I am an incoming 4th yr International Studies student at Miriam College & our 180 hours Internship has been set to be completed this summer.

I applied at 3 different work places for my OJT. A company within NAIA, Aviacor inc. An NGO, World Vision. & a Diplomatic one, The Embassy of Republic of Korea. Out of the 3, World Vision was the first one to reply but unfortunately, I was too late & all the spots were already filled. I was getting anxious because I applied late & most of my classmates were already accepted. After 2-3 weeks, the Korean embassy called me. I was literally smiling through the whole conversation. After the phone call, all I can think of is "I GOT ACCEPTED!" & obviously, what to wear during the internship. Just kidding :-)

The night before my 1st day as an intern, I tried to get as much sleep as I could. Because besides the excitement I feel, I was going to travel from Quezon city all the way to Taguig! & I was told to be at the embassy by 8:30. 

My alarm rang at 5:00. I gave myself an hour to prepare & left the house at 6:00. My father kindly offered me a ride to work that morning, which was relieving because I don't know how to commute that far. The time allowance may seem a bit exaggerated, but it's better to be a lot early on your first day rather than late. Besides, I'm not that familiar with the traffic going to Taguig. Anyway, I arrived at the embassy at 8:00. 

The Embassy of the Republic of Korea
(Credits to the owner of this photo.)

& all of a sudden my heart starts beating like a freaking drum! I got out of the car & greeted multiple of guards posted at the entrance. I went inside their guard house & told them I was an intern. They kindly let me in & told me directions. When I got into the lobby, I was surprised that it was not air-conditioned. Lol. Anyway, I talked to the woman at the front desk & told her the same. She called someone on the phone and in seconds someone went out & took me inside. 

Karen, a former intern at the embassy now employed there, was the first person I met. She toured me around the Consular Section.(Oh and yeah, I was assigned to assist the Consular Section) She showed me where the pantry is, as well as the meeting rooms & the consuls' rooms. She also introduced me to a number of people as "the new intern" then she told me that whenever I come across a Korean person it's best that I just greet them while bowing a little since I'm not yet familiar with who the consuls are. After what I think is 5 mins of touring & introduction, we reached our work place. There, I got to meet Geiya. Also a former intern but now employed. Since I got there early, my co-interns are still on their way. 

When my co-interns are explaining what I have to do. I understood that it is a process. & that I need to master it, if not master, at least be familiar with. Every morning starting from 9-11, applications for visa are accepted. During this time, I will take the basket containing the visa applications received the day before. I will go through each one & check anyone who has submitted an ITR (Income Tax Return) & stamp something to those who have. After I finished, I will assist Ms. Sereok (Korean) at Window 3 who accept applications from frequent travellers. At the end of the visa application, I will arrange the passports, by control number and by date, which will be released later that day (2:00-4:00 pm). At 12:00 we will have lunch together with the other employees at the Consular Section. There we get to talk to each other and introductions were also made. I got to meet my supervisor, Ms. Jac (Filipino). She is very straightforward and kind to those worthy of kindness. Ha ha! Anyway, we have lunch until 1:30. But after a few days, I usually come back in the office at 1:00-1:15 because by that time the claim stubs for the passports are already piling up and sometimes finding passports which need additional documents take a lot of time. In the middle of finding passports, there are times where I will double check the information that was typed earlier before printing out the visas. We also stick visas on the passports after. There are also some extra errands like doing Xerox copies and bringing some of the application to the Consul’s office and organizing documents. We can go home at 5:30 pm sometimes it can be earlier or late, it depends on the demands of the work assigned that day. 

To be honest, after a week of this I already felt tired (T.T). But in those 5 days a lot has happened. I've made mistakes & I was forgiven. Yes, they scolded me but only to prove that what I am doing is very important & there is no room for big mistakes. 

Throughout my 5 weeks of internship, I have gotten a lot closer to everyone in the office that I ended up having mixed emotions on leaving. My co-interns took a group picture on a random day that served as our remembrance from the embassy.

On my last day, 3 of my Korean bosses took me out for lunch as a thank you gesture for my work. They also gave me a variety of thank you gifts (A bag of Korean coffee, key chain, coin purse). I was really touched because I didn't expect anything from them. I also felt appreciated. At that time I started feeling sad because I didn’t want to leave them but I also want to rest. 2 days before my last day, they accepted a new intern to replace me. I taught her for 2 days but she’s still not used to the process. She asked me if I could stay until the end of the week to help her but I turned her down. I felt bad because I know she was only scared. Anyway, I told her that she can text me whenever she feels uncertain about one thing or if she has any other questions. 

When I got home that day, I tried adding my bosses on facebook in order to keep in touch with them. I am also feeling the need to come back. Being with them feels like I’m part of something. All in all, I like to say that I didn’t like the work they gave me as an intern but I like the treatment I got and the experience I had from the embassy. I’m feeling very thankful that they picked me to qualify as an intern.