In the book “What I wish I knew when I was 20” by Tina Seelig, there is a saying which I resonate with, and I quote, “keep your eyes open instead of blinding yourself to serendipitous options that might present themselves”. With strong belief in this quote, I always pluck up the courage to explore myriad of possibilities that seems reachable to me - be it internships or volunteering opportunities - and my internship at Homey was one of most rewarding experiences I have ever had. As a current Bachelor of Health Sciences, nutrition major’s freshman at The University of Queensland, Australia, though with little to no prior knowledge in the tertiary nutritional studies when I was an intern, I was grateful to be accepted by this warm family.
Just like life, there were definitely ups and downs during my internship. The bright side is that, I was able to gain industry insights related to my field of studies before even transforming into a nutrition freshman. I think that was indeed a valuable experience for me to acquire workplace survival skills, as I can never be a blank piece of paper again particularly in this field after I start my tertiary studies. I know that when I am a newbie, that is the best time of learning with an open mind.
I would describe this internship experience as a short self-discovery voyage – to realise what shortcomings I have. Learning how to handle bursting problems with calmness and rationale is part of it. Thanks to Homey, with my seniors as exemplars to me, I get to improve this skill when I was involved in the plating procedures. Plating was part of my role that I need to have a race against time every morning to prepare more than hundreds of personalised yet nutritious meals for our customers, alongside some major/minor problems awaiting to be solved.
The CEO of Homey, Yi Chien Lim once said, grab every opportunity that comes to you unhesitatingly, and you will eventually know what are the unexpected surprises that your participation brings you. In fact, each experience that we accumulate down the road will become our personal asset and brings us more surprises later in our life. It is just a matter of time.
Albeit a 1-month internship is insufficient to have an in-depth work-integrated-learning, but with the guidance of charismatic nutritionists and dietitians, I was able to get the most out of my internship and am ready to embark on an exciting journey in the nutrition field. Thank you Homey for having me!
Written by,
Lim Lynn