#mybiggestchallenge

[glamazingbeauty]

Guide my mouth oh Lord and give me strength to put the breaks on my tongue. To the Glory of Your Name. #mybiggestchallenge (at Gainesville, Florida)

[al-girlontherun-blog]

This. Is. It!! 6 months of training, four 10k's, a last minute injury (which WILL be ok), a safe flight, a stunning Airbnb and it all comes down to this. I'm surprised to be more eager than nervous. Thanks to my buddies and family for your support, encouragement. (and likes) Time to run! #cphhalf #mybiggestchallenge #outofcomfortzone #donationsstillappreciated #linkinprofile😉 (at Copenhagen, Denmark)

[m7-johannepape-blog]

My biggest challenge was myself

2 full months are now gone and my internship is over. I have said goodby to all of my students and to all of the lovely people I have been working with during my time at Stidsholt and I am now back in Copenhagen - slowly starting to process all of the great experiences I have had. Almost right from the beginning I got a lot of responsibility to decide over my own time and how I wanted to spend my 40 hours a week. I feel good about having responsibility so that was not my biggest challenge. What really challenged me however, was myself and my doubts about my own work. Even though non of the topics i worked with during my internship was new to me I still felt a big transition  moving from the back of the classroom and into the front of a crowd. For the first 2-3 weeks I constantly struggled with self doubts

- Am I good enough? - do i have enough knowledge to be in this position? - Is this to much or to little, to hard or to easy? - Is what I am bringing to class what they expect of me?  All of these questions an many more i struggled a lot with in the beginning. I was especially stressed in the beginning of every week when i was preparing a new topic or game to start up with on Mondays. Luckily, the more positive feedback I got from my fellow teachers and  from my students the more confidence I got in myself.

I know some people say that you can not succeed if you do not try. In my case it could not be more true! So what I did to overcome my doubts was to remind myself that I am still an the process of learning, so no matter how it would go I could learn something from it and then move on from there. This really helped me trust myself and encourage new ideas instead of having constant doubts.

So if there is something I can recommend future interns out there it is to trust yourself and the knowledge you have. You are interning to learn, gain experience and to improve, no one expects you to be a professional already!    

Other good advise and survival tips: 

1. Start applying as soon as possible -  because you will be rejected!

2. Be open to other possibilities - Hold your head and motivation high and keep going even when you don’t get accepted to your 1st choice.

3. Be well prepared when you apply - look into the organization and let them know why YOU can contribute and be of value to them.

4. Be creative - If they do not reply to your emails;  call, send a letter or show up in person! that way at least you will get an answer and you can move on if it is not the answer you are looking for.

When they say yes - because eventually someone will!

5. Do your homework - Prepare before you go and make sure you have everything in order before you leave. 

6. Enjoy it - 2 months may seem like a long time but it will be over before you know it

7. Believe in yourself and your abilities - and remember you are there to learn!

Best of luck to all of you! I hope you have as great an experience as i did on my internship. /Johanne