Week 4 | Looking to the Future

Although I am only a few weeks into my internship, graduation is looming over me. Knowing that I graduate in roughly two months has been both a stressor and distraction this past week. It currently feels like there is so little time and yet so much that I have to accomplish within these next months—really more like within the next month. As I am completing work for my internship, I am trying to be more conscious of the type of work I am doing, moreover how I can market the skills on a resume as I apply to jobs in the near future. While I would like to complete my master’s degree through an MFA program, I believe that it is best to take some time to build my portfolio and gain some more work experience before applying to any program. Furthermore, some of the admissions panels that I have attended, echoed my thoughts as they suggested students gain more life experience and take time off between undergraduate and graduate school. So, I am planning on entering the work field full time in a few months which means beginning to consider the sorts of careers I am interested in. On one hand, I would like to teach English abroad. Since my current virtual internship is with a language school, I am already gaining relevant skills for teaching English in a foreign country. For example, I have learned to work around a language barrier; while my supervisor encourages me to use French as much as I can, she understands my minimal fluency and corrects/ teaches me when an opportunity arises. Likewise, I try my best to practice my French and be considerate when she has trouble finding the English words to communicate. Having that interaction itself is valuable when considering how to work with students whose native language is not English. On the other hand, I am interested in writing-based jobs that range from technical writing to media and marketing. Since I am constantly working on the business social media page, I have the experience with creating content and interacting with the community professionally yet personably. I have also worked on streamlining the general aesthetic and content which is pertinent to marketing since consistency is key. Despite my anxiety about the future and what it holds, I am excited for whatever opportunities may arise. To help ease my concerns, I started writing out some of the smaller and larger tasks to consider in the near future, creating feasible deadlines for myself as I work towards finishing my college degree on a strong note.