremendously hard to get there. I’m thinking of that kid who from a young age knew they wanted to be a doctor and that’s exactly what they ended up doing. When asked what I wanted to be when I was older, I never knew how to answer. The question was daunting because what if I didn’t want to be just one thing? I have yet to have an epiphany of what I am meant to do. I don’t think I ever will, I have a broad collection of passions that I hope to achieve in my lifetime. Being a writer is one of them. Whether it’s writing in my journal for my own personal growth, to writing articles for the world to see, or writing a book I will always find growth in it.

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When you start writing for online, you quickly learn that you won’t please everyone. If anything I think this has been the most beneficial thing I’ve learned at IrishCentral. You can write with the greatest intentions and still have another disagree with you. This seems to be what I love most about writing because the dialogue never has to end. Everyone has a voice to share and online people are able to voice it even more.

IrishCentral and everyone behind the screen have been so kind to me. I’ve learned more than I ever imagined this summer. Not only have I been lucky enough to publish for them, but I’ve been able to learn how to be a better communicator in the process. I’ve been able to be surrounded by people who love being Irish as much as myself and it’s eased times where I’ve felt homesick. As an Irish immigrant who struggled for a long time feeling disconnected from home, it’s encouraging and inspiring to see fellow Irish and Irish Americans thrive in this workplace. IrishCentral brings its readers a variety of different stories all tied back to Ireland and Irish pride and it’s a lovely thing to be part of.