Week 8:
University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics

March 12, 2013

This will not be a long post.

That might be a bit surprising to hear – after all, after eight weeks working in a new environment, wouldn’t I have a lot to say?

And it’s true, I do – the issue is that, much like working with really large numbers, there reaches a appoint where you’re working with such a large amount of information that it’s impossible to work with all of it and one has to simply use shorthand instead.

Simply put, I learned a lot these past two months.  I did a lot these past two months.  Heck, it took me forever to craft these blog posts, and they cover maybe 5% of my overall experience here.  Maybe.

Granted, I’m not going to look at this experience through rose-tinted glasses.  It wasn’t perfect – especially during the first two weeks, I felt like there was too much time and too little to do.  However, these past two months have given me so much.  Through them I have learned the ins and outs of a new major psychological therapy, I’ve had the opportunity to practically work with data and search the literature on a scale infinitely larger than anything I’ve done before, and, most importantly, I’ve gained a much stronger insight into what I am like in a work setting; what my strengths are, what I need to work on, what I like and dislike, and what it is like to have one’s personal and one’s work lives truly separated.  I was able to see the world beyond Cornell, which is something that’s terribly hard to do when one lives the hectic life that students here usually do.  This, I think, beyond all else, is the thing that was most important reason I did this internship.  Yes, I did learn new procedures, theories and methods, and yes, I did gain a better idea of what I find interesting, but, beyond all else, I was reminded that there is a much larger world out there than can be imagined, and the simple knowledge that there is both untold opportunity out there and so much that I cannot prepare for is the best preparation that I can imagine.

Next Week: Now I am going to celebrate my successful completion of the internship before heading to Project Transitions in Austin, TX for Alternative Spring Break.  No rest for the weary (read: the Cornellian)!